Since the New Year is upon us, we thought we'd give you a realistic view of how jumping rope can help you achieve your weight loss goals.
Here are the 3 things we'll be talking about:
1. How jumping rope DOES help you get fit.
2. How jumping rope is secondary to other life changes you can make.
3. Why you should stop making weight loss your singular focus.
How jumping rope DOES help you get fit.
1. By conditioning your entire body.
One of the best ways to gauge the effectiveness of an exercise is to analyze how many of your joints are involved in performing the movement.
For example, an exercise that only requires you to move your elbows (arm curls) will be much less effective in conditioning your body than an exercise that requires you to move your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists (power cleans).
These compound movements illicit a much greater hormonal response from your endocrine system. Rough translation: It's kind of like getting all the benefits from taking steroids without the pesky brain cancer.
One of the main benefits of jumping rope is a great full-body conditioning exercise that will pack a heftier punch than doing calf raises in the squat rack at your local gym.
2. By burning calories.
Jumping rope burns calories. So does chewing donuts.
We are in no way pretending that you can buy one of our jump ropes and fix your entire fitness problem. You simply MUST take a holistic view to your health, and burning calories is just one piece of the puzzle.
However, research shows that you can expect to burn 10-20 calories per minute depending on the weight of the person, intensity, and style of movement (i.e. double unders or single unders). So, let's see...a super-sized fast food meal has 1500 calories, so...
3. By developing coordination.
Anyone who has ever tried to do a double under (twice under your feet for every single jump) knows that it is not an easy task. Your trainer is recommending them for a reason though. Practicing agility ladders, box jumps, and jump rope movements help you be a more functional human.
When the zombie apocalypse happens, all the people doing arm curls, and tricep extensions, at the gym will be tripping all over themselves, while you gracefully hop skip and jump your way to safety.
How jumping rope is secondary to other life changes you can make.
Diet is of utmost importance.
As we mentioned above, jumping rope DOES burn calories, but unless we fix our diets, we might as well be trying to bail water out of the Titanic with a thimble.
There are THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of diet books on the market, but fixing your diet is simple (not easy, but simple).
Here is what the shelves at book stores across the country take millions of pages to say (in order of importance):
Sugar - Don't eat it.
Veggies - Eat TONS of them.
Protein - Eat some with every meal.
Healthy Fat (nuts, seeds, avocados) - Eat some with every meal.
Fruit - Eat a little here and there.
Grains - Don't eat them.
Dairy - Don't eat it.
Track your caloric intake either with Google and a notebook, or in an app like "Lose It." Reduce your caloric intake until you start to lose 1-2 pounds a week.
That's it.
If you simply MUST read a book about this, google "The Whole 30" and follow your nose.
Side note: If you're already at a healthy weight, you should still be eating this way for best performance.
Why you should stop making weight loss your singular focus.
'Cause there's more to life than selfies.
We live in a society that glorifies the "before and after" photo, and I think everyone has a little bit of vanity running through their veins, but what if we just started to diet and exercise so we can experience life more fully?
What good is looking slim, or being at a "healthy weight" if you still can't DO anything?
Here at Double Under Wonder, we think that mirror selfies should be replaced with pictures of someone's first pull-up. Solo shots of people's abs should be replaced with group photos taken on top of mountains. Perfectly posed booty pics should be replaced with pictures of you getting your booty through the local 5k.
Someday, all of our reflections in the bathroom mirror will be hilarious in terms of physical attractiveness, so let's just focus on being functional, healthy, and happy, shall we?
Let's lose weight so we can do awesome stuff. Let's train so we can be more functional. Let's walk through life knowing that we've taken care of the gift we've been given.
And on that note...LET'S JUMP SOME ROPE!
Click below to design a custom speed rope that is cut to fit your height, designed to fit your style, and always ready for a workout!
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