Rope Intervals

Here I am, late again... Two quick things before I get started: baseball season started Friday (for me, not MLB!) and I absolutely suck at skeeball.

Now, about the ropes...

I was introduced to these ropes through youtube a while back, and finally was able to try them when I visited the gym my brother works at. He had purchased a 50 foot nylon rope to torture his clients with, and I wanted in on the action. My introduction to the ropes was a combination first of amusement, then awe at the difficulty of the exercise, and finally of exhaustion.

Basically you're faced with a large rope wrapped around an immovable object. You grab the ends of the rope and swing away. Of course there are plenty of patterns to choose from, but any idiot can wear themselves out regardless of what they're doing with the thing. Basically, the rules are to just swing the things as hard and fast as you can. The best thing about the ropes is that it's low-impact cardio. Most people like to do their intervals on their feet and this tends to wear you down, as you're putting a lot of stress on the lower body. Using the ropes to break up the monotony of lower body dominant interval training and "cardio" can save your joints and keep your training interesting.

I recommend progressing the ropes through interval training. Start with a generous 15:45s, work:rest ratio for 8-12 rounds and work down from there. A good goal would be to get yourself down to the infamous Tabata protocol using a negative work:rest ratio of 20:10 for 4 minutes. If you're busting your ass through your 160 seconds of work you won't want to do another set. Yeah, sometimes the clock is the toughest workout partner you can find.

For fun, here's a video of Dave, Jim, and I doing some ropes during snowmageddon in DC this February. That guy sucking air on the vid? That's Jim. Oh, and yes, everybody loves training you can do outside!



If you can't tell by how often I link to him... I really enjoy Dan John's writing style and lifting philosophy. You can check his blog out or find him occasionally on T-Muscle. He's also got a book, "Never Let Go", that I just finished and really enjoyed. It's basically a collection of his best articles that tell the story about his growth as a strength coach as well as a person. I would definitely recommend it.