Jumping rope, playing hopscotch or jumping on a trampoline are games children often play, but in reality, these activities provide a substantial workout that helps both children and adults reach the recommended amounts of weekly aerobic exercise needed to maintain healthy bones and muscles. Carrying these activities into adulthood will continue to benefit your body far past childhood.
Benefits
Jumping exercises provide three substantial main benefits to your body. First, jumping acts as a cardiovascular exercise, meaning it increases your heart and respiratory rate, leading to calorie burning and weight loss. Jumping exercise also strengthens the muscles of your legs, especially the calf muscles, along with others like the hamstrings and quadriceps. Finally, jumping exercises help develop stronger bones, especially in developing children.
Exercise Ideas
Jumping exercise can come from a variety of sources. For preschool kids and older, enrollment in a gymnastics class can provide jumping exercise. Jumping rope, jumping on trampolines and jumping jacks can be used by all ages for this form of exercise. For adults, exercise programs like plyometrics feature a variety of aerobic exercise mixed with jumping movements to build muscle, burn fat and strengthen bones.
Importance for Children and Adolescents
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all children get at least three days a week worth of jumping exercises or activities like running to help develop stronger bones. As a child jumps, the exercise triggers an increase in bone mineral density, which can increase the chances of maintaining a healthy skeletal structure for the rest of the child's life. As such, jumping activities should be a regular part of the CDC-recommended 60 minutes a day of exercise.
Joint Concerns
When approaching jumping exercises, it's important to keep your joints in mind. If you have had joint issues in the past, whether from swelling, injured tendons, ligaments, muscles, bone breaks, or diseases of the joint like arthritis, jumping exercises may not be for you. Instead, talk to your doctor about other exercises that can help strengthen muscles and bones while reducing impact on your joints.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: How much physical activity do children need?
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: Simple Exercise in Children Yields Long-Term Skeletal Benefit
- Rope Sport: Benefits of Jump Rope Exercise
- American Council on Exercise: Plyometrics: Controlled Impact/Maximum Power
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