Skipping Rope Benefits and Workout: A Beginner Interval Plan

Skipping rope is one of the most efficient cardio workouts you can do at home: the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities rates general rope skipping at 11 METs, so a 70 kg person burns roughly 128 kcal in 10 minutes of actual jumping. It also trains your heart and lungs, calves and coordination, and loads your bones. For a beginner, the right workout is short intervals, such as 20 to 30 seconds of jumping with 30 to 40 seconds of rest, three or four days a week.

All you need is a rope sized to your height, a pair of trainers and a floor that isn't marble.

What are the benefits of skipping rope?

• High calorie burn per minute. At 11 METs, continuous skipping sits above running at about 10 km/h (9.3 METs) in the Compendium's running list.
• Cardiovascular fitness. In a 12-week randomised trial of adolescents with overweight or obesity, interval jump rope sessions three times a week improved body fat percentage and cardiorespiratory fitness compared with a no-training group. That study was in 10 to 13 year olds, so treat it as supportive rather than proof for adults.
• Bone loading. The NHS lists skipping among high-impact weight-bearing exercises that help keep bones strong, alongside running and dancing.
• Cheap and portable. A rope fits in a gym bag, and you can do a full session on a terrace in 15 minutes.
• Coordination and footwork, which is why boxers and other athletes use it as a warm-up and conditioning tool.

How many calories does skipping burn?

The formula is the same for any activity, using MET values from the 2024 Adult Compendium paper, where 1 MET is roughly 1 kcal per kg per hour:

kcal = MET × body weight (kg) × time (hours)

Example: 70 kg × 11 METs × (10 ÷ 60) hours = about 128 kcal for 10 minutes of jumping.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. Count only jumping time. In an interval session, rest periods burn far less, so 10 rounds of 30 seconds is 5 minutes of jumping, not 10.
2. These are gross figures. About 1 MET of it you'd burn sitting anyway. For the extra burn, use (MET − 1): 10 minutes at 70 kg is about 117 kcal.
3. Pace matters. The Compendium's 11 METs is "rope skipping exercise, general". A slower, steady skip on a jumping machine at 120 jumps a minute is listed at 9.0 METs.

Try your own numbers in the calories burned calculator, and see how skipping compares with other activities in the calories burned by exercise chart.

How long should your skipping rope be?

Stand on the middle of the rope with your feet together and pull the handles straight up. A sizing guide from Nike says the end of the cable (not counting the handles) should reach your sternum or armpits, and suggests beginners use a rope about 3 feet (around 90 cm) longer than their height.

Hypothetical example: you're 165 cm tall, so start with a rope of about 255 cm. Most adjustable ropes let you shorten the cable at the handle. Start longer; you can always shorten it once you're consistent, and experienced skippers tend to prefer shorter ropes because they turn faster.

Skipping technique for beginners

Buddy Lee's book Jump Rope Training gives a "cardinal rule": jump no more than about an inch (2.5 cm) off the surface, land on the balls of your feet, and keep contact with the ground short and light. The Nike guide adds: keep your hands in front of your hips, not out wide.

In practice:

• Elbows close to your sides, hands at hip height.
• Turn the rope with your wrists, not big arm circles.
• Small, quiet hops on the balls of your feet; heels hover just off the floor.
• Knees soft, never locked.
• Look ahead, not down at the rope.
• Tripping is normal. Just restart. Count jumps per round, not perfect rounds.

If you can't get the rhythm, practise for a few minutes without a rope (hop in place while turning your wrists) or hold both handles in one hand and swing the rope at your side.

The 4-week beginner skipping plan

Warm up first: 2 minutes of marching on the spot, 10 ankle circles each way, 10 calf raises. Rest means walking around or standing, not sitting.

Each session takes about 12 to 15 minutes including warm-up. Leave at least one day between sessions in weeks 1 and 2, because your calves and Achilles tendons need time to adapt.

After week 4, either lengthen rounds to 90 seconds, add rounds, or try mixing in alternate-foot steps (like jogging on the spot over the rope). If your heart rate is something you track, the heart rate zone calculator shows what "hard" means for your age. Skipping rounds are hard work, so don't be alarmed if your heart rate climbs fast; just keep the rest periods honest.

Skipping pairs well with strength work. Two rope rounds between sets of a home workout with no equipment turns it into a decent circuit.

Knees, joints and the right surface

Skipping is high impact. In a 2025 lab study of Muay Thai athletes, peak ground reaction forces during two-footed skipping averaged about 4.0 to 4.4 kN. For a 70 kg person (about 690 N of body weight) that would be roughly six times body weight. Healthy tissues adapt to that load when you build up slowly. Problems come from doing too much too soon, jumping too high, or landing flat-footed.

What helps:

• Wear trainers. In a 2023 study, shoes reduced the peak loading rate compared with skipping barefoot.
• Pick a forgiving floor. Buddy Lee recommends a "high-rebounding surface". A wooden floor, a rubber gym mat or firm packed mud is far kinder than marble, tiles or concrete. An exercise mat on a tiled floor helps, as long as it doesn't slide.
• Check the ceiling. Indoors, the rope needs clearance above your head and nowhere near a ceiling fan.
• Progress slowly. Add rounds or time, not both at once.

Who should be careful or ask first: people with knee pain or arthritis, a recent ankle or knee injury (the Human Kinetics excerpt says rope jumping isn't recommended in the early stages of injury healing), osteoporosis (the NHS advises talking to your GP before a new exercise programme), pregnancy, heart disease or high blood pressure. If you're heavy and new to exercise, build a base with brisk walking or cycling for a few weeks first; the beginner treadmill plan is one way.

Stop for sharp pain in the shin, ankle or knee, or for chest pain, dizziness or unusual breathlessness.

Skipping vs running

Per minute, skipping wins. Running wins on how long most people can keep it up: few beginners can skip continuously for 20 minutes, while many can jog-walk for 30. The two work well together. If you'd like to build up to continuous running, the beginner 5K running plan takes you there in about two months.

The short version

• General skipping is 11 METs: about 128 kcal per 10 minutes of jumping at 70 kg
• Size the rope so the cable reaches your armpits or sternum, roughly your height plus 90 cm
• Jump about an inch high, land softly on the balls of your feet, wrists turn the rope
• Start with 10 rounds of 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off, three days a week
• Wear trainers, skip on wood, rubber or packed mud, and progress one thing at a time
• Ask a doctor or physio first if you have knee, ankle, bone or heart problems

This is general information, not medical advice.

Useful links

• 2024 Adult Compendium: conditioning exercise (rope skipping)
• 2024 Adult Compendium: running
• Herrmann et al. (2024), the 2024 Adult Compendium paper
• NHS: preventing osteoporosis (weight-bearing exercise)
• Buddy Lee, Jump Rope Training (Human Kinetics excerpt)
• Interval jump rope in adolescents with overweight, RCT (2025)
• Barefoot vs shod skipping biomechanics (2023)
• Rope jumping biomechanics in Muay Thai athletes (2025)