Jumping rope is a highly energetic and fun exercise. A moderate jump roping speed of between 70 and 120 turns per minute for a period of fifteen minutes burns as much as 200 calories. This is an equivalent of running for ten minutes.

Jumping the rope offers a complete body workout. It targets core muscles and those of the arms, legs and back. The hamstrings, calves, traps, butt, inner and outer thigh and quadriceps end up being developed. Development of the calves equates to increase in the calf size and thus leg size.

With the many muscles in play, warming up before a rope jumping session is a necessity. This allows all these muscles to be properly warned for the oncoming exercise. Excellent warm up moves include neck rolls, arm circles, ankle circles, wrist circles, squats, lunges, Frankenstein's and swimmers.

The workout is alternated with rest intervals, varying according to the progressive adaptability of the body.With mastery of the basic roping skills, you can combine different techniques. These are mostly crossovers, high knees, jogging in place, mini lunges, double jumps, side to side jumps.

The crossovers involve swinging the rope in a standard motion and lifting the feet simultaneously, while crossing the arms in front to create a loop that you then jump through. The trick in doing this successfully lies in keeping the upper body straight.

With mastery of this, a few complexities can be introduced, such as jumping on a single foot at a time. Increasing the speed of the rope swing increases the difficulty of performing crossovers.

Alternating legs involves simultaneously lifting both feet off the ground while jumping the rope, but changing the movement by alternating the legs. This is running in place. High knees are much like alternating legs except that the knees have to be lifted high in the air, each at a time.

This is a very tiring technique and can only be performed for a few seconds, before you have to revert to normal jumping movement. Mastery of high knees is determined by masterly of rope swinging pace control.

The double jumps involve a most demanding technique, which increases the intensity of the workout. Execution of a double jump requires a rope swing that is fast enough or a jump that is high enough to allow the rope pass under your feet twice whilst still airborne. This is ideal for a regular routine, as it eliminates the constant need for doing the same movement in a row.

There are also run skips. These involve running and at the same time jumping rope and for that, some space is essential. You perform this technique by beginning with a jog, and the incorporating jumping rope without breaking the forward motion. With limited space, running in wide circles suffices.

The possibilities in jumping rope are endless. Different techniques can be mixed up, but lasting one to three minutes before thirty to sixty seconds breaks. Doing proper and regular rope jumping develops the foot speed and helps in the prevention of ankle injuries, while developing the calf size.