Even though its origin is unknown, the jumping jack exercise has been around for several centuries. Jumping jacks have been used globally in different places i.e. from institutional gyms to training fields of different military forces in an effort to keep people fit. Doing this cardiovascular activity will benefit your lungs and heart. The exercise increases the heart rate, which results in harder breathing and sweating thus burning off calories.
Benefits of Doing Jumping Jacks
Many people learnt jumping jacks as children. Jumping jacks are easy calisthenics movements which do not require training, wonderful physical ability or coordination. Even so, jumping jacks make for serious endurance cardiovascular exercises which can be included in your daily fitness program resulting in several health benefits.
- Burn Calorie. Jumping jacks elevate the heart rate causing you to breathe deeplywhich takes oxygen to both your bloodstream and muscles. Fat is burnt rapidly which promotes burning of calories hence weight loss.
- Tone Your Body. Jumping jacks have also been known to be a good work-out that involves your whole body thus toning it evenly. Make sure you take deep breathes to target your abdominal muscles. Try to maintain a brisk pace so that you can maintain the aerobic benefits that come with jumping jacks.
- Make You Energetic. Performing jumping jacks for some time sparks the release of endorphins which help relieve pain. Additionally, when you take deep breathes when performing this exercise your mind clears, your focus is sharpened, and you get energized.
How Many Calories Do Jumping Jacks Burn?
- General rule: it is possible to get an intense and effective cardio exercise and also burn a lot of calories through jumping jacks. The speed at which you perform these jumps among other factors can have a great effect on the number of calories you burn. Also, the amount of time you spend doing these jumps also determines the number of calories you burn. Your body’s metabolism, your mood and even the temperature can also play a role in the actual calories burned.
- Moderate intensity: according to experts, a person weighing 150 pounds can burn up to 153 calories (5.1 calories per minute) during a moderate intensity jumping jacks exercise that lasts for half an hour. Aperson weighing 200 pounds can burn up to 204 calories (6.8 calories per minute) for the same amount of time.
- High intensity: if you were to increase the intensity of your jumps, you should burn even more calories. A 150 pounds individual can burn up to 274 calories (9.1 calories per minute) in half an hour while a 200 pounds individual can burn up to 366 calories (12.2 calories per minute) in half an hour.
Calculate the Calories Burned Based on Heart Rate
It is possible to tell how many calories you burn in a workout based on your heart rate. When exercising, your muscles burn calories to create energy for contractions. During aerobic exercises, calories are converted from their stored form to energy for your muscles. This process requires oxygen which must be transferred from your lungs through the bloodstream to the muscle cells. This causes your heart rate to increase. Through this relationship, it is possible to predict how much energy is being used and how many calories are being burned. Your heart rate increases due to the pumping oxygenated blood to the muscles for energy.
How the Calculator Works
Basically, the calculator works in the same way as BMI calculators only that it requires more information to come to a conclusion. You are given fields to fill out with information about your body. These include:
- Your gender
- Your age
- Your weight in pounds or kgs
- The activity duration in minutes and seconds
- The average heart rate in beats per minute
Once you have filled in all these fields, you simply click on the ‘calculate calorie burn’ button and wait for the results.Click on this link to calculate the number of calories burned: http://www.calories-calculator.net/Calories_Burned_By_Heart_Rate.html
How to Do Jumping Jacks
Basic Jumping Jacks
- Stand straight with your arms straight at the sides. Your feet should also be close together and straight. Your head should be in a straight and comfortable position so that you do not strain.
- Bend the knees then jump and at the same time spreading your arms and legs simultaneously. Have your arms lifted to reach the ears and also open the feet wider than your shoulders’ width. Ensure that you do this in a fast movement.
- Touch or clap your hands just above the head. Remember to bring your hands back to the sides and your feet close together when returning back to the first position.
- You should also have your daily goals set. Increase your total jacks to three each day and strive to include other movements in the process. If you find other calisthenics too difficult, you can have jumping jacks as your main exercise.
- Precautions to take: jumping jacks have been known to be a very high impact aerobic activity. As it is with a new fitness program, you should consult your personal physician prior to starting the exercise regime. Should you experience some pain when performing jumping jacks, stop the exercise immediately.
Video: How to do basic jumping jacks correctly
Jumping Jacks Combination and Variation
Jumping jacks make the perfect addition to interval training sessions. Perform a one-minute session of jumping jacks or other calisthenics to spike your heart rate before you slow down to a recovery rate for up to a minute. During the recovery period, your heart rate will stay elevated thus continuing a high level of fat-burning and improving your stamina. Use jumping jacks to make moderate exercise more challenging. For example, walk briskly for five minutes, do jumping jacks for one minute and return to walking.Repeat this cycle throughout your walk.
If you wish to perform a more intense or advanced version for jumping jacks, you can incorporate other exercises in the movement. For instance, an intense version can involve you squatting and also jumping backwards in each repetition. This will work different muscles in your body and is also quite effective when it comes to increasing your heart rate.
Another similar exercise with similar benefits is “half jack”. To perform this exercise, the motions are the same as those of jumping backwards; the only difference is that your arms will be brought to half the height of jumping jacks.
Video: Jumping jacks combos for losing weight