The Jump Rope Paradox - Jump Rope is a low impact exercise!

What is most important thing about choosing an exercise that many of us might not think about? Apart from getting that:

  • 6-pack

  • toned arms

  • muscular legs

We need to ensure we are able to do the exercises. That means the safety and the impact exercises have on our bodies is just as important as the results they give!

If someone came up to you and said, “Hey, this food is going to give you all these benefits, but there is a down side, you are going to get sick all the time.” What would you say back to them? Heeeell NO!!

In the world of exercising and sports in general, we need to know the risks of the exercises we are doing before we jump in to them blind.

Now, back to jump rope… let’s break down the 2 worries that most people have when it comes to high impact exercises. We are going to explain why people think jump rope is high impact, and give them the solution to prove the paradox and debunk all the haters.

Let’s not waste any time and jump into it!

  • Lower body

As you can guess, our legs take a lot of load when we jump rope. Repeatedly jumping up and down puts loads of stress on our feet, ankles, knees and quadriceps. If you are

  • jumping too high

  • bending your knees too much

  • landing hard on your whole foot

In this case you are not jumping properly and are over accentuating your jump. As a result you will definitely have issues as you can be doing a lot of damage.

  • Back Pain

There are 4 specific things that can cause back pain while jumping. These are:

  • hunching your shoulders

  • Arching your back

  • Landing on your whole foot

  • Looking at the ground

I won’t go into why each of them are not good for your back and will spare you that info.

Now the answer to all of these problems is… drum roll please - having good form!! I can not stress this enough. Form is absolutely everything when it comes to the health and safety of jump rope. The video here shows you all the things you need to do to maintain correct form and keep your body safe and healthy. As you go through the video you will realise that every “issue” brought up before is addressed and debunked.

Lower body solution:

  • Jump only 2-4 centimetres off the ground

  • Use your knees and ankles as natural shock absorbers - meaning, do not over bend them so you can use their natural range of motion

  • Land on your toes! Again allowing your body’s natural shock absorbers to do their job.

Back solution

  • People hunch their shoulders to be 100% certain they have enough slack to jump over the rope. However, as long as you measure your rope properly and keep your arms at the side of your hips you will never need to worry about tripping on the rope.

  • Engage your core and contribute to that 6-pack to be sure you don’t arch your back.

  • Land on your toes! Again allowing your body’s natural shock absorbers to do their job.

  • As tempting as it is to look down to time that jump perfectly, it is going to cause a lot of neck and upper back pain. Practice your timing and trust your body’s instincts - look straight ahead like a boss and you will jump over the rope no problem.

To all the haters and the people who might be worries that jump rope will be too tough on their knees, backs or any other body part… you can be rest assured that as long as you follow the right form you wil be able to take advantage of the miracle exercise that is jumping rope!!

Again, you can find the correct form on how to jump in this video.

Now get out there and LIVE.BREATHE.JUMP!

Tiago Moreira-Rato