Jumping rope has quickly become one of the most popular forms of cardio today. This is because it’s convenient, easy to learn, and doesn’t require much equipment. All you really need is a jump rope, and you’re good to go. Some decent shoes will help soften the impact when you jump, and you can always buy some gym clothes to sweat it out in.

The typical jump rope workout can burn up to 600 calories in just half an hour–that’s a staggering amount for such a simple workout. That’s because jumping rope engages many of your muscles. You’re using your lower body for jumping and landing, and you’re also bracing your core when you do it. You’ll also be rotating your arms, thus strengthening your upper body too. In short, jumping rope is perhaps one of the best ways to burn calories, improve cardiovascular health, and also strengthen your entire body.

A time-based jump rope workout is simple to understand. You jump for a certain amount of time and then you’re done. This makes it a great option to fit into your existing workout routines, or if you’re limited on how much time you can or want to spend working out. You have the freedom to adjust the intensity of your workout, as long as you’re able to hit that time-based target.

A lot of people enjoy adjusting the intensity based on the time as well. For example, let’s say you have a 30-minute target for jumping rope, but you want to slowly ramp up the intensity to make it easier for you to manage. You can start with a 5-minute warmup, then go into a 10-minute sprint that’s really intense. You can then cool off for 5 minutes by lowering the intensity, and then the last 10 minutes can be a sprint where you go as fast as you can. This is just one example of how you can separate your time-based jump rope workout.

Another way to use time-based jump rope workouts is to add them to your existing routine. Perhaps you have 15 minutes dedicated to intense cardio in your workout routine, and you’re looking to add something different to shake things up. You could do 15 minutes of intense rope jumping one day, and then do 15 minutes of rowing another day. With a time-based workout, you can easily organize your workout routines to fit in different kinds of cardio without worrying too much about how long it takes to finish reps.

You build endurance with long jump rope sessions

Another benefit of time-based jump rope workouts is that you build endurance and improve your cardiovascular health. This is because you’re pushing your heart rate higher and sustaining it for longer periods of time when you engage in a time-based jump rope workout. Maintaining a high heart rate is essential for pushing your body and improving cardiovascular health and endurance. So if you want to boost your stamina, a time-based workout is usually the way to go.

Remember that it’s all about your heart rate. The length of time isn’t as important as how long you manage to stay within your target heart rate range. As such, it’s a good idea to get something to monitor your heart rate. This will let you know if you need to adjust your workout to increase the intensity, or if you need to slow down a bit because you’re pushing yourself too much.

It’s easier to monitor your progress

Finally, a time-based workout is usually better for monitoring your progress and keeping track of how well you’re performing. Measuring your heart rate to calculate calorie loss is a lot more effective if you exercise for long periods of time because you’re averaging out the values. This is why time-based jump rope workouts are often better for people who want to lose weight and keep track of their progress, such as if you’re counting calories in and out.

It’s simple to do this as well. Just start a timer and begin jumping rope, or use a fitness tracking band to help you record how long you’re jumping rope for and how long you’re sustaining your target heart rate.

This is also a great way to gradually increase your intensity too. You can start on day one with a simple 10-minute session of jumping rope, then increase it by 1 or 2 minutes the next day. If you’re feeling too tired or exhausted by the end of it, then you can simply reduce your target workout time by 1 minute. Keep repeating this until you’ve reached a new milestone, such as jumping rope consistently and maintaining your target heart rate for up to 30 minutes.

In short, time-based workouts are great for three main reasons; they offer flexible sessions, it’s easier to monitor your progress, and it helps to build endurance. If these three qualities are important to you, then we highly recommend using a time-based jump rope workout.

Rep-Based Jump Rope Workouts

Rep-based jump rope workouts work much differently. These focus on completing a number of repetitions or jumps within a session' with the time taken being a complete non-factor. In most cases, a jump rope rep is when you’ve completed a full rotation of the rope with your arms, and this often equates to a single jump.

A great way to use rep-based jump rope workouts is to simply set a target for a certain number of reps. For instance, you can aim for 500 reps the first day, then increase this by a number like 50 each day to keep pushing yourself. You can choose to take your time and do these reps slowly, or you can blitz through them as quickly as possible. For context, there are many people who are capable of doing 100 reps in just 30 seconds, making it a really intense workout.

Here are some of the biggest benefits of rep-based jump rope workouts.

You’ll be more goal-oriented

If you’re someone who prefers to hit goals at their own pace in a workout, then you might enjoy the idea of rep-based jump rope workouts. You simply set yourself a goal, such as something like 500 reps, and then aim to hit it without worrying too much about time. This is a structured way to approach working out, and the goal would be to set a better time each day. For instance, you might do 500 reps on your first day in around 10 minutes, and you can aim to reduce that the next day.

Setting up your workouts like this can be a fun way to increase your focus and also build up your determination. There’s a fantastic sense of accomplishment that comes from hitting your target, and it can be a lot more fun for people than simply repeating the same movements for a set amount of time.

So if you like being more goal-oriented during workouts, try setting yourself rep goals instead of time goals when jumping rope.

They’re effective for intense sessions

Rep-based goals mean you’ll be aiming to hit a certain target, but how you approach that target is completely up to you. You could take your time and leisurely perform 500 jump rope reps, but you could also aim to blast through them in under 5 minutes if you want a much more intense workout that works all of your muscles. This makes rep-based jump rope workouts perfect for anyone who wants an intense challenge.

As mentioned before, it’s common for people to challenge themselves to do 100 reps in just 30 seconds. This is a great benchmark to aim for and shows how effective jumping rope can be as an intense workout.

It’s fantastic for tracking your progress

Rep-based workouts are great for tracking progress because you can aim to complete your reps in a faster time whenever you challenge yourself. If you completed 500 jump rope reps in 8 minutes, then you can aim to reduce that down to 7 minutes in a week. You can also set different kinds of goals and records to beat. Some people might try a 100-rep sprint and aim to get it under 30 seconds, while others might prefer a larger target of 1,000 reps. It’s completely up to you how you decide to challenge yourself.

Keeping track of your progress and setting goals like this is a key component of any successful workout routine. Having a goal to work towards and records to attempt to beat makes your exercise experience much more enjoyable, and you’ll find that it can greatly boost your motivation when used correctly.