Jacobs Ladder Exercise Benefits & The Best Jacob’s Ladder Workout
The Jacobs Ladder Exercise is one of my favorite exercises and it is one of the best exercises for helping you burn fat and get in the best shape of your life!
Developed by Steve Nichols, (a former Western New York fitness champion), the Jacobs Ladder exercise provides a total body workout in a very short amount of time.
In fact, the Jacob’s ladder exercise is pretty simple: the user climbs a revolving-endless ladder for either as long as they can or specific intervals.
Is it exercise, or torture? Well, maybe a little bit of both.
Additionally, using a Jacob’s Ladder machine is a great exercise because the Jacobs Ladder machine is an excellent simulation for many real-life tasks, and it is a suitable cardio workout for nearly a wide-range of athletes and fitness lovers.
Keep reading below to learn all of the Jacob’s Ladder exercise benefits?
How Does a Jacob’s Ladder Work?
Using a Jacob’s Ladder machine is quite simple, although it’s definitely not an easy exercise.
The most difficult task is to keep your coordination and control your body’s movement in a steady rhythm while learning to climb on the ladder.
To see a quick example of how to do the Jacob’s Ladder exercise, check out this video of me using the Jacob’s Ladder machine while wearing an elevation training mask and a weight vest:
Features of the Jacob’s Ladder include:
- A user-defined feature that ensures your safety. If your foot slips, the ladder will slow down until you regain your balance and can ride the ladder to the ground.
- Additional safety with a waist strap that also controls how quickly you can move.
- The easy ability to change your speed, as you simply move your legs more or less quickly and powerfully to obtain your desired speed.
Benefits of the Jacobs Ladder Exercise
There are numerous benefits of the Jacobs Ladder exercise which makes it beneficial for nearly a wide-range of people. Here are a few of the main benefits of the Jacobs Ladder exercise:
Minimal Stress on Joints and Tendons
Although there are tons of amazing Jacob’s Ladder exercise benefits, I believe the most important benefit is that it is a low-impact exercise that puts minimal stress on your joints and tendons. Due to that, many different types of people can use the Jacob’s Ladder machine and take advantage of its other benefits!
There are other low-impact exercises, but the Jacobs Ladder exercise is a perfect low-impact exercise because itis also extremely intense!
If you want to do a great cardio workout but have relief from joint pain, this is a perfect exercise for you!
Since the Jacob’s Ladder is very easy on your joints, it is an ideal choice for athletes who are recovering from sports injuries!
I first started using the Jacob’s Ladder exercise when I was rehabbing an ankle injury, and I could do pain-free sets on the Jacobs Ladder when even the ERG Rowing Machine was bothering my ankle!
As a result of the low impact it has on your joints, the Jacobs Ladder is safe for a majority of people at a variety of fitness levels.
Works Your Entire Body at One Time
You might think the Jacobs Ladder is only a lower-body workout, but actually, it is a compound movement that works nearly every muscle of both your upper and lower body!
Seriously, you will not believe the burn in your shoulders and triceps from doing a few sets on the Jacob’s Ladder!
Along with this, even your chest will get some definition from contracting to hold your body on the ladder rungs!
Intense compound exercises such as the Jacob’s Ladder burn an enormous amount of calories both during and after performing the exercise, so it is a great exercise for weight loss and fat loss.
You Can Choose Your Own Intensity
Another one of my favorite benefits of the Jacobs Ladder exercise is that it provides you the freedom to choose your own pace, as you can increase or reduce your pace without any special button.
The pace of the ladder reduces as you slow down, and increases when you increase your pace.
Whether you want to go for 50 feet per minute or 300 feet per minute, everyone can accomplish their goals with this piece of equipment.
Increasing Anaerobic Endurance
Training with the Jacobs Ladder provides you with an incredible bang-for-your-buck workout because of its unique anaerobic-aerobic capabilities. However, in my opinion, the Jacob’s Ladder is best suited for anaerobic workouts.
Although you can certainly go at a moderate pace and do an aerobic conditioning workout on it, the Jacob’s Ladder is perfect for anaerobic “sprints” which will increase your V02Max and help you get in better condition for athletic competitions.
In fact, the Jacob’s Ladder Machine is one of the only pieces of fitness exercise equipment that can help to condition a boxer, fighter, basketball player, football player, or athlete who competes in intense sports.
The treadmill or elliptical can work well for people who want to lose some weight or improve their general health, but this will not do much for professional athletes or people who aspire to be professional athletes.
Also, as I mentioned previously, the Jacobs Ladder is perfect for athletes who compete at a high level because it puts minimal stress on your joints, but it also conditions your body in a sport-specific way.
These intense sports can easily have your heart rate near 200 beats per minute for certain periods of time, and your conditioning needs to reflect this.
Using the Jacobs Ladder year-round is an excellent way to get this done!
The Jacob’s Ladder is Amazing for Fat Loss
As I have already mentioned, the Jacob’s Ladder is one of the best types of workouts for burning calories, losing weight, and getting a low body fat percentage for several reasons.
For starters, anaerobic workouts are superior to aerobic workouts for those who are looking to lose weight and reduce their body fat percentage, and the Jacobs Ladder is perfect for anaerobic workouts.
The easiest way to compare the efficacy of anaerobic and aerobic workouts for improving body composition is to compare the bodies of a sprinter and a marathon runner. Both of these people are generally considered to be great athletes, but the sprinter has the more often desired body.
Anaerobic workouts have consistently been proven to increase fat burning, while also building and strengthening muscles.
Doing cardio workouts like jogging on the treadmill for 30 minutes will help you burn calories, but it does not create an “afterburn” effect that burns additional calories throughout the next several hours like anaerobic endurance exercises such as High-Intensity Training on the Jacobs Ladder.
If you want to get in shape and develop an aesthetic body that measures up to your fitness idols, the Jacobs Ladder exercise can help you get there!
It is a New and Unique Movement
Along with the Jacob’s Ladder exercise benefits listed above, the Jacob’s Ladder exercise is superior to other traditional conditioning methods and exercises because it is a movement we are usually unfamiliar with.
Due to this, your body will burn more calories because your muscles are used in a new and unique way that you are not used to yet.
Sure, you have used all of these muscles before.
However, the Jacob’s Ladder will still be unique for them!
By training in a way in which you are not used to, you will benefit more and see greater results!
For this reason alone, give the Jacob’s Ladder a try!
What is the Best Jacob’s Ladder Workout?
Personally, I usually keep my Jacob’s Ladder workouts to shorter-sprints, maximizing the anaerobic benefits of the exercise.
My favorite Jacob’s Ladder workout is doing 3-5 sets of 100-200 feet, for time.
Depending on how well-conditioned you are, you can start with a shorter amount of distance and then progress to a longer distance for this Jacobs Ladder workout.
In between each set, I will usually walk on the treadmill, or ride the stationary bike for 3-5 minutes.
This way, I can fit a wide range of conditioning aspects into 20-25 minutes of work.
This Jacobs Ladder workout can be performed either before or after the main part of your daily workout, but I prefer doing it at the end of my workouts.
Contrarily to most conditioning workouts, this Jacob’s Ladder workout can be used as a warm-up as well though!
Since the Jacob’s Ladder is low-stress on your joints, but stimulating for your Central Nervous System, it is a great exercise for preparing your body for training.
Many of us know that some days it can be difficult to perform an extremely intense exercise at the beginning of your workout because your body is not yet warm or it is fatigued.
But, the Jacobs Ladder is a perfect solution for this!
Intense exercises have been proven to stimulate your Central Nervous System more than easier ones, and performing a few sets of Jacobs Ladder sprints will prepare your body to attack a difficult workout!
Concluding Thoughts – Should You Do the Jacob’s Ladder Exercise?
The Jacob’s Ladder is an effective exercise that can enhance your aerobic and anaerobic endurance, and it will challenge your body in new and unique ways.
Along with that, it is a low-impact exercise and a wide range of people can use it because it is easy to choose your own intensity.
If you are new to intense forms of exercise, be sure to consult your doctor before trying the Jacob’s Ladder. Otherwise, if you are considering whether or not you should do the Jacob’s Ladder exercise, I say you should give it a try!
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