Jump Rope care tips for outside use and increased durability

As many of you will be using your ropes outside and on harsher surfaces like concrete and paving, here is a list of useful ideas to help your ropes last longer.    Enjoy and we hope this helps!

1) Rope Type 

Different ropes have different levels of durability and so this is a factor to consider when purchasing a rope for the first time:

- Beaded ropes wear the best on harsh surfaces as the beads protect the cord.  The cord never actually hits the surface. The beads we use are shatterproof plastic and so should not break and will last.  Beads can be replaced and moved around easily as well to maintain the rope for even longer. 

- Wire coated cables are going to be the worse affected as these are usually fast and thin.  The coating is also thin and so will wear down quickly. So if you do have one of these try to use them interchangeably with a beaded or more affordable PVC rope so you aren't focusing all the exposure to one single cable.

So overall, we recommend beaded or affordable PVC ropes that can be replaced more cheaply than a premium speed rope. Don't despair if you have a speed rope, keep reading as we have some useful tips coming up for increasing rope life!

2) Invest in a jump rope mat

We recommend mats that are fairly thick so around 6-8mm, not only will this protect the rope but also add some protection for your joints.  Check out our mats here! 

3) Check your rope length

Now, the beginner recommendation from our partners at RX is your height plus 3ft.  However, you should move down to shorter ropes with time and wherever possible. In fact, try to reduce the length of rope by an inch or 2 more than you are comfortable with. This will not only help with your jump rope form but will actually help with rope durability. The reason for this is that if your rope is too long, there will be a lot of excess rope.  This will lead to the rope impacting the ground.  Instead, if your rope length is shortened enough, the cable will simply brush the surface. This brushing is going to wear the rope far less than impact. 

4) Storage

This is super important! Do not leave your ropes outside in a pile on the ground.  Exposure to cold can lead to PVC ropes to snap easily. Make sure you hang your ropes over a hook inside in the warm where possible. Or use a jump rope bag and keep your rope in a neat loop.  This will also help prevent kinking.  RX users should prioritise making use of the RX Jump rope bags which maintain the loop and when hanging, hang by the handles and not the cable as this will also maintain the cable shape better.

I hope some of this helps and let us know if you have any rope care tips of your own!