Remember when you were a kid and exercise was just called “playing”? Well, the North Carolina company Crossrope wants to bring that fun-time feeling back to getting sweaty. With a set of weighted ropes that connect to an accompanying mobile app, the company’s system for at-home workouts can help you jump back into fitness. (Oh my god, I’m so sorry.)
Outside the playground, jumping rope has long been a foundation of endurance and footwork training for boxing, eventually growing in popularity with fitness centers as a quick way to improve cardiovascular endurance and coordination. With the emergence of CrossFit, jumping rope has gained more relevance. The double-under, where the rope passes underfoot twice with every jump, is one of CrossFit’s foundational movements.
Not only can jumping rope be a great cardio workout, it also builds strength and endurance in the shoulders, forearms, and legs, especially if you use a weighted jump rope. Crossrope capitalizes on this by pairing its weighted ropes with plyometric and bodyweight movements to craft a fun and effective workout system.
Layer Cake
Similar to CrossFit, Crossrope breaks its offerings down into a tiered system, with each level appealing to people with different abilities and fitness goals.
The company’s $99 Get Lean Bundle is geared towards weight loss and offers slim handles, a quarter-pound rope and a half-pound rope. The $139 Get Strong Bundle is designed for strength and muscle gain and includes thicker handles with an interchangeable 1-pound and 2-pound rope. There’s also the whole-hog Get Fit Bundle at $238, which includes both handles and all four ropes.
The ropes come in different lengths according to your height. At 5 feet, 8 inches, the size medium rope worked perfectly for me. The braided-steel ropes are covered in a protective sleeve that not only lengthens the life of the rope, but also prevents it from getting tangled. The grips have a rubber coating and shape that prevents slipping during sweaty workouts. The cables are attached to the handles by high-quality bearings that provide a smooth, fast spin. The handles are also equipped with an ingenious quick-release system that makes it easy to swap between the differently weighted ropes during workouts. I’d also suggest springing for a jumping mat to keep your floors and rope undamaged.
Once you’re set up, check the Crossrope app for workouts. Crossrope Lite is the free version, with ten complimentary workouts and challenges, plus beginner tutorials and a beginner-level fitness challenge. Crossrope Premium costs $10 a month with access to every workout, the fitness challenges, workout filtering options, and the new jump rope counting mode, which, as you could probably guess, counts your jumps.
Hop To It
