Jumping Rope vs. Walking – Which One Is Better For You?

Jumping rope and walking are two very different types of cardio. In this article, we will discuss which of the 2 is the best in which area. With this information, you will eventually be able to choose between jumping rope and walking.

Table of Contents

• Are jumping rope and walking comparable?
• Comparison of the calories you will burn
• Comparison of the amount of fat-burning
• Comparison of the muscles used
• Which one can you choose best?

Are jumping rope and walking comparable?

To make a comparison between jumping rope and walking, it is of course important to know whether you can compare the two at all. And the answer to this is not straightforward.

In terms of movement, jumping rope and walking cannot be compared. And no, this is not because you move in a vertical direction when jumping rope and a horizontal direction when walking. It has to do with another component of movements; namely the presence or absence of a flight phase.

When you jump rope, there is a flight phase. This means that there is a moment when you lift both feet off the ground. When walking, on the other hand, there is no flight phase; you always have at least 1 foot on the ground. This is also the main reason that jumping rope will feel more intense compared to walking. It takes a lot of force for your body to completely lift off the ground.

In other areas, jumping rope and walking are fortunately comparable. For example, you can compare them based on the number of calories you burn, the percentage of fat burned and the muscles used. That’s what we will do now.

Comparison of the calories you will burn

For the comparison below we have used the calorie calculator of ‘Keisan online calculator’ (link) and ‘Calories Burned HQ’ (link).

Several factors will play a role in the number of calories you burn while jumping rope or walking. This includes, for example, the speed at which you jump rope or walk. For jumping rope we assumed 100 to 120 jumps in a minute and for the walking a speed of 3 mph (4.8 km/h). For walking, we also assumed an age of 20 and a height of 5.9 feet (180 cm).

Be aware that you can’t keep jumping rope for as long in a row as walking. That is why you can best compare 60 minutes of walking with, for example, 30 minutes of jumping rope (assuming you take rest half the time when jumping rope).

	Jumping rope (with a weight of 132 pounds/60 kg)	Walking (with a weight of 132 pounds/60 kg)
Duration	Calories burned	Calories burned
10 min	124	40
20 min	248	80
30 min	372	120
40 min	496	160
50 min	620	200
60 min	743	240

	Jumping rope (with a weight of 154 pounds/70 kg)	Walking (with a weight of 154 pounds/70 kg)
Duration	Calories burned	Calories burned
10 min	145	43
20 min	289	86
30 min	434	130
40 min	578	173
50 min	723	216
60 min	867	259

	Jumping rope (with a weight of 176 pounds/80 kg)	Walking (with a weight of 176 pounds/80 kg)
Duration	Calories burned	Calories burned
10 min	165	46
20 min	330	93
30 min	496	139
40 min	661	186
50 min	826	232
60 min	991	279

	Jumping rope (with a weight of 198 pounds/90 kg)	Walking (with a weight of 198 pounds/90 kg)
Duration	Calories burned	Calories burned
10 min	186	50
20 min	372	99
30 min	558	149
40 min	743	199
50 min	929	248
60 min	1115	298

In the tables, you can see that jumping rope burns more calories. Even if you correct for the fact that jumping rope will not last as long in a row as walking, this is still the case. In addition, the amount of calories also increases faster with the weight when jumping rope compared to walking. This makes sense, because when you jump rope you move vertically up and so you have to counteract your full weight. A higher weight will therefore be a big extra strain on your body.

Comparison of the amount of fat-burning

The percentage of fat burning is relatively independent of the number of calories you burn. In addition to personal factors, the amount of fat-burning mainly depends on 2 factors:

1. The intensity of the effort.
2. How long you continue to exert yourself.

The following applies here; the longer you exert yourself and the lower the intensity, the higher the percentage of fat burning (relative to the percentage of carbohydrate burning). Walking has a lower intensity compared to jumping rope and you can do it for longer. That is why you will burn more fat by walking compared to jumping rope.

Comparison of the muscles used

Let’s look first at walking. When walking you use a lot of muscles in your buttocks, thighs, and lower legs. In addition, you also use your abs to keep your upper body stable. There is, however, a caveat to be made in this regard. Walking requires little strength from your muscles and therefore walking will hardly contribute to real muscle growth in your legs, buttocks, and abdomen.

Jumping rope uses more muscles than walking, because you also act with your upper body. Therefore, in addition to your glutes, thigh muscles, lower leg muscles and abs, your shoulder muscles, arm muscles, and back muscles are now also active. However, even here, most muscles will not have to provide much force and therefore no real muscle growth will occur.

An exception to this are the calves. You use your calves while jumping rope to counteract your body weight and lift off the ground. In addition, your calves are essential for a good landing. Your calves, therefore, provide a lot of power, and real muscle growth can take place here.

Which one can you choose best?

Have you set a goal to lose weight? Then jumping rope is the best choice. Jumping rope burns more calories compared to walking. Is jumping rope a bit too heavy for you? Then walking is a great alternative! If you can’t jump rope, you can click here, in this article we explain why you probably don’t succeed in jumping rope and how you can solve it. Try to take long walks, the percentage of fat burning will be very high. Of course, alternating between jumping rope and walking is certainly a good choice. This way you get the benefits of both jumping rope and walking.