Battling ropes burst onto the scene a few years ago and have made serious inroads into most athletic training endeavours. Still, a lot of people wonder what they are actually used for? Ropes target a pretty specific need in an athletic training regimen and are used to develop muscular endurance and grip strength through the upper extremities. These movements are essential to various sports that rely heavily on upper extremity endurance like MMA, boxing, lacrosse, and hockey.
The advantage of using ropes is that they utilize the kinetic link between the legs, trunk, shoulders, and hands. All these elements are usually incorporated into rope movements which provide a full body blast and target the anaerobic power / endurance systems. Typical rope sets last 30-40 seconds and have you breathing hard by the end. In fact, you often wonder why you are so tired after just "throwing a rope around".
The problem I encounter with ropes is that there is not always a suitable anchor in the field. The ropes need to articulate off of a pretty stable point in order to be used effectively. Luckily Sport Sandbags have large, durable, loops which accommodate up to a 2"inch battling rope. This makes sandbags the perfect, portable anchor for field based rope exercises.
It is important to note that the bag used in this video is only 25-pounds! Despite it's light weight, it moved very little during filming. Our heavier bags work even better for this purpose.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for Part II of our Battling ropes workout.
Cheers!
SS
