Aerobic exercise involving steady physical activity and using large muscle groups has the most benefits for your heart. This type of exercise strengthens the heart and lungs and improves the body’s ability to use oxygen. Over time, aerobic exercise can help decrease your blood pressure as well as improve your breathing.

Aerobic exercises include: walking, jogging, jumping rope, bicycling (stationary or outdoor), cross-country skiing, skating, rowing and low-impact aerobics or water aerobics.

Always remember to warm-up prior to performing any aerobic exercises. Warm-up stretching helps your body make the gradual transition from rest to exercise. A proper warm-up will reduce the stress on your heart and muscles, slowly increase your breathing, as well as increase circulation (heart rate) and body temperature. It also helps improve flexibility and helps reduce muscle soreness. Our SimpleStretchTM program offers a variety of great stretching exercise to choose from so make sure you perform at least 4-6 stretches targeting all body parts prior to performing aerobics. It’s also important to cool-down at the end of the exercise session by slowly decreasing the intensity of your activity and performing your SimpleStretchTM exercises once again. It allows your body to gradually recover from the exercise and for your heart rate and blood pressure to return to normal.

The following are a series of jump rope exercises that make up a great aerobics session.

Basic Jump

Begin with the rope behind you. Swing rope over your head, moving hands and rope forwards. Jump over the rope with feet together.

Reverse Jump

Begin with the rope in front of your body. Swing the rope backwards, over your head. Jump over the rope just as you would forwards, keeping feet together.

Jogging Step Jump

Begin as if you were doing a basic jump. When you swing the rope over your head, do not keep feet together. Instead, switch them back and forth, in a jogging motion as you jump.

Crisscross Jump

Begin as if you were doing a basic jump. When you jump over the rope, bring your left arm over to cross the right. Then bring arm back over.

Twisting Jump

The twisting jump is a basic jump that includes twisting your lower body side to side.

Mix them up and have fun! Any exercise that can counteract boredom will keep you active and, with jump rope aerobics, the possibilities are endless!