Battle ropes: put your whole body to the test with these 29 exercises

The battle rope is a gym accessory that, although it has the handicap of requiring some space for its deployment, it is also true that they provide cardiovascular benefits, strength improvement and reduction of body fat like no other .

Musculature that intervenes in the work with the battle ropes

The battle ropes or battle ropes are one of the gym accessories that involve more muscle when working with them, because although at first it may seem that we are just going to work our arms, we are facing a global work of almost all our muscles .

• Lower train: the lower train is going to be responsible for supporting us and helping us to maintain the posture. In addition, in some of the exercises that we will see below, we will work the lower train by performing squats, jumps or strides .
• Dorsal musculature and anterior deltoid head : the muscles responsible for the extension of the shoulder (dorsal) and its flexion (anterior deltoid head).
• Musculature of the core : its main function will be to provide adequate stability in all the exercises we perform to ensure efficiency in our training.
• Upper trapezius and lower trapezius : will be responsible for the elevation of the scapula (upper trapezius) and the depression of it (lower trapezius).

Execution technique

For a correct execution of the exercises that we perform with the battle ropes, we must pay attention to several points, since in this way we will adopt a correct posture, we will avoid injuries and our training will be fully functional and efficient.

• Calculate the distance : the first thing is to correctly calculate the distance to which we will place ourselves on the rope so that we do not get too far behind or too far forward, so that our back does not suffer.
• Leg separation : the separation of our feet should be slightly greater than the width of the shoulders so that for most exercises in which our hands are between the legs we can avoid taking a wrong position and that the movement is not fluid .
• Semi-flexed knees: at all times, in those exercises that we perform standing, ours must be semi-flexed to avoid a bad posture that would make us compensate for the lack of fluidity in the movement.
• Hip position: in all the exercises that we perform standing, we must maintain a position of our each slightly flexed, in order to avoid an inhibition of the core musculature, which would cause a weak posture. In the same way, we should avoid leaning back to avoid overloading the lower back.

Most common errors

In order to avoid injuries and postures that result in inefficient training, there are certain common mistakes in most beginners that we must know in order to avoid and / or correct them:

• Do not activate the core : working with the battle ropes without activating the muscles of our core, will cause us to do the work without stabilizing our position, with the consequent risk of injury.
• Relaxed arms : when performing the beatings with our arms relaxed, we will cause the movement is not fluid and we tend to compensate for this with the use of another different musculature.
• Excessively stiff legs : if we do not adopt an initial posture with our legs slightly bent, this will cause the core muscles not to activate properly, causing a weak posture and without stabilization .
• To throw the body back: when throwing our body backwards, the lumbar musculature will be overloaded with tension, reason why we will be increasing the possible risk of injury in this zone.

29 exercises that we can perform with battle ropes

With the idea that you have a wide repertoire of exercises with battle ropes to choose from, we have selected these 29 exercises extracted from this video and this other video .

Alternating beaters high

Starting from the standing position, with the legs semi flexed and with a slight hip flexion (this will be the initial position in any exercise with battle ropes that we perform standing), we will perform batidas with one and another arm alternately. The position of our arms should not be completely rigid , but we should flexionally bend the elbow to avoid an accumulation of tension in the area.

Low alternate shakes

To perform the alternate shake low, we must adopt a position with our hips more flexed than in the high beats and a slightly higher knee flexion. The movement to be made with our arms will be exactly the same.

Batidos a dos manos

For this exercise we can choose between performing the simultaneous shake in high position or in low position. The difference with respect to the two previous exercises is that in this one we are going to perform the shake with both arms at the same time .

Grappler toss

Starting from a hammer-type grip to catch the rope and the basic standing position, the movement we must perform is similar to if we wanted to perform a semi-circle from one knee to the other with both arms simultaneously (corresponds to exercise number four of the first video).

Power slam

Starting from the basic initial standing position, the movement that we are going to perform consists in a simultaneous shake or shake with the two arms similar to when we perform a slam ball, that is, as if we wanted to throw with all our strength the rope against the ground (corresponds to exercise number five of the first video). We should not jump to catch momentum with the rope.

Alternating batters with lateral stride

The initial position to adopt is that which would correspond to a lateral stride, to which we add the grip of the rope as in any other exercise. From here, we must perform two movements simultaneously: on the one hand we will make lateral strides from one side to another while doing alternating beatings of the string (exercise six of the first video).

Alternating batters with reverse stride

The initial position to adopt is the one that would correspond to an inverse stride, because if we made a forward stride we would be cutting the rope path, to which we will add the grip of the rope as in any other exercise. From here, we must perform two movements simultaneously: on the one hand we will make inverse strides while doing alternate beatings of the string (exercise seven of the first video).

In addition, we can perform this exercise in two ways: either by working one leg first during the set time and then working on the other, or by alternating one leg and another.

“Ultimate warrior”

For this exercise we will place ourselves laterally to the rope, so that we will hold it with our two hands as it can be seen in exercise number eight of the first video, and positioning ourselves standing with our knees and back slightly bent. Next, we will perform batidas with our two arms simultaneously (exercises eight and nine of the first video).

First we will work one side and then the other.

Squares alternate with squats

We will leave for this exercise of the basic standing position and, at the same time we perform squats (which will modify our position slightly since we will have to point the tip of our feet slightly towards the outside), we will make alternating batches of rope with our arms (exercise number ten of the first video).

This exercise can also be done with simultaneous churning of the rope.

Alternating beaters with plyometric squats

We will start from the same position as in the previous year. Along with the movement of alternate churning of the rope, we must perform plyometric squats(with jump) as we can see in the eleventh exercise of the first video.

Alternating beaters “from knees to standing”

Starting from the basic standing position, we will begin making alternate churning of the rope with our arms while we get on our knees on the floor and we get up again , as shown in exercise number twelve of the first video.

Alternating beaters with forward and backward jumps

At the same time that we do the alternate beaters with the rope, we must move forward and backward with small jumps (exercise 14 of the first video).

Alternating beaters on fitball

The starting position for this exercise will be sitting on a fitball , which can be “braked” by a wall “or be” free “, which would increase the difficulty of the exercise. in a habitual way (exercise number 15 of the first video).

Alternating batidas sobre bosu

For this exercise we can choose two different alternatives depending on the difficulty with which we want to work: we can either support the bosu on the ground on its flat part (which would be the “easy” option) or we can choose to support the bosu in the floor on the spherical surface , with which the difficulty will increase considerably. The beats will be made alternately or simultaneously as usual (exercises 17 and 18 of the first video).

Jumping jacks

Like the classic jumping jacks that we can perform in any routine HIIT type , this is how we perform this exercise, with the exception that this time we will take grabbed (with hammer type grip) in each hand one end of our battle rope .

Side waves

The movement to perform in this exercise is similar to the movement we perform when we applaud , but this time with arms more stretched than in applause, holding the rope with one hand at each end and opening more arms than we do in applause (exercise 20 of the first video).

“Coast to coast”

This exercise is going to be done simultaneously with two arms and consists of making side waves side by side (exercise number 21 of the first video).

Drum waves

For this exercise we will start with a hammer-like grip on the rope and a low whipping position in what would correspond to a half squat. The movement to be made will alternate beats of the string ” as if we were playing a battery “, hence the name, while we move slightly from side to side with the beat (exercise number twelve of the second video).

Alternating beaters with lateral displacement

This exercise will start from the basic standing position and, while performing the alternate high battles, we must move laterally as seen in exercise number 14 of the second video.

Alternating beaters on knees

Starting from a kneeling position , this exercise will require a good activation of the muscles of our core to keep our position stable. The movement of string beat will be alternately or, if we seek variety, simultaneously (exercise number 21 of the second video).

Alternating beaters seated

We will start from a sitting position (we can choose whether to support our back on a back or a wall or to make it “free”) with our legs open to avoid hitting ourselves on them with the rope. Next, we will make the movement of alternate churning of the string (exercise 24 of the second video).

This exercise will also mean a great activation of all the muscles of our core .

Beatings “of the woodcutter”

This exercise could resemble the well-known ” woodchoper ” that we usually make in pulleys. The movement with the rope is, starting from the standing position, perform simultaneous high beats trying to draw a diagonal in front of our chest (exercise number 26 of the second video).

Alternating beats with one hand with iron

As we can see in the exercise number 27 of the second video, we will adopt a plate position with three supports (both feet and one of our forearms) and, with the free hand, we will hold one of the ends of the rope to perform batidas . If we try to add difficulty to the exercise, we can rest on our hand, as if the position were for a flexion or incorporate the supports on an unstable surface such as a bosu.

Batidos with burpees

This exercise will raise the level of intensity and difficulty, since it will combine two explosive and exhausting movements such as work with battle ropes and burpees . In addition, we must point out that it is an exercise that we can perform with alternate batters as well as simultaneously.

Slam with lateral jump

To carry out this exercise, we will start with a lateral jump (it does not need to be a five meter jump, we are talking about a small lateral displacement). While we are in the air, we will have to gather momentum with the rope to perform the slam at the moment of landing on the ground , as we can see in exercise number 32 of the second video).

Front elevations

This exercise is similar to when we perform the frontal elevations holding a disc with both hands , so the rope elevation should be simultaneous with both hands (exercise number 39 of the second video).

Elevations for posterior deltoids

For the posterior paradeltoid elevations, we will do the same as the previous exercise, only we should be more inclined forward.

Alternating beaters in static sprint

For this exercise, we must simultaneously perform the high alternate beating while we are “spiriting” without moving from the site (exercise number 44 of the second video).

Alternating beaters with kneeling

With this exercise we are going to incorporate the work of stabilization to work with our battle rope , which will require a great activation of our core musculature . Starting from bipodal support and the basic work position with the battle rope , we will start doing high alternating batters while trying to pass to a unipodal support by bringing one of our legs to our chest.