The Jump Rope – A Basic Tool to Increase Vertical Jump and Lose Weight

Jumping rope is one of the most basic and effective exercises you can do to boost your cardio, lose weight, and increase your vertical jump. But for some reason, you don’t see a lot of people doing it in gyms. Many gyms don’t even have a jump rope, or don’t set aside the required space for people to perform their jump rope routine.

Additionally, many athletes seeking cardiovascular activity are reluctant to jump rope. They prefer long distance jogging to jumping rope, even though jogging causes much more impact and damage to their joints and ligaments than jumping rope. This is mainly due to the fact that jumping rope requires some coordination between the hands that rotate it and the legs that jump it, and that is something that does not come naturally to everyone. Some try to jump rope, get their legs tangled several times and give up forever, thinking that they will never understand and that they would be wasting their time trying.

Well, they shouldn’t. Lacking the coordination necessary to jump rope is not a major strength. Jump rope coordination comes with practice, so don’t give up. It takes patience, time, and practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s worth the effort.

Like everything, you have to get used to jumping rope little by little. Start for 10 minutes with as many revolutions as you feel comfortable with (100-110 revolutions per minute is typical for beginners, but you should aim for 120-130) and slowly increase the session time.

The rope should be long enough for you to jump comfortably, and its proper length depends on your height. Stand on the rope with both feet together, at its midpoint, and stretch it up your body on both sides. The handles should reach your armpits. A shorter jump rope may be too high for you to jump over and could cause you to trip. A longer jump rope will drag on the ground and be very difficult to turn properly.

Your regular running shoes are also good enough for jumping rope. If you have one of those thin exercise mats they have at gyms, you can also use that for extra padding, but that’s not required.

Jumping rope is a great exercise from all kinds of physical aspects. The vertical jump boost is one of the main ones, plus you get a lot of fitness bonuses along the way. It’s easy to do at home with very little equipment—all you need is a jump rope and some flooring. Coordination comes with practice. go do it