“You need to change up the workouts to keep from plateauing.” How many times have you heard this? Lots I bet! I know I have. So, to change things up I decided to start jumping rope. I mean we all did this way back when right, how hard could it be?

Ha! That’s funny. I’m still laughing as I hobble around the house.

Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular workout. And its  a good way to burn calories, if that is your goal. A 130lb person will burn about 300 calories jumping rope at a moderate pace for 30 minutes. Crank up the intensity to burn even more.

Let me clue you in on a little secret when starting a jump rope program: Don’t go over 10-15 minutes the first time, even if you feel great and are not tired while doing it! Your calves will be sore. I guarantee it. I dont care how fit you are if you have never jumped rope before, you calves will be sore. I am, what I consider, pretty fit. I play hockey 2-4 times a week and workout 4-5 times per week. And by workout I mean strength training, and not dainty little cardio treadmill running or lifting 5 lb dumbbells. And my calves were SORE. They actually are still pretty sore. And it has been 4 days!

On my first jump rope workout, I did 30 sec on / 30 sec off for 27 minutes. And let me tell you that was a VERY BAD IDEA.

It seemed like a good idea at the time as I was not sore at all while doing it. In fact, if my boyfriend had not walked into the workout room when I was at the 27 minute mark and warned me that I better stop, who knows how long I would have went for!

Learn from me and try this beginning workout for your first time: Do 30 sec on / 30 sec off for 10 minutes. It won’t seem like a lot, and really it isn’t, but you will be able to see how your body feels the next day and the days after that. It shouldn’t be too bad at all only doing 10 minutes. Then, for your next go-round go for 30/30 for 15 minutes. And just gradually increase the duration until you can do that for 30 minutes without being so sore you can barely walk. Once you can do 30 minutes of 30 sec on / 30 sec off, you can increase the jumping duration to 40 sec on / 20 sec off. And so forth.

Your Gymboss  Interval Timer is a great way to time your jump rope workout easily so you dont have to stare at the clock. For your first workout set your Gymboss to two interval of 00:30 each for 10 rounds. Then just hit the start button and off you go. It’ll beep to notify you when to stop jumping and when to start again.