Jumping Jacks and Your Workout

A few weeks ago a friend of mine pinned a picture to her Pinterest board (is anyone seeing a pattern to my go to place for inspiration lately?) about Jumping Jacks.  The picture stated the following:

So Here Are Some Facts:
1. There are 3500 calories in one pound
2. Every two jumping jacks = one calorie burnt
3. 7000 jumping jacks = one pound GONE!
4. 10 sets of 100 jumping jacks a day for one week will burn one pound


So on top of your current diet and exercise regime can you add 10 sets of jumping jacks?
Lets try this, because a pound lighter is a pound lighter.


Here is the "skinny" about the science behind this.  This formula doesn't work for everybody.  In fact, I'm not sure who it works for.  The number of calories burned during exercise are not determined by the number of reps you do.  It is determined by several things working together: intensity of activity and the duration of that activity; as well as the individual's weight, age, and metabolism.

For example, my husband - who is 6'2", 190 lbs, and 28 years old - and I (5'8", 240 lbs, and 31 years old) both do jumping jacks (high intensity workout) for 5 minutes straight.  On paper I would burn more calories because I weigh more than he does, but his metabolism is crazy.  He burns calories by breathing, I swear it.  That would give him an edge.

Now, I am not knocking the general idea behind this.  It is pretty reasonable to assume that doing 10 sets of 100 jumping jacks randomly throughout the day would keep your metabolism pumping all day long.  Your calorie burn would increase and you would probably lose more body fat - not weight, by the way.  In doing jumping jacks you are heavily working muscles which will replace the body fat.

My suggestion is to talk to a certified athletic trainer before changing up (or starting) your workout routine.  They can give you tips that can improve your results and keep you from hurting yourself.

For the record, I did add jumping jacks to my daily routine.  My doctor informed me that doing 25-50 jumping jacks at a time will help me jump start my return to the world of exercise.

Here are some Jumping Jacks Facts from a really great fitness website: Livestrong.com