Cardio Blasting without a Gym
How do you get in your cardio when you don’t belong to a gym or own a piece of cardio equipment? There are several ways to boost your heart rate and burn calories without typical cardio machines. Anyone can get outdoors and move their body without having to depend on expensive machines. Running, Walking, jumping jacks or even running in place can be just as efficient as using typical cardio machines. The key is finding something you enjoy and being consistent with your efforts. I don’t know about you but doing the same type of cardio day in and day out gets boring. It is important to change it up and find new, fun, and fresh ways to challenge yourself and boost your heart rate.
One of my favorite ways to boost my heart rate and get in cardio is by using one of the most simple and basic pieces of equipment, the jump rope. You may remember using a jump rope on the playground with your friends or participating in “Jump Rope For Heart”, as a way school brought awareness to childhood obesity. No matter what age or where you are in your journey, jump roping is a fun and effective way to get your heart rate up, metabolism raging, body toned and boost energy levels. If you are someone who likes to work out at home and is looking for ways to get your heart rate up, without cardio equipment, a simple jump rope is a perfect addition to your home gym.
8 Reasons you Need a Jump Rope in your life.
1. It’s an excellent form of exercise that is fun, easy to do and very inexpensive.
2. It’s a full body workout working your legs, arms, abs, heart and mind. It is a full body toning exercise that not only boosts heart rate but increased overall muscle tone and body composition.
3. It is not as high impact as running.
4. Improves coordination, concentration, agility and focus. It isn’t easy to combine rhythm and timing, especially as you try more advanced moves such as skipping or take it even a notch further and do double unders (which I still have yet to master).
5. The jump rope is completely portable so can be done anywhere. Making for the perfect travel buddy, fitting right in your suitcase or handbag.
6. Takes up NO room in your home gym so regardless of the size of your gym or workout space, unlike a piece of cardio equipment, a jump rope takes up NO space.
7. They are inexpensive and don’t even compare to the cost of a typical piece of cardio equipment. For anywhere from $10-$50, you can find yourself a great jump rope that will last you forever.
8. They are fun! You can vary your jumps, challenge yourself, come up with games and jump to music. They make for a fun way to get in your cardio without the monotony of a machine.
There are all different ways to incorporate jumping rope into your workout routine. You can jump for a certain amount of time, set amount of jumps or even incorporate jumping rope in between exercises.
Check out this awesome jump rope workout that incorporates jumping rope and body weight exercises to ensure the maximum results in the least amount of time. If you don’t already own a jump rope, I suggest you go out and get one and give this workout a try! With summer coming up, it is the perfect way to take your cardio outside and jump your way towards your bikini body!
Gina’s Cardio Blast Jump Rope Circuit Workout
Warm Up- 100 Jump ropes
Start by jumping until you have reached 100 total jumps. You can vary your jumps, have fun and change it up. Every time your foot hits the ground, that is considered 1 jump.
10 Cross over push-ups
Lie the jump rope on the ground in a straight vertical line. Start in the top of a push up position on one side of the jump rope. Perform a push-up then cross one hand over the other to move to the other side of the jump rope and perform another push up. Move back and forth until you have completed a total of 10 push-ups.
25 single Jump ropes
Start holding the jump rope in each hand and perform 25 regular jump ropes lifting both feet with each jump.
10 Jumping Burpees
Lie the jump rope on the ground in a straight vertical line. Start in the top of a push up position on one side of the jump rope. Perform a push-up then jump feet to hands and as you stand jump up and over to the other side of the jump rope. Perform another burpee then jump to the other side of the jump rope. Move back and forth until you have completed a total of 10 burpees.
50 running jump ropes
Start holding the jump rope in each hand and perform 50 running jump ropes With each jump alternate feet so you are running in place as you jump over the rope with each step.
20 overhead squats
Start standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width distance and hands directly over head holding the jump rope taut and slightly wider than shoulder width distance. As you keeping your elbows locked and rope taut overhead, drop down into a squat position, pushing glutes back, as if you are sitting in a chair. Rise back up to the starting position and repeat this movement until you have completed 20 overhead squats.
20 single jump ropes super set with 25 regular jump ropes
Start holding the jump rope in each hand and perform single jump ropes so you start with 10 jumps using one leg then move over to the other leg then finish up with regular jump ropes, jumping with both feet for the final 25 jumps.
Rest and repeat 1x
This is a killer cardio burn! With this workout, you will see how effective the simple jump rope really can be. Have fun and Dig Deep!!