Can you jump rope on concrete?

You can jump rope on concrete. However, there are a few caveats to consider. One of the amazing things about jump rope is that you can do it anywhere, whether you’re out and about, at the gym or at home. It requires very little space for most freestyle skills so it’s incredibly helpful for those with limited options. However, not all surfaces are equal in their usefulness and benefits. Some, even, aren’t recommended. Concrete is a bittersweet surface for a few simple reasons.

Concrete is hard, really hard. This is both good and bad for someone wishing to jump rope on it. On the one hand, it means if you find a space with flat and smooth concrete in it, it’s an incredibly stable surface so the likelihood of an injury such as a rolled ankle (AKA ankle sprain) is relatively low compared to a surface like grass or astroturf. However, the lack of impact absorption can mean any injuries are intensified since your body will take the full impact.

This hardness can prove useful for those who like to jump on a surface which doesn’t absorb the impact, which is helpful for staying explosive when doing skills such as double or triple under when the jumper needs all the energy they have available to them to jump higher. Nonetheless, heed this warning - it will make you sore the day following an intense jump rope workout so be mindful of the amount of jumping you do and how intense it is.

Another aspect to consider when jumping on concrete is the effect it will have on your ropes. If the concrete is rough even a little, it’ll chew up the beads or scratch away at the PVC causing a lot of damage faster. Like the tire of a road bike on rough roads, expect wear to be noticeably faster than on any other surface.

If you’d still like to jump on concrete either for the benefits or purely personal preference, a thin jump rope mat is a good investment to mitigate the cons of concrete.