Jump Rope - the Ultimate Weight Loss Hack?

The age old question… Will (fill in the blank) help me lose weight?

We have all thought about this question for a variety of exercises, training regimens, cardio workouts, etc… To answer this question we will need to go into a little more detail of how we actually lose weight, the basic science behind losing weight.

There is one very important equation to have in mind when, losing, gaining or maintaining weight: Calories taken in vs. Calories burned

I know this sounds over simplistic but it is what it all boils down to. If you eat more calories than you burn, you are going to gain weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, you are going to lose weight. This is why it is always important to read the nutrition labels on the foods you are taking in as it can really affect the calories you take in.

In this post we are going to focus on the calories burned for this equation. The calories we burn throughout the day is made up of two groups, our basal metabolic rate and exercise. The basal metabolic rate is the number of calories you would burn from just basic bodily functions, breathing, brain activity, staying alive basically. This means if you were to sit or lie absolutely still for a day you would burn a certain amount of calories. You can find a calculator for this with a quick Google search. The second group is the calories you burn from exercise, which can include any and all movement you do during the day. Walking to the groceries, burning calories. Cleaning up around the house, burning calories. Playing with your kids, burning calories. Workout, burning calories.

Now what do all these “activities” have in common? You are moving your body in some way, shape or form. What does this translate to? A quick spike in your heart pumping to get blood and oxygen all around your body. This in turn is what helps you burn more calories and ask you for more fuel. The slightly disappointing thing here is that the calories we burn from exercise are usually (unless you are moving a lot!) far less than those of our metabolic rate. Let’s take walking for example. Walking can burn anywhere from 350-600 calories per hour depending on your speed. The faster you go, the more you burn since your heart will beat faster and as a result burn more calories.

I know what you’re thinking… Why is he rambling on about all this mumbo jumbo? To get to the point of explaining an exercise that gets your heart beating so fast that you can boost the calories burned in an hour to over 800. Jumping rope is a physical activity that can get you to burn 700-1200 calories in an hour depending on your intensity. It is said that a 15-20 minute intense jump rope session is the equivalent to burning off a candy bar and can burn as many calories as a 45-60 minute run. The upsides, you are going to be toning your muscles and will have less impact on your knees, ankles and hips than going for a jog.

I have been jumping rope for 2 years and I try to incorporate it into almost all my workouts. I do this by doing full jump rope workouts, Bodyweight workouts with jump rope intervals, machine workouts with jump rope intervals, you name it. It is an amazing exercise that will burn a ton of extra calories during your workout and definitely adds some spice to get away from the mundane cardio we have allowed ourselves to get used to.

All in all, is jump rope good for weight loss?

You better believe it! If you maintain a healthy diet and all else equal, jump rope is definitely going to help boost the amount of calories your burn, in turn helping you to lose weight.

Now get out there, and LIVE.BREATHE.JUMP.