Men's Fitness Online

Battle ropes are one of the most effective ways to tone muscles, make your workouts metabolic, and sneak in cardio.

Danielle Hopkins, a master trainer at Printing House Equinox in New York City and the creator of the gym’s Ropes & Rowers program has created a workout that will exhaust your entire body and rev your heart rate pushing you into the fat-burning zone. For each of these exercises, you’ll assume one of two grips:

Handshake grip: Hold the ropes as though you were going to shake someone’s hand. Palms face inward toward one another.
Overhand grip: Hold the ropes in an overhand grip, with both palms facing down.

Instructions: Complete 10 reps of the following exercises for 2-3 rounds. Each exercise should have minimal rest—15-20 seconds max. For an added challenge, pair each exercise with a 30-second plank variation as an active recovery. (Try planks with shoulder taps, side planks, planks with anterior reach, etc.) Once you’ve completed the circuit below, take a 2-minute rest, then repeat.

1. Battle Ropes Alternating Wave

How to do it: Drop into a squat position, hinging at your hips, and lean your upper body slightly forward. Hold a rope in either hand using the handshake grip. Alternate making waves with the ropes, ensuring the ripples run to the end of your anchor point. “Think about making small but fast waves rather than huge explosive ones,” Hopkins says.

Prescription: 10 reps (right and left is one rep)

2. Jumping Jack

How to do it: Grasp a rope in either hand assuming an overhand grip. “Step close to your anchor point so the ropes have some slack in them,” Hopkins recommends. Now, perform regular jumping jacks.

Prescription: 10 reps

3. Reverse lunge with alternating wave

How to do it: Hold a rope with a handshake grip in each hand. Step back into a reverse lunge while you complete alternating waves with the battle ropes. Return to standing, but don’t stop your arms, and come into a reverse lunge on the opposite leg. Keep alternating.

Prescription: 10 reps (5 each leg)

4. Battle Ropes Grappler throws

How to do it: Grasp the ropes with an overhand grip. Start with your hips squared up to the anchor, then begin to rotate and pivot through your hips as you throw the ropes right and left. Think of the side-to-side motion of Russian twists. You want to keep your core engaged the entire time as you shift the weight of the ropes, creating an arc. “Be careful not to lean back too much on this move,” Hopkins warns. “You’ll stress your lower back.”

Prescription: 10 reps (5 each side)

5. Lateral lunge with double wave

How to do it: Grab a rope in either hand using a handshake grip and take a wide stance with your feet. “Make simultaneous waves with the ropes as you shift your weight right to left in a lateral lunge,” Hopkins says.

Prescription: 10 reps (5 each side)

6. 180 jumps

How to do it: Stand facing away from the anchor point. Position yourself parallel to the ropes and hold them in an overhand grip with your arms out in front of you. “One hand will be on the end of the ropes and the other should be about a foot in,” Hopkins says. Keeping the ropes in front of you, perform a 180-degree jump while swinging the rope overhead. Make sure to land softly on your feet so you don’t jar your knees.

Prescription: 10 reps (5 jumps in one direction, then switch to jump 5 in the other)

7. Claps

How to do it: Drop into a squat position, hinging at your hips, and lean your upper body slightly forward. “Using a handshake grip, move the ropes toward each other until they hit and ‘clap,’” Hopkins says

Prescription: 10 reps

8. Uppercuts

How to do it: Hold the ropes with an overhand grip. Assume an athletic stance so your dominant foot is forward, your abs are braced, and your knees are slightly bent. “Alternate punches up toward the ceiling, rotating your hips slightly as you punch,” Hopkins says.

Prescription: 10 reps (right to left is one count)

9. Battle Ropes Squat thrusts

How to do it: Begin with a rope in either hand with a handshake grip. Generate power from the floor up, bringing your arms up and slamming both ropes to the ground as you simultaneously jump down and kick your legs out. You should be in a plank position on the floor (ropes still in hands). From here, jump back up and begin the sequence again.

Prescription: 10 reps

10. Rope slams

How to do it: “This is the big finish!” Hopkins says. Start in a squat position with either a handshake or overhand grip. As mentioned on the previous slide, you want to generate power from the ground up. Put your weight in your heels as you use your whole body to extend your arms overhead fully. From here, quickly and forcefully slam the ropes to the floor coming back into a squat. “Make the rope waves as big as you can and hit the floor aggressively,” Hopkins says.

Prescription: 10 reps

Related:MF’s Guide to Fat Loss