The popularity of jump rope training has increased over the past years, because of its overall benefits to the body. But many gym-goers still don’t know the benefits of the jump rope that come with this type of training. You must be thinking that what does jump rope do to your body and how is it overall body workout.
Jump rope is one of the oldest training tools. It’s great for all fitness levels. You can achieve all training goals with it whether it be fat loss, endurance, performance, strength, or muscle building.
Jump rope is the best cardio and anaerobic exercise. It’s a high-calorie burning and weight loss exercise.
Peter Schulman (MD & Associate professor, Cardiology Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington) says, “It’s certainly good for the heart. It strengthens the upper and lower body and burns a lot of calories in a short time”. He considers jumping rope as something adults can use to add spice to their exercise routine.
In jumping rope, you are putting direct stress on knees, ankles, and hips but if done in a proper way, it’s a lower impact exercise than jogging and running.
Jump rope is not just for kid – jumping rope is an all-in-one exercise. It will do wonders for any workout and there are tons of reasons why you need to jump rope. Jump rope is not just for playgrounds, the backyard, or warm-up.
So jump rope does benefit your different body muscles. Lets consider this factor now.
what does jump rope do to your body
What Body Muscles Does Jump Rope Use?
Although you are not jumping rope to build muscles you are working on almost every muscle of your body. Now the type of muscles which are more used in the skipping totally depends upon your intensity and weight of the rope.
Grip Strength
To control the rotation of a 1 or 2 pounds of rope for minutes requires grip constantly. During jump rope, your grip gets stronger time by time as it is consistently involved in the exercise.
Forearms and Shoulders
The resistance goes up your arms and also activates your forearms and shoulder if you practice jump rope in a correct form (Men’s Health).
what does jump rope do to your body
Lats
Your latissimus dorsi muscles are also activated if you pull your scapula together and do skipping with a good posture.
Core
It’s really important to keep your core tight while jumping rope, which works on your ab muscles too.
Glutes
The glute muscles help to stabilize your movement. Those glute muscles are activated when you jump rope.
Calves
Jump rope is a great workout to strengthen your calf muscles but they can be stressed when you do explosive moves like double unders where the rope passes twice underneath you.
Sculpts Your Upper and Lower Body
Jump rope tones up your muscles, particularly your arms and legs. Because these muscles are heavily engaged in the skipping, in time you will notice a great shape and definition.
Heart
When it comes to the healths benefits of jump rope, the heart is also benefited. The American Heart Association says that being more active benefits everyone. But more specifically it can help reduce your risk of having s stroke or developing heart disease. It also helps in reducing the risk of developing several types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. In addition to its heart benefits, jump rope also keeps your metabolism revved up.
According to Harvard Health, 30 minutes of jumping rope can burn approximately 371 calories in a 155- pound person.
You would not just be able to see the benefits of jump rope to your body, you will feel them. According to research, scientists found that kids who use a jump rope as a part of their football training, have better balance and motor coordination as compare to other kids.
what does jump rope do to your body
Some Other Jump Rope Benefits
Fat burning
Jump rope has a high-calorie burn rate than running. That’s why it burns fats faster than running. The effect of 15 minutes of jump rope is equal to 30 minutes of running. It helps you in weight loss. Dean Massa a community member of CrossRope, was able to lose 45 pounds in less than three months by doing skipping.
Mental Sharpness
According to Jump Rope Institute, jump rope helps with the development of the left and right hemispheres of your brain. It enhances your spatial awareness, increases memory, improves reading skills, and makes you mentally more alert.
BrainHQ describes that the best mental exercise involves a combination of timing, rhythm, coordination, and mental strategy.
Now think about jump rope. What happens when you are skipping?
You are combining timing, rhythm, and coordination while rope jumping while doing quick calculations to ensure the brain is recognizing the speed, distance, position, and direction of the rope relative to your body. It ensures the rotations to keep going. This combination of physical and mental coordination improves your cognitive functions also.
what does jump rope do to your body
Portable
Jump rope is a portable and easy to carry training tool which helps you to maintain your fitness and physique anywhere and anytime. Take it to your work, your school, or your tour trip. Learn different variations in it and try to have fun while doing skipping.
Bone Density
Dr. Daniel W. Barry is an assistant professor of medicine at the University Of Colorado. He studied the bones of elders and of athletes and says that the best exercise to improve your bone density is to jump up and down. “Jumping is great if your bones are strong enough, to begin with”.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information,” In Japan, having mice jump up and land 40 times during a week increased their bone density significantly after 24 weeks, again they maintained by hopping up and down only about 20 or 30 times each week after that.”
what does jump rope do to your body
Foot and Ankle Injuries
Many athletes in football, volleyball, and other sports often suffer from fook and ankle injuries because of running and stoping quick, jumping, and turning. This is also common in basketball and tennis. Jump rope improves and strengthens muscles around the ankle joint and in your feet which decreases the chances of injury.
According to Jump Rope Institute, “Jump rope teacher players to stay on the ball of their feet, as opposed t being flat-footed or on their heels. And since you are on your toes the entire time you jump rope, you will find that staying quiet on your toes when playing tennis will become easier and second nature”
Butt Enhancer
what does jump rope do to your body
The benefits of jump rope are not only limited to the other body parts. Don’t forget that your legs go all the way up to your butt! Doing skipping is a surprisingly good butt workout. It shapes and enhances your butt. If you want to get a bigger butt, or strengthen your quads, then integrating 10 minutes of jump rope into your workout routine be great.
what does jump rope do to your body
Conclusion
Jump rope is a full-body workout, which works on your upper and lower body muscles. It also improves your heart health, stamina, endurance, foot and ankle muscles, and mental strength.
It is an all in one workout but if you want to build muscles, you would need to add some weight to it. Jump rope is also a very good butt enhancer. So I hope your query about what does jump rope do to your body is answered.
Checkout some of the recommended jump ropes and sneakers for your workout.
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