Have a look at our guide to how picking up skipping can benefit you.

• It burns calories effectively
  This is a fantastic exercise to burn calories. !5 -20 minutes of skipping elevates the heart rate and burns calories. Skipping regularly greatly improves cardiovascular endurance. You will find it hard going at first though and should build up slowly to 15-20 minutes.

• It gives you a total body workout
  Skipping is good for shaping your calves, your glutes and quads and also, because of the continuous rope turning motion, it gives a fantastic upper body workout too. Skipping is good for your chest, back, shoulders, forearms, biceps and triceps!

• It's cheap!
  There is a wide range of skipping ropes available, some actually have a devise in the handle to help you calculate how many calories you have burned, but a basic skipping rope will do just as well and can be bought for less than £10.

• You can do it anywhere!
  This exercise routine is totally portable; you can take a skipping rope anywhere you want to, although skipping at the supermarket checkout may raise a few eyebrows!

• It's relatively safe
  Skipping is said to have less risk of injury attached to it in comparison to other sports.

• You will become agile and have fun!
  Once you have mastered skipping you will find that it gets easier and easier. You will find that your coordination will improve and you will start to enjoy the rhythm you can get into when skipping. You can build up the amount of time you spend skipping and set your self new goals and challenges to keep it interesting, you can even get others involved and skip in a group so that you can all motivate each other! It is a great activity to compliment weight training too.