Battle rope workouts are a great way to burn massive amounts of calories in a short amount of time. Also, this simple piece of equipment can easily increase the intensity of your workouts, helping you exceed plateaus you may have hit in your workout routine. Working out with battle ropes will help you do the following:
- Burn large amounts of calories
- Raise the intensity of your workout
- Increase fat burning
- Improve stamina and endurance
- Develop grip strength
Battle rope conditioning is a great form of cardio that doesn’t get boring, and keeps your workout exciting! Keep reading to learn how to set up the battle ropes, as well as how to perform three simple yet effective workouts.
Setting up
During these workouts you will be using both ends of the rope, so you will need to wrap or loop the midpoint of the rope around a stationary object, such as a pole or a handle of a very heavy kettlebell or dumbbell (when you start moving the rope vigorously, you don’t want the “anchor” moving with it).
The average thickness of the rope should be 1 and a half inches, but you can go up to 2 inches if you want to challenge your grip strength even further (the thicker the rope, the tougher it is to grip). You want the length of the rope to be 50 feet to 60 feet; anything shorter than this will cause the waves of the rope to not travel as far as they should, which in turn will interrupt your movement.
Start each workout standing in a square stance, feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. You should be in a half squat stance. Stick your butt out a little and keep your back straight. You’re now ready to start your routine!
Hot Tip: Intense Sets
Because the intensity of these exercise can be so high, one set is limited to 30 seconds.
Alternating Waves
- Hold both ends of the rope, one in each hand. Grip each end on the top side of the rope, as if you were carrying a suitcase.
- With your arms slightly bent at the elbow, raise one arm up, while keeping your other arm down at waist level.
- Once the raised arm is above eye level, slam the rope downward using this arm. At the same time, raise your lowered arm upward.
- Repeat this motion, alternating your arms upward and downward, while keeping your back straight.
Criss-crosses
- Hold both ends of the rope, one in each hand. Grip each end on the bottom side of the rope with your thumbs on top.
- While holding the rope at waist level, spread your arms wider than shoulder width.
- Right after your arms reach a width wider than your shoulders, cross them towards the middle, with one arm traveling above the other.
- Move your arms outward to their original positions, then repeat the crossing motion, now passing the arm that was underneath previously over the top of your other arm.
- Repeat Steps 3 and 4 while keeping your back straight.
Side-to-side Rope Slams
- Hold both ends of the rope, one in each hand. Grip each end on the top side of the rope, as if you were carrying a suitcase.
- While holding both ends, simultaneously raise both of your arms above eye level.
- When your arms reach above eye level, slam them downward and towards your left side.
- At the bottom of the movement, raise your arms towards the center of your body (above your head) and above eye level. Repeat Step 3, but this time slam the ropes downward and to your right side.
- Alternate sides while keeping your back straight.
Challenge Yourself Constantly
These workouts are revolved around timed sets, which means you can constantly challenge yourself by always trying to do as much as you can in a certain amount of time! To start, try doing three sets of 20 seconds of activity with 30 seconds rest in between. Then try to work up to three sets of 30 seconds of activity! Also, it’s best to do battle rope exercises at end of your workout routine, finishing off at a high intensity. Good luck!
