Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

If you loved jumping rope as a kid, so why not pick up a rope now to shake up your fitness routine? Fitness has developed a five-move routine that it says can burn 160 calories in 15 minutes.

1)   Foot-fire combo

Judging from the photos, part of the idea is to react as if your feet are on fire, while maintaining “jazz hands.”

Lay the jump rope straight on the floor and straddle it, with feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Bend your elbows by your waist, with your forearms out to the sides, parallel to the floor and palms facing forward (jazz-hands style!). Move your feet up and down as fast as possible for 20 seconds. Then, drop down on the right side of the rope and do five push-ups. Stand and repeat combo.

2)   Squat jack

Stand with your feet together, holding one handle of the jump rope in each hand. Begin jumping rope, moving your legs out to the sides and squatting as you land. On the next jump, hop backward while bringing your legs together and stand upright. Hop forward, landing in the squat. Alternate between the squat and standing jumps like doing jumping jacks for one minute.

3)   Alternating high knees

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding the handles in both hands. Begin jumping rope, bringing your right knee up in front of you, with your left leg skipping as usual. Switch legs on the next jump and bring your left knee up. Alternate knees for one minute.

4)   Rope runner

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding the handles in both hands. Begin jumping rope and try to touch your right heel to your butt, with your left leg skipping as usual. Switch legs on the next jump and bring your left heel toward your butt. Do a total of six jumps, alternating legs each time, and then jump straight up with both feet once. Repeat combo for one minute.

5)   Zigzag

Lay the jump rope straight on the floor and stand with your feet together on the right side of the rope at one end, facing the opposite end. Jump across to the left side, feet together, and quickly back to the right side. Continue the zigzag jumping until you reach the opposite end and reverse jump back to the beginning position. Continue for one minute.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:05 am and is filed under General Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.