5 Amazing Effects Of Jumping Jacks Exercises On Your Body

All the top trainers swear by the effectiveness of Jumping Jacks Exercise. Most probably, you have been doing this exercise since you were a 4 year old kid. The jumping jack exercise is one of the most basic and foundational calisthenics exercises out there. This exercise is simple to practice, but at the same time offers a powerhouse of health benefits.

Benefits Of Jumping Jacks Exercise:

Jumping jacks exercise provides many benefits to keep your body fit and fine. Let’s have a look at those benefits:

1. Burn Calories:

Jumping jacks provide you with a total body aerobic exercise. It is a cardio movement, which requires a high level of energy and burns a lot of calories. Your body gets warmed up with just 10-15 jacks. Do 100 jumping jacks and you’ll burn a lot of calories.

2. Warm-up:

What is your favorite and most consistent move to warm up your body before any cardio or such workout? Jumping jacks, right? Jumping jacks elevate the heart rate and at the same time loosen up the limbs. As an exercise, it may seem ‘old school’ to you, but it is still a favorite warm-up exercise with most trainers across the world.

3. Cardiovascular Benefits:

The jacks keep your heart healthy and force your lungs to breathe in more oxygen. This benefits your cardiovascular system and strengthens it. Jacks are known to improve cholesterol level. This exercise is also effectively controls high blood pressure. Other chronic diseases like diabetes can also be prevented by doing cardio exercise like jumping jacks.

4. Get Stronger:

Jumping jack is a body-weight exercise. It will not beef up your muscles and increase the size like strength moves, but it will strengthen the muscles. Its main effects can be felt in glutes, calves, thighs, back and shoulder muscles. It hits all the major muscle area in your body and at the same time cuts out the fat with its integrated total body cardio movement.

5. Endurance And Conditioning:

Jumping Jacks are used by pro-athletes and military all over the world for endurance and conditioning training. It improves our endurance by strengthening the muscles and conditions our cardiovascular system for better performance and more efficiency.

How to Do Jumping Jacks:

Let’s follow the steps to do the jumping jack exercise:

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, spine erect, shoulders rolled back and abs tight. Keep your hands by your side.
2. Now, bend your knees slightly and jump in the air.
3. As you jump, open your legs wide.
4. At the same time, raise your hands overhead in a sweeping motion.
5. Land slowly on the ground with your feet wide and arms overhead.
6. Now, jump again and bring your feet together and lower your hands down in the reversing motion.
7. Land in a slight squat and do it again.

Variations:

You can try some variations of the jumping jacks if you are looking for something more challenging or some kind of injury is preventing you from doing your usual jumping jacks.

1. Half-Jacks:

If you have any rotator cuff injury, doing full jumping jacks can worsen the situation. But that doesn’t mean that you’ve to chuck your favorite cardio move, because half-jacks are there for your rescue.

• Half-jacks are done in a similar way as the jumping jacks. The only difference is that in half-jacks you do not raise your hands completely overhead. The arms are lifted only till the shoulder level to prevent any stress on the rotator cuffs.
• The Movement – Jump and widen your feet. At the same time raise your hands till shoulder level with elbows bent. Jump again and come to the starting position.

2. Jumping Jacks With Weights:

If you wish to intensify your jumping jacks and increase the challenge, then grab a pair of dumbbells in your hands and do the jacks. You can also tie ankle weight and wrist weights.

Tips To Follow While Doing Jumping Jacks:

Follow the tips, which are mentioned below when you start doing jumping jacks exercises:

• You can take the challenge up a notch by jumping higher into the air and also by increasing the speed at which you do your jacks.
• Land in a squat position instead of standing straight after you complete your rep. This takes away the risk of jerk from the joints and also engages the leg muscles better.
• Pair the jumping jacks with push-ups and lunges to give your body a complete integrated workout and lose weight faster.

Jumping jacks will never go out of fashion and now you know why! So, keep jumping your way to good health!

What do you think of the jumping jacks? Do you enjoy doing them? Share your views with us in the comments section below.