Skipping Rope for Weight Loss: Calories, a 6-Week Plan and Knee Safety

Is skipping rope good for weight loss?

Skipping rope is good for weight loss in one specific way: it burns a lot of energy per minute, in a small space, with a cheap piece of kit. It is not a shortcut. In the trials below, skipping made people fitter quickly, but body weight barely changed unless people also ate less. Treat the rope as one tool in a week that also has strength training, walking and sensible portions, and work out your deficit first with the calorie deficit calculator.

Skipping is also high impact, with hundreds to over a thousand landings a session, so the plan below starts with 20-second bursts and a later section covers who should begin with something gentler.

How many calories does skipping rope burn?

The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, the reference researchers use for the energy cost of activities, gives rope jumping four values: 8.3 METs at a slow pace under 100 skips a minute, 11.8 METs at a moderate 100 to 120 skips a minute, 12.3 METs at a fast 120 to 160 skips a minute, and 10.0 METs for double unders. One MET is a standardised resting rate of about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour, according to the Compendium paper, so calories are roughly METs × weight in kg × hours.

Read these as estimates: the Compendium says its values are a starting point and do not reflect precise individual energy expenditure. They are gross figures, including the roughly 1 MET you would burn sitting down (about 10 kcal per 10 minutes at 60 kg). And they assume 10 unbroken minutes. A beginner skipping in 30-second bursts with rests between might spend only 5 of those 10 minutes jumping, so halve the figure.

What do skipping rope studies actually show?

Jump-rope trials show solid gains in fitness and small changes in body fat. A 2022 systematic review with meta-analysis in the Journal of Sports Sciences pooled 21 studies with 1,021 participants, 18 of them with a mean age under 18, and programs lasting 6 to 40 weeks. Compared with control groups, jump-rope training improved resting heart rate, body mass index, fat mass, cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, jumping and sprinting. It found no significant effect on waist-hip circumference, lean mass or blood pressure, and the authors describe the benefits as small to moderate.

Adult trials are smaller. In a 2025 Thai randomised trial in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 59 healthy young adults were randomised to 8 weeks of interval skipping (9 rounds of 2 minutes at 80% of maximum heart rate with 1 minute of active recovery, three times a week), steady skipping (30 minutes at 70%, five times a week) or no exercise. Both skipping groups raised their VO2max, a measure of aerobic fitness, but body composition did not differ among or within groups.

Diet mattered more in a 2021 pilot trial in Nutrients. University students in South China were randomised to calorie restriction, rope skipping, or both for 8 weeks, and 40 completed it. The diet-only, diet-plus-skipping and skipping-only groups lost about 1.1, 1.3 and 0.6 kg on average, and the differences between groups were not significant. The authors write that all three groups showed downward trends in weight and body fat, although the skipping-only group did not achieve statistical significance. Among participants with overweight or obesity, the combined group had lower blood pressure and fasting insulin than either single approach.

Is skipping better than running for weight loss?

Per minute, moderate skipping burns more than jogging and about the same as running at 12 km/h. The catch is duration: most beginners can jog for 20 minutes long before they can skip for 5 without stopping, and total calories over a week is what counts. The Compendium's running values are given in miles per hour; the km/h figures below are our conversions.

Head-to-head evidence is thin. In a 2025 randomised trial in Frontiers in Public Health, 92 Chinese college students were split into jogging, rope-skipping and control groups. The jogging group improved its standing long jump and lowered systolic blood pressure, while the 800 or 1,000 m run scores and total fitness scores fell in both the skipping group and the control group. The authors suggest insufficient strength may explain the decline. It is one short study, but it fits a sensible conclusion: pick the one you will do most often, and build leg strength alongside either. A coach can add that strength training around your skipping days.

Can skipping reduce belly fat?

Skipping can reduce belly fat only as part of losing fat overall; no exercise takes fat from the stomach first. The 2022 meta-analysis found jump-rope training lowered fat mass but had no significant effect on waist-hip circumference. Where your body loses fat first is largely out of your control. The belly fat training guide explains what does help, and why the calorie deficit matters more than the choice of cardio.

Who should start with something other than skipping?

Some people do better building fitness with low-impact cardio for a few weeks or months before picking up a rope. Brisk walking, cycling and marching burn plenty of energy without the landing forces. Our fat burn training guide has a 20-minute no-jump session.

The leaking figure comes from a 2020 study in the International Urogynecology Journal: 67 of 89 girls and 1 of 14 boys at a national rope-skipping competition reported stress urinary incontinence during skipping, mostly in double unders and triple unders. These were mostly adolescent girls who had never given birth, so leaking is not only a postnatal issue. If it happens to you, stop skipping and get it assessed rather than drinking less water to get through a session.

What rope, shoes and surface do you need to skip safely?

• Rope length. A common starting point: stand on the middle of the rope with one foot and pull the handles up; they should reach about your armpits. Shorten it as you get better.
• Shoes, not bare feet. A 2023 lab study of 14 experienced skippers found that wearing shoes reduced the peak loading rate compared with skipping barefoot. Cushioned running or training shoes with a flexible forefoot work well. Avoid chappals and flat canvas shoes.
• Surface. Skip on a wooden floor, a rubber gym mat, a badminton court or packed earth. Avoid bare concrete and polished marble or vitrified tiles, which are hard and slippery when sweat drips on them.
• Form. Keep jumps low, a couple of centimetres off the floor. Land on the balls of your feet with soft knees, keep elbows close and turn the rope with your wrists, not your shoulders.

What does a 6-week skipping plan for weight loss look like?

This plan has three skipping sessions a week on non-consecutive days, each with 5 minutes of warm-up (marching, ankle circles, a few slow bounces without the rope) and a few minutes of easy walking to finish. Rest means walking on the spot, not sitting down. Move on only if your shins, calves and knees feel normal the next morning; otherwise repeat the week. On two other days do strength training, and walk on the rest.

1. 1

   Week 1: 10 × 20 seconds on, 40 seconds rest

   Just over 3 minutes of actual skipping in 10 minutes. Slow, two-foot bounce. Tripping is normal; just restart.

2. 2

   Week 2: 10 × 30 seconds on, 30 seconds rest

   5 minutes of skipping in 10. Aim for a steady rhythm rather than speed.

3. 3

   Week 3: 8 × 45 seconds on, 45 seconds rest

   6 minutes of skipping in 12. Try the alternate-foot step for some rounds; it feels like jogging on the spot.

4. 4

   Week 4: 8 × 60 seconds on, 45 seconds rest

   8 minutes of skipping in 14. If one session feels flat, keep the rounds but slow the pace.

5. 5

   Week 5: 6 × 90 seconds on, 60 seconds rest

   9 minutes of skipping in 15. You should be breathing hard but in control by the end of each round.

6. 6

   Week 6: 6 × 2 minutes on, 1 minute rest

   12 minutes of skipping in 18. This is close to two-thirds of the interval session in the 2025 Thai trial, which used 9 rounds of 2 minutes.

By our arithmetic, week 6 at a moderate pace is about 140 kcal of skipping per session at 60 kg and about 190 kcal at 80 kg, three times a week. That is useful, not dramatic. The NHS counts skipping as vigorous activity and says 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week can give similar health benefits to 150 minutes of moderate activity, alongside strengthening exercises on at least 2 days a week. Three week-6 sessions give about 36 minutes of vigorous skipping, so brisk walking can make up the rest. Our walking for weight loss guide has a step plan that fits around this one.

How many skips a day to lose weight?

There is no number of skips a day that guarantees weight loss, because loss depends on your total intake against your total output. What skips can tell you is roughly how much energy they add. At a moderate 100 to 120 skips a minute, 1,000 skips takes about 8 to 10 minutes, which by our arithmetic is roughly 100 to 120 kcal at 60 kg and 130 to 160 kcal at 80 kg using the Compendium value. A target like 5,000 skips a day is about 45 minutes of vigorous jumping: too much impact for most beginners to repeat daily.

A better approach is to find your maintenance calories with the TDEE calculator, eat a little below that, and use skipping to make the deficit easier to keep. Count minutes or rounds rather than skips, because a smart rope's counter will reward speed over good landings.

Can you skip rope in a flat without disturbing neighbours?

• Switch off and clear the ceiling fan. Swing the rope slowly once under it before you start. If the rope touches the fan or the ceiling, move to a balcony, terrace or the society's open area.
• Cut the thud for neighbours below. Low jumps on the balls of the feet are quieter than high, flat-footed ones. A thick rubber or EVA mat helps, and so does skipping at a reasonable hour rather than 6 AM.
• No room at all? Do the same intervals with an imaginary rope, or use step jacks and high-knee marching from the home workout for weight loss plan.

Learning to skip with a coach watching

Skipping is a skill, and the common problems show up clearly on camera: landing flat-footed, jumping too high, knees caving in, shoulders doing the work of the wrists. MakeMyFitness offers live 1:1 coaching on video across India, at ₹799 a session at your gym or ₹899 for personal home training, and it suits people who want someone to watch their landings, set the intervals each week and build the leg strength that keeps skipping comfortable. Group classes at ₹499 a person per session are a lower-cost way to train with others, with less individual attention. See the full pricing or what happens in your first session.

Our coaches are fitness coaches, not doctors, dietitians or physiotherapists, and we don't diagnose knee, pelvic floor or heart problems. If you are returning to exercise after an injury, Rehab & Recovery is coaching after a clinician has cleared you, not treatment. Read our medical disclaimer for details.