A few years ago, I read a blog written by a professional boxer centered around the benefits of jumping rope. This type of exercise provides a full-body workout, burns a tremendous amount of calories and builds stamina. It requires strength, balance and coordination. I hadn’t jumped rope since I was a kid. I bought a leather rope with weighted handles and started practicing. At first, I wasn’t very good at it. I’d step on the rope, trip on it and smack my calves. I lacked the endurance to jump more than a few seconds at a time. I gradually increased my skills and stamina so that I was able to learn more advanced jumping styles. I wore out two leather jump ropes before I upgraded to a system called Cross Rope. I invested into a set of four ropes of different weights. There is a quarter-pound, half-pound, full-pound and two-pound weight rope that each attach to a single set of handles. The various weights of the rope target different challenges and benefits. I also workout with a jump rope app on my phone that provides guided exercise sessions. They range in length anywhere from five minutes to an hour and are available in novice, intermediate and advanced difficulty levels. Some of the sessions are strictly jumping and utilize the different ropes. Some of them incorporate exercises such as burpees, jumping jacks, crunches and push-ups. The guided workout is very motivational and pushes me further than my comfort zone. Plus, the app keeps track of the number of workouts and calories burned.