Battle ropes have been cropping up in gyms all over the country. Youโve probably got a set in your gym that popped up out of the blue one day. If you donโt know what youโre doing with them it might seem like a weird fad thatโs going to disappear as quickly as it started to rear its head.
Youโll be surprised to find that theyโre incredibly versatile and will fit right into any workout. If youโre looking for something to challenge you thatโs portable and targets a wide range of your muscle groups, then give battle ropes a chance before you turn your nose up at them.
Battle ropes arenโt just random ropes you find out on the street. There are a couple of things it takes to make a rope a battle rope. First off, theyโre a single long rope meant to be pulled around a pillar, a hook, or a similar vertical and sturdy obstacle.
You end up holding equal lengths of your single rope in your hands after securing them the appropriate distance away from you. Battle ropes have to be long and thick. Youโre going to be fighting against the weight and thickness when youโre working with battle ropes. They tend to be anywhere between 1.5 and 2 inches in diameter. Battle ropes are usually found in 30, 40, or 50-foot lengths, making it easy to figure out how much rope you can fit into your workout spaces.
Battle ropes have started appearing recently because their concept is pretty recent, to begin with. They were invented by a fitness trainer named John Brookfield in 2006. After he popularized them he went on to train the Special Forces, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the United States Olympic wrestling team with the battle rope system he developed. After he proved himself and his ropes to the world they started to take off. They became an appealing method for getting a full-body workout with a single piece of simple equipment.
You might be curious how your entire body gets in on the action if youโre mostly using your arms to direct the ropes during your workout. The movements you make with the battle ropes, the stance youโre holding your body in, and the actions you take with your lower body all contribute to your battle rope exercises.
Some battle ropes have you whipping the ropes away from your body, which will engage your upper back, your lats, and your core to stabilize yourself throughout the exercise. Youโll also be lying down or squatting while you use battle ropes. The limitations of your battle rope exercises are pretty minimal, and if you understand the mechanisms of your body, you can use battle ropes to target almost any muscle group in your body.
Now that you know what these ropes are all about, itโs time to figure out which ones are best for you. When youโre picking out battle ropes, there are really two things you need to worry about: space and skill level.
Youโll be getting roughly the same amount of exercise out of ropes of varying lengths. Longer ropes allow for more fluid and less awkward movement, so that will help with your form and if youโre just starting out with battle ropes, then youโll probably want to opt for the longest possible rope. Other than that, increasing the length of the ropes doesnโt affect the amount of weight youโre handling and the inertia you have to overcome as much as the thickness of the rope.
Start by figuring out where youโre going to be doing your battle rope exercises and selecting a rope length that will fit well into that space. Remember that the total length of the rope is going to be halved while youโre exercising because youโre securing the rope around a sturdy pivot point, so a 30-foot rope needs 15 feet of space and so on.
The thickness of the rope is where youโre going to have to consider what you want to achieve with your battle rope exercises. Thicker ropes are going to be much heavier than thinner ropes, and allow you to pull off different types of exercise.
A 1.5-inch rope is where youโre going to go if youโre just starting your exercise journey, unfamiliar with battle ropes, or just looking for a unique way to get your cardio in. These will be the lightest ropes. Theyโre also going to be the easiest to lug around if youโre needing to bring your battle ropes with you to different venues to get your exercise in.
A 2-inch rope is a great middle ground. If you feel like youโve outgrown your 1.5-inch rope, or need more of a challenge for your grip strength, then bump yourself up to a 2 in rope. These are the โstandardโ battle rope size, and probably what youโre most likely to find if youโre just coming across these in your local gym. Theyโre great for endurance exercise as well, because theyโre heavy enough to pose a challenge without immediately tapping your energy resources, and theyโll push you without draining you quickly.
2.5-inch ropes are where theย heavy liftersย and the pros go. The full inch jump in diameter is almost three times the overall area of rope. These are thick ropes, and theyโre going to be much heavier. If youโre looking for a challenging exercise, or youโre just a battle rope master and only the mightiest foes will do, then youโre going to be reaching for these ropes. The thicker the rope the harder itโs going to be to maintain your grip, and youโre going to be facing much larger forces of resistance and heavier weights. So, if youโre coming at these and youโre already a pretty strong dude, then youโll be right at home, but otherwise, approach with caution.
Battle ropes should be approached with imagination. If youโre open-minded and youโre familiar with the inner workings of your body, you can find creative ways to use them for all of your major muscle groups. Remember that battle ropes should be tackled with deliberate motion and careful attention to your form at all times, and youโll find yourself succeeding in no time.
Here are ten exercises you can put under your belt to get started that will challenge your full body and familiarize you with what battle ropes can do for you.ย
Lateral whips primarily target your delts, upper back, and your pecs. Youโll also be maintaining tension on your upper legs and core while you hold yourself in a steady quarter squat position.ย
Youโre going to get the most out of this exercise by keeping your torso as straight as possible throughout the movement and making sure youโre keeping your quarter squat static. If youโre bouncing around and wiggling your torso youโre not going to be engaging all of the muscles you could be.
Rope slams are like a halfway point between squats and crunches. Youโre going to be whipping the ropes as hard as you can up into the air and down towards the ground while straightening out your body and whipping yourself back down. This should be a fluid motion that involves your knees as much as your upper body, arms, and hips.
This is a deceptively simple exercise that will target your traps, your glutes, and your lower back. The position you find yourself in is going to isolate your upper back and force you to engage your glutes and lower back to keep yourself steady while you whip the ropes around. Keeping yourself on the floor is also going to keep you from accidentally cheating your back out of a thorough and vigorous exercise. Make sure youโre not arching your back.
A lot of battle rope exercises have you engaging your lower body by squatting slightly, if youโre on the other side of a particularly rough leg day, or you just want to focus on strengthening your core, then these Russain Twists are a great option.
Alternating waves are probably the most common battle rope exercise. Theyโre the first thing to come to mind when anybody approaches a heavy pair of long ropes, and with the proper form, theyโre excellent for engaging your full body and getting a good vigorous exercise in.
Sumo tremors are a lot like alternating waves, but youโre going to be holding a deep sumo squat this time. This is great forย engaging your core and bringing your lower body into the exercise by forcing you to hold your balance up top and down low as well. This is a great exercise if youโre working on your squat or trying to find an innovative way to work on your lower body.
Jumping slams are the closest that battle ropes come to being like jump ropes. Youโre going to be working on your vertical and pushing your upper body to keep up. This is a great source of cardio in between the heavier rope movement youโll typically run into while working on your battle ropes.
This is a simple exercise, the trick here is going to be keeping up your energy, maintaining your posture, and making it all the way through your time limit without giving up.
Single-arm pushup oblique slams are probably the hardest and truest full-body workout on this list. Youโre going to be enlisting nearly all of the muscles in your body, and there are so many potential failure points that youโre going to be strengthening while performing this. Itโs an engaging full-body exercise that will test your fitness in a unique fashion that really showcases the versatility of battle ropes.
Full circle waves will fully engage your core while you fight to keep your torso steady against the force of both ropes whipping around in front of you. This motion is great for your upper body and the muscles in your shoulders and upper back.
Outside spirals are an incredibly simple exercise to add to your wealth of battle rope knowledge. These are easy to modify, so you can keep them in your rotation for a long time, tweaking them slightly to fit your needs. Outside spirals can be done with varyingย degrees of a squat, the direction of your spiral can change, along with the degree of rotation.ย
Battle ropes arenโt going to be a piece of fad exercise equipment. Theyโre great for any gym setting, be that at home or on the go. Youโre really only limited by the amount of space you have, but theyโre so versatile you can make virtually anything sturdy into your battle rope station. Taking them to the park or out into a yard is a simple as coiling them up and carrying them with you. Because theyโre so heavy and youโre working as hard as you can to overcome inertia and master their unwieldy weight theyโre going to be an excellent source of resistance that will draw a full and well-rounded exercise out of any battle rope session.
