Make Your Cardio Interesting With Battle Ropes

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about doing cardio? Probably running, and how much it sucks when you’re out of shape. No matter what you do, there’s no way around being out of breath. But being out of breath and bored at the same time is really brutal. Don’t limit yourself when you’re doing cardio. There’s so much more than just running down the street. I wrote this article to share with you how to make your cardio interesting with battle ropes.

What Is A Battle Rope?

Typically a battle rope refers to a thick rope (2 inches in diameter or more) that’s usually around 40 or 50 feet long.

I’ve also seen long chains and even old fire hoses used instead of ropes. Buying them online or at a sporting goods store can get pretty expensive so it might not be a bad idea to look into a hardware store or fire department for those other options.

To use a battle rope it has to be attached or wrapped around a stable fixture like a tree, sign, light post, etc. Two ends of the rope are held in each hand. But make sure the lengths of rope are both even.

How Long Do You Workout For?

A rope workout doesn’t need to be long. Think of it as running sprints for your arms. A lot of times they are used in tabatas. An example would be working as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then resting 3 seconds. You can do that for 10-20 minutes.

This type of training builds both anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. It also builds strength in a lot of sport specific movement patterns.

The Standard Wave

The most common exercise done with the battle ropes is a wave created by moving your arms up and down in an alternating pattern directly in front of you. Move them as rapidly as you can in the biggest range of motion possible. The ropes will create what looks like an ocean wave.

During most of these exercises, including this one, you need to be in a quarter squat position with a wide base. That allows you to generate more power even when you’re tired.

Double Wave

This exercise is similar to the previous one. The only difference is that you’ll keep your hands together on this one. The ropes should be side by side following the same wave pattern.

Lateral Twists

Hold both ropes together right in front of your belly button. Then twist your torso rapidly from side to side. You’ll feel it in your abs.

Big Arm Circles

You can do arm circles a few different ways. First of all you have to make sure you workout in a clockwise and counterclockwise motion.

You can keep your arms together and make one big circle, or you can keep your hands separate and move the ropes in an alternating patters….almost like a double-dutch jump rope.

Jumping Jacks

Do a standard jumping jack while holding onto each end of the rope it will provide a little bit of resistance making it slightly more difficult.

Side Slams

This is a really explosive movement so you’re not gonna stay in the quarter squat the whole time. To start off hold both sides of the rope to one side of your body.

Jump up and rip the rope up and over your head. Then slam the rope as hard as you can to the other side of your body. This one will get you tired real quick.