Jumping Rope

Can I use jumping rope as my cardio for the day? I hear its equivalent to running but in a shorter period of time.

If I can use jumping rope as cardio...how long is a good length of time or how many jumps?

Geeze...NOBODY knows???

Jumping rope is a good form of cardio exercise. As for it being "equivalent to running"... not exactly. I mean, both will get your heart beating & your body moving, which is the point of cardio.

I'd say 20-30 mins of straight jump roping would be a decent length of time but everyone's different. Some people are more efficient at burning calories in shorter time periods than others.

I've been jumping rope for years now and it definitely burns more calories than the treadmill. In the end it depends on fitness level. I jump at least 180 per minute and do it constantly for 10 minutes. In most cases that is equivalent to my high intensity treadmill of 25 minutes. If you spice it up with double jumps and other moves then it can be exhausting very quickly. I recently posted on my blog about it and if you are interested I'll suggest buying the Buddy Lee book for a great jump rope workout.

Thank you guys, I appreciate the responses. Jumping rope is something that I took up recently while I weight lift. So I'll watch a movie for my workout time and everytime it hits commercials, I'll jump rope through them. By the time I'm done working out, especially if it's legs, I'm too tired to go running.

treat it like a HIIT interval. that would make for a great workout.

Original Post by watergirl:

treat it like a HIIT interval. that would make for a great workout.

Great advice.