Meglio Skipping Rope Extreme (Indoor Use)

The Meglio Skipping Rope Extreme is the latest speed-skipping/CrossFit type that uses a lightweight steel cable, swivel bearings and anodised aluminium handles. If you're looking to include plyometric drills in your training, maintain bone density or do a warm-up with a difference, it ticks all the boxes since it's easy to use (with a bit of practice), well made, durable and priced very low – and currently on sale for £4.69.

Why skip if you're a cyclist? Plymometrics is arguably the main reason. Although cycling is mostly an endurance sport, incorporating hops, skips and jumps into your off-bike training can bring speed and strength that simply pedalling for four hours in the lanes will not.

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Another good reason to 'jump rope', as butch American skippers prefer to call it, is to maintain bone density. Cycling is non-weight bearing and ought to be supplemented by some impact work. Since many cyclists either don't run or used to be runners, got injured and then became cyclists, skipping is perfect because it takes away many of the jarring forces of heel-striking running.

And finally, skipping makes for a perfect – if unconventional – pre-race warm-up, opening up the cardiovascular system very quickly and focusing the mind. One of my team-mates in the 00s, Richard O'Rourke, never bothered with a turbo in the car park and didn't risk puncturing his best lightweight tubs doing sprints up the road: he stood beside his car, in the village hall doorway if it was raining – anywhere in fact – and just skipped. And nobody laughed because O'Rourke was usually faster than all of us – and he was a lot harder than all of us, too.

So if you fancy giving skipping a go, this Meglio rope is a good place to start for very little outlay. It's a lot more high tech than the wooden-handled type from school – the aluminium handles are very tactile with their anti-slip file pattern, and it's a steel cable in a PVC sheath rather than a tatty length of puddle-soaked hemp. The cable-handle interface includes two sets of bearings – at the ends of the handles, and 'swivel' bearings set into the stainless steel eyelets above the handles. The idea is for the cable to be able to turn very fast and very smoothly, and the claimed inventor of the system is US Marine and Olympic wrestler-turned-skipping guru Buddy Lee. 

The Meglio's cable is lightweight, 2.5mm in diameter and the type usually used in CrossFit. In skipping, as in cycling, lighter is faster, but it does sacrifice a bit of feel. The cable needs to be travelling fast for it to keep its shape – unlike those heavy old ones at school – so if you're a beginning or returning skipper it takes a bit of practice to do a set of 30 jumps at around 120rpm. But get that down and then a cable like this is easily fast enough for 'double unders'.

The cable is 9ft long and is adjustable – there are small clamps on the outsides of the handles. It's best to adjust and then cut it to length using bike cable cutters to avoid loose ends beyond the handles.

Meglio says it's for indoor use and that will be because the PVC cable sheath will wear on rougher surfaces, but I've found it has been fine on the paving slabs in our back garden. But it won't last forever outside.

Value and conclusion

Compared to cycling kit the Meglio Skipping Rope Extreme is incredibly cheap. Unbelievably, we've never tested skipping ropes on road.cc so can't compare it with any other house reviews, but compared to similar skipping ropes it looks like very good value. There are cheaper ropes at Decathlon but it undercuts all of Dope Ropes' ropes, which go up to £49.99. There are 'toy' ropes for much less, but they don't have the swivel bearings or the fast cable and are mostly plastic rather than aluminium and steel.

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As a returning skipper, I've been very impressed. The Meglio Skipping Rope Extreme is an advanced rope at more of an entry-level price. It's well made from durable materials and works faultlessly.

Verdict

Advanced rope at an entry-level price, durable and well made, the Meglio could jump start your cycling