Jump roping seems to that it was a lost form of exercise, but looks to have been picked up more recently due to some of the awesome videos you’ve seen.  If you’ve been on TikTok or Instagram, chances are you’ve seen some of these awesome videos of people jump roping. It’s aesthetically amazing, but that’s one of the least important reasons you should start jump roping.

What was once popular during the Rocky Era seems to have been merely forgotten. However, besides it looking cool, the benefits of jump roping are amazing and can be a key piece of your daily workouts to help achieve your goals. Here are some of the reasons you should start jump roping. 

#1 You Can Take It With You Anywhere

One of the reasons people tend to stray from their workout regimen is due to vacation or needing to go away. If you’re going away, most likely you don’t have or want to bring any equipment with you. I doubt you’ll be throwing some kettlebells in your luggage with you to the airport. What makes jump roping great is how lightweight it is and you can bring it with you anywhere. 

A jump rope you can easily store in any of your luggage and it won’t impact weight. 

Besides it is light, you can also jump rope in most places with constriction. 

If you want to stay home, you can easily just jump rope inside your place. I know many people would think jump roping in your place would make a bunch of noise, but if you’re landing properly and with good form, you shouldn’t be making too much noise.

Let’s say you want an outside workout, you can easily bring your jump rope to an open area and start doing it there. 

What makes jump roping great is its lack of limitations environmentally and physically. 

#2 Get a Total Body Workout

Jump ropes come in all different shapes and sizes. You can get a speed rope, designed for faster jumping or you can get a weighted rope. A weighted rope will be a bit harder to sling around, but that’s the point.

A weighted rope will add some extra resistance to the workout. While jump roping already workouts out your legs overall and requires core stability, a weighted rope amplifies this and hits those muscles even harder. 

If you ever wanted to add a little extra burn to a leg day or just get a more full-body workout, then you should start jump roping. As well, get a weighted rope. 

#3 Get Strong Calves

We just went over that one reason to start jump roping is that it’s a great overall total body workout. I do want to emphasize though, the jump rope really works your calves. If you feel like your calves may be weak or need improvement, I highly suggest you start jump roping. 

I personally have fairly decent calves (at least I thought I did), and when I picked up a jump rope and started for 10 minutes, I felt like my calves were nowhere near as strong as I thought. It was a humbling experience, to say the least.

#4 Burns a Great Number of Calories

Jump roping easily burns a great number of calories. You can easily burn 200 calories in a 20-minute workout. However, this also depends on how much you weigh cause your body is its own resistance in this case. The more you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn. 

Most people like to compare jumping rope vs running in terms of calories. If you’re running a 10-minute mile you will probably burn around ~100-115 calories. A good jump rope session in that same time frame can burn around ~115-130. Granted, not a huge difference but in terms of the impact running can have on your body and all the other factors you have to take in to play, I think it’s safe to say jump roping is the better option to choose with a better outcome. 

#5 Helps with Coordination / Balance

Jumping up and down seems fairly easy. To do that though over a rope at different intervals and keeping your body fairly balanced to not trip over the rope is a more difficult task. The better you get at jump roping, the better your coordination and balance will be for those exact reasons.

If you’re jump roping and your arms start flailing out to one side more than the other, you’ll trip over your rope. You time your jump wrong, you’re going to trip over the rope. It takes patience, but the better you get at jump rope, the better your balance and coordination will get. 

#6 Easy to Jump Into (Pun Intended) 

The last reason to start jump roping is that it’s a fairly easy exercise to get into. I will say, it may require some patience if you have balance issues as I do, but overall for most, it should be something to easily pick up. You can easily get going with it and incorporate it as a warm up, or as just some extra cardio into your workout. 

Since jump roping (when done correctly) should be fairly easy on your joints, and you can do it anywhere, it makes it an easy option to pick up. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or advanced athlete, this is still something you can easily throw into your workout with ease. 

Getting Started Jump Roping

If you’ve been convinced to start jump roping, well then awesome! I’ll like to go through a quick starting portion on how you can pick up a jump rope and learn how to use it with proper form.

Buying a Rope

First, you need a jump rope. Personally, I use the Rogue SR-2 Speed Rope . This was my first rope, but I’ve heard from others if you’re starting out you should start with a weighted rope instead. 

Measuring Your Rope

Once you get your rope, you actually may need to measure it and cut it for your height. I had no idea this was a thing, so I hope to save you some time by mentioning this. Here is a video on how you can measure and cut your rope:

Jumping with Proper Form

Jump roping with proper form is essential to mitigate injury and ensure a proper workout.

Here is a good video on jump rope form:

If you end up like me and tripping over the rope 100 times, here is a video that can help fix your mistakes:

Workout Regime

Okay, so you’ve got your jumping down! Now here’s a quick sample workout you can use to get you started and keep improving over time.

Final Thoughts

Jump roping has many benefits. You increase your cardio but also get a total full-body workout that can help with coordination and balance. It’s somewhat of a lost art form that’s gained some popularity as of the last couple of years. 

If you’re trying to lose weight or just need to include some more cardio into your regime overall, this is a great tool to have that you can bring anywhere with you.

Photos:

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Do the Murph this Memorial Day Weekend

The Murph Challenge is a HIT workout to do every Memorial Day. It’s an excruciating workout that will kick your ass and humble you.

You’re probably asking though, what is the Murph and why should I do it?

About Lt. Michael P. Murphy and why we do the Murph Challenge

Lt. Michael P. Murphy was a Navy Seal who made the ultimate sacrifice for his teammates during Operation Redwings. Lt. Murphy heroically sacrificed his life for his teammates to save in a dire situation. Michael Murphy is a hero. Not many people are will to do that to save their teammates. It takes a very special person. We do the Murph to honor him and keep him in our memories. 

If you want to read up more on this mission and Michael Murphy in general you can check out the book called “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell. There is also a movie out about it starring Mark Wahlberg playing Marcus Luttrel and Taylor Kitsch portraying Michael Murphy. 

Foundation

You can officially register for the workout via on their official website

Once registered, you can select an item of purchase and that money goes straight to the LT. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation. You can find more details out about its here 

The Murph Challenge Workout

So what is the workout?

Well, the workout consists of the following:

It’s not easy whatsoever, but if you have a pull-up bar, you should give this workout your time and dedication even if you don’t have a weighted vest. 

Final Thoughts

I do the MURPH every year now. It never gets easier, but somehow my times get better. Go figure. If you want a tip, break the workout into 10 sets of:

• 10 pull-ups
• 20 push-ups
• 30 squats

Do the mile run before and the mile run after. You’ll be surprised at your time and that you were able to get through it. If you do the Murph, post your time up in the here.

Post your time also on social media and spread the word on The Murph Challenge and the story of Lt. Michael Murphy. 

If you did the Murph and you feel like your cardio isn’t great, see if an elevation mask would benefit you. 

Image sources: https://special-ops.org/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Murphy

I’m sure in some way or form you’ve seen the elevation mask or otherwise known as the Bane mask. You’ll see athletes use them while preparing in the offseason, you’ll see fighters use them preparing for a big fight, you’ll even hear the average gym bro sometimes wearing it during a cardio session and sounding a bit like Darth Vader. It seems like whoever wears one is training HARD but does it actually improve your endurance and cardio in the long run?

What Are Altitude Training and Elevation Masks?

An elevation mask is a piece of equipment you buy to alter yourself to become Bane. Okay… not really, but its purpose is to simulate altitude training. When training at a higher altitude, the amount starts to decrease, and essentially, there isn’t as much air to breathe. When you’re in a high altitude state (8000 ft+) your body has to start compensating for the lack of oxygen that’s being produced. One way your body does this is by creating more red blood cells. More red blood cells in the body mean that your body has an easier time delivering oxygen throughout your body. The point of the elevation mask is to simulate altitude training because unfortunately, we all can’t just train in the Himalayas. T elevation mask doesn’t actually simulate the high altitude pressure, it just reduces the amount of air you’re intaking. Most elevation masks have “resistance valves” which valves allow you to select the intensity/altitude.

Effects Of The Elevation Mask

When using an elevation mask, the person is hoping to achieve better endurance, and achieve a higher V02 max. A VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen that a person can use when training/exercising. With the more oxygen you’re able to intake, the more energy you’ll have for greater endurance when you’re working out. The elevation mask may not exactly simulate a high altitude, but it does help improve your VO2 max and other parts of your cardiovascular strength. According to a study published in 2016, people who used an elevation mask showed improvements in VO2, ventilatory threshold, power output, and respiratory compensation threshold. It’s important to note that with an elevation mask, you will see improvements in these areas but it’s not a direct replication of altitude training, and if done improperly you may not see results at all.

How to Train with an Elevation Mask

One of the main benefits of actual high altitude training is that you’re living in that environment for a long period of time. When using an elevation mask, you’re only getting about an hour of that same exposure. To see real benefits from an elevation mask, you would need to train with it frequently since your training session will only be about one-two hours max. I would recommend training with the elevation mask for at least a total of 3 – 4 hours a week to see benefits.

If you happen to purchase the training mask 2.0, you’ll notice your package comes with resistance caps. The resistance caps indicate the intensity. It’s suggested that if you train with the resistance mask frequently you should increase intensity (or change the resistance caps) about every 4-6 weeks to improve performance and avoid a plateau.

Final Thoughts

Training masks can be a great tool to improve your performance and cardiovascular strength. The key is frequent training with it though. It may seem like a scam of sorts because it doesn’t actually simulate high altitude training, but using the mask can still provide benefits that would be harder to achieve without the training mask.  You can purchase one at trainingmask.com or on amazon. Soon you’ll be doing crazy things like this :

Note: The above link is an affiliate link.

 

Want to know if cardio is detrimental to your gains? Check out this article

References

Porcari JP, Probst L, Forrester K, et al. Effect of Wearing the Elevation Training Mask on Aerobic Capacity, Lung Function, and Hematological Variables. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. 2016;15(2):379-386.

Zisko N, Stensvold D, Hordnes-Slagsvold K, et al. Effect of Change in VO2max on Daily Total Energy Expenditure in a Cohort of Norwegian Men: A Randomized Pilot Study. The Open Cardiovascular Medicine Journal. 2015;9:50-57. doi:10.2174/1874192401509010050.

Cardio is known to most weight lifters as evil; it ruins all the gains and would cause setbacks in strength and hypertrophy. The question is, how true is this? Most people hear this from word of mouth or “bro-science”. We’re going to dive deeper into it and see the real results.

WHERE DID THIS ORIGINATE?

Since the dawn of the gym, it has always been said that if you do cardio you’re going to ruin any gains (muscle gains/hypertrophy) you may get. It’s also believed that you may also lose out on any strength benefits from your resistance training. You do resistance training to gain strength/muscle mass. You do cardio to lose weight/fat. Thinking about this logically, it almost seems counterproductive to do cardio and resistance training together. It makes sense, which is why this is believed amongst lifters.

DOES CARDIO DETEREMENT GAINS?

There are different forms of cardio. There is high-intensity training (HIT) and there is also moderate-intensity endurance training (MOD) (There are more but this is what we’ll be focusing on.) A study conducted in 2016(1), it showed that people who combined MOD and regular resistance training (weight training) saw a slight increase in mass, mainly in the lower body. However, combining HIT and resistance training didn’t show much of an increase in mass. The difference wasn’t too significant though. Overall, resistance training solely had the best outcome of hypertrophy gains. From that study, the upper body and total body growth didn’t increase to a significant amount.

DOES CARDIO DETEREMENT STRENGTH GAINS?

Strength is different from just ordinary muscle gain. Strength is defined as “Physical strength is the measure of an animal’s exertion of force on physical objects”. When we workout, we usually test our strength by performing a one-rep max. Doing so, we can determine how strong we are. From the same study from 2016(1), people who incorporated HIT or MOD into their resistance training saw a lower increase in strength vs people who only did resistance training. If you’re looking to increase strength, your best bet is to limit the cardio as much as possible or at least do something not too intense.

DOING TOO MUCH

If you’re in a caloric surplus and you’re doing resistance training, you’ll most likely experience hypertrophy and strength gains. However, when you add cardio into the equation you’re increasing your workload and you’re expending more energy than normal. If you keep the same diet and keep your caloric intake the same, you’re bound to either maintain or even lose mass. It’s very important that if your goal is to gain mass/strength and you’re doing cardio, you must consider that factor and increase your caloric intake even more. If you don’t know what your caloric intake and what factors to consider, click here.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Cardio definitely has an effect on your muscular gains and strength. However, from the research I was looking into, there are some variables I would like to see that weren’t taken place, such as swapping when cardio was done and when resistance training was done during the workout (the people who were doing this experiment were doing cardio first, then resistance training.) If more information becomes available, I’ll make sure to revisit this article and give additional information. If you’re looking to make muscular gains or strength gains, you should limit the cardio. If you need to do cardio, make sure to keep it at a low level, and to increase your caloric intake.

REFERENCES

1. Behm DG, Young JD, Whitten JHD, et al. Effectiveness of Traditional Strength vs. Power Training on Muscle Strength, Power and Speed with Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Physiology. 2017;8:423. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00423.