Why You Should Use a Weighted Jump Rope

Dec 27, 2021Erisson Lima

A few years ago I started working for a jump rope company (this one). I hadn't picked up a jump rope since my grade school days, and as far as I knew every jump rope was the same ... "a jump rope is a jump rope," right?

In recent years, jump rope designs have evolved to include speed ropes for increased cardio and footwork intensity along with weighted ropes to intensify the exercise for the entire body. Maybe you've seen these recent designs and are wondering, "Why should I buy a weighted jump rope?" That's what we'll answer in this article.

What's in this article?

Different Types of Jump Rope Cords
What to Look for When Buying a Heavy Rope
3 Major Benefits of a Weighted Jump Rope

If you don't want to read it, you can watch it. We partnered with Kaylee Woodard, a professional jumper with her doctorate in Kinesiology, from Learnin' the Ropes. Check it out!

Different Types of Jump Rope Cords

There are four main types of jump rope cords including Wire or Speed Cables, PVC (licorice), Beaded Ropes, and weighted ropes. For the purposes of this article, we're going to be focusing on the last three as they offer the opportunity for increased weight in the rope itself.

What to Look for When Buying a Heavy Rope

There are different designs for weighted jump ropes that place the weight into either the handles, the cord or both. While a weighted handle sounds like a nice feature, it doesn't actually provide a significant benefit. In fact, weighted handles will often unbalance your rope, creating a more difficult jumping experience. A weighted rope or cord is what you want to look for because the weight is evenly distributed throughout the rope, maintaining the balance. This is why we designed the Muay Thai jump rope with a heavy cord. Weighing in at nearly 2lbs, the rope provides significant resistance when turning, taxing your entire upper body much more quickly than weighted handles, which only engage your forearms and shoulders, depending on the total weight.

3 Major Benefits of a Weighted Jump Rope

Benefit #1 - Skill Development and Improved Rope Control

Feedback, feedback, feedback. With a heavier rope you are able to more easily "feel" where the rope is in space, allowing you to improve your jump rope awareness and rope control much more rapidly. We always recommend beginning with a heavier rope before advancing to a lighter wire cable or speed rope or even freestyle jumping.

Benefit #2 - Build Muscular Strength and Endurance

With a weighted jump rope, the added resistance will activate more muscles throughout your body, resulting in a much greater calorie expenditure. With a traditional jump rope, your upper body muscles are only engaged slightly to turn the rope. With a heavy rope, the shoulders, upper back and arms are recruited to turn the rope throughout the revolution.

Benefit #3 - Metabolic Training (Anaerobic vs Aerobic)

By incorporating more muscles in your workout, you use more oxygen while jumping, turning your jump rope workout from an aerobic exercise into an anaerobic exercise. Those are fancy words that describe whether your body is able to breathe enough oxygen to support the exercise. A good example is jogging (Aerobic) vs sprinting (Anaerobic). With metabolic training, your heart rate elevates much more quickly and stays elevated, resulting in faster results.

So what are you waiting for? Give a weighted rope a try today. We recommend a few of our own to get you started.