Tired of running on cardio day? Try mixing it up with an hour of jump rope! Jumping rope for an hour can burn anywhere from 750-1000 calories! Jump rope routines with quadrants can be a bit more challenging but rewarding.
Jumping rope, especially with a workout routine like the below, can increase speed, coordination, strength, and stability. I stumbled upon this advanced jump rope workout in high school when my strength and conditioning trainer gave me a quadrant jump rope workout routine similar to the one below (in addition to some other jump rope exercises that I'll share as well). It helped me make the Women's Varsity Tennis Team--we were ranked 3rd in the nation for most consecutive state wins, so getting on the team was not an easy task. At first, it took me a full hour and 10 minutes to complete the workout, but the more I practiced, I was able to do the full workout in 45 minutes or less. Once you hit this point, you'll be able to jump rope for 3 minutes straight without missing. I did this jump rope routine plus a few more jump rope exercises consistently for twice a week for a 3 and a half month period. I couldn't believe how much my speed, coordination, stability, and strength (a jump rope gets heavy after 20 minutes LOL) increased over a short period of time. I wouldn't have made it through and won my last qualifying match to make the Varsity Tennis Team if I hadn't done this workout because this match consisted of 4 hours of tennis with 2 sets (each with a tie breaker) plus a super tie breaker to determine the winner! You'll get in shape really quick if you jump rope. I will say, it does take time, patience, and practice. But once it all clicks, you won't believe your results.
Basically in addition to the workout above. I would also do (and still do) 300-500 regular jumps, 25 crossover jumps, 200 running jumps, square jumps (quadrant: 1, 2, 3, 4), and some freestyle (consisting of whatever type/combination of jumps ) for 100 jumps.
If you haven't done a jump rope quadrant workout before, I highly recommend drawing the quadrants and numbering them at least for the first couple of times you do the workout so you know where to jump. In order to draw the quadrants, I recommend using chalk if you are jumping rope outside in a driveway or parking lot or using masking tape indoors if you're at a gym or at home.
*This workout is an example of a quadrant workout. For more details see here.
Cameron Greene
Author