There are all sorts of machines, treadmills and bikes out there for people to use to get a good cardiovascular workout and burn calories. Elliptical machines are very popular these days and the treadmills at the gym seem to always have people running or walking on them. But one exercise you rarely see anyone doing anymore is Jumping Rope. Jumping rope isn’t just something for kids to do on the playground, it is an excellent, very high intensity cardiovascular workout! Many personal trainers agree that jumping rope is the #1 high intensity training you could do for yourself.

For those of you out there who are involved in sports this is an excellent workout for you to incorporate into your routine. Not only will jumping rope 10-20 minutes burn a ton of calories, but it will also work your shoulders, improve your hand eye coordination, increase your foot and hand speed, give you better balance, and give you more explosive quickness. If you aren’t involved in sports jumping rope is still a great exercise for you to do just for the simple fact that it burns calories easily and really gets your heart rate up. So if you are just looking to lose some weight or further tone up your body jumping rope can be very beneficial to you as well.

Not to take anything away from the elliptical or treadmill machines, but jumping rope can be done anywhere at anytime. You don’t have to run to the gym to get on a machine, you can simply go outside and jump rope for 20-30 minutes and burn between 200-500 calories depending on your body weight. In fact it is estimated that jumping rope can burn up to 1000 calories an hour making it one of the most efficient cardio workouts possible. You also won’t do the damage to your knees that running does since the impact of each jump or step is absorbed by both legs, instead of one at a time like running. Another advantage about jumping rope is that it is extremely portable. So if you are someone who travels often or visits friends and family all over the world you can always bring your jump rope and have a great cardiovascular workout at your finger tips. You can slip in a quick cardio workout in the basement, garage, outside or any where there is room

Buying a jump rope will only cost you about 10 bucks depending on the maker and is sold at most sporting goods stores. So next time your in the gym think about giving this Forgotten Exercise a shot and feel the benefits for yourself!

Below is the most common jump rope technique
Basic Jump, both feet jumping over the rope at the same time