Cardio exercise at home

Efficient cardio

If you’re looking for an effective cardio option, jumping rope is one of the best exercises you can do, says DiPaolo. “It gets your heart rate up really quickly,” she explains. That’s because it involves so many different muscle groups working together at once.

Jumping rope is a vigorous-intensity activity, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers one minute of vigorous-intensity activity about the same as two minutes of moderate-intensity activity (which includes things like walking fast or playing doubles tennis) in terms of health benefits (for instance, reduced risks of heart disease and diabetes). That means you can incorporate a jump rope workout into your routine to get the same benefits as moderate-intensity activity in about half the time.