Jumping Jacks-WHY? - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Amy42601 · 11-16-2002, 12:12 PM

Hi all!

Just out of curiosity, what is the point of doing jumping jacks? I mean, what benefit do they have for the person doing them? Thanks!

Amy

Stigma · 11-16-2002, 01:35 PM

When I was in martial arts, jj's were used as a warm-up prior to every class. They're a fast way of getting the blood flowing and getting the heart rate up. Some people may do it for longer periods of time as cardio. Maybe some more experienced board posters will be able to give you more insightful answers.

JeanM · 11-16-2002, 05:30 PM

Jumping jacks are good to throw in if you're doing circuit training. I like to do them during my circuit training to keep my heartrate up. I could hop on the treadmill, but it's much more convenient to stand where I am and do a minute or 2 of JJs rather than walk over to the treadmill, input all the necessary info, run for 1-2 minutes, then walk back to the weight section.

darkwolfofvoid · 11-16-2002, 06:05 PM

I'd say they're most predominately used for cardio: keeping the heart rate up. If one is out of shape, they can really be a good calf workout. When I'd do 100s (up to 2000) calf raises and then shin workouts, jumping jacks would be a nice thing to throw in sometimes. They do give the arms and such a lil workout as well by the range of motion you're using them. Of course one could do many more jumping kind of activities and mix them in to liven things up. In my cardio kickboxing we do two lunging jabs to the right 45 degrees, then two jumping jacks and then to the left and repeat, but that's just one example, we also do a jumping thing where we jump, turn the right and punch at the same time then do it to the left and it's all just one fast continuous motion. So in general, it's good cardio and something simple to do.