Jumping rope, using a trampoline or stationary jumping are effective ways to lose weight and burn fat. But it is high-impact exercise and if you can't handle 20 to 40 minutes daily just jumping, mix up your weekly workouts to include other cardio activities like walking, swimming or cycling.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends 150 to 300 minutes weekly of moderately intense cardio exercise. Jumping is considered a vigorous exercise and can raise your heart rate significantly.
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Check with a physician before beginning any aerobic or high-impact routine to ensure it is safe for your health.
Tip
You can lose weight jumping up and down if it's part of a weekly cardio and strength-training regimen — and if you consume a healthy low-calorie diet.
Your Metabolism and Exercise
Your metabolic rate is defined by the number of calories you must eat to maintain basic bodily functions. Your body burns up to 75 percent of the calories you eat simply by maintaining life. If you engage in physical activity such as jumping up and down, especially if it raises your heart rate for a period of 10 minutes or more, you will lose weight once the calories you burn exceed the calories you take in.
Calories In and Calories Out
It takes 3,500 calories to make one pound. In order to lose weight doing any exercise, whether jumping or skiing, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. To lose 2 pounds a week, you will need to burn more than 7,000 calories. A 155-pound person can quickly burn 744 calories per hour jump-roping says Harvard Health Publishing. In addition to a routine jumping workout, eating a healthy low-calorie diet can help increase the number of calories burned each week.
Jumping Rope as Exercise
Jump rope exercises burn fat quickly. A 10 minute session can burn more than 100 calories. Jumping rope is also good for toning your legs, arms, chest and shoulders. Rope jumping strengthens your calf muscles, but unlike an exercise like calf raises, will also increase the elasticity of your tendons, says ACE Fitness.
Make sure you get the right size rope. If you have a jump rope that might be too long, you can easily adjust it . If you don't have a jump rope, you can pretend by jumping high enough to bring your feet up a few inches and swinging your arms in a circular motion. Try to envision a jump rope in your hands as you jump.
Jumping on a Rebounder
A rebounder is a mini-trampoline. This is a low-impact form of jumping that can help you lose weight. The mini-trampoline was built specifically for weight loss and fitness. Men can burn approximately 12.4 calories a minute and women, 9.4 calories, according to ACE Fitness, depending on the speed and intensity of the exercise routine. It's an equivalent calorie burn to running 6 mph for an hour.
NASA even considered using it for its astronauts to exercise on because it was such effective aerobic training. You can increase the number of calories you burn by jumping rope on the rebounder, shadow boxing or lifting your legs as if you were running. This can also be a fun exercise for children or teenagers.
- Harvard Health Publishing: “Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for People of Three Different Weights”
- Health.gov: “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans”
- Harvard Health Publishing: “Calorie Counting Made Easy”
- ACE Fitness: "7 Benefits of Jumping Rope"
- ACE Fitness: "ACE-Sponsored Research: Putting Mini-Trampolines to the Test"
- NASA: "Jump for the Moon"