Jumping rope for 20 minutes is an inexpensive way of keeping fit and enjoying numerous health benefits.
Have you ever wondered why this simple exercise is popular among top athletes? It builds their endurance, strength, stability, stamina, and much more.
You can either jump rope exclusively for 20 minutes or incorporate it into your workout routine.
Depending on your drill and speed, it can be both HIIT and low-impact workouts. Below are some of the benefits of jumping rope.
Benefits of Jumping Rope for 20 Minutes A Day
1. Offers a Full Body Workout
You can target different parts of your body while jumping rope. Depending on your style, you will have a full-body workout in twenty minutes.
Ideally, you can divide the 20-minute workout session into five 3-minute sets. Schedule 30 second to 1-minute breaks in between.
Start simple, with the conventional jump on two feet for 1 minute.
Keep alternating the feet, then graduate to one foot to work on the individual calf muscles for another 1 minute.
The last 30 seconds of every circuit should be high intensity. Incorporate high knees jump and double-unders. Do not stop if you fall out of rhyme.
Use heavier ropes for strength and muscular development. Here are the best jump ropes for cardio.
2. Improves Balance, Motor Skills, and Coordination
According to a study involving 24 young athletes, jumping rope enhances general motor coordination and balance. It coordinates the feet, hands, wrists, shoulders, eyes and spine work, which amplified with everyday practice.
12 soccer players in the study jumped rope during training while the other 12 did the normal soccer drills. After 8 weeks, they took physical tasks to assess unilateral dynamic lower limb balance and motor skills.
Those who jumped rope outperformed those who had not. Jumping rope thus increases motor skills and balance over time.
3. Excellent for Increasing Bone Density
Jumping rope is an excellent exercise for increasing bone density, according to a 2015 research by Brigham Young University. The researchers found that jumping 10 to 20 times a day with 30 seconds of breaks in between sets improved hip bone mass density in women age 25 to 50 after 16 weeks
4. Burns More Calories than Running
Jumping rope burns a ton of calories, which makes it easier to create a calorie deficit when trying to lose weight.
According to Science Daily, the number of calories burnt after ten minutes of jumping rope is almost equivalent to running an eight-minute mile. Jumping rope burns almost 1300 calories per hour, which is over 400 calories burnt in an intensive 20-minute session.
When jumping rope, the impact is absorbed and distributed by both knees thus minimizing damage to the knees.
5. Decreases Foot and Ankle Injuries
Jumping rope is a low-risk exercise. Unless you trip and fall, it rarely results in foot and ankle injuries as compared to running. It cannot be overdone and demands a good posture, further minimizing risk.
Being a low-impact exercise, you absorb much less impact than when running. You jump just a few inches from the ground on a regular drill. This reduces stress and strain on the hips, feet, ankle, and knees.
6. Overall Body Fat Loss
You probably know that isolation exercises such as crunches are not ideal for fat loss. You’re better off doing full-body exercises such as jumping rope to get a full-body workout and burn lots of calories and build lean muscles.
7. Improves Heart Health with Less Strain on the Joints
Jumping rope can increase heart rate two to three times faster than most exercises. It offers the same cardiovascular benefits without taking a toll on the joints. This is one of the reasons boxers use it to build endurance.
A team of researchers at Arizona State University divided 92 males into two groups. One group jogged for 30 minutes a day while the other jumped rope for 10 minutes.
At the end of the study, both groups had the same level of cardiovascular gain. Even though the group that jumped rope did it in a third of the time.
Going by that study, jumping rope for 20 minutes is the equivalent of jogging for an hour but without the injuries.
8. Best for People with Pre-existing Injuries
If you have existing injuries, you should be very careful about the kind of workouts you take part in. Running is occasioned by torn ligaments, knee and joint pain due to the heel-to-toe strike.
Jumping in the right posture reduces the impact on the problem areas such as the knees and ankles. Landing on both feet with knees bent distributes pressure evenly.
9. Improves Posture When You Stay Balanced on Your Toes
You cannot jump when slouching. You have to maintain an upright posture.
Good posture when jumping rope aligns your body from the head to the toes. It pulls the shoulders back and aligns the spine. Maintaining this posture while jumping 20 minutes a day promotes the right posture and corrects slouches. Thus, you look taller.
As you may know, good posture is important for all workouts, as it prevents lower back pain.
Keep the following in mind when jumping:
- Do not be flatfooted, land on the toes or balls of your feet to avoid injuries
- Keep the knees slightly bent
10. Strengthens and tones the calves
If you’ve ever to build the calf muscles you know they’re very unresponsive. Well, jumping rope can build these stubborn muscles, especially when you do single-leg jumps.
As you bounce on your toes, the calve muscles are engaged the whole time thus making them bigger and stronger.
11. Improves Lung Capacity and Body Mass Index
A study was done to determine the impact of jumping rope on BMI. 20 overweight women were divided into two groups. 10 were assigned to the stationary cycle exercise. The rest took part in a dance music jump rope group routine.
After 30-minute sessions, three to four times a week for a month, the ladies assigned to the jump rope group were found to have better physical strength, lung capacity, and improved BMI.
12. Builds Stamina and Agility
Jumping rope requires balance, coordination, strength, and endurance and makes for great HIIT. These contribute to overall body stamina and agility.
Final Word
Jumping rope offers extraordinary benefits, especially when done consistently. And you only need 20 minutes to enjoy all the above benefits. This means you can stay in shape no matter how busy you are.
You and I know that doing the same exercise repeatedly for long leads to boredom. Therefore, you should combine jumping rope with these 28 home workouts to burn fat and build muscle shockingly fast.
[related_posts_by_tax posts_per_page="4"]
