Jumping jacks are traditional calisthenic exercises. Perform a jumping jack on land or in the water to elevate your heart rate, burn calories and improve your overall fitness. The key to a successful jumping jack is proper body alignment. Since the jack uses the muscles and joints in your lower body, your hips do risk injury unless you place them in the correct position.
Jumping Jack
Even if you have never heard the term jumping jack, you have probably performed this exercise. Beginning in elementary school through adult boot camp classes, jumping jacks are a favorite exercise of fitness trainers. Stand tall with your feet underneath your hips and your toes facing forward. Straighten your arms along your sides. Bend your knees slightly and hop your feet apart. Keep your toes facing forward or slightly out to the sides. Your arms straighten over your head. Hop your feet together to complete the jack. Vary your jumping jack and land facing right or left to increase the intensity of the exercise.
Hips
Your hip is a complex joint that allows you to move your leg forward, backward, side to side and around in circles. The hip joint has a ball-and-socket design. The top ball of your upper-leg bone, the femur, inserts into the round socket of your pelvis. There are 22 muscles supporting this structure and they work together to move your legs. Your hips have considerable mobility capabilities, but that can lead to an unstable structure. Perform exercises such as jumping jacks with careful consideration to hip placement to protect the joint.
Alignment
Proper posture depends on body alignment from your toes to your head. Your toes, knees and hips should remain pointing in the same direction to protect your joints and support your posture. Stand tall at the beginning of a jumping jack and align your heels underneath your knees, which are directly under your hips. Your hips are at a natural, shoulder-width angle. Abduct your legs from the hip and hop your feet out to the sides. Your hips should separate approximately 30 degrees, 15 degrees on each side. Face your hips forward and keep them level as if you have a bucket of water between your hips that you do not want to spill.
Range of Motion
Jumping jacks in the water can create a hip angle of 50 degrees. The water supports your body weight and reduces the strain on your hips during a jumping jack. A concern in the water, especially when you perform jumping jacks in deep water without your feet on the floor, is overstretching your hips. Limit the range of motion in your hips to 50 degrees or less to get the cardiovascular and flexibility benefits of jumping jacks without risking injury to your hips.
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