Top 10 Battle Ropes Reviewed and Rated

One thing you will certainly wonder about when you first see a battle rope is how exactly are you supposed to be using it. If you want to gain some lean mass, then you’ve made the right choice! Depending on your routine, you will be working on your individual arms, back, core and even legs, combined with a killer cardio workout. You can even train for power if you slam them on the ground!

Although it might seem easy to just move the ropes up and down, you should try doing other motions as well. Moving them side to side will work your hips and core, giving your body stability. Moving the battle rope in circles will work on your shoulder mobility and range of motion, reducing the risk of injury. When you switch up the motions you will sculpt your whole body, and build functional strength.

Also, you could try using the ropes during your whole session. People usually use it as a finishing exercise, or as a part of a large circuit. But you could try doing every rope motion for 10 minutes or so, or you could even try doing waves for 20 minutes and see where that gets you. Focusing on one exercise for a long time sharpens your brain and helps you flush out lactic acid. Of course, it also extends the time you put your muscles under strain, which in turn builds strength and sheds fat.

In order to have an effective workout, you have to adjust the resistance properly. The distance from the anchor determines the amount of slack the battle rope has, which in turn determines the load. If you are standing closer to the anchor point, it will be much harder to perform the exercises. The further away you are, the easier it will get, so if you are just starting out try standing far away. As you progress, a step closer and closer to the anchor until you are juggling the full weight of the ropes. If you are doing a full set on the rope, alternate from standing closer to standing further away to give your muscles a small break.

Now let’s actually mention some useful exercises you could try doing - namely two of them we feel like you should master. The first one is battle rope waves, something that you probably thought of doing by yourself. This is a classic exercise, and it works both of your arms independently while keeping the muscles tense for extended periods. All you have to do is hold the ends of the ropes at arm's length, and then place your arms in front of your hips, shoulder-width apart. Brace your core, and then raise your hands alternatively. Do so with explosive strength, and alternate your arms for three to four sets, which lasts from 1 to 2 minutes.

The other exercise we feel we should mention is the crossover. This is where you will slam the battle rope on the ground as hard as you can! This will work on your core and give you more power. You must keep your feet flat on the ground, and then begin moving your arms above your head in an arc.

Lift them to your left, and then slam them as hard as you can to the right. Do the same motion in the opposite direction, and alternate the same way you would with the first exercise. These are your two basic exercises, and once you master them you can give the more complicated moves a go!

Battle ropes, even though it seems like they are a recent trend, have been used for a long time by football players, mixed martial artists and other sports enthusiasts. This is because the battle rope is quite an effective way to give your muscles a good run, while also proving to be a very good cardio exercise.

Battle ropes are usually used to work on the upper body, and they do that brilliantly. But they can also be effectively used to work on the core and lower body as well! If you work in lunges, jumping, squatting and other exercises that work on your legs you will get a full-body workout. Just 10 minutes of doing this will pump your heart up greatly, which will bring you into the HIIT area! HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is a super effective way to burn fat and build muscle as well. HIIT is a unique form of exercising, differing from regular aerobics in many ways. It will boost your human growth hormone, also known as the “fitness” hormone. The best part is that you can only do minutes of HIIT and achieve the same thing as you would be doing one hour of aerobics! If you push through and continue doing this for four weeks or more, your VO2 max will increase. This is the maximum amount of oxygen you can take in while working out and is often used to determine how healthy your heart is.

Both the alternative wave and double wave are simple, beginner exercises that push you into this zone. So not only are ropes an effective way to stay fit, but they are also a very effective way to stay healthy, or become even healthier than you already are!

The material your battle rope is made out of is probably the most important factor. Technically, you have three options when buying good battle ropes, and those are good poly dacron, cheap poly dacron, and manila.

Your best bet is probably poly Dacron. Poly Dacron ropes are made out of polypropylene and Dacron plastic threads. Then these strands are twisted into threads, with the Dacron acting as protection and a source of strength in the outer braid. The polypropylene acts as a light core and adds more strength. This makes the rope cheaper and lighter.

The best part about Dacron ropes is that they do not shed. Manila ropes are great, but only if you use them outdoors. They are quite sturdy, but are pricey too and shed like crazy, and cleaning up after them every time can be boring. Manila is great if you want a rope made out of natural materials since the threads come from hemp, or if you want to buy a rope that you will use outside - trust us, they do shed a lot.

You also need to be able to differentiate between good poly Dacron ropes and cheap battle ropes. Truth be told, a lot of manufacturers today have started using the term “polydac” without actually elaborating on what goes into the rope, and what the material proportion is. You won’t be able to tell the difference if you just look at them - you need to actually hold the rope. Cheap polydac ropes feel more fibrous and are not as fluid. Fluidity is very important for battle ropes since this is what your exercise depends on most.

The easiest way to tell if you do not have the chance to hold the rope is the price. This is because manufacturers do not want to tell you what goes in their blend, and you have no way to see what is in there anyway. The optimum blend should be around 20% polyester and 80% Dacron. Anything that has more than 30% polypropylene in it will feel fibrous and stiff. But, a good polydac rope will also feel stiff when you first take it out of the box. You have to spend a session or two loosenings the battle rope up, after that, it will be flexible.

The size of your battle rope, namely the length and thickness, will determine the difficulty of your exercises. Battle ropes come in three lengths, ranging from 30 feet to 50 feet, and two thickness levels, 1.5 inches, and 2 inches. The size of the rope you will be getting depends on your general fitness level, and on the amount of space, there is for you to work with the rope.

Thicker ropes will logically be heavier. This means that you will need to be stronger to work with them, so if you are a beginner it’s better to take a thinner rope. Thicker ropes also require you to have a better grip and bigger hands. If you want to focus on your strength, it’s better to go for a thicker rope, but if you want to give HIIT a go, go for the thinner rope.

You will be able to move it faster and harder, which will, in turn, raise your heart rate and pump you up. Thicker ropes will feel more like bench pressing, and they will require more control on your behalf, so you will need to engage more muscles into working with them.

Shorter ropes won’t be so fluid. But this can be forgiven if you do not have enough room for a long rope, since you do need plenty of room to work with a rope, even with the shortest one. The rope will be folded in half since you need to anchor it, so you need enough room to fit half the length of your rope. This means that the longest rope requires 25 feet of room for you to maneuver it.

But the length of the rope will also determine the weight, so a longer rope will tire you out faster than a shorter one! If you are a beginner and have enough space to work with, your best bet is buying a 1.5-inch rope that is 50 feet long, since this will make it very fluid and easy to hold.

A good battle rope needs to be flexible. Most of the exercises performed with battle ropes require it to be fluid. A stiff battle rope will hinder your progress and might be even prone to snapping or fraying sooner than later.

Every battle rope will be stiff once you first buy it. Just like a good pair of shoes, a rope needs to be used first for it to start being flexible and fluid. But if your rope does not feel fluid even after the first few session, it could be that you’ve just bought a poorly constructed rope, and you can kiss the flexibility goodbye! This is why you need to pay attention to the materials a battle rope is made out of.

Cheap polydac ropes will never be so fluid, and they will always have a certain degree of stiffness to them, which will make working out with them harder than it’s supposed to be. A good battle rope shouldn’t be overly flimsy either. This is because you won’t get a good workout with a wiggly rope, no matter how hard you trash it around. So, you have to hit that sweet spot between a stiff and a fluid rope in order to have a proper session!