Turn Exercise Into Child’s Play

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about some old-fashioned children’s games that are making a comeback in the fitness world. I couldn’t be more pleased, since I’m the proud owner of both a jump rope and a hula hoop.

These games can form the core of your exercise routine or can be used to change up your fitness program to prevent boredom from setting in.

Jumping rope
Jumping rope provides an excellent cardiovascular workout, builds muscular endurance and improves coordination. Now, new research indicates it may also be the ultimate brain exercise.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), jumping rope “prepares” the brain for learning in a number of ways. By raising the heart rate, more blood gets to the brain, feeding it needed oxygen and nutrients for enhanced mental focus. And the rhythmic aspects of jumping rope can mimic the basic rhythm patterns of language that are needed for basic reading skills. What’s more, aerobic exercise has been shown to grow new brain cells in rodents, and scientists hope the same may be true of humans.

Jumping rope helps improve agility, coordination and balance while also burning calories in a very big way.

Jumping rope, says the Mayo Clinic, burns more calories than most other sports except for running and rollerblading. A 160-pound person jumping rope for an hour will burn 730 calories, more than would be burned by high impact aerobics (511 calories), jogging at 5 miles per hour (584 calories), racquetball (511 calories), cross-country skiing (511 calories) or using a stair treadmill (657 calories).

What else does jumping rope have going for it? It’s inexpensive and requires very little equipment, can be done practically anywhere and can easily be packed in luggage if you’re traveling.


The hula hoop
While you can still find those lightweight hula hoops you remember from your childhood, fitness experts have improved on traditional hoops by creating weighted hula hoops that are bigger and heavier. Counter intuitively, it’s easier to keep a heavier hula hoop going, allowing you to exercise for a longer period of time. Smaller and lighter hula hoops require more energy to keep them rotating.

Regardless of the type you use, hula hooping can be an aerobic activity when done for 10 minutes or longer. An hour of intense “hooping” can burn as many calories as an hour on the treadmill, according to a recent article on the subject in Time magazine.

Can you recall other childhood games that would fit well in your exercise regimen today?