Jumping rope vs trampolining: What’s a better weight loss exercise?

Celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Eva Longoria and Goldie Hawn have shown us how jumping on a trampoline can be fun and also an effective exercise. Jump rope is another way to enjoy your workout routine and stay fit. It’s probably something that you did during your childhood days and forgot about it. But if you had to pick one out of the two for weight loss, which one would it be? If you have weight loss on mind, you may want to go for the one which helps to burn more calories, right? We took an expert’s help to find out if jump rope is better than trampolining as weight loss exercises.

To get you the answer, Health Shots reached out to Mumbai-based fitness expert Anavi Someshwar.

Jump rope or jumping on trampoline for weight loss?

You might see a jump rope as a toy. That’s because it was probably your favourite thing to play with when you were a kid. But the fact is that it is budget-friendly and easy-to-carry piece of exercise equipment that you should include in your fitness routine.

Trampoline jumping is also something that many associate with children. But adults can use a trampoline to boost their fitness. Don’t try to turn your child’s trampoline as a fitness equipment. The ones for adults have a higher weight limit and are made with stronger materials. The two exercises seem to be good for you to stay in shape. They target all muscles of legs like quads, glutes and hamstrings apart from forearms, core and heart muscles.

But Someshwar says that skipping or jump rope is more beneficial than jumping on the trampoline. In 30 minutes, you can burn 200 to 300 kilocalories if you do skipping. As for jumping on a trampoline, in the same duration, you can burn 160 to 200 kilocalories. The expert says that jumping rope helps to strengthen bones and improves coordination apart from burning more calories.

Tips to get skipping right

It might look easy, but people make some mistakes while jumping rope. Sometimes they take really high hops or use arms instead of wrists, notes the expert.

Here are some points to keep in mind to help to master skipping:

• Jump just a few inches off the floor instead of going too high.
• Jump off the balls of your feet only.
• Keep your feet together while using a jumping rope.
• Use your wrists to move the rope and not your arms.
• Keep your knees soft as you jump .
• Your elbows should be at 90 degrees.
• Your spine and neck should be neutral and engage your core.

Jump on trampoline the right way

In the battle between a jump rope and trampoline, the former has clearly won. But that doesn’t mean you should remove jumping on a trampoline from your fitness routine. To avoid injuries, make sure to jump on the trampoline with an engaged core and stay light on your feet to avoid pressure on your knees.

Both the exercises are good for you, but overweight people should avoid them. The expert says that they put too much impact on the knees and ankles which could lead to further damage.

Jump rope is one of the effective ways to lose weight. But don’t forget to participate in resistance training and follow a calorie-deficit diet for weight loss.