Many times exercise routines are geared toward three types of fitness levels: beginners, intermediate participants, and advanced. However, it’s not hard to notice that some beginning fitness routines can seem pretty advanced if you’re someone who’s been a little more sedentary. So, if you are kind of in that “below beginner” category, don’t be discouraged from starting a jump rope workout, just get started. There is always a way to adjust things down to your level.

First and foremost, you will want to educate yourself on proper posture, body positioning, rope swing, and rope length. You will also need to familiarize yourself with how to jump and land properly. All of these play a factor in preventing injury and developing your muscles properly. To be honest, you don’t even need a rope at first because shadow jumping will help you get your rhythm and coordination down without worry of tripping over your rope. [easyazon_block add_to_cart=”default” align=”right” asin=”B00GFYOZJM” cloaking=”default” layout=”top” localization=”default” locale=”US” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” tag=”jumropfit-20″]

Once you have your basics down, you can begin a short routine. This is going to be a huge challenge, but it’s not necessarily the length of time you perform your entire workout at this point, as much as it is trying to build up your interval periods. For instance, you make not even be able to jump for 30 seconds at a time before resting, but you should go as long as you can, rest, and then try again.

One example of a rock-bottom level jump rope workout might be as follows:

– 5-10 minute warm up consisting of walking and/or jumping jacks

– 30 seconds of basic shadow jumping, followed by 30 seconds of rest

– Another 30 seconds basic jumping, 30 seconds rest

– 1 minute basic jumping, 30 seconds rest

– 30 seconds basic jumping, 30 seconds rest

– 1 minute basic jumping, 30 seconds rest

– 1 minute of strength building exercises, like crunches or lunges

– 5-10 minute cool-down of stretching

As you can see, the actual interval periods only amount to 6 minutes of jump/rest cycles, however, the entire workout will have you moving and your blood pumping for about 20-30 minutes, including the cool-down period. Even if you can’t make it to 30 second intervals at first, try to make it to at least 20 seconds and build from there. You can even keep your 1-minute intervals shorter until you’re ready, and then bump them up from there.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to duration, the only thing that matters is that you’re pushing yourself to your 80% max heart rate. From there, you will naturally develop more endurance, and over time, you can extend your interval times to meet additional milestones in your workout routines. If you make a commitment to do your best and take it at your own pace, and you will quickly advance into a true beginner level – maybe even higher.