The benefits of jumping jacks don’t just stop at being a great cardio exercise. In fact, jumping jacks offer so many benefits, they will have you jumping for more.
The best thing about jumping jacks is that they are a body weight exercise, meaning there’s no equipment required! Because no equipment is needed, jumping jacks are also a free exercise, which makes it even better. Whether you’re at work, in between errands, or hanging out at home, get some cardio in and complete as many jumping jacks as you have time for no matter where you are!
Table of Contents
- How to do a Jumping Jack
- The Benefits of Jumping Jacks
- Benefit #1 Great Cardio Exercise, Makes Heart and Lungs Stronger
- Benefit #2 Builds Stronger Muscles
- Benefit #3 Improves Coordination
- Benefit #4 Aids Weight Loss
- Benefit #5 Easily Modified
How to do a Jumping Jack
Remember when you used to try jumping jacks as a kid in gym class and could never get them right? Besides jumping, clapping and looking like a fool, there are actual real benefits to doing this exercise correctly. Jumping jacks require some coordination but with a little practice, you’ll be a jumping jacks pro in no time. No matter where you start at with this exercise you will still be getting a great cardio workout.
To do a jumping jack stand with your feet together and your hands at your sides. Simultaneously raise your arms above your head and jump up (just enough to spread your feet out wide). Without pausing, quickly reverse the movement and repeat as many times as you’d like.
The Benefits of Jumping Jacks
- Great Cardio Exercise, Makes Heart and Lungs Stronger
- Builds Stronger Muscles
- Improves Coordination
- Aids Weight Loss
- Easily Modified.
Benefit #1 Great Cardio Exercise, Makes Heart and Lungs Stronger
Cardio exercises get your body loose and your heart beating faster (trust me, you’ll probably even feel it after 10). Cardio exercises like jumping jacks are great for your heart and lungs because they work to make them stronger. This will also help them work more efficiently, much like the rest of your muscles do as you use them more when you exercise. With a stronger heart and more efficient lungs, your muscles will be getting the oxygen they need and you will be able to work harder, longer, which also increases your endurance.
A stronger heart also has the ability to help delivery more blood throughout your body, that means your muscles will be getting all the nutrients and oxygen they need for you to get in a good workout.
As you can see, jumping jacks will not only help you obtain your dream physique, but they will also help you maintain a healthy lifestyle by making your heart and lungs stronger.
Benefit #2 Builds Stronger Muscles
Jumping jacks require you to move your arms up and down from a resting position, which works the muscles in your arms, and by continuously working those muscles, they will get stronger and stronger. Jumping jacks also require jumping, which strengthens the muscles in your legs. Together, jumping jacks benefit your arms, shoulders, core, and various muscles in your legs such as your glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves.
Strengthening the muscles in your arms and legs can make day to day tasks easier as well. For example, you may find it easier to carry groceries, reach for dinner plates, walk up stairs, and even toss your kids in the air (be careful trying this at home).
Benefit #3 Improves Coordination
Because jumping jacks are an exercise that involves jumping consecutively in place, they help improve your coordination. By having to constantly coordinate a jump outwards while raising and then lowering your hands, you are not only using coordination, you are helping to improve it. Like any activity, the more you do this exercise, the better and more coordinated you’ll be at it.
Improving your coordination is important in everyday life. You need coordination to walk upstairs, cook, and you even need it for things like brushing your hair or folding your clothes.
Benefit #4 Aids Weight Loss
Jumping jacks are a very strenuous activity and doing them for a long time can definitely burn calories, which aids in weight loss. Like any physical exercise, jumping jacks use up some energy, and whenever you use energy to exercise, your body uses and burns the calories from the food you’ve eaten so you can shed some pounds. That means, the more you do this exercise, the faster your metabolism can become (and the more weight you can lose!).
Even if you aren’t looking to lose weight, your body also uses energy to burn fat (or calories from fat), which you can then turn into muscle by doing various strength exercises in addition to jumping jacks.
Benefit #5 Easily Modified
The beauty of this exercise (like many other bodyweight exercises) is that it can be modified to give you a better workout. You can easily increase their intensity to make them harder and help you build even more muscle the more you do them.
You can start out by doing just a few jumping jacks, and increase the amount and how quickly you do them each time for more of a challenge. If you’re looking for even more of a challenge, add some wrist and ankle weights in the mix, and you can even add a weighted vest. By increasing the weight the jumping jacks will become more difficult and allow you to become even stronger and more in shape. The exercise will get easier the more you do it and you can increase the weight little by little each time to reach your ultimate fitness goals.
Remember to add jumping jacks to your next workout so you can reap all these awesome benefits! Who knew there could be this many benefits in one simple exercise? Not only are jumping jacks a great cardio exercise, but they also strengthen your muscles and improve your coordination, things that can make your day to day tasks even easier. The best part about this exercise is that it can be done anywhere, so you don’t need to worry about joining a gym.
