If you train with a CASS Fitness trainer, you more than likely have experienced a battle ropes routine with one of us if we have enough space to set them up. You may also see my videos or Instagram posts with the Battle Ropes. Why do I like them so much? Here are a few reasons why they have popped up in many CASS Fitness workouts, including the regular routines of our trainers:
Battle Ropes are an excellent tool to spice up your cardio and strength routine, no matter what level of fitness you are currently at, especially with endless types of programming and varying sizes of ropes. Some of the benefits include improving your muscular strength, endurance, cardiovascular conditioning, and you can burn fat at the same time. Even though Battle Ropes are an upper body form of cardio, you can work all muscle groups. For instance, you can do a Squat Hold while doing Two Arm or Alternating One Arm Waves. You work your obliques by doing a Battle Rope Hip Toss. Your heart rate goes up very quickly with Battle Rope exercises. Just try making waves with the Two Arm Double Wave as fast as you can for 20-30 seconds then see what your heart rate is!
Battle Ropes also increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacity with low impact on the body. This is great news for many trainees who have knee issues or other lower body injuries, and do not have access to a pool or they are bored with cardio machines. Even if you do not have lower body injuries, Battle Ropes have less impact on your body than doing sprints (I feel sprints are an excellent form of HIIT cardio, but they are also a high impact routine for your legs.) You can also incorporate lower body cardio into your Battle Ropes workouts with exercises such as Two Arm Waves with High Knees or Lunge Jumps.
Battle Ropes can also be anchored around any pole. I frequently take them to different parks and larger apartment gyms for my clients.
There are many items in the health and fitness world that are total gimmicks and do not work. Battle Ropes, which were previously just a staple in many pro athlete workouts are starting to become mainstream, and I feel will continue to quickly increase in popularity over the next few years. Your heart rate will soar and you will sweat even with just a short 10-15 minute routine. In closing, I highly recommend Battle Ropes and you should incorporate them in a routine at your gym, with one of us, or you can buy your own RIGHT HERE!
Here is a video of myself doing the Two Arm Wave (I added a jump in the exercise just for fun and to show you can incorporate other forms of cardio into your Battle Ropes routine.)
Here is one our clients, Andy pictured doing the Alternating One Arm Wave:
Start your Battle Ropes routine with a natural pre-workout like MRM Driven for an extra burst of long lasting intensity!