Be warned: this 20 minute home cardio workout is a lot harder than it looks.

Routine Structure: This jump rope workout uses 1-minute intervals to really get your heart and lungs working. In between the intervals, you will do 14 repetitions of bodyweight toning exercises that focus on the chest & arms, abdominals, glutes and thighs. This is a very fast paced routine and there is only 40 seconds of rest in between each of the three rounds.

If your cardiovascular endurance is a bit rusty, you can still do this workout: when you absolutely must take a rest simply pause the video and jump right back in as soon as you have caught your breath.

Fitness Blender’s Jump Rope Cardio Workout is a seriously efficient calorie burner - Not even taking into account the considerable number of calories that you will burn after you have finished exercising while your body attempts to regulate itself after such a high intensity routine. For this reason, this is an ideal metabolism-boosting workout.

Jumping rope is an excellent workout for people who are trying to speed up weight loss efforts, increase their endurance, and tone up allover. There are very few muscles that this $6 - $14 cardio tool doesn’t use; calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, abdominals, obliques, forearms, deltoids, triceps, biceps, glutes, and wrist, knee, and ankle complexes are all engaged in order to pull off the motion.


Here’s a breakdown of this video:
1 Minute Jumping Rope – The first interval uses a skipping motion. There are many variations on this style but the one in the video above has you hopping on one foot, alternating feet with each hop, while kicking the free lifted foot out just in front of your body.

14 Push Ups – You can do full push ups from your toes to make this harder, or “Girl Push Ups” from your knees to make it a little less challenging. If you can do full push ups, do as many of the harder version as you can before switching over to the easier version.

1 Minute Jump Rope – Sixty seconds of hopping with both feet.

14 Toe Touch Crunches – This move tones the abs, quadriceps, and hip flexors. If you want an easier version than the one shown in the video, you can always bend your legs at the knees instead of having them straight out over your hips.

1 Minute Jumping Rope – Sixty seconds of jumping rope in the same fashion that you would if you were jogging, just to make sure that we keep your heart pounding and your lungs gasping for air!

14 Squats – It’s funny but the squats actually end up being a brief opportunity to catch your breath before you go right back into another cardio interval. Squats are fantastic for your glutes, quads, hamstrings and lower back, and they also burn a high number of calories.

1 Minute Single Leg Jumping Rope – Just to really exhaust those calf muscles, we finish up with a single leg hop. Do roughly 15 hops per single leg before you switch feet.

This is one of those workouts that will most definitely bring about results. Whether you are an athlete looking for quicker, more agile feet, a fitness retiree trying to be able to walk a flight of stairs again without becoming winded, or a dieter trying to see a downward plummet on the scale, this routine is a great option.

Especially if you have not exercised in a while, doing this cardio workout video can make for some particularly sore muscles the next day. Make sure that you warm up lightly before starting the routine and stretch out thoroughly when you are finished in order to minimize the soreness that comes from waking up those muscles.