Burning body fat, developing stamina and conditioning and boosting your metabolism doesn't have to be complicated.

With this jump rope and calisthenic workout all you need is a skipping rope and your own body, as we are going to be doing an intense full body interval workout that alternates bursts of jump rope and calisthenics.

The first part of each round is 50 rope jumps followed by a set number of reps of a full body, bodyweight movement. After repeating each circuit three to five times, you move onto the next one. 

All three bodyweight movements in each of the two variations will hit every muscle group in your body while the rope melts calories and improves your cardiovascular capacity.

Why Train Like This?

It's been proven for some time now that doing long sessions of steady state cardio not only isn't fun and wastes valuable time in your life, it also isn't really effective while trying to get muscular and lean while losing fat at the same time. 

Doing circuits or groupings of exercises that use large muscle groups with little rest in between is not only time-efficient, it also is very taxing and boosts your metabolism and boosts EPOC.

As for fat burning, interval and circuit training can burn 300% more calories than steady state cardio!

Why Jump Rope?

When it comes to efficiency, nothing really beats skipping rope. One of the reasons it has endured over time. Boxers have used this for the past century or more as a mainstay in their conditioning. 

As you can imagine, skipping rope can burn a ton of calories. 

According to statistics from Captain Calculator.com using a 2011 study from the Arizona State University:

"A 150-pound (68kg) person jumping rope at a slow pace for 10 minutes will burn 105 calories. A 200-pound (90.8kg) person jumping rope at a fast pace for 10 minutes will burn 196 calories...Heavier people burn more calories doing the same task. A 200-pound (90.8kg) person jumping rope at 100-120 skips per minute will burn 563 calories in 30 minutes. A 150-pound (68kg) person in the same scenario will burn 422 calories."

What this amounts to for the vast majority of the population is that skipping rope at a moderate pace for approximately an hour will burn 1000 calories.

Other benefits beside cardiovascular fitness include: increased bone density, and strengthening muscles in the lower and upper body and core. Most experts recommend for beginners learning how to skip rope to use a heavier rope for their bodies to learn and feel the feedback from the rope, making the mechanics of jumping with it easier to get used to.

More Benefits of Bouncing

Any sort of bouncing or jumping has been found to be extremely beneficial for the immune system and particularly for the body's lymphatic system. 

Without the lymphatic system, the body cannot effectively remove waste substances and toxins from the roughly five to six quarts of blood we have and we have up to three times that amount of lymph fluid. 

It was found that the lymphocytes, the T-cells key to the immune system, move through the body, passing through valves in one direction. Bouncing or jumping up and down, as in jumping rope, moves this fluid and the lymphocytes though your circulation, clearing your body of waste and toxins.

To add to all of this it also turns out that jump rope can have a positive effect on lymphocyte protein expression something that is integral to proper immune function!

What Does The Jump Rope Bodyweight Workout Look Like?

It is recommended to do this workout every other day. If you want to get some skipping in on off days with some stretching, that is ok, but will depend on you and your recovery ability.

Beginners can start with three rounds of each and work up to five rounds. 

One:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Push-ups

repeat for 3-5 rounds (5 rounds = total of 250 jumps and 75 push-ups)

Two:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Squats 

repeat for 3-5  rounds (5 rounds = total of 250 jumps and 75 squats)

Three:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 20 Reverse Crunches

repeat for 3-5 rounds (5 rounds = total of 250 jumps and 100 crunches)

Total: 5 rounds = 750 rope jumps and 225 reps calisthenics

The Perfect Bodyweight Squat

How To Switch This Routine Up?

What you could also do to prevent overuse issues is, as always, to switch up the exercises so that you work the same large muscle groups from different angles. Here what we are going to do is to swap out regular push-ups and prisoner squats for Hindu push-ups and squats. 

These are slightly different movement. The benefits of the Hindu push-up are that you involve more shoulder movement and pec minor as well as more spinal articulation. A big plus for flexibility!

The Hindu push-up begins in the downward dog position, where you 1) you lower your chest and shoulders into a push-up and then 2) simultaneously press up and push your hips down to the floor, putting you in a cobra position. At that point, 3) you push your hips up and back into the starting position.

The upward dog and downward dog positions are two yoga positions which focus on spinal flexibility, but you are still getting the emphasis of a regular push-up on your chest, shoulders and triceps.

With the Hindu squats, the feet are at most shoulder-width apart and arms at your sides or slightly behind your hips. Exhale as you descend, lowering yourself onto the balls of your feet and raising your heels.

Some people do this starting with their arms out in front and as they lower, they lower their arms to their sides, emulating the rowing of a boat.

It is a very quad-centric movement, largely targeting the same areas of the thigh muscles as a hack squat or even a "sissy squat", the so-called  "VMO" (vastus medialis oblique) muscle group. But it's benefits aren't limited to those muscles, your whole lower body particularly your ankles will be challenged.

Hindu Push-Ups & Hindu Squats

For a change-up on a core exercise we are gong to swap out crunches for table bridges, which work the posterior chain, glutes, hamstrings, core, shoulders, arms and wrists.

How to do a Table Bridge

Alternating the above workout with these different exercises would look like this for example: 

Monday:

One:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Push-ups
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Two:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Prisoner Squats
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Three:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 20 Reverse Crunches
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Wednesday:

One:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Hindu Push-ups
  repeat for 3-5 rounds
  

Two:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Hindu Squats
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Three:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 20 Table Bridges
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Friday:

One:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Push-ups
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Two:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 15 Prisoner Squats
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

Three:

• 50 Rope Jumps
• 20 Reverse Crunches
  repeat for 3-5 rounds

And then just keep alternating both versions of the workout every other day!

I've been doing this workout myself for the past several weeks and can attest that it is both a great, taxing workout and also a perfect time-saving workout for doing anywhere. (it takes me around 25 minutes to get through five rounds of all three circuits).