Russ Smith

Since there's another thread.

Anybody have a "formula" on relating time jumping rope to things like running on a treadmill, an elliptical etc?

Because I played basketball all through school I did a lot of jumprope as a kid and to this day I still prefer it to just plain jogging. Because I played a lot of basketball I've had enough knee problems that I can't jump rope anywhere near as long as I used to and even jogging on a treadmill starts to hurt, so I've switched to the elliptical.

I am just wondering if anybody has an idea how long do I need on the elliptical to get similar benefits to say running a 7 minute mile on the treadmill? How long do I have to jump rope to get a similar workout etc?

I tend to try to do 2 of the 3 in any given workout. I used to jump rope for 10 minutes in highschool so it's pretty sad that after 90 seconds now I'm literally gasping for air. Anything beyond 5 minutes is just too hard on my bad knee but I want to keep at it to increase my cardio.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

Brian

I have the exact same problem. My left knee is shot, (it's killing me right now as a matter of fact, I taped an aspirin to it but it's not helping). I switched to the elliptical also since there is zero impact.

Can't help you as far as relating it to jump roping. Never done that. What I can tell you though and I know it's not what you are looking for is that most elliptical machines I've used are different i.e stroke length (insert joke) intensity numbering etc. So, I can't help give you a real answer.

I just go until I'm dying or the cute chick in front of me on the treadmill leaves.

Russ Smith

I'm going it in the fitness center in the townhouse complex where we rent, the only cute chick I know of there is my girlfriend and she hates working out indoors so she's never there.

Anything more than 10 minutes just bores the hell out of me. That's why I prefer jumprope you get a great workout in much less time, but my knees don't like it now.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

100%CardsFan

Here is a great site for skipping rope

http://springseil.com/jumprope_springseil/JUMPROPE.htm

10 minutes is equal to 30 min running

also check out my boxing gym's site. It has great workouts under "Joes Corner" that will help you with Cardio as well as muscle building.

www.ironglovesboxing.com

Russ Smith

Thanks, that's the kind of ratio I was looking for. At this time in my life the no impact elliptical is MUCH easier to do but I get the impression that it's doing much less for me so I need to either do it a lot longer, or add in something which is why I'm trying to get back into the jump rope.

Yep people think boxers do jumprope because of tradition but it's actually a hell of a good exercise, builds your shoulders and arms too.

__________________
“Your expectations always exceed outside expectations. I feel like you just can’t stop working, can’t stop getting better, because I’ll be a failure in my eyes before I’m a failure in someone else’s eyes.” -- Arron Afflalo

100%CardsFan

Russ, actually the elliptical is alot better than you would think. I had a knee injury and couldnt run, skip rope, I mean NOTHING with impact. I lifted 3 times a week and used the elliptical 4-5 times a week 30 minutes each time and dropped 24 pounds of fat in 36 days plus with the lifting put on about 10 lbs of muscle.