How To Jump Rope For Health and Fitness

Rope skipping is an excellent cardiovascular exercise according to the U.S. Olympic Committee Sports Medicine Council. It is far less hard on the muscles and bones than jogging.
While running or jogging, each foot absorbs up to 5 times the body weight from the force of the impact as the foot hits the ground. This force of hitting the ground can cause damage to the feet, ankles, hips and knees. But in rope skipping, the shock of hitting the ground is absorbed by both feet allowing the calf muscles to control and absorb the impact.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, skipping rope is among the activities it recommends for aerobic conditioning. In order to improve heart and lung health, it must be performed 3 to 5 times per week for 12 to 20 minutes an hour, and at an intensity that will get the heart rate into training range.
To find your training range subtract your age from 220. Multiply that figure by .9 to get the high range. Multiply by .6 to get low range. With this formula a person 25 years old must keep their aerobic heart pulse between 117 and 176 to be gaining benefit. Aerobic benefits do not diminish or decline with training as in other aerobic activities.From an energy standpoint, jumping rope at about 130 revolutions per minute is similar to running at 6 miles per hour or cycling 12 miles per hour. Just 10 minutes of rope skipping is equivalent to a one-mile run.When choosing a rope, hold the rope and stand with your feet on the middle. If the length is correct, the handles should just reach your armpits. Handles should be thick and comfortable.
Look for a cushioned surface to jump on. A large rectangular carpet remnant is ideal. Hard surfaces like
concrete should be avoided.Choose well-cushioned athletic footwear just as you would for walking or running.
Start slow by gradually increasing session time over 2 to 3 weeks to let your leg muscles get accustomed to the extra exercise.
Many adults give up rope jumping because they are uncoordinated and miss too many steps. But this improves with time and practice.
By Marilyn Pokorney

How to Get Rid of Belly Fat

Many men and women wonder how to get rid of belly fat. Six-pack abs and flat tummies are what everyone wants, but no one seems to know how to get rid of belly fat. Many products, both in diet pill and home exercise genre, claim to know how to get rid of belly fat. But how do you get rid of belly fat in reality?
When you want to know how to get rid of belly fat, the answer is not in doing a lot of abdominal crunches or sit-ups. The best way to get rid of belly fat is through proper diet and exercise. If you eat right to maintain a healthy weight and do the right cardiovascular exercises, you'll know how to get rid of belly fat.
A cardio workout interspersed with strength training is how to get rid of belly fat. Maintain a proper diet and keep up a regular schedule of cardiovascular exercises. Do regular strength training, such as muscle toning exercises, every other day or every few days. If you want to know how to get rid of belly fat, however, the answer is in doing cardio workouts. The only way to get rid of fat is to burn fat - and the answer is in cardio.
How to get rid of belly fat? The answer is in a cardio workout and healthy regular diet. It's okay to do some muscle toning exercises, but the bulk of your workout should be focused on cardio. When some of that unsightly fat starts to melt away, and the question of how to get rid of belly fat is no longer hanging over your head, you can add more strength training and muscle toning to your regular workout. But keep up a regular workout schedule and stick to it. This is how to get rid of belly fat - the only way to get rid of belly fat.
When you know how to get rid of belly fat, you can work toward getting that flat stomach that you want. Don't worry about doing crunches and sit-ups, focus on your cardio workout. Then you can stop worrying about how to get rid of belly fat. 
By

Emma Drosy

Fat Burning Exercises

Fat burning exercises are the slow, aerobic, long duration types of exercise that involve most of the major muscle groups. Your body will burn a higher percentage of calories from fat with lower intensity cardio exercises.

Fat burning exercises include walking, jogging, running, elliptical exercise trainer workouts, cycling and swimming. The key factor to keep in mind is the more muscle groups you use, the more fat you'll burn.

Different type of exercises will burn more sugar rather than burning fat. Sugar burning exercises involve brief spurts of movement followed by rest which results in more sugar that is used for fuel instead of fat.

Sugar burning exercises include sprinting, tennis, racquetball, basketball, and golf. While these are great sports that benefit your overall fitness condition, they are different type of exercises that will not burn as much fat like fat burning exercises will.

To burn fat effectively, exercise at a moderate pace for a longer period of time. The residual effect of this type of aerobic exercise gives you the most benefits.

These aerobic fat burning exercises increase your metabolism which means you'll burn calories long after you exercise. People who exercise on a regular basis develop more fat burning enzymes than people who don't exercise at all.

By doing just twenty minutes of fat burning exercises you get those fat burning enzymes working. So if you are just starting out, exercise for at least twenty minutes and work up from there as your fitness level improves. Try to set 3 days a week as your goal to workout and work up to 5 days as you become more fit.

Home treadmills and elliptical exercise trainers are perfect for fat burning exercises. These fitness machines will give you the slow, aerobic, long duration types of exercise that work best to burn fat.

They are the most popular pieces for home gyms because they allow you to stay fit in any weather condition. They are easy to use and cost efficient because quality fitness equipment will last for many years.

If you want to reduce body fat, eating properly will always help. But by combining it with fat burning exercises, it will give you the excellent results you are looking for.

Gary Gresham