What are common myths about jump rope?
Like most sports, jump rope is fraught with myths about both its benefits and risks. Often these myths are baseless misconceptions, ignorant of the nuance and caveats the truth behind them always includes. Let’s look at five of the biggest myths that plague jump rope.
“JUMP ROPE IS BAD FOR YOUR KNEES”
Despite its prevalence, this is a myth. Jump rope is not bad for your knees. It may even help strengthens the tendons in and around your knee joint. If experiencing knee pain when jumping rope, it’s likely due to muscle imbalances/tightness, poor form (such as hyper-extending/flexing your knees), jumping excessively on hard surfaces like concrete, or simply doing too much too soon.
“JUMP ROPE WILL PREVENT YOU BUILDING MUSCLE”
Jump rope, at its core, is a cardiovascular exercise. Meaning it trains your heart, lungs and peripheral cardiovascular system. And despite the common misconception that cardio can ruin your muscle gains in the gym, it’s not true. The intensity and impact of jumping will provide a mild stimulus for your lower leg muscles, enough to elicit some hypertrophy. This could motivate enough to replace a resistance training protocol prioritising full range of motion movements and progressive overload. It certainly won’t prevent you from building muscle.
“JUMP ROPE IS A FULL-BODY WORKOUT”
Jump rope is commonly promoted as a ‘full-body workout’ that targets all the muscles in your body. However, this is not true. Jump rope is not a full-body workout. Looking at the biomechanics of how a person jumps rope, it’s clear that jump rope is predominantly a lower-body workout which targets both the anterior and posterior chain musculature. Although you may ‘feel’ it in your arms, shoulders or core, these areas aren’t challenged anywhere near enough to be trained in any meaningful way. Jump rope can not replace a resistance training program focusing on a full range of motion movements.
“JUMP ROPE WILL GIVE ME SHIN SPLINTS”
Contrary to popular belief, jump rope is a low-impact sport. For many, it’s a pretty high-impact activity. For those who haven’t jumped for many years, their legs (specifically their shins and feet) aren’t ready for the repetitive impact of jumping over a rope for an hour straight. It’s this which leads people to believe jump rope gives them shin splints when it’s most likely some other factor; whether that’s being unconditioned, having incorrect form, having a pre-existing injury or something else.