Are there any benefits of doing 100 jumping jacks a day?
Jumping jacks are a classic bodyweight exercise that can be spotted anywhere, from a third-grade physical education class to an adult exercise session.
They are pretty easy to do, which is why incorporating them into your routine is super easy and will literally cost you nothing.
If you feel like you are out of shape and want to get back on that exercise horse, 100 jumping jacks a day are a great place to start. They are not only fun but have amazing benefits too, such as:
1.RELIEVES STRESS
It has been proven countless times that exercise serves to relieve stress, and jumping jacks are no different.
Doing 100 jumping jacks a day prompts your brain to release serotonin or the ‘feel-good’ hormone.
That, together with the endorphins released into your bloodstream and the adrenalin, serves to make you happy and reduce your stress levels.
2. IMPROVES HEART HEALTH
Nothing beats a good cardio session, and jumping jacks will give you just that.
Jumping jacks are anaerobic cardiovascular exercise whereby you use up oxygen to meet your body’s energy demands.
As your heart pumps blood full of oxygen, the heart muscles are stimulated.
This then exercises your heart muscles and other organs such as your lungs, which keep your heart in good shape.
We know for a fact how important it is to keep the heart healthy, so you might want to try 100 jumping jacks a day for this reason.
3. REDUCES RISK OF VARIOUS ILLNESSES
Aside from improving your heart health, jumping jacks every day will help keep off various illnesses.
Given that jumping jacks are an aerobic exercise, they are great for lowering blood pressure, lowering blood sugar, reducing asthma symptoms, and general strengthening your immune system.
Additionally, jumping jacks, as with any aerobic exercise, help improve brain power since they slow down brain tissue loss, thereby improving cognitive functions.
4. HELPS WITH WEIGHT LOSS
As you know, exercise is a big part of the weight loss agenda as it increases your body’s metabolic rate, thereby helping you lose calories.
Doing 100 jumping jacks a day can help you with weight loss as they are easy to use in a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) format.
If you are only looking to burn belly fat, you should know that you cannot reduce fat.
However, a 2016 study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness established that exercises such as jumping jacks could be incorporated into a HIIT routine, making them more effective in burning belly fat.
Therefore, jumping jacks for weight loss is not a farfetched idea, provided that you get the right amount and intensity.
5. HELPS TO TONE MUSCLES
One of the benefits of doing jumping jacks is that you get to tone several muscles in your body at once.
When you perform jumping jacks every day, you get to shed off fat and, in turn, tone your muscles.
Specifically, jumping jacks target your glutes, quadriceps, and hip flexors and involve your abdominal and shoulder muscles.
6. IMPROVES COORDINATION
As much as jumping jacks seem quite simple, and they are, they need some degree of balance and coordination to be done effectively.
You have to be able to coordinate you’re your jumps with the movement of your arms and legs and also have some balance for when you land.
If you decide to do 100 jumping jacks a day for 30 days, you will begin to notice that your balance and coordination have improved significantly.
7. IMPROVES YOUR FLEXIBILITY
The chances are that if you have not been involved in any kind of exercise, your flexibility has gone down.
Therefore, doing 100 jumping jacks a day will give your muscles dynamism as they require your muscles to shorten and elongate, thereby improving your flexibility.
Additionally, jumping jacks serve to lubricate your joints as they involve several joints and therefore ensure that your joints are working like a well-oiled machine.
Lubricin, a protein that coats joints’ surfaces, cartilage acts as your body’s most effective grease.
8. IMPROVES STAMINA AND STABILITY
If you wish to increase your stamina while doing other kinds of exercises, jumping jacks are great for this.
This is because jumping jacks help with the body’s ability to take in and use oxygen.
While you may start completely winded after every rep, you will be able to work out for longer periods of time and incorporate even more high-intensity exercises into your routines over time.
9. KEEPS YOUR BONES STRONG
Jumping jacks are classified as an impact workout as your feet leave the ground. The result of this is that it helps your bone density and therefore keeps your bones strong.
A 2015 study on adult premenopausal women published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology affirmed that jumping jacks are beneficial for bone density, especially in their lower limbs and spine.
Be careful, however, if you have issues with your joints or low bone density, as jumping jacks could lead to injury. This is why it is important to consult a professional before you embark on any kind of exercise routine.
10. HELPS TO IMPROVE MUSCLE STRENGTH
If you want to build your muscle strength, you will do well to incorporate jumping jacks into your routine.
This is especially true for the muscles engaged as you jump and move your arms and legs during jumping jacks, such as calves, hip abductors, core muscles, abs, lower back muscles, and shoulder abductors.
11. GREAT FOR WARM-UP
The importance of warming up before any vigorous exercises cannot be overstated. Simply put, if you fail to warm up, you could end up with an injury.
Therefore, you can do 100 jumping jacks a day, starting with low intensity as you begin your workout routine. This will help you relax the muscles in your limbs, hips, core, back, and face.
Warming up also increases blood flow to your muscles, making them less likely to tear and prevents soreness after an exercise session.
12. HAS MANY VARIATIONS
You probably know the standard jumping jacks, which are still as beneficial as they are.
However, another benefit of doing 100 jumping jacks a day is that you can vary the styles, making the exercise more engaging and fun.
This is especially important if you struggle with consistency and commitment when it comes to working out.
Doing a variation of this exercise daily helps you with the benefits above and helps you target different muscles altogether.
For instance, front clap jumping jacks target the shoulders, lats, biceps, triceps, inner thighs, hamstrings, quads, calves, and glutes.
HOW MANY CALORIES DO YOU BURN DOING 100 JUMPING JACKS?
It takes about two minutes to do 100 jumping jacks, but every tiny second count in aiding you to lose calories.
Doing 100 jumping jacks a day will burn about 10 calories for every minute of doing jumping jacks. If you do the math, it means that you would lose 20 calories.
The number of calories lost doing jumping jacks is calculated using the MET value (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) of Jumping Jacks.
The MET value of Jumping Jacks is 7.7, multiplied by the person’s body weight in kilograms. The result is then multiplied by 0.0175 and the time in minutes.
If a person weighs 180 pounds and multiply that with the MET value of jumping jacks and the time it would take 2 minutes, the result would be about 20- 22 calories.
That said, several factors determine the number of calories you lose in one rep of 100 jumping jacks. They include:
- Height and weight: The bigger the person, the more calories they will burn, even while the body is at rest.
- Sex: In general, men lose more calories than women because they have more muscle and less body fat.
- Age: As you get older, your metabolism reduces due to the increase in body fat and decreased muscle mass, and thus you lose fewer calories.
Additionally, you would need to up the intensity and/or the number of jumping jacks for you to lose a substantial number of calories.
BOTTOM LINE
Jumping Jacks are a great exercise for all the benefits explained above. Not only are they beneficial, but they are also a fun way to get your heart pumping daily.
However, given the number of calories you would lose doing 100 Jumping Jacks a day, they would not do so much if your goal is to lose weight.
Therefore, jumping jacks are better suited as part of a larger routine than a stand-alone exercise.
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