How many calories does jumping rope burn?
A calorie chart by body weight and skipping pace, the formula behind it, and why interval sessions burn less than the headline figure.
Key points
- Continuous skipping: about 92–194 kcal per 10 minutes for 60–90 kg adults.
- Pace and body weight matter most.
- Intervals burn less than the chart because rest counts.
Roughly 90 to 195 kcal per 10 minutes of continuous skipping, depending mostly on your body weight and how fast you turn the rope. Below is the table, how it is calculated, and why an interval session burns less than the headline figure.
Calories per 10 minutes of continuous skipping
| Body weight | Slow (<100 skips/min) | Moderate (100–120) | Fast (120–160) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg / 132 lb | 92 kcal | 124 kcal | 129 kcal |
| 70 kg / 154 lb | 108 kcal | 145 kcal | 151 kcal |
| 80 kg / 176 lb | 123 kcal | 165 kcal | 172 kcal |
| 90 kg / 198 lb | 139 kcal | 186 kcal | 194 kcal |
Calculated by us from the MET values in the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (rope jumping: 8.8 METs slow, 11.8 moderate, 12.3 fast). Formula: kcal per minute = MET × 3.5 × body weight in kg ÷ 200.
Work out your own number
- Pick the MET for your pace: 8.8, 11.8 or 12.3.
- Multiply by your weight in kg and by 3.5, then divide by 200. That is kcal per minute.
- Multiply by the minutes you actually spent turning the rope.
Example: 75 kg at a moderate pace is 11.8 × 3.5 × 75 ÷ 200 = 15.5 kcal per minute, so 6 minutes of rope time is about 93 kcal.
Why your real number is lower than the chart
- Rest counts. A 10-minute interval session with 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off is only 5 minutes of skipping. Rest burns far less.
- Trip-ups. Every restart is a few seconds of standing still. Beginners lose a lot of time this way.
- METs are averages. They describe a typical adult. Individual efficiency varies, and skilled skippers often use less energy at the same speed.
- Watches estimate too. Wrist devices use heart rate and models; treat their totals as rough and compare like with like.
How to count your pace
Skip for 30 seconds at your normal speed, count every turn (or every right-foot landing during the alternate step, doubled), then multiply by two. Under 100 is slow, 100–120 moderate, above 120 fast. See tracking progress for more tests.
What this means in practice
Skipping is efficient: a moderate pace sits in the same range as running at about 11 km/h (see jump rope vs running). But it is hard to keep up for long, so most people burn more in total by building to longer sessions with the beginner plan than by going flat out for a few minutes. If weight loss is the goal, read jump rope for weight loss.
