25, 35 or 45 Jumping Rope Kids Play or Serious Fitness Workout

Trust me, even if you were the 3rd grade jumping champion – start slow, start with short 30 or 60 second intervals, stretch and be prepared to be sore for the first few weeks.

(GUELPH, Ontario) - As I prepare for a new Guinness World Weightlifting Record attempt in 2013, I continue to push my limit for high intensity interval training and ways to increase lactic acid tolerance. A surprise finding on the road to new activities is jumping rope!

Most people have jumped rope in their neighborhood as kids. Most everyone quits by the time they reach their teen years and never think about the activity again.

In my case, I never remember even jumping rope as a kid, so when I first started looking into it, I didn’t even know how to skip!

Surprise, surprise!

It’s much harder than you think and in an interval to interval comparison it burns more calories than running!

Getting Started

a. Do yourself a favor and purchase a high quality bearing loaded jump rope. A good jump rope can be purchased for about $25.00 and its definitely worth it. I started our purchasing a rope from a popular US mass retailer for about $12 and got what I paid for.

a. There are many sizing charts on the internet for proper sizing. Trust me, this is very important. Search the internet for proper sizing charts, read and measure so you purchase the correct length or you will get frustrated with the wrong size rope

a. As with sizing, there are many videos on youtube which show proper technique, getting started and even pre-jump stretching.

a. Trust me, even if you were the 3rd grade jumping champion – start slow, start with short 30 or 60 second intervals, stretch and be prepared to be sore for the first few weeks.

Burning calories

Depending on how long and fast you skip you can burn more calories jumping rope than running. The actual calories burned per minute vary by a number of factors and research sources, but safe to say you can burn anywhere between 300 and 1000 calories over an hour depending on duration, speed, weight and interval.

Cardiovascular

Trust me, jumping rope in 3 to 4 minute intervals will get your heart rate up quicker and much higher than running. The added benefit is that its not as hard on your body as running.

Muscle tone

Jumping rope is great full body movement - just look at the majority of boxers and MMA competitors and one can easily see the benefits of jumping rope.

As with anything jumping rope is not for everyone. but it is a low cost alternative for developing a great fitness and toning regiment!

For more information on Walter Urban and his Guinness World Record activities visit www.walterurban.com

Walter Urban is a US Citizen working and living in Guelph, Ontario. He is currently training to attempt breaking two new Guinness World Records in 2013. For more information on Walter visit www.walterurban.com

To find more information on Walter Urban and his World and National records please visit: www.walterurban.com

Walter Urban’s unique story of motivation and inspiration is supported by a core message of team work – assembling a team, developing a project plan, implementing the plan and executing and adhering to the plan - accomplishing the goal of breaking a Guinness World Record.

The husband and father of three girls 12, 9 and 5 is a US Citizen living and working in Canada. A competitive powerlifter for over 15 years competing in the 75 kg 165 lbs. weight class, Walter was a member of the Canadian Masters Powerlifting Team 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010, competing in World Championships in South Africa, Ostrava Czech Republic and Plzen Czech Republic. His best finish was 6^th place at the 2010 World Championships in Plzen Czech Republic. Walter has been a dedicated member of GoodLife Fitness Club for over 15 years where he trains regularly.

The World Record was accomplished by developing the “total” athlete as part of the team - mental, physical, internal and external.

Friday September 17 2011: 53-year-old Walter Urban set a new Guinness World Record for the most amount of weight squat lifted in one hour – drug free - on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly. The former record was 125,065 lbs, set in 2009 by a 32-year-old man. Walter’s goal was to lift 126,000 lbs which was to be accomplished by completing 700 to 1000 squats in one hour or 11 to 17 squats per minute for 60 minutes. Not only did he meet his goal, but he surpassed it and lifted 127, 245 lbs! The Guinness World Record representative said that this weight was “equivalent to approximately 20 African Elephants.”

When asked by Regis what motivated Walter to do this, Urban’s reply was “to show that you can be healthy, fit and strong at any age…even into your 90’s. You can be strong without the use of performance enhancing drugs, and finally…he likes a challenge!”