Why Is Jumping Good for your Heart?
“I like coffee, I like tea
I like so and so to jump with me!”
Long gone it seems are the days that we would recite child rhymes. So too have a lot of the activities that we made up with the rhymes. The particular one happens to be a rhyme for double scotch jump rope. It would invite one more person to jump with them. The rhyme would continue until you either had so many people jumping that you couldn’t fit anymore, or someone landed on the rope and stopped the swing. Although these games lay as treasured memories to reflect on, we often leave behind the good habits that came with them.
Research shows that it may not be such a good idea to stop jumping around. The jumping motion has many benefits that will help you maintain a healthy body and full range of motion.
Jumping rope has benefits similar to running a 9 minute mile. Forcing yourself to balance on your toes while relaxing and contracting your calves requires much the same strength and muscle movement that running a 9 minute mile would. The consistent bouncing pushes your muscles through a full range of motion, using them to their full capacity every time.
Jumping jacks can help you lose weight, strengthen bones and increase speed of movement. The range of motion required to complete a jumping jack causes you to use your quadriceps in the “stretch-shortening cycle.” With each jumping jack, your quadriceps muscles shorten for an instant, before being stretched out to the side. A well rounded muscle is a strong muscle. It can pull strength in any position to propel you forward. The sheer effort it takes to build up these muscles will help you lose weight with consistent cardiovascular activity.
Although you might not be calling friends in to jump with you, jumping around can have an enormous benefit on your overall health.
