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I have a jump rope, and my pulse sure goes up while jumping. But what am I exercising exactly?

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3 Answers

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Jump roping can be very effective in conditioning and strength.

Jump roping is a very helpful cardiovascular exercise. You're really exercising a complex system of muscles. You're not really isolating one muscle. You're exercising your upper body, core and lower muscles all in one action. You can't get more complete than that.

Upper Body

Because your arms are constantly working to move the jump rope, the upper body muscles are used extensively, including your deltoids (shoulders), back, forearms, biceps and triceps. If you use a heavier rope, your upper body will get more of a workout because it is like adding weight training to your jumping.

Core Jumping rope requires balance, which draws on your core muscles each time you jump and land with the timing of the rope. Abdominal, lower back and hip muscles are all used as they help stabilize and coordinate your movement.

Lower Body Because you are constantly on your toes and making vertical jumps, the calf muscles are used a great deal in jumping rope. It also uses the quadriceps (front of the thighs), hamstrings (back of thighs) and glutes (buttocks) for power and strength. Adding in different moves where you travel forward, backward or side-to-side as you jump, will also engage the smaller stabilizer muscles in your lower body.

Source

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That's awesome!! Great answer, thank you a lot :) – Svish May 30 '11 at 20:01
Jumping rope is also an excellent intro - or warmup - for plyometrics. – PhillipKregg Jun 16 '12 at 21:00
dont want to ask a new question for this, but: how important is the rope, i mean will just jumping without the rope have the same benefits. The ceiling clearance isn't high enough and i am a bit shy to do this in the open. – BinaryNights Aug 9 '12 at 8:23
@kinjal that seems like a decent question, i'd say. I wouldn't be shy. Go head and post it. Seems like a different question. – chrisjlee Aug 9 '12 at 14:00
up vote 4 down vote

If you are jumping on your toes tips then you are definetely working out your calves.

Also you can count that as a cardio if you can keep jumping for like 20 minutes. But if your heartbeat rate is going really high, no point to do that as a cardio exercise. You should be able to keep your heartbeat rate at a constant range, let's say 140-160 for most of the males.

Edit: Yep, i meant toes! :) Sorry, English is not my mother language.

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On my finger tips? Strange images in my head... Anyways, I have just started so 20 mins without stopping would probably kill me :p Is it still good as cardio exercise if do it more like intervals? Jump until pulse gets a bit high, then wait for a bit until it settles, and so on? – Svish May 30 '11 at 7:59
I believe he meant your toes ;-) – Ivo Flipse♦ May 30 '11 at 9:27
HIIT is always good, especially for fat burning. So yep, you can do HIIT with it, very good exercise. You may end up with king kong calves in the end :) – Cihan Yılmaz May 30 '11 at 12:40
up vote 1 down vote

I agree with the earlier answers that slow-paced jumproping can increase your cardio-respiratory endurance, but I think the primary benefit is increasing power and speed. This is why you see it used in any movie with a boxer getting ready for a fight.

Because of the rapid higher jumping required, double unders are the most effective way to use a jumprope.

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Double unders? You mean having the rope pass under you twice between you touch the ground? – Svish May 31 '11 at 7:52
yes, like this. youtube.com/watch?v=2TfjmxeUsIs – J. Winchester May 31 '11 at 10:18

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