If you've ever vegged out to a great boxing film such as Rocky or Million Dollar Baby, you may have noticed one thing all boxers seem to have in common---they all skip rope as part of their fitness routine. While skipping rope is often something we leave behind in grade school, it turns out that jump rope can help your fitness routine in a variety of exciting ways.

Boxers use jump ropes in their routine because it gives them lower leg strength, improves endurance, and most importantly helps them with footwork in the ring. While you probably don't need to worry about footwork unless you actually are a boxer, you can still benefit from the other great benefits jumping rope can give you:

 Low impact exercise

Jumping rope may seem like a pretty jarring way to get your exercise in, but it's actually easier on the joints than running. You can get many of the same benefits running has, such as superior cardio, without suffering from joint pain after literally pounding the pavement. 

Space Saving Equipment

When it's too cold, snowy, or rainy to go outside to run, many of us turn to a treadmill for our exercise needs—at least we do when we have the room to stuff it in our homes. Unfortunately, treadmills take up a huge amount of space and isn't really ideal for apartments. Even the fold up ones still take up a significant amount of room. Jump ropes however, can fit in your gym bag or hang in your closet—they take almost no room at all. 

Cheap investment

A quality jump rope will cost you less than $100, and a cheap on just to get you started less than $30. Jump ropes are one of the cheapest pieces of fitness equipment you can buy, especially considering how much they can do for your fitness.

If you're looking for something new to do on days when running isn't available, or just to improve your endurance so you can tackle those big hills, a jump rope could be the way to go, at just $30 to start, if you don't end up liking it, it's not a big loss either.