Before Cross fitness became the trend, it was Muhammad Ali who had best articulated the benefits of speed jump roping. This happened during his 1974 heavyweight title match when he stated “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” Ali had prepared for the contest by training in Zaire with a routine which utilized jump ropes. As a heavyweight champion he realized the necessity of speed, agility, and power in the boxing ring. Today, we are seeing a similar trend in the fitness industry that promotes the overall physique of the body. It isn’t good enough to train only one part of the body such as the arms, chest, or core with methods that only promote dense muscle tissue. Healthy muscle needs to also be resilient, soft, and flexible. The whole body should be of correct proportions. Jump ropes are one of the best workouts for this type of cardio training.

Many types of cardio workouts such as yoga, cycling, running, and swimming burn calories and are conducive to healthy muscle building, but jump ropes are one of the more accessible and easiest cardio workouts. You don’t need a swimming pool, you don’t need a teacher, and you don’t need much money. It doesn’t matter whether you are jumping slow or fast, jump roping burns calories. Speed jump roping can burn around 200 calories in a ten-minute workout; the longer your workout, the more calories you will burn. It also gets the heart rate going no matter whether you are a beginner or an expert, as there is always a technique to improve upon or an endurance limit to overcome.

Many athletes choose to train with jump ropes to build endurance, agility, coordination, and alertness. Frequent speed jump roping will greatly increase the endurance of an athlete, and jump ropes are the best method for working out both the lower and upper body because of the synchronized movements. It is often preferred to running, as jumping involves less impact on the joints. In terms of agility and coordination, speed jump ropes are a preferred training method for many boxing professionals to include in the warm up before a match. Speed rope workouts will help improve your timing, footwork, and speed while simultaneously helping get your fight in sync with a rhythmic movement. Jumping rope works your entire body, from your feet to your core and shoulders.

Speed jump roping is a convenient and easy exercise as it can be done almost any time and anywhere. As little as 20 minutes of rigorous exercise is a great way to get the blood flowing, keeping the brain healthy. By utilizing coordination, the brain is also getting a workout in the form of cognitive functioning. Many of the best workouts for brain health involve coordination, rhythm, and strategy. Workouts such as dancing, slack lining, and extreme sports workout the brain in similar ways, but amongst these speed jump roping is surely the safest and most approachable.

So next time you are trying to decide on to what to include in your cross-fitness routine you might consider the great all-around benefits of speed jump roping. If you are trying to start an exercise routine as part of a fitness resolution and don’t know where to begin, this is a great way to get started. You might just be a travelling athlete and having a difficult time keeping to your fitness routine while away from the gym, then a jump rope might just be your best friend because it’s affordable and portable. If that isn’t a great reason to stand up and jump about, what else is?