Can Skipping Help With Weight Loss

Skipping can help with weight loss but only if you have a healthy diet and are trying to be healthy in other ways, like not eating too much through out the day. This is because in order for any exercise to help with weight loss you have to make sure you penetrate your fat reserves. This can not be done if you are eating to excess everyday and then doing a little skipping or other exercise here and there. There has to be that commitment with a healthier diet as well or you will never get to the point of burning off actual fat reserves (stored body fat). Of course, any exercise routine you may do will be beneficial for your health but that doesn't necessarily mean it will burn off any body fat.

Skipping is an effective exercise, not only for people who want to lose weight but also for people that just like to stay in shape. Skipping not only works the arms and legs and helps with co-ordination, but it also gives the heart a good work out too. Skipping should not really be used as a stand alone exercise for weight loss though. Shin Splints are common. Even me, Ive done boxing training for many years, that's many years of skipping, and even I get shin splints now and again. You'd think that my shins would be immune by now! So someone that's carrying more weight will experience shin splints if skipping constantly. Variety is the spice of life, and this also applies with exercise, whether you are in good shape or not. You should mix it up a bit, keep things fresh and exciting. You will soon get fed up of exercising if all you do everyday is skipping.

Going out for long walks, jogging, light weight training, body weight training, or circuit training where some skipping in involved in the routine is probably the right way to go. These are fairly easy, and FREE exercises that mostly anyone at any fitness level can partake in. However, if you want to use some hardcore skipping within your routine, and you are at the fitness level where you can push yourself a little further, one good method to make skipping more effective, and a much more tougher exercise overall is to buy a skipping rope with weighted handles. If you have ever tried skipping with a weighted handled skipping rope you will know how tough it can be. It is probably twice as hard as normal skipping. This means your arms and heart will have to work twice as hard, meaning you will be out of breath much sooner by using a weighted skipping rope rather then a normal one.

Weighted skipping ropes usually have a 0.5KG weight in each handle. Some new skipping ropes on the market have the same amount of weight but it is the actual handles that make up the weight and not a tube like removable weight that fits into the handle. Half a Kilo might not sound like a lot of weight but believe me it does get tough. If you get a weighted skipping rope and are finding it really tough going just start slowly. Don't push yourself too hard. Usually you would do 3 minute rounds of skipping, but quite regularly it's a good idea to do 1 minute bursts. This means you go all out, or at a significantly faster pace then normal for 1 minute.

Obviously if you are not used to skipping you would want to start off slowly. Caution should be used. Perhaps use a normal skipping rope for a few weeks before moving on to a weighted one. Just do 1 minute skipping intervals at a pace that suits you. But once you get used to skipping you will be upping the pace within the skipping intervals, and you will also be able to move up to 3 minute rounds after a while. If your at home skipping you could use your mobile phone as a timer, most have a timer on these days. Skipping ropes are cheap to buy as well which is an added bonus. You can buy a weighted leather skipping rope for around £5 - £10.