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The Lost Art Of Climbing Ropes
I was only introduced to rope climbing a few months ago, so I'm still quite a newbie with them. However, I've seen some amazing gains from it and I've now fell in love with climbing ropes.
Not even counting how fun rope climbing is, the benefits are truly amazing. For one, your body has probably never experienced anything like it before. So when you first try it you should take it easy because I guarantee you'll be sore. Since this is a pure bodyweight exercise, you'll be pulling up the exact amount of weight that you weigh. If you weigh 175 pounds, you'll be pulling 175 pounds with just your arms and back (unless you use your feet - more on that later). This is one of the best back exercises known to man and will develop biceps of steel as well. You'll also be using your core muscles to stabilize yourself, and your shoulder muscles get involved as well because they act as stabilizers as well. One part of your body that gets an incredible workout that you wouldn't really think of is your forearm and hands. Since you need to squeeze the rope as hard as you can so you don't fall, your hands and forearms get probably the best workout they can possibly get. When I first tried climbing the rope I have I was amazed at how sore my forearms were the next day.
Rope climbing is a great exercise because anybody can do it. If you don't have the strength to pull yourself up the rope without feet, you can use your feet to stabilize yourself and push you up easier like it's taught in the army. You can also do things like timed-hangs, leg raises, weighted rope climbing, pull ups, and so many other exercises! I love this exercise because it's a very challenging exercise. When exercising it's easy to give up on a workout because there are no consequences if you do. However with rope climbing, if you give up at the top you're going to fall to the ground, so it teaches you to keep going until you're done. It isn't for the faint-hearted. It's for those who are truly serious about getting in shape and want to have a great time doing it. They're also a little more expensive than most other exercises I teach on this website, but if you're serious about getting in shape that shouldn't be a huge factor. Just realize that it's about $50/month to go to a gym, and if you spend $150 on an extremely high-quality rope that's about 3 months at the gym - but you have the rope for a very long time! If you have the money, I highly suggest getting a rope. I got mine from www.functionalhandstrength.com, but there are other places to get them as well. Just make sure they're fastened securely so it will never break while you're climbing it.
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