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Introducing the 28 day Star Jump (Jumping Jack) fitness challenge, adapted from the December Star Jump Exercise Challenge (Starcember) challenge. We’re going to be doing Star Jumps, also known as Jumping Jacks for 28 days.
Are you ready?
The Star Jump challenge starts off with moderate intensity and descends before heading back up again. Known as a reverse pyramid it’s a great way to slowly build intensity.
My bet is that whoever you are, you already know what a Star Jump is. It is symbolic of exercise in general, incredibly simple and underused. And therefore is an excellent body-weight cardio exercise, if nothing else, make sure you use this exercise in your next workout. And if you want a challenge, well here it is, read on.
The Star Jump (Jumping Jack)
All my challenges are suitable for varying abilities and fitness levels and this one is no different. This challenge has three levels of intensity you can choose from starting with a one-leg Star Jump (Half Star Jump) to Regular Star Jumps and up to an Explosive Star Jump.
The star jump is a very metabolic full-body exercise, it incorporates the whole body with lower and upper body movements recruiting multiple muscle groups and you’ll feel the cardiovascular effect on the heart for a full-body metabolic exercise.
However, If you don’t think even the Explosive Star Jump will challenge you (you must be fit) there are some tips at the end of this article on how to up the intensity further.
Joining in Checklist
- Download the Target Guide
- Download the Scoring Sheet
- Create accountability by sharing with a friend to join you and posting your you social channels.
- Track your exercise level and target each day and score yourself on your efforts.
Target Guide
Below you can download the target guide, save to your phone or print and pin to your fridge, don’t forget to also download the scoring sheet.
Scoring the Challenge
The challenge is split into 3 levels for which you can score your progress, you don’t need to keep to one level, You can mix & match and go up or down a level. Each level has a score associated to it, use the free-scoring sheet available for download below to track your progress and tally your total score for the month
28 Day Exercise Challenges Star Jump Challenge Scoring Sheet 72.58 KB 26 downloads
Use this scoring sheet to track and score the 28 Day Star Jump Challenge. …Exercise Challenge Design
The 28 Day Star Jump challenge starts with repetitions going down before ascending again. This is known as a Descending Pyramid or upside-down pyramid, this challenge starts at a relatively high level before descending and then ascending again. Ultimately, you finish on a higher level from where you started.
This type of programme would allow you to increase the intensity of the exercise as you descend.
While the repetitions are lower you can opt for a high-intensity star jump, perhaps an explosive star jump. Continue doing these until you can no longer match the repetitions and revert back to regular star jumps. As a result, the intensity is kept high throughout the challenge and enable you to perform high-intensity exercises during parts of the challenge.
28 Day Star Jump Challenge Table
Half Star Jump
1 x BONUS POINTS
This beginner exercise is low impact and a great start for those with bad knees or new to exercise.
- Star standing and step out to one side with one leg (the foot can either touch the floor or be elevated)
- Simultaneous raise both arms to horizontal or above.
- Bring the foot back to start and repeat with the opposite leg.
- Continue in this fashion for the desired amount of repetitions.
Star Jumps (Jumping Jacks)
2 x BONUS POINTS
The star jump is a simple aerobic training exercise involving jumping in a “star” jump fashion, this exercise is also known as a Jumping Jack.
- Start with 2 feet together.
- Jump out astride so your feet are about 1 and half times hip-width apart.
- At the same time raise your arms lateral to shoulder height or more.
- Jump back into the start position while simultaneously lower your hands to the original position.
- Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.
Explosive Star Jumps
3 x BONUS POINTS
The variation of a regular star jump is the Explosive Star Jump, this exercise adds a plyometric and power action to this exercise creating more intensity.
- Start with 2 feet together.
- Tuck down and wrap arms around knees or hands to feet.
- Explosively Jump out into a star shape.
- As you return to land with feet together and tuck down to the original start position.
- Use the stretch reflex to push immediately back up in the Explosive Star Jump.
- Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.
How to up the intensity
Add ankle & wrist weights to increase the intensity of this exercise, these can be used for any variation of the exercises above.
