SKIPPING may be reminiscent of junior school playground games but it is an intense form of cardio.

Skipping for a significant amount of time could shave off the extra pounds pretty swiftly.

Ulverston-based personal trainer, gym owner and fitness expert Henry Armer said: "I love adding skipping into my clients' workouts. You can burn the same amount of calories in a high intensity interval training session using skipping as you can doing a long run.

"The old argument with running is that it is extremely stressful on the joints whereas if you can do your skipping with good form, then it is much easier on the joints.

"Skipping is also a full body blast so you can hit a large range of muscle groups in one go. It is also great for sports as it improves your balance and coordination.

"My advice for people wanting to incorporate more skipping into their routine is to make sure they perform a full body stretch after their skipping workout and improve their flexibility too.

"Some people say skipping is just for girls. Those people clearly haven't seen the Rocky films."