Hiya Lifters!

As I think I said before- I don't particularly like cardio except for going on long walks.
But lately I have been intrigued by the idea of jumping rope as an equiptment light work out that I can do easily at home that I can change up myself, is easy to measure progress and doesn't require a dvd player.

I'm just a little worried about my joints. I'm 25 and my knees and feet hurt already off and on. I think I've been losing weight (weigh in with dietician on wed) and I haven't had pain in a couple of weeks but I don't want to screw it up by starting to pound my knees. I already do this by carting my extra weight around and pressing fairly heavy on the leg press (balance and back issues make it hard to strait squat- but I want to get there).


I'm not particularly interested in doing HIIT with rope just yet, just want to do a strait cardio work out first thing in the morning at home as a way to wake up in the morning.

All of the internet research I have done is woefully conflicted- can folks here give a straight answer.I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who started jumping heavier or folks who worked with people who had.

I know that I, personally, cant' jump rope without major consequences - I couldn't at my high weight, and i can't now. I have joint and back problems, and the potential for injury isn't worth it for me. I can, however, *skip* rope - you know - one foot over at a time. It lessens the impact. Maybe you could try starting with that and see how you feel?

This is only my opinion, but you may want to try something with less impact on your joints. If you do injure yourself, it can take a long time to heal and then you may want to just give up.

I got bursitis in both knees when I tried jumping rope at a higher weight. It took months to heal. I had to have cortizone shots and totally stop exercising for a couple of weeks to get it to stop flaring up. My gosh it was painful. I probably weighed around 200 lbs. at that point. The doc said it is more likely to affect older people (over 40) and obese people.

Whatever you decide to do, if you feel stabbing, intense pain, stop doing whatever you're doing. It's just not worth not being able to move or walk.

Good luck to you!!

Jumping rope is high-impact, so it definitely could damage your knees. It's harder on your knees than running, so if you can't run without knee pain, then jumping rope would probably be much worse. Before running or jumping rope I'd recommend talking to your doctor.

I couldn't jump rope even in high school without pain (225 lbs or less), but I also had significant arthritis by my mid 20's (at about 250 - 280 lbs).

Since my 20's, I've also had exercise-induced (and just fatness induced) injuries including tendonitis, bursitis, sciatic nerve impingement, plantars fasciitis, and stress fractures, and had steroids and narcotic pain meds injected into the knees, hips and ball of the foot. You do not want to experience joint injections if you don't have to.

I love jump roping and I have back/knee problems but it doesn't bother me for some reason. I'm not sure if it isn't higher impact than running because you don't jump that high. For me, running feels like more impact.

Personally, I say go for it.

I think it may depend on your jumping style. There's two legged jumping (where both legs leave the ground and land at the same time) and then there's "skipping" rope in a more running stance where only one foot leaves the ground at a time. I would assume the latter would be harder on your knees than the former (and how high you're jumping would also factor in).

I was definitely a two-legged "jumper" not an alternating leg "skipper," and jumping rope definitely hurt my legs worse than running. I also tended to lift my legs much higher when jumping rope than when running because I wasn't particularly agile and two-legged "higher" jumps eliminated the risk of tripping on the rope.

Hi Gmail.

My experience has been that jumping rope has less impact on my joints than running. But of course, if there is an unresolved injury skipping/jumping rope could make it feel worse.

An interesting thing about skipping rope that I read is that it is almost impossible to do with bad form. It's kind of a self correcting exercise...if you fail to do it correctly, the rope stops you from going further.

I'm with Nelie...I think you may need to just try it to see how it suits you.

May I also suggest that you do not do this every day. Like everything else you have to build up your endurance for the activity...perhaps it does resemble running in that way. I would not skip rope every day for weeks on end. I have found it useful to switch into my routine about twice a week.

The other thing to consider is that you probably should not set your goal of skipping rope for the same amount of time that you would spend on an elliptical or a speed walk/slow run on the treadmill. Obviously the faster you turn the rope the harder you will work so there is a little bit of variance in effort. But in my experience...skipping rope was just always an HIIT exercise for me by default. Not a bad thing...smart use of your time but it is a different experience so having the right mind set will be important.

Now...your original question, are you too heavy to skip rope? Again, this is going to be your personal experience and I think how your weight is distributed. While working with DH (which only happened like three times ever...) I handed him a jump rope and told him to get busy. Poor guy. He tried. Really really tried. But what got him was back pain after the first five minutes. He carries his weight in his tummy and as a result, it was too much stress on his lower back.

If you decide to incorporate it do it slowly. Work up to it just as you would if you were to begin running. Make certain to stretch the calves, flex the ankles well, also maybe think about massaging the plantar fascia under your feet.

Also know that you should never skip or jump on a surface that doesn't give. Concrete? Don't even THINK about it. Best surface is a wood floor, think indoor basketball court. A super cushy surface is just as bad because it absorbs too much of the impact of your feet/legs and you don't have the rebound necessary for your jumps. This also could lead to injury.

I have seen jump rope mats sold through various places online but I don't have experience with them to offer you suggestions.

Best of luck with it. And, if you don't include it now consider it as you continue your fitness experience later on. It really is a great way to do cardiovascular training, agility training, the impact is awesome for encouraging the healthy remodeling process of our bones. And finally the real reason I do it, my inner eight year old insists on coming out to play every once in a while.

Oh, and with regard to jumping/skipping style. There are many methods just as Kaplods pointed out. Usually, I am lifting both feet off the ground at the same time but the feet just barely rise from the floor. There is just enough clearance for the rope to get between the floor and my shoes. You may want to look into the different methods and try them out. I did find the book "JumpRope Training" by Buddy Lee to be helpful. Check if the library has it first. And one final tip...Speed...it's all in the wrist.

I lift both legs at the same time but it is important to keep a gentle bend in your knee or else you could injure yourself.