How Many Calories Can You Burn Jumping Rope?

Remember jumping rope as a kid? Back then it was all in fun, but jumping (or skipping) rope is a fun, vigorous, and challenging exercise that can burn serious calories in little time.

How to Calculate Calories Burned Jumping Rope

How many calories you’ll burn jumping rope depends mainly on three factors.

Your weight

The heavier you are, the more calories you’ll burn jumping rope.

For example, a 120-lb. person can burn 160 calories in 20 minutes of slow rope skipping (fewer than 100 skips per minute), while a 160-lb. person can burn 213 calories.*

Your speed

No surprise, skipping rope faster burns more calories in less time.

If that 160-lb. individual mentioned above picked up the pace just a little — hitting between 100–120 skips per minute at a steady rhythm — they’d burn 286 calories in that same 20-minute span.

Complexity of routine

It’s harder to quantify, but adding more complex movements to your jump-rope routine can boost the calories burned.

Toe taps, kicks, alternating single-leg jumps, and other variations can take routine rope jumping to new levels of intensity.

But while jumping rope may seem elementary, beyond-basic moves aren’t for beginners.

Calories Burned Jumping Rope*

Slow pace (fewer than 100 skips per minute) for 20 mins.

Medium pace (100 to 120 skips per minute) for 20 mins.

Fast pace (120 to 160 skips per minute) for 20 mins.

*Calorie values tabulated by running data from the Compendium of Physical Activities through Cornell University’s METs to Calories Calculator.