Which Skipping Rope is best for beginners?
Choosing the best rope as a beginner can be daunting. We break down each of the core jump rope types in this blog post to help you choose the best rope for you based on your objectives and experience level!
If you are a beginner and want to learn good technique as well as tricks, then the Dope Ropes signature beaded jump rope will be best and give you a great foundation to begin. It's versatile, adjustable, durable across all surface types and has great feedback to help you learn! So if you want 1 rope that is an all rounder and great for beginners then the beaded rope will be best for you.
PVC ropes
The Dope Ropes cardio 2.0 is a PVC rope and comes in a 5mm and 6mm PVC thickness. These are also suitable for beginners. PVC ropes are much faster through the air and great for fast footwork, a solid cardio workout, speed and double unders. So if you want to focus more on these areas of speed then a PVC rope is likely to be best for your needs. Many people usually have both a beaded and a PVC and use them for different contexts in their jump rope journey.
In terms of 5mm and 6mm PVC. If you want more speed, then a 5mm is going to be lighter and faster. The 6mm PVC adds more weight - it's still quite fast through the air but works your arms and wider muscle groups more as it is around 40% heavier than the 5mm PVC. It's the lightest rope within the weighted jump rope range which starts from 1/4lb. See more on this in the weighted rope section below.
These are used when you are a bit more advanced with technique and want to work the muscles a lot more. These range from 1/4lb all the way up to 2lb. It's better to get comfortable and conditioned with a beaded or 5mm PVC rope before getting into these heavier ropes.
Start off with something at a 1/4lb and build up to 1lb and see how you feel from there. Be careful using something too heavy too early as it can risk injury. Build slowly from a solid base that you have established with the signature beaded or cardio 2.0.
I generally only recommend these ropes to advanced users who already have solid technique with either the beaded rope or 5mm PVC. The reason being is that these ropes are very light and so as a beginner, these will be a hindrance to your learning as you will not be able to feel the rope as it moves around you.
If you are advanced and focused on speed and double unders and getting the maximum reps with the lowest effort then a speed wire based rope might be an option for you. These are also popular in the CrossFit community.
So in terms the ropes we offer, this is the weight order from heaviest to lightest:
As you can see, beaded ropes fall in the middle. They are not too light or too heavy, they have good feedback and feel heavier due to the greater air resistance as the rope moves through the air and due to the added weight of the beads. Therefore if you are a beginner, it is, in my opinion, the best starting point.