Don't Skip Out On This - Cardio Exercises at Home

Are you looking for a fun, dynamic way to get your cardio in at home? Something more exciting than endlessly looking at the ground while you stationary bike or staring at that same painted wall whilst you run endless miles on the treadmill? Look no further than this simple yet efficient method, skipping rope! 

This at home cardio exercise stands out most to me as it is relatively inexpensive; a jump rope is at least 1/100th the price of any cardio machine you may use, and there is a simiplicity to the skipping movement that only a few minutes of practice is really required to become proficient at it. Once you have mastered the basic functional movement of skipping, there are all kinds of tricks and challenges you can use to give your workout that extra burn, but more on this later. In addition to all of this, skipping is a lot safer and offers minimal to no risk of injury for a beginner - if you have ever fallen off a treadmill or your pedal came off your bike, you know what I mean. 

When speaking about the ideal posture of skipping, the trick is to be as tall as possible while using as little energy to jump off the ground, in order to avoid the rope's rotation. Hinging too much at the hips or neck can cause discomfort after a long period of time. Additionally, maintaining a slight bend at the knees is key also, as I have personally found that not doing this, causes your ankle and calve muscles to fatigue rapidly, thus decreasing the effectiveness of your overall workout. More details about ideal posture for skipping can be found in the attached image. 

But how do I keep skipping fun and exciting as my workout? Well that is one of the greatest benefits of skipping rope, the flexibility of the workouts possible! When you skip rope you can do something as simple as skipping for a long period of time at a steady rhythm or you can increase the speed/dynamics of the rope (double unders, cross-overs, etc) to add some challenge while potentially decreasing your workout time but getting the same results! Additionally, you can do intervals such as skipping fast for 20 seconds, then taking 40 seconds of rest or doing slower tempo skipping during this time. Furthermore, you can use it as a superset after some of your other at home exercises to keep your sweat going strong! If you really run out of ideas, you can search the internet for videos such as the one I have included in this post below.

If you are looking at getting the most cost effective, highly adaptable piece of cardio equipment for your home, I sincerely hope you don't skip out on this one!

Beginner Skipping Workout Idea