Have you ever walked into a gym and seen a battle rope curled up in the corner and wonder why it is and what are some battle rope exercises you can do? First, it’s another tool in the toolbox when it comes to your conditioning. Second, it is not there to tie you in knots. Ropes were used way back by the Egyptians to pull heavy objects while building the pyramids around 4000 to 3500 BC. Talk about a back-breaking workout.
Then a gentleman named John Brookfield, an acclaimed fitness inventor, and strongman, saw the great potential of these heavy thick ropes and came up with a battle rope system to improve power and conditioning.
Since 2010 Brookfield has taught his system to athletes, professional sports teams, and fitness summits around the world. Now you can get a slice of it here. Battle ropes can give you a high-intensity, low-impact workout and they will challenge your endurance, conditioning, and grip strength all at once.
Here we’ll get into the benefits of battle rope training, five great exercises, and a HIIT workout to have you sweating and smiling in no time.
Benefits of Battle Rope Exercises
Battle ropes offer benefits for people of all fitness levels. They’re simple to set up, simple to use, require minimal instruction, and will raise your heart rate without having to go on these dull cardio machines. Here are some other fantastic benefits of incorporating battle ropes into your training.
Improved balance and stability: When you’re performing these battle rope exercises, you’re working unilaterally, and your upper and lower body are working overtime to stabilize you to keep both your feet on the ground.
Low impact, high intensity: Battle ropes are a tool where most of the focus is on your upper and not your lower body. The rhythmic nature of most battle rope exercises raises your heart rate without the joint impact of many other cardiovascular activities.
Increased grip strength: Gripping the thick battle rope will improve your grip strength because the width and weight of the rope force your forearms and hands to work harder to hold onto the rope.
Strength & conditioning: Heavy battle rope training is a unique mix of strength and cardiovascular training. Performing these exercises for time and reps with appropriate rest between sets will keep your heart rate elevated during the entire training. And you’ll be training fast twitch muscle fibers which have better strength and muscle-building potential than slow twitch muscle fibers.
Using the 5 battle rope exercises below you can perform HIIT training at the end of your weight training to improve your conditioning and burn a little fat.
Tabata Training: Take any of the 5 exercises above and perform for 20 seconds with all-out effort and then rest for 10 seconds. Perform 6 to 8 intervals. If you’re doing more than one, rest for two to three minutes before going again.
30/30 Battle Rope Workout
Here you’ll do 30 seconds performing one battle rope exercise, the resting 30 seconds before moving to the next one. Follow this sequence for 10 minutes and then collapse.
5 Battle Rope Exercises To Improve Your Strength & Conditioning
Here are five simple but not easy battle rope exercise variations to improve your strength and conditioning while saving you from the boredom of the “dreadmill.”
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Battle Rope Power Slam
This exercise is similar to the medicine ball slam because it’s all about power. Due to the battle rope power slam being a power exercise, the sets will be shorter as the focus here is building explosive power and not muscular endurance.
Muscles trained: Forearms, biceps, upper back, lats, and glutes
How to do it: Hold the rope in both hands with a neutral grip with your shoulders down and chest up. Hinge at the hips and bring the battle rope up to head level and slam the rope down powerfully. Repeat continuously for reps.
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Battle Rope Alternating Waves With Get-Up
The battle rope alternating wave with get-up trains both the upper and lower body while improving your total body coordination. You’ll be performing half kneeling get-ups as you alternating waves. This double whammy will drive your heart rate up while you’re sweating and smiling
Muscles trained: Glutes, quads, forearms, biceps, upper back, and lats
How to do it: With the rope in both hands start doing the alternating waves and get down into a tall kneeling position, to a half kneeling and standing up while performing waves. Alternate the front foot you come up with on each rep. Repeat continuously for reps
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Battle Rope Bilateral Wave
The battle rope bilateral wave is a classic rope exercise that forms the foundation of a lot of other battle rope exercises. If you’re new to battle ropes do this one and the alternating wave. This can be performed in the tall-kneeling and half-kneeling position for more core action too.
Muscles Trained: Forearms, biceps, and upper back.
How to do it: Hold the rope in both hands with a neutral grip, hinge at the hips with your shoulders down and chest up and perform quick waves with both hands by bringing the battle rope to shoulder height and down again.
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Battle Rope In And Out Wave
The in and out movement of the battle rope wave trains your upper back and chest, much like a chest and reverse fly to add some volume for added hypertrophy. Although this looks simple, you will be feeling the burn in no time.
Muscles Trained: Forearms, chest, posterior deltoids, and upper back.
How to do it: Hold the rope with a neutral grip and hinge at the hips, keeping your shoulders down. Create a little slack in the rope and whip the ropes away from each other and then towards each other while keeping the rope on the ground.
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Battle Rope Side-To-Side Slam
The battle rope side-to-side slam trains power in the transverse (rotational) plane. This plane is often forgotten, and it pays to train the body in all planes of motion for a better-performed and injury-resistant body. This is a progression of the power slam exercise, so make sure you have that one down before doing this one.
Muscles Trained: Obliques, forearms, and lats.
How to do it: Hold the battle rope with a neutral grip and position yourself so there is little slack in the rope. Get into a quarter squat position with your shoulders down and chest up. Keeping your arms straight, slam the rope to your right side, pick the rope off the floor, and slam the ropes to your left side. Repeat back and forth for reps.
