Jump ropes are one of the simplest pieces of equipment that you can add to your training — but just because they are simple doesn't mean they can't make you break a sweat.
Breathing Efficiency - In addition to improving your cardiovascular health and endurance, jumping rope enhances your ability to breath efficiently. Efficient breathing is essential to any athletes stamina and a vital skill whether you're swimming or running up and down the court. By increasing the strength and stamina of your respiratory system, your body will be able to take in oxygen and manage it more efficiently, requiring less energy — leaving more energy for the muscles you are working out. This will not only help you perform daily tasks with ease, but it will also keep you on the field longer without being left gasping for air.
Improve Brain Function - When you're jumping rope, there is a lot going on — both for your body and your brain. As you jump and rotate the rope, you are learning new motor patterns. The timing, rhythm, and coordination required to keep the rotations of the rope going produce significant benefits for cognitive functioning. The motion aids in the development of the left and right hemispheres of your brain. This helps heighten your spatial awareness, improve your memory, and make you more alert. The ability to keep your body, mind, and rope in sync has even shown to improve your ability to stay calm. Your brain and body are being forced to keep track of the timing your jumps, the rhythm of the rope, and the ropes position relative to your body — improving the communication between your brain and your body and the coordination between your eyes, feet, and hands.
Versatility and Portability - Though it has been their primary use for years, jump ropes are more than just a piece of conditioning equipment. They are versatile tools that allow you to train for speed with a lightweight jump rope or for strength with a heavyweight jump rope — all while building up your stamina. These two varieties of ropes make them useful as a warm-up tool, a cardio catalyst to your workouts, or as a workout itself.
Jump ropes are also incredibly portable, which makes them an excellent option to stay active while traveling. This means no more letting hotel gyms keep you from sticking with your training whenever you travel. Just pack a jump rope in your bag, and you will be able to get in a quick, high-intensity, full-body workout anywhere. So grab your rope and start jumping!
Jump Rope Exercises
Jumping rope is easy to incorporate into any existing strength and conditioning training and will quickly provide you with numerous performance benefits because it involves entire-body movements and is a high-intensity exercise.
On the surface, jumping rope will help keep your body warmed up between other workout sets, but the benefits go much deeper than just staying warmed up. When you incorporate jump rope exercises, every muscle in your body is working out, but unlike other cardiovascular conditioning exercises like running, jumping rope offers a lower risk of injury because it produces less impact on knees and ankles. In fact, jumping rope strengthens the muscles and joints in your feet and ankles, helping keep them strong and healthy. Research also shows that 10 minutes of daily jump roping is equivalent to 30 minutes of daily jogging when it comes to improving your body's cardiovascular efficiency.
Adding jump rope exercises between sets of strength training will increase the intensity and add a crucial cardiorespiratory component to your workout. It also allows your muscles active recovery time from your band or bodyweight work, while getting in some quality cardiovascular conditioning.
Incorporating high-intensity conditioning exercises, like jumping rope, into your strength training workouts is vital to building muscle and cardiovascular endurance which will improve your stamina, agility, and quickness.
