One of the more cost-effective pieces of home gym equipment, a skipping rope is an excellent accessory for exercise and fitness. No longer considered specialised equipment for use only by boxers and young school children, regular use of a skipping rope will help you burn calories at a rate twice as effective as swimming. Especially when weighted, they will give you a full-body tone, working out your back, shoulders, arms, legs and wrists.
Selecting the right skipping rope for your workout isn’t quite as simple as liking the way it looks. It’s important that you consider length, construction materials and weight. You might even want to go for a smart skipping rope, easily tracked with a phone app to maximise your workout effectiveness! Whether beginner or advanced, we've found the best skipping ropes on Amazon and Argos to help you get fit for the new year.
Quick List - Top Skipping Ropes
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Getting the right skipping rope for fitness isn’t as simple as choosing the same sort of rope you’d use in the playground! With an increased interest in skipping as a means of getting healthy, manufacturers are making improved ropes with lightweight long-lasting materials and subtle additional features that can make a huge difference between an effective workout and painful struggle.
The most important consideration is getting the right sized skipping rope for you. Most good ropes on sale in the UK include the ability to adjust the length to fit, but even then you should try to get one that’s in the right range.
A good rule of thumb is that you need a rope that’s three feet (90cm to 100cm) longer than you are tall. Thus, a six-foot-tall person should be looking for a nine-foot rope. In metric, that’s someone 1.8m tall getting a 2.7m to 2.8m skipping rope.
One of the first things you do before your workout is to adjust your rope until you are comfortable with the length. Many of the ropes can then be cut to size for a permanent fit.
Though skipping ropes are available from a variety of materials, really only two are worth investing in. Ironically, neither of them are rope! Also, consider the material for your handles too - a poor grip can lead to slipping and loss of control. While there is no one specific material that is considered superior, check that the grip is comfortable and of a texture, you find personally appealing.
Leather skipping ropes are a strong favourite. The look and feel of the natural material combined with the solid weight make leather ropes enjoyable to use, hardwearing and very efficient for fitness training. Not only that, but their distinctive smell can be quite appealing!
Leather ropes are often combined with a wooden handle, adding to the natural look, though they are also available with a full range of plastic and metal grips.
Plastic coated steel cable ropes are very hardwearing, lightweight and resistant to tangling, making them the material of choice for many in the CrossFit community.
Steel ropes are also incredibly fast. While beginners may not feel that they can ever accomplish some of the speed skipping routines that are seen on videos across the internet, it’s surprising how soon improvements are made. Just half an hour a day will soon bring new skills!
Plastic or PVC ropes can offer a cheaper and lightweight alternative, good for beginners looking to save on costs before committing to a more expensive rope, but you may soon find yourself wanting to upgrade to one of the more professional options available, especially if you want to make the move into speed skipping.
Other materials such as rope and fabric tend to be less hardwearing, heavy, and ill-suited for regular use and are not recommended for fitness regimes.
It would be fair to expect that a skipping rope is a fairly simple piece of equipment that doesn’t really leave much room for extra features, but the creativity of designers should never be overlooked and some skipping ropes do come with exciting and interesting additions that help them stand out from the crowd.
Getting your skipping rope to the exact right length on the first try might be something you struggle with. But as you get used to the routine and feel of your rope, you could well find yourself wanting to make a small adjustment.
Changing the length of your skipping rope is easily done with almost all professional ropes, but where some require a permanent cut and reset, others offer adjustable features on the grips that let you resize the rope whenever you need - until you finally find the right fit and make the choice a long-term one. Give yourself the flexibility of finding the length that suits you!
When you are looking to improve on your fitness through regular skipping, being able to adjust the weights gives you extra control over your workout. Many of the best fitness ropes have the option to change the weight distribution in the handles, while a few even give you multiple rope options to choose how heavy you want your swing.
The main bearings and mechanism for connecting the rope to the grips is very important. High end skipping ropes have precision bearings to increase performance and aid in rotation. If you are looking to move into speed skipping and trying out tricks, then you are going to want a skipping rope with an excellent and durable mechanism.
Computer-assisted technology is now finding its way into the skipping rope scene! While most ropes don’t bother with any additional tech, some offer a whole host of marvels, from simple counters that add up your jumps for you, through to app-connectivity, helping you count calories burned, time your workout and give you that extra incentive stats provide!
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Beast Gear Beast Rope | ![]() | Perfect Price For a Top-End Skipping Rope | |
2 | Crossrope Get Lean Set | ![]() | Elegant Design and Near-Perfect Movement | |
3 | Tangram Factory Smart Rope PURE | ![]() | Integrated App Support and Great Performance | |
4 | Valour Strike Leather Weighted Skipping Rope | ![]() | The Beauty of Natural Materials in a Top Class Product | |
5 | Reebok Premium Speed Rope | ![]() | Perfect Performer From a Respected Brand | |
6 | Niluoya Niluoya Skipping Rope Adult|Pack of 2 | ![]() | A Down-to-Earth Fitness Product | |
7 | Tangram Factory Integrated LED Smart Jump Rope | ![]() | A Rope That Counts Your Skips in an Almost Magical Way! | |
8 | Opti Skipping Rope | ![]() | Inbuilt Technology for a Fraction of the Cost | |
9 | Farabi Boxercise Nylon Skipping Rope | ![]() | A Simple But Effective Skipping Rope for Fitness | |
10 | Islero Fitness Leather Rope | ![]() | Leather Rope With Ergonomic Handles |
No matter where you go, no one has anything bad to say about the Beast Rope! It has an easily-adjusted steel rope, comfortable grips and an excellent range of movement that regularly outperforms other competitors in far higher price brackets.
If you are looking to get into skipping, or are already regularly working out with a rope routine and are looking for a different rope to change things up a little, then the Beast Rope is for you. Fantastically priced, beautifully constructed and down-to-earth. It even comes with a carry bag!
There’s only one thing stopping the Crossrope Get Lean from taking the top spot and that’s the price. This is a reasonably expensive choice compared to others on the list, but you get a lot of quality for your money.
The patented mechanism, unique to Crossrope, provides a staggeringly fast and problem-free swing, and it comes with two differently-weighted ropes, allowing you to switch up your workout halfway through. It’s solid, feels fantastic to use and beautiful to look at!
If you are the kind of person who wants to track all the data from your workout then the Tangram PURE is ready for you. With full app support on both iOS and Android devices, this rope will send all available information to your phone and allow you to calculate everything from calorie burning to average session time.
Outside its technological advantages, the PURE is a long-lasting durable rope with great movement and is capable of some impressively fast spins. The Tangram PURE is not only one of the most technologically advanced ropes on this list but is also fit for purpose, maintaining a high tech rope with a hardy design.
The Valour Strike leather rope is an excellent choice if natural materials are on your list of priorities. The leather rope resists tangling, and the solid wooden handles make sure your workout does what it needs to.
A set of easily removed weights, full 360-degree rotation bearings and adjustable rope length add to the fitness options making this a great all-rounder. The Valour Strikes design is not only beautiful but well made and will stand the test of time.
Reebok’s Premium Speed Rope is a speed rope with slip-free grips to give you a full workout without compromise. It’s easily adjusted (though you will need a 3mm Allen key that’s not supplied) and holds firm throughout the most vigorous workouts.
The bearings are top performers too, providing incredibly smooth movement at top speeds, and the slightly heavier rope helps you get more out of a shorter gap in the schedule. One for the serious gym-goer.
If you are looking to put a serious note on your fitness regime, then look no further than the Niluoya rope. Described as tangle-free (and living up to this boast), the plastic-coated steel rope is fast and beautifully balanced.
The extra-long handles and easily adjusted rope length add to the professional touch and help you get some extremely fast speeds, whilst the ergonomic handles maintain a tight grip to give you the best of both, ensuring you get the most out of your fitness routine.
Tangram does a range of smart ropes with high-quality integrated technology - the kind that’s sanctioned and supported by Apple. Be the envy of your friends as the Tangram is the evolution of the modern skipping rope.
This LED rope uses clever fast-changing lights that create an optical illusion to project the number of your skips in the air before you as you jump - maybe not the most needed feature for a fitness rope, but probably the most impressive and fun!
If you are after the fun of a rope that has a digital counter and calorie counter without splashing out for one of the more expensive tech-heavy options, then the Opti rope is for you. The Opti rope combines high quality design with modern technology to create an extremely high grade product any fitness fanatic would desire.
With an easy-to-use interface, the added features in this rope will keep you motivated to improve day on day! The plastic rope can lead to unwanted tangling and lacks the speed of other alternatives, but helps keep the cost down on this budget tech-rope.
The Farabi skipping rope is the only basic nylon rope to make it to our top ten list. It's simple, yet brilliant design allows the Farabi skipping rope to be long lasting whilst affordable. It proves you can have a quality rope without an outrageous price tag!
Lightweight, durable and reliable, this rope is a great beginners choice and once you have developed your fitness routine, it’s easy to upgrade to a superior alternative. Just make sure to watch out for those pesky tangles!
The natural feel of leather can be very enticing! The Islero Fitness rope combines that well-weighted and long-lasting material with High Quality ergonomically designed wooden handle, all at a reasonable price!
While a little too heavy for speed skipping, if you are looking to have a desirable rope for a regular fitness regime, this presents a top-quality option. The Islero Fitness leather rope has a flexible 360-degree twist-free action, making it ideal for indoors fat burning exercise.
Once you've decided on the perfect skipping rope, it's time to look for some tools to help you reach your fitness goals and help make each workout as effective as possible.
Skipping ropes are an excellent way to get fit and improve body tone. All the skipping ropes in our guide will provide a perfect piece of simple and light gym equipment - whether your preference is for the tactile enjoyment of a leather rope or the high-tech advancements of the app-integrated options.
And if you need something to motivate you through your workout, why not recall the skipping rope rhymes of your schooldays!
No. 1: Beast Gear|Beast Rope
No. 2: Crossrope|Get Lean Set
No. 3: Tangram|Factory Smart Rope PURE
No. 4: Valour Strike|Leather Weighted Skipping Rope
No. 5: Reebok|Premium Speed Rope
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