If you’re interested in doing a battle ropes workout, prepare yourself for battle. You’ll be challenging your strength, conditioning, and determination while working your entire body with this one simple tool. It’s an incredibly efficient and effective workout to help you burn fat and rediscover your inner athlete.
While you might want to go all-out with your training, this isn’t an excuse to forget about your form and technique. To ensure you get the most out of your training, this 30-min workout using battle ropes takes safety, efficiency of movement, and your conditioning into account. Throughout the workout, you’ll be focusing on your technique, core stability, strength, and endurance, while improving your power and coordination.
How Do You Use Battle Ropes?
Battle ropes are a versatile piece of equipment and can be used in a variety of ways. Most commonly, you’ll see people holding them to “pulse” on the ground. You can also place them on the ground to use as a marker or hurdle, or you can carry them.
One movement they’re not used for is climbing, so don’t throw them over a banister and try scaling them. Stick with the essentials, and you’ll get an incredible workout.
Why Are Battle Ropes A Great Workout Tool?
Plain and simple, battle ropes are one of the most engaging training implements available. Like sandbags, TRX, and medicine balls, battle ropes challenge your functional strength and stability. But I love the ropes because you’re able to amplify the intensity to another level.
This also means that extended sets are not typically performed. Instead, interval or circuit training is better suited to battle rope training. For example, you could complete 8 sets for 20s on, 10s off. Rest 3 min, then repeat one more time for a fat blasting 11-minute metabolic workout.
Using high-powered exercises that involve pulsing the ropes while maintaining total body tension and stability creates an environment rich in metabolic damage. This is what activates your fat-burning potential. The best way to burn fat using battle ropes is through HIIT and circuit training, where your focus shifts to different exercises for short durations enabling you to maximize your workout intensity and afterburn.
Beginner Battle Ropes Workout
Ready for a power-building, fat-burning 30-minute workout routine?
Here are 3 variations to try – beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Start with the level most appropriate for you.
Alternatively, you can add one of these circuits to the end of your workout as a metabolic finisher. For example, complete 3 sets of Beginner Circuit 1 at the end of your strength workout for 9-minutes of some serious fat-burning.
Circuit 1:
Complete 2 sets. Rest for 1 minute between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Rope Back Squat | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Rope Jumping Jacks | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
Circuit 2:
Complete 3 sets. Rest for 2 minutes between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Squat with High Pulse | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Rope Hop Overs | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Lateral Push Up | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
Circuit 3:
Complete 3 sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Double Pulse | 15 seconds | 45 seconds |
Intermediate Battle Ropes Workout
Circuit 1:
Complete 4 sets. Rest for 1 minute between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Rope Reverse Lunges | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Rope Figure 8 | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
Circuit 2:
Complete 3 sets. Rest for 2 minutes between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Squat Jump with High Pulse | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Plank Rope Pull | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Rope Suicides | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
Circuit 3:
Complete 3 sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Double Pulse | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
Advanced Battle Ropes Workout
Circuit 1:
Complete 3 sets. Rest for 1 minute between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Lateral Burpees (over rope) | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Rope Burpees | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Double Pulse | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Skater Hops (over ropes) | 20 seconds | 40 seconds |
Circuit 2:
Complete 3 sets. Rest for 1 minute between sets.
| Exercise | Work Interval | Rest Interval |
| Lateral Push Ups | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Single-Arm Pulse | 15 seconds, each arm | 30 seconds |
| Rope Jumping Jacks | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
| Rope Suicides | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
Training with battle ropes is highly demanding and induces a muscular burn that requires strength and determination. Throughout every movement, focus on maintaining solid grounding through your feet, a rigid core to stabilize your body, and a conscious breathing rhythm to power you through your work interval. That’s how you’ll be able to harness the cruel cardio and endurance component of battle ropes.
If you’re interested in buying a battle rope, I highly recommend the Rogue Bulldog Rope. Otherwise, you can check out these ropes (affiliate link) to find one that works best for your budget and set-up.
Try out one of these workouts and let me know your experiences. And if you have a favorite battle rope exercise, share it in the comments below!
Amazing job with this article, Mark. Battle ropes are yet another way to build functional strength and conditioning efficiently, and these workouts look like a ton of fun. I’m excited to give them a try
Thanks for another great, informative, & crisp article!
if I add crawling exercises to my work out should I do them at the start or end of my work out
Hi Neil,
Crawling can be added anywhere to your workout – beginning, middle, or end. It’s a great exercise that builds shoulder and ab strength, core control, and shoulder stability. Depending on the type of crawling you do, it can even help improve your flexibility. Bear crawling is great for that.
-Kristin Rooke, BuiltLean Coach & Managing Editor