There is probably no person out there that exercises and hasn’t done a single jumping jack. Jumping jacks are one of the main warm-up exercises. How many jumping jacks burn 100 calories? How do you do a proper jumping jack? We will answer all these questions below.
The jumping jack is an intense but accessible exercise. When doing jumping jacks, you are working your whole body. There are a lot of benefits from doing this exercise.
- It helps to improve your mood instantly due to the release of endorphins
- It helps to improve your stamina and endurance levels
- They are perfect for you if you want an exercise which would work your cardiovascular system
So how many jumping jacks burn 100 calories?
Burning calories depends a lot on the circumstances. How much do you weigh? At what intensity are you doing jumping jacks? You will burn around one calorie per minute for every pound of weight (2 calories for every kilo).
Again burning calories depends on a lot of factors, and I believe you should not focus on the calories when you are exercising. When exercising you should give it all you’ve got! Whether you are in shape or not. For every fitness level, there is a different intensity and goal to achieve.
To put it in perspective a 100 calories equals a regular sized banana. If you solely focus on burning a 100 calories, jumping jacks are not the best method to achieve your goal. I recommend more intense full body movements like the burpee, or you should consider lifting weights. Lifting weights is a much better way of burning calories than cardio is.
Using the right technique
However, all these benefits would come to nothing if you do not do the jumping jack properly. Therefore, the importance of using the proper method and technique when doing this exercise cannot be overemphasized. For this reason, we would highlight some of the steps which are necessary to enable you to do the jumping jack exercise correctly.
Step one
Take your position when standing. Make sure your posture is as straight as possible. Make sure that your feet are kept together at all times. You should do this in combination with your shoulders withdrawn a bit, hands which are extended further from your chest and place your palms in such a way that they are always facing each other at all times. By doing this, it will allow your core to be involved in the exercise.
Step two
Next step is what signals the first part of the exercise. You would then jump and while in the air, make sure that you split your legs. Make sure that you move your hands to your side. When doing this, make sure that you keep your hands in the same imaginary line with your shoulder.
You should execute all these movements while you are in the air. When coming back to the ground, make sure that you land with your both knees bent. This is to ensure that you land without any form of injury.
Step three
Now, that we have got the most crucial part done and dusted, jump again to see if you can manage it the second time. It is important to remember that you have to make sure that your arms and legs come together. This is important to make sure that you do the exercise the right way.
Step four
If you feel that you have gotten the hang of the exercise, you should repeat the cycle about 15-20 times. Then when added fully to your workout routine, you can do at least two sets with about 15-20 reps.
If this exercise is done the right way, it is a wonderful way to work the muscles in your body. However, most people did this exercise as children and were hardly aware of which muscles were being worked.
Muscles used during the jumping jack
When doing this exercise, you use several muscles.
Leg calves
One muscle which you use during this exercise are the calf muscles. You can find these muscles when you look at the back of the lower region of the legs. These muscles are usually very tough. Most people in the world today especially women find the calf muscles when adequately toned to be quite attractive.
However, the calf muscles also show that you have high strength in your legs. With stronger calves running and walking become easier. This movement makes sure that this muscle is worked and exerted which will aid its development.
Hip adductors
The hip adductors are yet another muscle which would benefit from the jumping jack exercise. These muscles are located in the thighs. To be more precise, you can find them in the inner part of the thighs.
This part of the body is notorious for its inability to lose the fat which you may crave or hope to lose, especially for women. However, when you do the jumping jack exercise regularly, this would lead to increased pressure in that region. Even though you can’t burn fat locally, the increased pressure leads to more toned thighs.
Hip abductors
When you refer to hip abductors, this refers to the muscles located in the outer region of the thighs. They work similarly to the hip adductors. The main difference between both sets of muscles is that the abductors are in the outer part of the thighs while the other is in the inner part. Jumping jack would allow you to work these muscles through the continuous inwards and outwards movement of the legs. This would ensure that these muscles are adequately toned which would give it a better look
The core muscles
The truth is that the core is simply one of the most important of the body. It is also one of the hardest parts of the body to exert correctly. However, jumping jacks allows you to work your core correctly. It does this by using the back muscles and bringing to life practically all the muscles in the body.
Answering the question
You need about 50 – 100 jumping jacks to burn 100 calories. But as mentioned before it depends on your body weight, the intensity of training and a lot more factors! The need to become and remain fit is getting more and more important every day for everyone around the globe. For this reason, the need to find an exercise which works almost all sets of muscles is essential.
The jumping jack fulfills all these needs and so much more. This is yet another reason why you should include the jumping jack in your workout routine. Regular repetition of this exercise would do wonders for your body!
I love the jumping jacks, especially as a warm-up exercise. Do you use the jumping jacks in any of your routines? Or are you the one person that never did a jumping jack? Let us know in the comment section below. Thank you for reading.
