Jumping jacks are a cardiovascular exercise that can burn a large number of calories and fat, increase your heart rate and strengthen your heart muscle. By wearing ankle or wrist weights and increasing your weight load, you add resistance to the activity; thus, turning a 100-jumping-jack routine into a strength-training regimen. Weight-bearing exercises typically burn fat and calories but also build and tone muscle.
Calories Burned
Doing moderate jumping jacks burns approximately 3.5 to 7 calories every minute, according to New Jersey fitness expert Bill Trimble. Adding 3 lbs. to your workout burns an additional 2.7 calories. So doing a 10-minute set of moderate jumping jacks burns 30.5 to 70 calories without added weight and 62 to 97 calories after 10 minutes with an extra 3 lbs. of weight. By increasing the intensity of the jumping jacks, you could burn between 7 to 10 calories a minute.
Disadvantages to Adding Weights
You may be able to burn slightly more calories using wrist or ankle weights, but using them poses serious concerns. Fitness expert Martica Heaner reports that weighing down your wrists and ankles while engaging in aerobic activity can put excess strain on your joints. The Mayo Clinic explains that ankle weights can alter your gait and may cause you to lose your balance, fall and get hurt.
How to Burn More Calories
If you want to burn more calories and don't want to do it by adding weights to the activity, consider interval training. Interval training refers to alternating 1 to 3 minute bursts of high-intensity activity with intervals of ordinary activity. So instead of a 10-minute set of jumping jacks, insert 3-minute bursts of high-intensity jumping jacks into a 30-minute moderately intense walking or jogging routine. The Mayo Clinic explains that interval training can burn more calories than can regular cardio activity.
Resistance Training
To get your recommended amount of strength training exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine suggests doing eight to 10 weight-lifting exercises, with eight to 12 repetitions, at least twice a week. You can work out two or three different muscle groups a day, but avoid working out the same muscle groups two days in a row; otherwise, you don't give your muscles enough time to recover.
References
- Fatburn.com: Activity Burn Tool
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity Guidelines
- MayoClinic.com: Could Ankle Weight Help Me Get More Out of my Usual Walking Routine?; Edward R. Laskowski, M.D.; August 2010
- MayoClinic.com: Interval Training: Can it Boost your Calorie-Burning Power?; Mayo Clinic Staff; Feb. 2010
- MayoClinic.com: Walking with Ankle Weights? Stop!; Mayo Clinic Staff; Sept. 2009
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