Benefits to Battle Ropes

BATTLE ROPES!

We all see them everywhere but the truth is they aren't a new trend at all. Ropes have been around for quite some time now, they simply weren't in your conventional gyms. Athletes have been using them to mix up there strength and cardio workouts for years. There are plenty of cool ways to use them and reasons why you should throw them into your routines.

For starters, the ropes aren't just an upper body tool or something to use to look awesome. You can incorporate plenty of movements that activate many different parts of the body- jumps, squats, lunges, whips. They are absolutely great if you're short on time, need something portable, and want that full body workout experience! I'm a huge fan of using this tool with new clients because it really does require little to no thinking.

Breaking down the benefits of using the ropes:

They are safe and definitely a low risk for any type of injury.

That being said, a MAJOR benefit is that they provide a low impact workout on your joints. You won't be putting crazy amounts of stress on any portion of your body like you do with weights or certain styles of cardio.

They are also a great tool for functional fitness where your body is required to have strength outputs from your core to the extremities. Another cool aspect of working with the ropes is that they can help even out some imbalances in strength! We've all been there where one arm or leg definitely feels weaker than the other and the ropes are a great tool to help fix that.

Lastly, mobility. Don't get caught only using the rope in one direction. Work on moving all over the place with it allowing your body to adapt and develop some unfamiliar mobility. Circles, for example, help improve shoulder mobility, Moving the rope side to side to put stress on the hips and core. Build total body mobility, stability, strength and explosiveness.

Moves to try:

Here is a list of some moves to try and incorporate into routines.

Wave movements:

-Double waves (endurance based)

-Alternating waves

-Big/small shoulder circles

Slam movements:

-Power slams (both hands)

-Hip Toss (lateral slams)

-Single arm alternating power slams

Combination movements:

-Power slams to burpees