The five-minute exercise that brilliant for bones, muscles and heart health

Many of us struggle with making time for daily exercise. Here’s how a five minutes of skipping could be the making of a full body work out

“Skipping itself is really hard,” says Dalton Wong, a performance coach and personal trainer. But once you get the hang of it a five-minute skip can be the making of an intense full body workout. 
The brain stimulation involved in skipping for five minutes is much higher than that needed for a swim or run of the same length, Wong explains, “as you have to constantly be aware of where the rope is and when to jump”. As a result of all that, a five minute skip is a very efficient way to “improve agility and coordination”.
As one of the cheapest and most convenient ways to keep fit at home, here are all the health benefits of a five-minute skip, and how to get fit enough to pull it off. 
There’s no exact figure to put on how many calories you might burn from a five-minute skip. It all depends on “how much you weigh, how hard you’re going, and your heart rate”, says Wong. 
A good estimate might be “about a hundred calories if you’re skipping for five minutes solidly,” says Dr Mark Homer, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at Buckinghamshire New University. 
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Comparatively, a five-minute run might burn around 50 calories, and a five-minute walk could burn just 25 calories. Regardless, when compared with other types of five minute activity, skipping is “a pretty good bang for your buck,” Wong says. 
“In a competition with swimming, skipping wins when it comes to burning calories, because you’ve got more on the go at once,” he explains. The activity is likely better for your health overall than five minutes of anything else, “as you’re using more brain stimulation”, too. 
“A big pro of skipping is that anyone can do it regardless of their level of fitness”, Wong says, though it may be difficult for those who don’t exercise regularly to sustain for five whole minutes jumping the rope”. 
One 2013 study found that skipping for 10 minutes every day over six weeks increased cardiovascular fitness as much as a 30-minute run every day over the same period. 
Another study from 2019 found that skipping is an effective way to improve body composition, inflammation levels and vascular function, all of which can be risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease. 
“I’m often using skipping to help get people used to working in different heart rate zones,” Wong says, which is the key to improving cardiovascular fitness.
“Skipping is a form of cardiovascular exercise, and any kind of exercise like this is beneficial to your general health, improving the pumping ability of the heart and reducing blood pressure,” says Dr Homer. 
A major benefit brought by skipping is improved agility and coordination, as a result of training your brain to jump at the right times and swing the rope over your head in a rhythmic way. 
“Skipping improves the ability of both your hands and your feet, and keeps your brain in sync with your movements,” Wong says. 
This is one of the main reasons why boxers often skip as a way to train for fights, both experts say. 
“If you watch a boxer skipping, you’ll see that their feet are barely off the ground, whereas amateurs will be jumping ten centimetres into the air to make sure the rope is under their feet,” says Dr Homer. Achieving this level of deft movement allows boxers to move quickly and to be maximally coordinated. 
“Agility becomes very important as you age,” Wong explains. “If you’re walking somewhere and slip over but you happen to skip a lot, then your body will be much more accustomed to tilting and correcting so protecting you from injury.”
Though it might not seem like a natural fit in a category shared by rugby, football and tennis, skipping is very much an impact activity – meaning that your joints are bearing strain as your feet or other parts of your body are hitting the ground.
In the long term, a lifestyle heavy on impact sports can be bad for your joints, but these exercises can do an excellent job of strengthening your bones. 
“You’re bouncing up and down, so that form of impact with your feet hitting the ground is great for maintaining bone density,” Dr Homer says. 
This may be especially effective for women. One 2014 study found that jumping 10 times in a row twice a day for four months with 30 seconds between each jump increased their hip bone mineral density by 0.5 per cent. 
Meanwhile, a control group (who didn’t do any jumping) saw their own bone mineral density decrease by 1.3 per cent over the same four months.  
Skipping won’t give you calves the size of a boulder – “you don’t have enough force on your muscles while you’re skipping to make them any bigger,” Wong explains – but what they will do is build your endurance.
This is yet another reason why skipping is beloved by boxers, and it’s one that should make skipping a go-to exercise for people who want to keep fit as they age. 
“Skipping might not make your calves and legs grow, but it will make them stronger,” Wong explains.
This is an important fact as muscle mass begins to decline steeply after 40, says Dr Homer. “Compared with lifting weights, skipping puts a relatively low demand on your body. But compared with going for a walk, a five-minute skip will do much more for your strength,” he explains. “It may help you keep the muscle mass you have as you age.” 
Picking up skipping in midlife or later should be done with caution, however. “You have to make sure that your joints are strong enough to handle the impact,” Wong advises. 
“Hopping and jumping can put a lot of force on your ankles, knees and hips. If you have any injuries or joint pain I wouldn’t advise that you start skipping. It might be wise to pick up swimming instead as this will be very gentle on your joints.” 
If you’re going to give skipping a try, it might be worth working up to a five-minute skip in 30 second chunks, building up each week as your body becomes accustomed to the new exercise. 
Once you’ve got a good rhythm nailed, skipping is “super easy to do, and cost effective,” Wong says. Here he shares three ways to turn things up a gear and get the most out of a five-minute skip. 
To strengthen your leg bones and practise the rhythm you need to skip well
To get used to moving your hands at the right speed
To learn how to do both at once, without tripping over
This is how it should look when you have the technique nailed
To improve your balance
To improve your agility
To elevate your heart rate
To work your muscles 
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