Vetted

2022-06-03 21:45:36 By : Ms. Sofia Zhong

Plenty of us moved our workout from the gym to home over the past few years, and while that switch was originally for social distancing, here in 2022 a lot of us aren’t ever going back. With temperatures rising and the pull of outdoors growing stronger, you might want to move some of your exercise out into the fresh air. And that means you can augment your 7 Minute Workout, morning jog or bike ride with some good old fashioned cardio straight outta your childhood: Jumping rope. But don’t go looking for your kid’s jump rope, becuase today’s best jump ropes are far more advanced than what we grew up with or what’s in the toy chest.

Today's best jump ropes are optimized for specific fitness goals and some even work with smartphone ... [+] apps.

That’s right—jump rope isn’t just a length of cord. Some jump ropes are even optimized for specific kinds of workouts and particular fitness goals. If you’d like to increase your cardiovascular conditioning, work out like a boxer, lose a few pounds or just get in a regular workout habit, there’s a jump rope for you. Check out all eight of the best jump ropes for any given objective, below.

As its name implies, this jump rope is built for speed. It has a lightweight set of hollow aluminum handles that rest easy in your hands without tiring you out before you even get started. And the steel wire rope (don’t worry, it’s coated in silicone just in case it hits your shins) is light as air. Inside those handles are ball bearings to help the rope glide seamlessly around without the risk of tangling or coiling around itself as you jump. The design lessens your chances of tripping on the rope, too. The length is easily adjustable to suit your height and the excess rope can be cut away to make it even lighter and easier to propel through the air for your fastest session yet.

This heavy duty rope helps improve your speed, endurance and strength all at the same time—aka, it’s a CrossFitter’s dream. The aluminum handles are knurled (or textured) for a sweat-proof grip and the coated cable rope add an extra bit of heft to this rope so that your arms get more of a workout here than they would with a lighter alternative. Those handles have a dual-bearing design to them, which helps the rope whip around quickly without getting tangled on itself so that you can jump as quickly for as long as you’d like. The rope has hundreds of reviews, nearly all of which are five-stars from shoppers who say they “love [its] speed, feel and aesthetics.”

This jump rope is made with boxers in mind. The bearings have a 360-degree rotation that avoids catching on anything within the handles for a smooth ride. The rope’s handles have an anti-slip silicon coating for superior grip and, just in case you need it, it comes with a backup rope (both are 10-feet-long) that can be adjusted to suit your exact height. One reviewer wrote that this is the rope for you if you’re “serious about jumping rope to condition for boxing” because of the handles and rope itself that are “precisely the right weight” between light and heavy to help with strength and endurance.

In order to get a jump rope to swing underneath you twice before your feet hits the ground, you need a rope that’s light enough to whip that quickly and one that won’t ever kink on you. The O-ring swivels inside the handles of this model were designed for eliminating friction, drag, tangling and allows smooth turning action in all directions, according to the brand, meaning it was made for tossing it around as quickly and easily as you’d like—ideal for achieving double or even triple unders. The length is adjustable and the handles are light and easy to grip. Plus, it comes with a small tool to make shortening the rope and clipping it a painless experience.

This jump rope is made out of PVC, so it’s especially light, and rubber handles make it easy to swing around. There are standard bearings inside those grippy handles to ensure the rope doesn’t twist around itself and they pop open easily to trim the rope to your ideal length. One female reviewer wrote that she had this rope for four years before it finally broke. “I used it during every workout, which was five times per week,” she wrote. “I am very pleased with its durability, ease of use, and the amount of time it lasted and will be replacing it today with the same rope.”

It’s no secret that cardio workouts burn calories and that torching more of those suckers than you consume leads to weight loss. Doing cardio alone isn’t the best way to achieve your goals, however. Adding some strength training to the mix isn’t only good for you long-term, it’s also going to help you shed pounds more quickly than cardio alone. Those two components marry perfectly in this one jump rope, which gives you a difficult cardio workout with the added weight component to build muscle fast. It has the same speedy bearings as in the Buddy Lee Rope Master Jump Rope that help the rope glide easily around but also includes three different weighted cables for you to work up towards as your strength and endurance increase. One user said the “quality is superb” and another added that they “could feel my forearms and biceps getting that familiar burn” of a workout with weights while skipping with this rope.

The best jump ropes tend to have bearings inside the handles that keep everything moving and prevent the rope from coiling into a frustrating tangle. They’re light in the handles and the rope (which should be coated to save your shins), and you should be able to quickly and easily adjust the length for a custom “fit” that suits your height and preferences. The handles should be comfortable and easy to grip and, if you’re buying the rope online, it should have plenty of five-star reviews from happy customers. This rope by XYLsports checks every one of those boxes, and it’s often selling for as little as $8 on Amazon (and only $17 otherwise).

All of those easy-to-use features like light ropes coated in silicone and handles with grippy foam are great, but if you have goals you’re trying to achieve through your workouts, it all amounts to an experience you have to guesstimate and progress you need to try and keep straight in your head. That’s not the case with this rope by Tangram. This one connects to the SmartRope app on your phone to break down all of the specs surrounding your workout, like jump count, calories burned and time spent jumping. The app keeps you motivated with achievements to unlock, comes with interval workouts for when you’re looking for a new challenge and the ability to challenge your friends.