12 Days of Fitness: Day 8 – Jump rope

12 Days of Fitness: Day 8 – Jump Rope!

Today on the 12 Days of Fitness we are going to talk about jumping rope! It’s something you’ve all probably done as kids but haven’t touched one since. Sound familiar? It did to me too.

Jumping rope is a great way to get your heart rate going and is especially great for a warm up exercise. You can jump rope for a minute to warm up before you go into your stretching. Or you can make an entire workout of it by increasing the duration and incorporating jump rope in between interval activities.

Once you can do a regular jump rope bounce, you can try and tackle the more advancement movement called the double under. It’s tricky and takes some work but it is pretty great once you get the hang of it. Check out this YouTube video demo of a double under for more jump rope information. I love the sound a jump rope makes when you do a double under. That’s how you know you’re doing it right. And sometimes you may miss and whip yourself and get gnarly whip bruises, but it’s okay it’s all in the name of 12 days of fitness fun.

If you don’t own a jump rope, don’t sweat. You can borrow one from your son, daughter, niece, or nephew. Or if you want to get one that looks a little more…grown up…you can find one at any local sporting goods store or on our good friend, Amazon.com. I personally prefer the thinner speed ropes vs the thicker ropes with the big handles because they are easier to get moving more quickly and better for doing double unders.

Today’s Fitness Inspired Product:

Jump Rope

If you haven’t guessed it already, today’s 12 Days of Fitness inspired product is a jump rope. I recommended this one from Amazon because it’s a thinner speed rope and it’s relatively inexpensive. The one featured above comes in all different colors and is only $8.95. This is one of my staple pieces of home gym equipment and I also featured this same jump rope in my Home Gym for Under $100 post. Check it out. And Happy Jumping!