Benefits Of Battle Ropes (10 Reasons Why To Use Them)

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If you’re looking for a workout to boost strength while also conditioning the entire body to build endurance, then battle ropes are for you. Incorporating these long, thick, heavy ropes into your fitness routine is a great way to increase the intensity of each and every workout session.

Want to know more about battle rope workout benefits? Check out 10 reasons why battle ropes rock in this complete guide to battle ropes benefits!

Battle Ropes: Overview & Muscles Worked

Before getting into the benefits of using battle ropes in your home or commercial gym, let’s talk about the basics of battle ropes. Although this fitness craze hasn’t been around for that long - they were first introduced to the fitness industry in 2010 - they've made their way into the gyms of pro-level sports teams worldwide.

Battle ropes are just that - ropes. But they’re not made from just any old rope you’d find on a fishing boat or rock-climbing course. Instead, these ropes are designed to be thicker and heavier so that whoever is swinging them will get an intense strength-building cardio workout. 

Since battle ropes are put in motion by the hands, arms, and shoulders, many people assume that this workout targets only the upper body muscles. Well, that’s actually not the case. One of the greatest benefits of battle rope exercise is that this is a full-body workout that focuses on:

  • The Core Muscles  
    While moving the ropes with your upper body, the core stays active and engaged. You’ll notice your abs tighten without even trying, and this is because the core naturally engages to keep the rest of the body stable and balanced.
  • The Upper Body Muscles 
    It’s pretty obvious that you can get an intense upper body workout with battle ropes. As you hold the ropes and put them into the “wave” or “slam” motion, you’ll be working all the muscles of the upper body, including the chest, shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps.
  • The Lower Body Muscles  
    As you move your upper body and engage your core, you’ll keep a slight bend in the knees. Not only does this promote stability, but it also engages the muscles of the lower body, including the calves, glutes, and hamstrings. For an even more challenging lower body workout, it’s possible to add lunges into the mix.
Battle Ropes Benefits

10 Benefits of Using Battle Ropes

There are many benefits of battle ropes workout routines, which explains why so many professional athletes swear by them. Here are the 10 biggest benefits you can look forward to experiencing with battle ropes:

1. Full Body Workout

Like we already said, one of the biggest battle rope exercise benefits is that it challenges the entire body, starting from the shoulders and working all the way down to the calves. You can even argue that battle ropes provide a mental workout as well, keeping your mind engaged while you push through each rep.

2. Helps Improve Balance and Coordination

With each battle rope workout, your core, legs, glutes, and back will be working to stabilize the entire body as your arms are moving the ropes. Doing battle ropes regularly can significantly improve balance as well as overall coordination.

3. Great for Burning Fat and Calories

Simply put, battle ropes can get you ripped! That’s because this is a fat-burning, calorie-burning workout. Burning calories leads to burning fat, which ultimately creates a ripped, toned physique. Depending on how hard you choose to work, you could burn a ton of calories in a short amount of time.

4. Resistance Can Easily Be Adjusted

Battle ropes make it easy to increase resistance as you build more strength. To change the intensity of the workout by adjusting the resistance, simply change your distance from the anchor. Moving closer to the anchor and creating more slack in the rope, you’ll be able to increase the intensity. Move farther away to pull the rope tauter and decrease the resistance.

5. Useful for Building Muscle

There’s no doubt about the fact that battle ropes build muscle. The amount of muscle mass built depends on your intensity, the weight/resistance of the rope you’re using, and the number of reps performed with each session. If your target goal is to build muscle, there are a lot of great battle rope variations to choose from, like double arm slams and side-facing waves.

6. High Intensity, Low Impact Exercise

Battle ropes are a fantastic addition to HIIT routines. This is a highly intense exercise that focuses on short bursts of intensity followed by periods of rest. Alternating intensity and rest like this has been proven to lower body fat as well as resting heart rate and blood pressure. To top it off, you’re very unlikely to sustain any injuries from battle ropes since this is a low-impact workout that’s light on the joints.

7. Helps Improve Cardiovascular Health

There are a few battle rope workouts that are specifically geared at improving heart health. For example, a long alternating wave session is great cardio, and some even argue that it’s more beneficial than long runs on treadmills or stationary bikes. 

8. Strengthen Weaker Body Parts

You have complete control over your battle rope workout, which means that you can choose the specific muscle group you’d like to target. You’ll be able to focus on strengthening your weaker muscles, which can ultimately make your entire body more resilient. 

9. Helps Increase Stability And Mobility

Battle ropes use a lot of different muscle groups and require tons of joint movement. By moving all these muscles and joints, you’re bound to see improvement in your mobility and balance. Over time, the range of motion in your joints will increase.

10. Portability

A battle ropes course can be easily broken down, packed up, and set up in another location. This makes battle ropes a great choice for anyone who plans to workout on the go or prefers to do their exercises anywhere and want to change up the scenery every once in a while.

Best Battle Ropes Workouts to Build Muscles

Another huge perk of battle rope exercise is the versatility that comes along with this fitness gear. There’s a lot of variety when it comes to the different movements you can do in order to target different muscle groups.

These are some of the most popular - and most effective - workouts for using battle ropes and building muscles:

  • Double Vertical Waves  
    Moving the ropes in a vertical wave motion is great for building strength throughout the torso and arms. To create more resistance, just move closer to the anchor.
  • Double Lateral Waves  
    Lateral waves (or horizontal-moving waves) have the potential to build muscle mass in the chest, back, glutes, quads, abs, shoulders, biceps, and triceps.
  • Double Arcs (Rainbow Or Smiles)  
    For a whole-body workout, double arcs are the way to go. This workout incorporates all three planes of motion, which means that the entire body is targeted.
  • Reverse Lunge Rope Slams  
    If you’re trying to build the muscles of the lower body, consider doing reverse lunge slams with your battle ropes. It’s great for the hip flexors and improves the strength of your quads, laterals, glutes, and hamstrings.
  • Alternating Waves With Lateral Lunges  
    Incorporating lateral lunges into an alternating wave battle rope workout is excellent for enhancing the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. It also has the potential to improve balance and stability.
  • Triple Extension With Outside Circles  
    This workout is tough, but pushing through it can build the muscles of the calves, quads, glutes, hamstrings, abdominals, back, and even chest and arms.
  • Seated In-And-Out Waves  
    Moving the ropes in an in-and-out wave motion while seated is ideal for building chest and back muscles.
  • Seated Outside Circles  
    For targeting the upper back and shoulders, try seated outside circles. This motion is super challenging, but within a few weeks, you’ll definitely notice a more powerful upper body.
  • Seated Alternating Waves  
    Adding the seated position into the classic alternating waves workout challenges the abs and cores as well as the entire upper body.
Battle Ropes Workouts to Build Muscles

Tips to Master Your Battle Rope Workouts (How to Use Guide)

To experience the full benefits of exercising with battle ropes, you need to use them correctly. Even though the risk of injury is low, it’s still possible, and the risk increases by improperly using the ropes.

In order to master each of the workout variations listed above, here are a few tips on how to use your battle ropes:

  • Grip Correctly  
    The ideal grip for battle rope workouts is to hold the handles with your hands facing each other. Try not to hold the handle too close to the edge since this runs the risk of the rope slipping from your grip.
  • Set a Solid Stance  
    If you're doing a standing battle rope workout, also make sure to keep a solid stance. Your feet should be positioned slightly wider than shoulder-width apart with a slight bend in the knees to avoid injury.
  • Flick, Don’t Tug  
    Try to avoid tugging the ropes toward yourself. Instead, engage your wrists in a flicking motion, almost as if you’re throwing the ropes up and away from your body.
  • Learn The Ropes  
    Before choosing your ropes, do some research on the right length and weight for your body weight, height, and strength. You can always increase resistance later on by changing your distance from the anchor.
  • Breathe Properly  
    Your breath is an important aspect of any battle ropes workout. Many people end up holding their breath without even knowing it, so focus on taking long, deep breaths.
  • Don’t Creep Forwards  
    It's natural for our bodies to slowly creep forwards as we swing the ropes. This creates less resistance and an easier workout, so try to maintain your position without inching closer to the anchor.

People Also Ask (FAQs)

What are the benefits of battle ropes?

We won’t do a full recap of the benefits of doing battle ropes (for that, check out the 10 benefits above). But we can tell you that this exercise creates an intense, full-body workout that can build strength, boost endurance, and work the cardiovascular system.

Can I do battle ropes every day?

The frequency of your battle ropes workout routine depends on your specific fitness goals. If you’ve set lofty goals for yourself, then yes, doing battle ropes every day is an option. However, it’s important that you don’t overdo it and give your muscles a rest every once in a while.

How long should you use battle ropes?

Once again, this depends on your personal fitness goals. For the best results, it’s recommended that you break up the workout into reps. For example, you can do 30 seconds of intense battle ropes waves, take a one-minute break, and then repeat.

Do you need to anchor battle ropes?

Yes, anchoring the battle ropes is an important step for workout safety. Commercial fitness battle ropes will include an anchor, but you can also use any heavy object or loop the rope around a tree if you’re exercising outdoors.

How short can battle ropes be?

Battle ropes come in varying lengths, but the longer the rope, the more challenging the workout will be. 50-foot battle ropes (25’ on each side) are the most popular choice, followed by 40’, then 30’.

What are some cons of using battle ropes?

The only real disadvantage of using battle ropes is that they require a lot of space. This isn’t like yoga, where you just need the space required by a mat; battle ropes require a wide-open space. In terms of the amount of space necessary, 50-foot ropes require a minimum of 25 feet, 40-foot ropes require at least 20 feet, 30-foot ropes need 15 feet, etc.

Conclusion

There are SO many benefits of battle rope training. From the full-body workout to the high calorie-burning potential, battle ropes are definitely something to consider adding to your fitness routine.

Don't have any battle ropes at home? Check out these awesome battle rope alternatives.

Last Updated on January 17, 2023

Paul J

Paul J

Paul J is is an ex-professional footballer who has seen a gym or two and is an expert at knowing what is required for home gym setups. When he isn’t testing out products for his readers, he’s usually going for a run in the park or out for coffee.

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