The Weight Loss Exercise That Can Transform Your Life

If you want to lose weight fast, using a jump rope (also known as a skipping rope) is one of the best known workouts. Rope jumping is also great fun, besides making your body feel stronger, younger, more supple and more capable. What’s more, if you haven’t learnt it yet, it could just be the exciting workout challenge you have been desperate to find. Once you learn jumping rope (it won’t take long), you are sure to get addicted to the rhythm and to learning new tricks.

Advantages

Apart from the fun, the beauty of rope jumping is the amazing number of calories it burns. It can burn in the region of 11 to 20 calories a minute, depending on the intensity of your workout. So, with just a half an hour jump rope workout, you can burn anywhere in the region of 350 – 600 calories! This is ideal for anyone’s weight loss goals, and there is hardly any exercise in the world that is so efficient in this respect. Besides, the convenience of rope jumping is another huge plus point. All you need is a rope and a little bit of space. You may not even need to step out of your house. What more can you ask for?

Even More Advantages

Apart from all the calories it burns, jump rope, along with swimming, is the most productive cardiovascular exercise in the world as far as developing your muscular strength is concerned. It develops all your leg muscles, your core, your forearms and your shoulders. So, with all the exercise your muscles have been put through, you will get a real metabolism boost for several hours after your workout is over. Furthermore, jump rope is one of those rare exercises which can only be done with the correct form and posture. With running, swimming, cycling and other muscular strength exercises, you need to watch out for the right form. With jump rope, if you are moving smoothly, you are also moving correctly. If your coordinating goes awry and you lose the right form, the rope will get caught in your feet.
The Right Approach

The one problem you may encounter with rope jumping is that it is very demanding on your body, and will put you under serious strain, especially if you haven’t begun the weight loss process yet. To begin with, just do it in 1 ½ - 2 minute intervals, with a 30 second break in-between. Do 4-5 such intervals. It will take you a while to build your endurance. Once you have mastered the movement and become fitter, you can either burn yourself out in an intense 8-10 workout, or stretch it for 20-30 minutes at a lower intensity. Both are effective weight loss strategies, and it is best to keep varying your workouts. Unlike waking or jogging, you will find it very difficult to jump with a rope for more than a few minutes at a time. However, even with this much, 4-5 times a week, you can lose as many as 4-5 pounds a month. Obviously, you will need to keep your diet in check too.

A Precaution

The one precaution you must take with rope jumping is to avoid jumping constantly on a very hard surface like concrete or tarmac. What is ideal is the kind of synthetic floor surface you find in a gym. Since rope jumping is a high impact activity, it may not be recommended if you have a knee problem. All in all, jump rope is guaranteed to help you lose weight fast.