Best Jump Rope – Ampro Pro Speed Rope 10ft Review
I bought the 10ft version of the Ampro Pro Speed Rope and after a few days of using it i thought i would write a little review to tell you what i think of it.
I am 6ft3 and the length of the rope is fine for someone my height, i think even if you are a few inches taller you will have no problems using this skipping rope.
Speed
The Ampro Pro Speed Rope can certainly go fast with not much effort, my previous skipping rope was quite hard to get going and i often found my arms and shoulders being gassed out before my legs were.
With this rope i can get up to full speed quickly just by bringing my arms further away from me, creating a shorter orbit of the rope. My last rope was only 8ft so it made doing this quite hard. With a 10ft rope its much easier, which i like because now i can increase the intensity just by extending out my arms and i find my arms and shoulders are less fatigued (great for HIIT sessions).
Construction
I’m use to an all wooden handle with a little bit of weight to it, the Ampro Pro Speed Rope is the complete opposite. Its simply a small, hollow, plastic handle expanding at the end to stop it slipping out of your hand. Again i realised that using a larger, heavier handle was another reason my arms and shoulders were becoming fatigued. I prefer these light plastic handles as they sit in your hand very comfortably and you cause less fatigue to your arms. If you want to add some resistance to work out your arms while skipping you can add some cheap weighted wrist bands.
Durability
Having only used the rope for a few days i cant really comment on the durability of the rope, my previous skipping rope (a cheap Chinese brand) appears to be made of the same type of plastic rope and that one has lasted me a whole year and is still fine. So i hope this rope will last the same.
Problems
The only problem i have come across while using the Ampro Pro Speed Rope is that if you want to shorten the rope you have to tie a knot in the end (in itself, not a problem). Being able to shorted the rope is important because the more skilled and faster you get, the quicker you will want the rope to rotate and as i mentioned above creating a smaller orbit of the rope will make it go faster.
Now there is no problem with tying a knot to make the skipping rope shorter, however, the problems i have encountered so far from doing so are that the rope will quickly become tangled because it cannot rotate freely through the handle.
As you can see from the image to the right, the design includes a smooth washer at each end of the rope that makes sure the roperotates freely at the end of the handle.
If you tie a knot you will see that there is more friction and the end of the handle is now in contact with the knot.
Whilst this isn’t really a problem if you are just doing normal skipping, the problems start to happen when you include moves such as crossovers into your session (and who doesn’t do the odd crossover!). If you don’t do it fast enough the rope will just tangle and will cause you to pause, untangle the rope and then continue. Exactly what you don’t want to happen when trying to raise your heart rate.
I suspect it could be perhaps i haven’t worn in the rope enough or something, i don’t know. If you are going fast enough and do the crossover with a snap of the wrists then you shouldn’t have too many problems.
Conclusion
For the price (just under a tenner on Amazon) i cant really complain, its lightweight and very fast. The small handles mean you could probably carry in in your pocket! However if you are a shorter person, say below 6ft i would suggest the 8ft version because you will most certainly have to tie a knot in the 10ft version to better suit your height which could cause the problem i highlighted above. At the moment this rope can go fast enough for me so i can live without having to tie a knot in it.
Rating
4/5