It’s a beautiful, sunny day here in San Jose and I just finished cardio interval workout in my backyard. It was fun, simple and used only a jump rope, so I thought I’d share it with you.

I warmed up on my stationary bike inside my house for about 5 minutes, then grabbed my jump rope and some water and headed out the door. Here’s what I did:

Jump rope- 2 minutes
Body weight squats 45 seconds–rest 15 seconds
Jump rope- 2 minutes
Fast lateral shuffles * 45 seconds–rest 15 seconds
Jump rope- 2 minutes
Toe taps on my back porch step 45 seconds–rest 15 seconds
Jump rope- 2 minutes
Walking lunges 45 seconds–rest 15 seconds

* I shuffled laterally about 15 ft right then left as fast as I could
** These are fast alternating toe taps on a step–think of a soccer player tapping a soccer ball

I repeated this routine 2 times through, cooled down a bit and then stretched.

If you’re a beginner, simply shorten the jumping intervals as well as the calisthenic intervals.

I varied my jump style when I was jumping rope so that I didn’t get bored or jar my knees too much, and I drank water about every 5 minutes or so during the rest period. If you don’t have a jump rope, you can just do the jump roping movements without a rope, or jog/skip around your back yard. BTW: I highly recommend adding a jump rope to your exercise equipment arsenal. It’s a great cardio and bone building exercise! You can get inexpensive jump ropes at Perform Better.

This workout took me a little over 20 minutes from start to finish and the time just flew by! Changing your activity every few minutes (and varying the intensity) really helps make the time go by quickly AND you burn more calories than if you just hopped on a treadmill and walked at a moderate pace.

Make it a great day!

Yours in health,

Becky

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