Battling Ropes are popping up at gyms everywhere now. However, many people have never used one or even seen one before.
And while Battling Ropes are an easy-to-learn piece of equipment great for exercisers of all levels, there is still some form required and key movements to learn to get the most out of your Battling Ropes workout.
Battling Ropes can be used to work your entire body and improve your cardiovascular conditioning. You can use the ropes to build an aerobic base, improve your lactic threshold or even increase your power.
And while you improve your cardiovascular conditioning, you can also develop functional full body strength doing the Battling Ropes Exercises.
There are two basic movements we do in our Battling Ropes Training – Waves and Pulls. In this post, we’ve focused on only Wave exercises.
Including the Battling Ropes Wave Exercises in your workouts is important because they not only help you develop greater power, but they also help you become stronger so that you can maintain that power and intensity for a longer period of time.
These Battling Ropes Exercises are a great way to get in a full body workout. And if you get your own Battling Rope, you can do these exercises anywhere you can find something to wrap your rope around!
Learn how to use the Battling Rope today with these 22 Exercises and 5 Battling Ropes Workouts.
Battling Ropes Exercises – The 22 Moves
Below are all the 22 Moves demonstrated in the video.
The first 8 moves are what we consider the Essential Movements. Master these moves before moving on. With just these first eight you can get in a great workout.
1. Alternating Single Arm Waves
2. Stage Coach
3. Rainbows
4. Sidewinders
5. Rope Slams
6. Outward Circles
7. Snakes
8.Tsunamis
Moves 9-12 are great unilateral moves. Each of these moves forces you to work one side at a time, which allows you to correct imbalances because your dominate arm can’t take over.
9.Unilateral Waves
10. Unilateral Outward Circles
11.Unilateral Cross Body Waves
12. Rope Hook
Moves 13-22 are great full-body movements that require more coordination and incorporate a few of the Essential Movements. These are more advanced moves that are sure to get your heart rate up!
13. Switch Stance Stage Coach
14. Alternating Arms with Side Shuffle
15. Stage Coach with Reverse Lunge
16. Alternating Arms with Side to Side Lunge
17. Alternating Waves with Get-Up Lunge
18. Sidewinders with Forwards and Backwards Walk
19. Rainbow With Lunge
20. Rope Russian Twists
21. One Arm Plank Waves
22. Jumping Jacks
The 5 Battling Ropes Workouts:
These 5 Workouts are a great way to use the 22 Battling Ropes Moves above to improve your conditioning and even strengthen your entire body.
Workout #1:
Battling Ropes Interval Workout
Perform 3-6 rounds of each exercise. Rest for 1-2:30 minutes between rounds (1 minute advanced, 2:30 beginner). Rest 2-3 minutes between circuits.
CIRCUIT #1:
1 minute Stage Coach
CIRCUIT #2:
1 minute Alternating Arm Waves
CIRCUIT #3:
1 minute Sidewinders
CIRCUIT #4:
1 minute Rainbows
Workout #2:
Battling Ropes Tabata Workout
Complete 8 rounds of each exercise, working for 20 seconds then resting for 10. After completing 8 rounds of the exercise, rest for up to 2 minutes then move on to the next exercise.
Exercise #1:
20 seconds Alternating Arms with Side Shuffle
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #2:
20 seconds Rainbows with Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #3:
20 seconds Alternating Waves with Get Up Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #4:
20 seconds Sidewinders with Forward, Backward Walk
10 seconds Rest
Exercise #5:
20 seconds Alternating Waves with Side to Side Lunge
10 seconds Rest
Workout #3:
Battling Ropes Upper Body Workout
Set a timer for 15 minutes for each circuit. Complete as many rounds of each circuit in that 15 minutes as you can. After 15 minutes is up, rest 2-3 minutes and move on to the next circuit. Record how many rounds you complete and try to beat it next time!
Circuit #1:
10 reps Push Ups
20 reps Snakes
10 reps per side Rope Russian Twists
Circuit #2:
10 reps Pull Ups/Inverted Rows
20 reps Outward Circles
15 reps per side Plank with Single Arm Waves
Workout #4:
Battling Ropes 30/15 Workout
Set a timer for 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest. Go from one exercise to the next, resting 15 seconds between moves. Once a round of the circuit is complete, rest 1 minute. Beginners may need to rest longer between rounds. Complete 6-8 rounds.
Circuit #1:
30 seconds Jumping Jacks
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Switch Stance Stage Coach
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Rope Slams
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Stage Coach with Reverse Lunge
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Sidewinders
Rest 1 minute
Workout #5:
Battling Ropes Unilateral 20/20/20 Workout
Work for 20 seconds on each side then rest for 20 seconds before repeating. Complete 5 rounds of each exercise. Rest up to 2 minutes before moving on to the next exercise.
Exercise #1:
20 seconds Unilateral Waves Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Waves Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #2:
20 seconds Unilateral Outward Circles Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Outward Circles Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #3:
20 seconds Unilateral Cross Body Waves Right Hand
20 seconds Unilateral Cross Body Waves Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Exercise #4:
20 seconds Rope Hook Right Hand
20 seconds Rope Hook Left Hand
20 seconds Rest
Using these 22 Battling Ropes Exercises and 5 Workouts, you can get in a great functional strength and cardio workout no matter your fitness level.
What’s your favorite Battling Ropes Wave Exercise?
Do you know how long and how heavy the rope is? Every gym I have been to seem to be too heavy for ladies and the grip is too wide as well. Any thoughts on brands to purchase?
It is 1.5 inches and the length is 50ft. Weight no idea. I got it from Perform Better by John Brookfield. I use it with everyone. I even sometimes use the 2 inch, 50ft with my ladies but that one is heavy.
Hi Cori – love love love all of your posts – I’m a PT here in uk and your posts keep me supplied with endless adaptations of so many exercises. Particularly like this battle ropes post –
I’d just finished with a client having done a rather tame rope session in comparison! I often get asked about clients teenage sons wanting to workout with weights – obviously I advise focus on technique but what is your view on total kgs- kids are bombarded with YouTube posts of ripped guys which they all try to emulate often not understanding the time and dedication it takes to reach the desired goals. I’d appreciate your comments.
Best regards
Liz
Hi Liz! So glad you enjoyed the article. Sorry for missing this before! But there is no reason they can’t workout with weights. I do believe in really working with them to master bodyweight movements first and create good recruitment patterns, but they for sure can lift. 🙂