Battle ropes have become more popular amongst athletes and workout enthusiasts in recent times. This is not surprising considering all the benefits of using battle ropes.
For one, incorporating battle ropes into your workout routine can go a long way to improve your strength and coordination. Beyond that, battle ropes can help improve cardiovascular function, burn fat, and make workouts more fun.
But like every single thing in existence, battle ropes are not perfect. They come with their downsides. To offer you a balanced insight into what they are, we discuss 16 pros and cons of battle ropes below.
Once you are done reading, you should be able to make an informed decision on whether to get battle ropes or not.
Table of Contents
Pros of Battle Ropes
Portable
Battle ropes may not be the easiest equipment to carry around, but they are portable. You can easily put battle ropes in the trunk of your car and drive to your preferred workout location. Transporting battle ropes is easier than a range of kettlebells or dumbbells that will offer the same kind of full-body workout.
Although they are not as portable as resistance bands, they are easy to transport, unlike most conventional fitness equipment.
Suitable for All Levels
Due to how powerful battle ropes are, they are popular among pro athletes in the UFC and NFL. Even if you are not a pro athlete, you can still get a proper workout with battle ropes.
If you are a beginner or new to battle ropes, start slowly and progress as you go. As a beginner, it is best to adjust the resistance level of your battle rope to make the workout less intense.
Many Ways to Use
Battle rope exercises involve three main movements: pulls, slams, and waves. However, there are several variations of battle rope exercises you can try to keep your workouts fresh. You can change your wave motion, grip, or add lunges, burpees, lateral exercises, and squats.
Your options are limitless. Battle ropes are not a type of equipment that gets boring. It should instead become more challenging.
Quick and Efficient Workouts
Battle ropes are a special kind of equipment that targets multiple muscle groups. A single workout session with battle ropes offers a full-body workout. As a result, you work on several muscles and burn a lot of calories within a short period.
When you exercise with battle ropes, you don’t focus on single muscle groups. What you get is an intense and effective full-body workout. A 20-30 minute battle rope training routine can get you into fantastic shape in no time.
Help Improve Cardiovascular Health
If you focus your training session around developing muscle mass, you tend to forget about your cardiovascular health. If you skip cardio training, you begin to lose the endurance required for intense lifting sessions.
Battle rope exercises can help to improve cardiovascular health. When you exercise with battle ropes, it’s like you are doing a weightlifting and run session simultaneously.
Doing battle rope exercises keeps your heart rate elevated, similar to performing cardiovascular exercises. Meaning you get a cardio workout while resistance training helps you work on your muscles. Not only does it boost cardiovascular health, but it also boosts your endurance resulting in better performance.
Battle ropes are a low-impact alternative to regular cardio exercises. When you exercise with battle ropes, you use a full range of motion with limited joint impact.
And they still offer the same cardiovascular benefits. Jogging or running, for instance, puts stress on the hips, lower back, and knees. And if you have mobility or joint problems, you may have to avoid doing cardio exercises.
Can Help You Break Plateaus
When you experience a plateau, it means you are performing the same exercises without switching up your routine. When you use your muscles the same way, they become too comfortable with your training routine. As a result, it limits the effectiveness of your workout. And this makes reaching your fitness goals difficult.
With battle ropes, you have new ways to work on your muscles and avoid plateaus. You can use battle ropes to replace most of the exercises in your routine. The dynamic and explosive movements from battle rope exercises can shock most of the muscles you don’t use in your exercise routine.
Battle rope exercises work on your muscles differently, ensuring you burn fat and keep developing your muscles. It also improves your overall speed, work capacity, and endurance, improving your performance in other fitness areas and sports.
Helps Burn Fat and Calories
Losing fat is not really a complicated process. For you to burn fat, you need to burn calories. You burn more calories with battle ropes due to the continuous movements involved in the exercise. Having a 10-minute session with battle ropes every day can produce impressive results. Due to the intensity of the exercises, you get a full-body workout within a short period and still burn a lot of calories.
Battle rope exercises also give you an effective muscle-building workout. Since building muscles increases metabolic rate, it forces the body to burn more calories. So a combination of constant motion, effective cardio, and muscle development will help you burn more calories and fat.
Adjust Resistance of the Ropes With Ease
When you want to lift more weight, you need to pick a heavier dumbbell or add more plates. With battle ropes, simply adjust the resistance to decrease or increase the intensity of your workout. When you get a battle rope, you can anchor it with a strap or loop it around a pole and grip each end with both hands.
When you stand close to the anchor point, it gives the rope slack. As a result, the resistance of the rope increases, which increases the intensity of the exercise. Standing far away from the anchor point reduces the workout intensity.
Adjusting the intensity of your workout allows you to use battle ropes for interval exercises. Start by performing 60 seconds of alternating waves while you stand close to the anchor point. Switch to 60 seconds of alternating waves while standing further away from the anchor point and repeat.
Fun to Use
It becomes easy to avoid going to the gym and slack off when you become bored with your routine. Exercising with the same equipment every day can become more of a struggle than the actual workout. If you find yourself in such a situation, battle ropes can breathe new life into your routine.
Battle ropes are fun, especially when you start swinging the ropes around for the first time. Although it seems fun at first, don’t be fooled. The ropes still provide an intense workout when you use them correctly. It provides benefits to people of different fitness levels.
Improve Balance, Coordination, & Stability
When you exercise with battle ropes, your arms work independently of each other. As a result, your back, core, legs, and glutes must work to stabilize your movements. If not, you will not be in control of the ropes.
Once you stabilize your movements, you will improve your coordination and balance. And if you have muscle imbalances, the unilateral nature of the movements will help you correct them.
So, if you are keen on improving your coordination and balance, battle ropes are the ideal equipment for you. The best part about using battle rope exercises is trying different variations and more explosive movements to keep improving.
Help Strengthen Weaker Body Parts
If you have trouble building strength in your hips, feet, or knees, battle ropes may be the equipment for you. As we already mentioned, battle ropes give you a full-body workout. When you use battle ropes, you generate a force that returns to your arms and moves through your entire body. It ensures that those areas that don’t get enough attention receive a full workout.
Over time as you use battle ropes, your grip becomes stronger. This allows you to produce stronger waves and add more movement or speed to your workout. It also strengthens your ankles, hips, feet, and knees. All you need to do is keep working hard and maintain a good form.
Chances of Injury Are Low
Battle rope exercises are dual force exercises. This means you work with gravity and the force generated from waving the ropes. As a result, your workouts target every part of your body. Working on every muscle and strengthening weaker areas reduces your chances of injury.
When you use your natural range of motion, you have more control over your movements. Applying more force than you can manage is difficult, just like jumping. When you jump, the highest injury risk comes from improper landing, not the force you create.
Cons of Battle Ropes
Although several benefits come with using battle ropes, it still has some disadvantages. Below we discuss the cons of battle ropes. With this, you can decide if battle ropes are the right equipment for you.
Require Tons of Space
If you are keen on adding battle ropes to your training routine, ensure you have enough space for them. Battle ropes require more space than most exercise equipment.
The minimum space requirement for battle ropes is about 10-15 feet.
Shorter battle ropes are ideal for home gyms, but you can try getting longer ones since they are more effective.
With battle ropes, your body works within a small surface area while the ropes work through a path of about 10-25 feet. When you use battle ropes in your home, you want to avoid slamming them on the floor, except if you have the proper flooring.
Although it may not damage your flooring, it can be a bit noisy. It is best to set up this equipment in your backyard, driveway, or garage.
Aggravate Shoulder Issues
Anyone with a pre-existing shoulder issue will want to avoid exercising with battle ropes. The nature of the movements with the battle ropes can worsen a bad shoulder.
If your shoulder joints give you any reason for concern, ensure you exercise some caution. You can also do battle rope exercises in a way that will not damage your shoulder joints, stabilizing and reinforcing the muscles in the process.
But if you insist on going all out, be careful with your shoulders. So for those with shoulder issues, explosive battle rope exercises may not be the ideal exercise for you.
Cost of Equipment
If you plan to incorporate battle rope training into your exercise routine, you will need a suitable rope. Not all gyms have battle ropes, and purchasing a battle rope can be expensive.
Noise
Battle rope exercises usually involve lifting the ropes and beating them on the floor. If you live in an apartment, the noise from the battle ropes can cause issues with your neighbors.