How To Do Hop Overs

By: Chris Freytag, CPT

Chris Freytag demonstrating Hop Overs

Hop Overs are a cardio exercise that get your heart pumping, burn calories, and strengthen your legs all at once! If you are looking for an exercise to throw into your regular workout to shake things up or something new to try for a fun interval, this is the move for you. If you learn how to do Hop Overs you will have a new plyometric exercise that challenges you and makes you push your limits.

Plyometric exercises are used by athletes to train for more strength and power as well as increase your fat burning zone. Also known as “jump training,” plyometrics are not to be done every day. Spread them out throughout the week. Mix them into another workout. The Hop Over can be interspersed into your strength training session as well to add a burst of cardio. Any kind of platform or bench will do, just be sure to start small. Practice jumping over a mat or something you won’t trip on and get injured. Once you feel more confident you can slowly raise the object you are jumping over.

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    How To Do Hop Overs

    1. Stand on one side of your step or towel. Engage your abdominals and sit back into a small squat.
    2. Use the glutes and legs to jump up and over the step and land in a slight squat, repeat back and forth.

    When performing hop overs, be sure to start in a squat position, with your knees bent, and then land in that same position. This will reduce the risk of injury as well as increase the capacity to strengthen your legs muscles. From your squat, pull your arms back and then swing them forward as you “explode” over the bench. Be sure your core muscles are pulled in tight to help you in the movement.

    [adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”k4sEd5wp” upload-date=”2019-02-22T22:15:50.000Z” name=”Hop Overs” description=”Stand on one side of your step or towel. Engage your abdominals and sit back into a small squat.
    Use the glutes and legs to jump up and over the step and land in a slight squat, repeat back and forth.”]

    The Benefits of Hop Overs

    There are tons of reasons you should incorporate Hop Overs into your workouts. Here are just a few:

    Burn More Fat

    Hop Overs is a plyometric exercise. Plyometrics are used by athletes to train for building more strength and power, but the interval training they provide also increases your fat burning potential as well. Also known as “jump training,” plyometrics are a big challenge, but the good news is they are only necessary a couple times a week for BIG results!

    Strengthen Legs

    Hop Overs begin in a squat position and end in a squat position. In between it takes an incredible amount of strength to get your body weight up and over the top of your bench. You’ll work all the muscles in your legs and be feeling the burn the next day for sure!

    Increase Power

    Hop Overs and other plyometrics are used to train for more power in addition to everything else. Having power is an incredibly important fitness element for any athlete’s performance. If you’re looking for a new move to increase your athletic ability, hop overs are a great option.

    What Muscles Do Hop Overs Work?

    Hop Overs are a cardio exercise that crank your heart rate up, burn tons of calories and strengthen your legs all in one move. They primarily work the leg muscles.

    How Many Calories Do Hop Overs Burn?

    Hop Overs are intense and they get your heart rate up. You will burn a lot of calories doing these babies! In general, an exercise will burn about 100 calories for every 10 minutes you are working. This one probably gets you higher—but you won’t be able to do them for as long as other moves so just enjoy burning more calories in less time for this one!

    Incorporating Hop Overs Into Your Workouts

    Hop Overs is an amazing exercise and you will get results just from using this move on its own! However, you could also incorporate Hop Overs into other workouts to mix them up. Here are some ideas to make that happen.

    Use Hop Overs In a HIIT Workout

    HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) has become one of the most popular and well-used fitness techniques over the last several years. Why? Because the benefits are undeniable. By doing short bursts of exercise that get your heart rate up, you build your heart’s capapcity to do more and burn a ton of calories in much less time. Times can vary for the intervals, but generally the idea is to go as hard as possible for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 and repeat this pattern 8 times.

    Hop Into HIIT

    Here’s a great challenge for you to try. You will need a step or platform for this workout to be done as written. However, doing it on the floor and just “imaginging” a bench is another option. Make sure you warm up gently for a few minutes before beginning.

    Use Hop Overs To Boost Your Strength Training

    Hop Overs provide just enough heart rate push in a short amount of time that they make for a great exercise to insert between strength moves for a full workout.

    Hop Over Strength Workout

    Try this quick strength workout. (You’ll just need a step and some dumbbells.)

    Use Hop Overs In Your Lower Body Strength Training

    Hop Overs help to strengthen your lower body muscles including glutes, quads and hamstrings. Using Hop Overs in your leg workout will improve your results and add a fat burning emphasis. Check this one out!

    Lower Body 10s Workout

    Warm up with 10 squats, 1 minute high knees and 10 alternating right, left kicks.

    Other Exercises Similar to Hop Overs

    If you like the work and results you get from Hop Overs, here are some other exercises you might like as well:

    Targets: glutes, quads, hamstrings

    (This will help us personalize your experience so that you can get the best advice possible from us!)
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