Jumping Rope 10 Minutes A Day: Is It A Good Idea?

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Most people know that more exercise, like jumping rope, in their routine can be beneficial. How about jumping rope 10 minutes a day, is it a good idea?

Jumping rope 10 minutes a day may sound like a good idea due to the intuitive attractiveness of the number 10 and because looking at the clock is easier than counting to 1000 jumps.

That doesn’t mean this routine is the best workout routine for your goals.

A potential downside of jumping rope is that it can be rough on body parts like knees and back. Especially if you are carrying around a lot of extra weight or if you are injury-sensitive.

In those cases, it may be smarter to start out with “softer” exercises like swimming or the elliptical trainer.

Even if your body is physically capable of it, jumping rope 10 minutes every day is not the best way to improve athletic performance.

If your goal with exercising is optimal health, you generally want to do other types of exercise like strength training at least twice a week. Doing a lot of rope jumping on these days is often not a great idea.

That being said, even if it isn’t the number 1 routine for athletic performance or physical health, getting to 10 minutes of rope jumping a day and sticking to it can be a fun goal in itself.

Do keep the physical limits of your body in mind.

How many calories does jumping rope for 10 minutes burn?

The average person will burn 98-169 calories with 10 minutes of jump rope.

Below you can find a table with more precise estimations for individuals of different weights jumping rope for 10 minutes at different speeds based on MET values.

Keep in mind that these are estimations. The calculation method doesn’t take into account certain factors that do influence calories burned with jumping rope. Also keep in mind that these are rounded numbers.

To put these estimations into perspective, 100 grams of boiled potatoes contains about 87 calories (1).

Speed
Weight Person
Jumping Rope
(Slow Tempo)
Jumping Rope
(Moderate Tempo)
Jumping Rope
(Fast Tempo)
125 Pounds (56 kg)79 calories98 calories118 calories
155 Pounds (70 kg)98 calories122 calories146 calories
185 Pounds (83 kg)117 calories146 calories175 calories
215 Pounds (97 kg)135 calories169 calories203 calories
Chart of calories burned per 10 minutes of jumping rope at different speeds

Doing a workout at high intensity can also cause something called “afterburn”. This is basically having an increased metabolism for a while after you stop doing the exercise.

This extra energy burning is hard to put into exact numbers.

What is 10 minutes of jumping rope equivalent to?

It is clearly a fact about jumping rope that this exercise will help you burn calories. Even so, that it is not the only important question.

You also want to know what you can expect in terms of calorie burning from other activities and more specifically, what 10 minutes of jumping rope is equivalent to in this area.

The following numbers are rough estimations for how long you need to do other workouts to burn as many calories as 10 minutes of jumping rope at a moderate tempo (2):

  • Running 10 mph: 7 minutes
  • Bicycling 16-19 mph: 8 minutes
  • Running 6.7 mph: 10 minutes
  • Running 5.2 mph: 11 minutes
  • Stair Step Machine (general): 11 minutes
  • Swimming (crawl): 12 minutes
  • Bicycling, Stationary (moderate): 14 minutes
  • Water Aerobics: 19 minutes
  • Elliptical Trainer (moderate): 20 minutes
  • Dancing (Fast, ballet, twist): 20 minutes
  • Rowing, Stationary (moderate): 21 minutes
  • Stretching (Hatha Yoga): 40 minutes

The number of calories you can burn with 10 minutes of jumping rope is relatively high compared to most other workouts.

From these numbers, you can see that jumping rope is considered to be one of the best exercises for burning a lot of calories in a short amount of time.

If you want to burn even more calories with this activity, you can consider using a weighted jump rope.

Will you lose weight by jumping rope 10 minutes a day?

Losing weight is about using up body fat, which is basically energy stored. To do this you want to make sure that you require more energy throughout the day than there is coming in from food.

One way to try to make this happen is by doing a workout. By increasing the intensity of your movements for a period of time you use up more energy than usual.

Jumping rope 10 minutes a day can help with weight loss since doing a workout like it generally requires more energy than most of your usual daily activities.

Keep in mind that other lifestyle habits like what you eat are important when trying to lose weight no matter what exercise you do.

You can work out and gain weight at the same time if your other lifestyle habits are not good.

Other results of jumping rope 10 minutes a day

If your body can deal with it, jumping rope 10 minutes a day can transform your body for the better. Doing something every day makes it easier to form a habit. Some benefits of jumping rope you can expect include:

  • Improved mood
  • Improved cognitive function
  • Stronger muscles
  • Improved bone density
  • Lower LDL
  • Improved sleep
  • Improved coordination

You can also expect similar benefits from other types of exercise to varying degrees. So if for example your knees can’t handle jumping rope every day, you can switch it up with other workouts.

Is it OK to jump rope every day?

The first thing you want to consider before implementing a workout routine is how much physical activity your body can currently handle. Jumping rope every day may not be OK for you.

Consistency is a big part of working out. The effectiveness of your workout plan will go down drastically if you can’t jump rope for 2 weeks every month because of injuries.

Here are a few important factors to consider to find out if jumping rope every day is ok for you.

How active are you currently?

Jumping rope is generally a rather intense workout. It’s possible that your last serious workout session was a few months or years ago. This can cause a few problems.

If you start (to try) jumping rope every day with muscles that are not used to it the risk of an injury will be relatively high. Your heart is a muscle too.

In the best worst case, you will run out of breath very fast. In the worst case, you overwork your heart.

On top of that, your muscles will initially need more recovery time. You may need some rest days instead of being able to jump rope every single day.

How much do you weigh?

Jumping rope can be rough on body parts like ankles, knees, and back. If you carry around a lot of extra weight, both from muscle and (more often) fat, these shocks will be even harder.

If you are in a situation like that, walking, the elliptical trainer, swimming, or other alternatives to jumping rope may be better workout choices to start with to avoid injuries.

Are you injury-sensitive?

Even if you are physically fit, jumping rope every day may not be a good idea simply because you are injury-sensitive in the wrong places.

Some people are injury sensitive in general, others just in a specific area that jumping rope engages a lot.

Some people who are at a healthy weight, in great shape, use a good pair of shoes, and eat very healthy can’t jump rope every day because of sensitive shins. Doing so would cause injuries like shin splints.

It’s possible that your body is able to deal with jumping rope for example twice a week but that you need to do lower-impact exercises on the other days.

Conclusion

Whether or not jumping rope every day is OK and how many skips you should do is very hard to predict since it is so different from person to person.

For experienced exercisers who are lean and not injury-sensitive, jumping rope every day is likely OK. For many other types of individuals jumping rope every day may not be the best idea.

The message here is rather safe than sorry. If you’re not sure it may be smart to start out with short rope jumping sessions twice a week and see how that goes.

When that goes good, you can slowly build up from there. If any body parts start to hurt that may be a sign that you need more rest in between your rope jumping sessions.

Should you jump rope 10 minutes a day?

For most goals implementing some days without jumping rope and implementing strength training days is helpful. So only doing jumping rope 10 minutes a day is likely not the fastest way towards your goals whatever they are.

At the time of writing the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends the following exercise guidelines to adults (3):

  • Moving more and sitting less throughout the day
  • At least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity a week. Preferably spread throughout the week.
  • You can gain additional health benefits by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week.
  • Muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.

That being said working towards jumping rope for 10 minutes a day and sticking to it can be a fun goal in itself.

If you feel pain it may be a sign you are overdoing it. In that case, you may need some rest, better lifestyle habits, or a less intense workout schedule.

FAQ

What is 10 minutes of jumping rope equivalent to?

In terms of calorie-burning, 10 minutes of moderate tempo jumping rope is roughly equivalent to 7 minutes of running at 10 mph, 8 minutes of bicycling at 16-19 mph, 11 minutes of running at 5.2 mph, 12 minutes of swimming crawl, 19 minutes of water aerobics, and 40 minutes of Hatha yoga.

How many calories do you burn with 10 minutes of jump rope?

A rough estimation is that the average person will burn 98-169 calories with 10 minutes of jump rope. In reality, this number will vary a lot from individual to individual.

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Author:

Matt Claes founded Weight Loss Made Practical to help people get in shape and stay there after losing 37 pounds and learning the best of the best about weight loss, health, and longevity for over 4 years. Over these years he has become an expert in nutrition, exercise, and other physical health aspects.