Jump Rope
Don’t want to do cardio on a machine?1After all, there are only but so many miles you can say “FML” to yourself before prematurely stopping your cardio session to blow your brains out.
Or maybe you want to do cardio between sets to keep your heart rate elevated so you burn more calories for fat loss?2Yeah, you can actually do that instead of playing on your phone until your next set! Running in place, burpees, and other light aerobic activity between sets not only helps burn more calories but active rest has also been shown to increase exercise performance and help build more muscle.
Jumping rope answers both, as it’s not as boring as traditional cardio and you can perform it anywhere.3While jump roping can indeed be done anywhere, it must be done especially in a packed gym right in front of the dumbbell rack so people have to wait to get their weights for fear of getting whipped in the face. Either that, or smack dab in the middle of a walkway so people have to take the circuitous path around you for fear of getting whipped in the face. By no means should you jump rope in an area of the gym where there’s enough space for that shit!!! But not only does jump roping have excitement and convenience going for it, it’s also the most efficient form of cardio on the planet. Just by simply jumping over a piece of rope for a relatively short amount of time, you can get a workout that recruits all the muscles in the body, burns a shitload of calories, builds bone density, and improves your motor skills, balance, and coordination. As an added benefit, a jump rope can double as a garrote to creep up on someone from behind and then choke them out so you can easily discard them from the machine they were camped out twiddling their thumbs on. Oh, and jump roping is also low impact on the joints!
To find the right jump rope for you, length is the first criteria.4Isn’t that always the case, ladies?!?! It should be 3 feet longer than your height and when you step on the middle of the rope and pull it taut, the point where the rope meets the handles should reach your armpits. Rope length varies by experience. For instance, an advanced jump roper would get a rope where the handles line up with the nipples.
The given length is the one recommended for a beginner. For the exact type of rope to use, that depends on your experience and objective. If you’re a beginner, go with a basic jump rope. If you want to engage more muscle groups in the upper body, then choose a weighted jump rope, which has weights in the handle, cable, or both. The thinner and lighter speed rope is ideal if you’re more advanced or want to work on your conditioning.
Glossary: calories, cardio, dumbbell rack, gym, muscle, muscle group, workout
