Four Reasons Why You Should Perform Rope Pulling Exercises
This was one of my favorite movies. A film about men in the future who are trained from birth to be the perfect soldier and then eventually face off against genetically engineered test-tube soldiers. It’s an awesome film but if you lack subtlety you might not catch the range of emotions Kurt Russell depicts throughout the film.
Fast forward to 3:25 to see what I’m talking about.
This scene, where one of the test-tube soldiers, played by Jason Scott Lee, climbs up the chain effortlessly always stuck in my head. The type of upper body strength that requires could take years to build.
I didn’t have access to a rope to climb growing up but it was only until the Boat School and beyond that I had the chance to develop a fraction of the strength shown in this scene. Pull-ups are great and getting toward the one-arm pull-up is still one of my goals. But, it's nice to break up the monotony and do something else for a change. And even if you don’t have a rope to climb and you go to the gym, some gyms have sleds in which you can load it up with weights and get a similar effect. Adding these variations of pulling exercises to your training regimen has several benefits.
Popeye Forearms
Ok, they won’t get big like Popeye but they will become stronger and more defined. Unlike a barbell that has a solid metal structure to it, the rope gives way. This requires a much deeper and more intense grasp from your hands and forearms. Heck, even a one-armed rope row at the right fitness level will have you feeling like you’re dangling for your life.
The entirety of the hand was meant to grasp objects. With barbells, dumbbells, and most other pieces of gear all that are used are our four fingers and the thumb contributes somewhat. We have poseable thumbs, let's train them to their highest ability. When doing any type of rope climbing, pulling, or hanging your thumb has to step up.
With a stronger grip, you can tap into the law of Irradiation. This means that when performing an effort and one muscle is powerfully contracted, the surrounding muscles engaged in the effort will contract as well, making you stronger. Most times muscles unneeded will contract as well but there’s a way to train for that. With a stronger grip, you activate new levels of strength in any upper body movement of your choice. Need more strength and activation in your triceps during a press, grip harder. Need more fibers from your bicep and lats to support you during a one-arm pull-up PR then grip harder.
Your newly developed grip strength will transfer into many areas. Additionally, a strong handshake could earn you some respect on the first impression. Let’s make that grip respectable.
Stronger Biceps & Back
Rope climbing is the closest you’ll get to unilateral pulling work without going fully unilateral making it the perfect progression step. The transitioning from arm to arm either way you travel makes it a fraction of a second one-arm pull-up. To really get good at this and milking this exercise for what it’s worth you can eventually get to the point where the transition between arms is slow enough to truly test your arm and grip strength.
Doing rope climbing on a regular basis you’ll feel your back and biceps more than with any normal pull-up. This greater difficulty or should I say stimulus will also make your pulling workouts go by a great deal quicker.
The other week I did a descending pyramid of 8-foot/legless rope climbs starting at three and then down to one round trip. My rest was about a minute in between sets. That workout, which was less than two minutes total of climbing gave my biceps and back a better pounding than most of my pulling workouts in the past.
3 rounds trips on an 8-foot rope
1 - 1.5 minute rest
2 rounds trips on an 8-foot rope
1- 1.5 minute rest
1 rounds trips on an 8-foot rope
Rope climbing is the high-intensity training for your upper body. All it takes is a few trips to stimulate growth both in strength and muscle. Rest thoroughly in between sessions. Due to my training schedule, I only hit it once a week but that is more than enough.
Stronger Abs
Whether you are doing the full or partial L-sit, or leaving your legs somewhat dangling, you will still feel it in your abs. When travelling the rope your lower body plays a role in keeping you balanced and in order to do this your legs can’t be limp. They will be somewhat lifted and given that they are, this will engage your core. As your arms are pumping and helping you to traverse your abs and legs keep you stable. Of course, it is possible to let your legs flop all over the place but this will make the rope climb more difficult and even dangerous.
I’ve often wondered why after some pull-up workouts my abs get sore. Well, they’re working and giving you balance during your reps. For rope climbs this will be amplified.
Better Focus/Coordination
Rope climbing at times can feel like a life-or-death situation. You’re stranded up high, you're tired, and any mistake could send you tumbling to the ground. Your focus needs to be on point and you need to have spatial awareness of all the things around you as well as your various limbs. This, over time, will improve your ability to move with efficiency and concentrate on whatever task you are doing.
I'm that Guy
I’m the type of guy that values workouts that allow me to stimulate growth in a time-efficient manner so I can get out of there and get on with my day. Whenever you go to get a check up you’re always asked how much moderate and intense activity you do each week. I’m not big on numbers and as long as you're walking a little bit and improving in your exercises then that’s enough for most people here in regular life.
For my future rope training, I plan not to increase the number of round trips (up and down) I do per workout but I want to work towards slowing down the transition between arms. I normally train toward the one-arm push-up by performing archer pull-ups where I’m only using a pinky holding unto the bar with my supporting arm. These are a great progression step but as I stated near the beginning rope climbs break up the monotony.
If you choose to start rope climbing take precautions.
This is a few days of healing but I had the skin rip from my finger because I was being reckless one day. Save a rep in the tank.
Wrap Up
Rope climbing is a great addition to add to your training.
Popeye Forearm
Stronger Biceps/back
Stronger Abs
Better Focus/Coordination
Can all be gained in just a few minutes each week. Stay safe and give it a try.
Thank you for making it to the end and comments are below.
Until next time.