13 Benefits of Jumping Rope

When you think of a jump rope, you might picture PE class when you were a kid or something boxers do during training. But over the last 10 years, it's gone mainstream with numerous scientific studies pointing to the benefits of jumping rope. A whole competitive culture has adopted it as a core discipline (CrossFit), and personal trainers and fitness influencers recognize its benefit as a quick, highly effective way to burn calories and improve athleticism.

Thinking about picking up a jump rope? Here are a few reasons to give it a try.

The Benefits of Jumping Rope

• Time: Jumping rope is an extremely effective and efficient form of exercise in short amounts of time. Fifteen minutes of jumping rope burns up to twice as many calories as a 15-minute run.
• Space / Portability: You don’t need a gym to jump rope, and it’s not weather dependent. You can always find a space to jump rope indoors or outdoors. So if you’re traveling, it’s easy to maintain your routine.
• Enjoyment: There are hundreds of jump rope movements and tricks you can learn to challenge yourself and keep it fresh.

2. Brain Stimulation We know that exercise is good for the brain. But did you know that activities with both physical and mental demands (like jumping rope) have higher impacts on cognitive functioning than exercise tasks alone (like the treadmill or stationary bike)? Since coordination, spatial awareness, and precision are required for jumping rope, your brain works out with you! Exercise that demands mental focus strengthens your cognitive functioning. Both hemispheres of your brain are active when you are jumping rope.

3. Killer Cardio Workout With Weight Loss Benefits Burn, baby, burn! In just two ten-minute jump rope sessions, you can burn up to 200 calories. Practicing every day for seven days can help you burn more than 1,000 calories per week. A 20-minute run clocks in at about 100-150 calories, so why not exchange a morning jog for a jump rope?
If you practice for just 15 minutes a day, you can burn about 200-300 calories. One pound of fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories, so it'll only take about 12 days to lose a pound by jumping every day. Fifteen minutes is an easy commitment for such dramatic results. You can also use a jump rope during High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts, which use a 2:1 ratio of exercise to rest, turning your body into a calorie furnace.
Jumping rope keeps your heart healthy, too. The American Heart Association created an entire movement around jumping rope (ever heard of Jump Rope for Heart?). Jumping rope has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease and reduce inflammation.

4. Increased Agility & Speed Want to get "lighter on your feet?" Skip rope every day for a few minutes. When you jump rope on the balls of your feet, your body connects with your mind to make "neural muscular adjustments" to keep you balanced. Essentially, skipping rope improves your balance, quickness, and coordination.

5. Full-Body Workout No need to choose between leg day and arm day — and why not add a core workout while you’re at it? Jumping rope strengthens muscles all over your body, including:

• Lower extremity muscles: Calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes.
• Upper extremity muscles: Triceps, biceps, chest muscles, shoulders, and back muscles.
• Core muscles: Abs and obliques.

These muscles support tendons, ligaments, and joints. The repeated impact of jumping on the ground also increases bone density.

6. Bang for Your Buck The average cost for a gym membership is about $40 per month. That adds up to $480 a year. At-home workout equipment is expensive, too. All you need to jump rope…is a rope. Of all the fitness options out there, rope jumping is still one of the most affordable. Fitterfirst sells a high-quality Made in USA jump rope for just $9.95.

7. Stronger Feet & Ankles Wearing shoes restricts the hundreds of complex structures in your feet, “binding” them in injury-inducing ways. Creating that foot-to-earth connection strengthens the stabilizer muscles in your feet and ankles without relying on a shoe to keep you balanced.

8. Stronger Bones Jumping rope increases bone density due to the repeated impact with the ground every time you jump. Lower bone density is associated with higher mortality rates, so it’s important to build up your skeletal strength before it begins to decrease later in life.

9. Better Mental Health Daily exercise is linked to a reduced risk of developing depression and anxiety. The release of endorphins and the concentrated effort necessary to jump rope help alleviate stress. Even working out for as little as ten minutes per day improves mood. Try jumping rope outside to absorb some sunshine and get a boost of serotonin.

10. Endless New Skills To Learn Day-in and day-out, jump rope never gets boring. There's always a new goal to strive toward. You might want to increase your rotations per minute, set an endurance goal, or learn to dance and jump rope at the same time. Gaining enough speed to graduate from a simple jump to a double under — where the rope passes underneath your feet twice per jump — is exciting enough.

11. Customizable With jump roping, you can pick a specific style you like and own it. Speed jumping. Chinese wheel jumping. Double Dutch. There’s no end of ways to have fun with a jump rope.

12. Fun with Friends With daily practice, you will soon feel comfortable enough to show off your skills. Now it's time to join a jump rope team! Jump rope teams are a great way to express yourself and build long-lasting friendships. Finding other jump-rope lovers is as easy as using apps like MeetUp and Facebook.

13. Prep for Other Activities Jumping rope is an excellent supplementary workout to other activities. The International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance published a study in 2019 demonstrating how jumping rope enhanced the reactive strength index (RSI) and overall performance of amateur runners. Boxers like Floyd Mayweather are famous for their jump rope training.

Use a jump rope to warm up your body before starting another physical activity. It’s a quick way to raise your heart rate and get your blood pumping.

A version of this article originally appeared at: https://elitejumps.co/blogs/guides/surprising-benefits-of-jump-rope