Best jump rope for cardio. The benefits of jumping rope are widely known. It is a full-body workout that will leave you drenched in sweat in under ten minutes, and it can improve your coordination, but can you get too much of a good thing when it comes to jumping rope?
Because jumping exercises and jumping rope are high impact activities, it is possible to overdo it. This is especially true if you aren’t used to jumping rope as a core component of your fitness regimen. However, you can add a jumping rope workout twice or three times per week to your routine to improve your cardio performance.
If you’re still interested in jump rope, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can tell if daily jump rope is for you and how you can jump rope regularly and reduce the risk of injury.
Is It Okay to Jump Rope Every Day?
This question is more complicated than you might think. Jumping rope is a high impact activity, which is great if you’re looking for an intense workout that will get your heart pumping, but it can be hard on your joints.
Because of this, you have to make sure that you take into account a few things before deciding if daily jump rope is good for you.
- Your health
- Your fitness level
- Your jump rope skill level
Let’s take a look at each of these so that you can decide how much jump rope you want to include in your exercise routine.
Your Health and Daily Jump Rope
How healthy you are will impact your ability to do any exercise. You should always consult a physician before embarking on a fitness journey.
But this is especially true for activities like jump rope that get your heart pumping quickly and put stress on your joints. You might not want to jump rope daily if you have arthritis, for example.
But if you’re struggling to regulate your blood sugar, jump rope might be able to support your efforts. Of course, you should check with your doctor first.
Your Fitness Level and Daily Jump Rope
You might remember skipping rope down your sidewalk like it was nothing, but jump rope is a whole new beast as an adult. While it is still fun and lighthearted, it isn’t easy.
If you are just starting out with daily exercise, you can include a little bit of light jump roping, but it might not be the best place to start if your fitness level is very low.
Here are some alternatives to jump rope that could do to work up to jump rope:
- Marching in place
- Butt kicks
- High Knees
- Skipping
- Jumping rope without the rope, with and without arm movements
- Jumping on a trampoline
You might be able to jump right into daily jump rope, but if you can’t start out with one of these exercises and start small. You could do 30-second intervals with 30-60 seconds of walking in between.
No rope, no problem
Your Jump Rope Skill Level
It might be a little counterintuitive, but in some ways, the better you are a jump roping, the more careful you have to be. This is because the better you get, the faster you get, and the more you jump!
At the slow pace of 1 jump per second, you would have jumped 600 times in 10 minutes. Most practiced jump ropers can go far faster than this and could easily jump 1200-1800 times in 10 minutes. That can have a significant impact on your body, and not necessarily in a good way.
Certainly, your body will become conditioned to the exercise, but eventually, you’ll start to feel it on your body. Don’t take our word for it! This guy tried doing 1,000 jump rope skips a day for a month, and though he continues to do it, he takes rest days and light days to limit the negative impact on his body.
How to Jump Rope Daily Without Injury
Any activity done repetitively can lead to injury from jumping rope to typing on a keyboard, but there are some steps you can take to limit your risk of injury from daily jump rope.
Start Small
If you haven’t jumped rope since grade school, then you probably shouldn’t dive right into it. Your body is going to take time to remember the movement, and your muscles need time to get back in shape.
Start out by doing a short workout and go at a slow pace until you start to feel more comfortable with it.
Use HIIT Principles
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is popular for a reason. It works. You get a fantastic workout, and you get short rest periods in between. What’s not to love, right?
Here are some ways you can include make your jump rope workout HIIT-friendly:
- Do 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds slow: You could also do 15 seconds or 45 seconds. It depends on your fitness level and goals.
- Do an interval of jump rope, followed by an interval of a lower intensity exercise: It is easy enough to drop the rope and start doing squats or marching in place. This will keep you from getting bored too!
- Jump rope in between lifting weights: Lifting weights can get your heart pumping, but if you include a cardio activity like jump rope in between, you’ll keep your heart rate up through the entire workout.
Don’t Just Count Minutes
Every jump counts, and if you only count minutes, you might just be jumping too much. Keep track of both how long your jump and how many times you jump. You can buy jump ropes that count your jumps for you.
You could try a pedometer to count your jumps, but these can vary greatly in how they handle jumping.
Use a Jump Mat
A jump mat, like the Elite ERS Jump Mat, can be a great addition to your home gym if you like jumping rope or if you do a lot of high impact exercises.
These mats provide a stable but cushioned place for you to jump. This offers several benefits:
- It takes some of the impact out of your joints by provides a relatively softer landing.
- It helps keep your jump rope from wearing out as it will not be hitting into a hard or irregular surface.
- It helps reduce the noise of your landing, which can help keep the family happy.
- It can help you be more consistent by reducing the bounce of the rope as it hits the ground.
If you already have foam flooring or workout on a mat, you might not need to add in a jump mat. They serve similar purposes.
Limit Other High Impact Exercises
If you’re already jumping rope for 10 minutes a day (which quite honestly is a LOT of jump rope!), you should limit the number of other exercises you do that are high impact. Anything you do that involves both feet leaving the ground should be done with care and consideration.
How much you need to limit these high impact exercises depends on your fitness level. And of course, if you feel any joint pain, take day or two away from jumping rope. If the pain is extreme or persists, you should consult your doctor.
Is Jumping Rope Good For You?
Just because jump rope is a high impact exercise and should be done with moderation in mind, does not mean you should avoid it.
It is easy, fun, portable, inexpensive, and it works you out like nothing else. In many ways, it is one of the best and simplest exercises out there. Certainly, include it in your routine, if not every day, then at least every week.