Heavy Beaded Jump Ropes are Best for Fitness - Here's Why

I’ve been jumping rope for over 25 years, and the Heavy Beaded Fitness Rope is the best rope for improving rhythm, coordination, increasing muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness and developing new skills. Basically, if you want to up your jump rope game, regardless of your skill and fitness level, this is the rope you’ve been looking for!

Most fitness magazines and industry experts will tell you that jumping rope is the number one way to increase your cardio fitness and burn calories … but they don’t tell you which rope to use and that’s what I want to focus on. Why? Because you can get it SO wrong! Picking the most expensive rope on the market or the one with the prettiest packaging isn’t going to help your fitness, in fact the wrong rope can trip you up (or even leave you injured) and make your training much more difficult than it needs to be.

I was passionately involved with jump rope sport from a young age, but almost two years ago after a 10-year career in communications, I quit my day job to create a fitness business teaching people how to jump rope. What started as a popular group fitness class in 2016 has now transitioned to an online training program. Why? Because I firmly believe in a long list of health and fitness benefits associated with jump rope including stress relief and helping to battle anxiety and depression. I also realize mastering the art of jump rope has been massively underplayed over the years in the fitness space and most people are often left to their own devices to teach themselves, including when it comes to buying a rope.

If you’ve never been taught how to jump rope or you’ve forgotten how you ever did it so effortlessly in the schoolyard, you’re more than likely to pick up a rope at the gym that doesn’t belong to you and therefore is probably less than ideal and not the best place to start your jump rope fitness journey.

I’m a qualified fitness professional but more importantly I’m a total jump rope NERD and very happy to share all the nuances I know about the Heavy Beaded Fitness Rope and why this rope is my jump rope of choice when it comes to teaching and training with a jump rope. In addition to my thoughts, I want to share the feedback and comments I’ve learned from my clients, friends and family and allied health professionals since I started my company SKIP FIT™.

Here’s a question you need to ask yourself – would you ever do a Spin Class at the gym and not use any resistance on the dial? NO! Why…? Because you would be cheating yourself the opportunity to burn calories, maximize your workout, and more than likely develop poor technique by bobbing off the bike seat at speed. So then why wouldn’t you consider using a heavier jump rope in your fitness regime?

I sat down with Exercise Scientist, Physiotherapist and Educator Rob Devereux and asked him specifically about the biomechanics and benefits when training with a heavier jump rope.

“Weighted ropes put a lot of focus on your shoulders. If you think about the number of repetitions you do when jumping rope. You’re really going to get a lot of endurance benefits when using a heavier rope. If it’s something you haven't done before then you're likely to get muscle growth in your shoulders and arm muscles. Heavy ropes are also fantastic for your core. You must engage your anterior and posterior core muscles as you fight to stabilise against the momentum of the swinging rope,” said Devereux.

I introduced the heavy beaded rope into a group fitness class I taught for a year in Sydney Australia called “SKIP FIT™” to help maximize my clients level of fitness and muscular endurance but I also quickly picked up on the fact they were the best training tool for learning new movement patterns, jump rope skills and developing more speed. The heavy beaded rope provides the user with so much feedback, every inch of the rope is threaded with a 2 inch bead so you can literally see, hear, feel and know where every inch of your rope is during a single rotation. (It also teaches you not to miss as often as those jump rope whips can be gnarly especially when you’re learning!!).

People who attended SKIP FIT™ class all wanted results and somehow this ONE piece of equipment was able to deliver … I’ve taught female and male models wanting increased arm definition; amateur fighters wanting to improve their muscular endurance, power and speed; general fitness enthusiasts who are so incredibly bored with running or want a regular cardio option that doesn’t drain them mentally; former athletes who remember using jump rope as an incredible form of cross training and feeling at their fittest wanting to regain their agility and grace of movement again and; those who are committed to their weight loss goals.

One of the other cool things about training with the heavy beaded ropes is the significant contrast when you pick up a lighter freestyle rope. The person has more confidence in their jump rope posture and rope control, their form improves and they’re able to use more explosive power and refine skills with ease.

Here’s some other positive benefits (Told you I’m a NERD!):

• The handles aren’t too heavy - meaning you’re not having to clench your grip too tightly to manage the heavy beaded rope which would ultimately leave you frustrated, sore and using too much energy unnecessarily clenching your grip rather than focused on your jump rope workout
• Sound – The repetitive clicking or swooshing sound of the heavy beaded rope allows you to keep your rhythm and know when to jump more easily
• The multi colors are energizing (FACT!!!)
• Not too thick and clunky that you could step on it and risk twisting an ankle (or two)
• Not too slow you get bored or frustrated
• Hand made in the U.S.A.
• Easily adjustable length, durable and can be used indoors and outdoors.
• Heavy but not too heavy you can’t complete a 3-minute round (some heavier ropes force you to have regular interval rests and the arms fatigue too quickly). Also, if you’re using a heavy rope as a warm up to boxing or weight training you don’t want to tire too soon.