Benefits of Rope Climbing

No other exercise develops pulling strength like rope climbing. Forget bent over rows, single arm dumbbell rows and pull ups. Rope climbing will deliver far superior strength gains and is more functional.

Rope climbing has been used to develop full body strength for hundreds of years. It was used in my school PE lessons and it is still used by the military today. If you have room in your gym or outdoors for a 15-30 foot rope, it needs to be included in your strength and conditioning program.

The benefits of rope climbing include:

Grip strength

Not only does rope climbing serious develop pulling strength. It will also cause massive gains in your grip and forearm strength too.

Intermuscular co-ordination

Your whole body will need to function effectively together for strong rope climbs. This trains the large muscle groups of the body to communicate coherently with each other like a well oiled machine.

Core strength

Rope climbing produces fantastic benefits for the core. Keep your legs out in front of your body whilst climbing for an incredible core strength workout.

Muscular Endurance

Rope training is a full body workout that when performed confidently becomes a great conditioning exercise. It develops great muscular endurance and the ability to master your bodyweight. It is very popular with wrestlers and mixed martial artists to develop good fighting strength and endurance.

Mental toughness

In addition to the obvious benefits in muscular strength and endurance, another reason rope climbing is often seen utilised by the army and fight clubs is the mental strength required. This type of workout develops a good attitude to training. 

For maximum gains do not to use your legs to assist. Just pull with the arms. Keep your legs out in a pike position in front of your body for a fantastic core workout.

It will be much harder than pull ups. Use your feet at first if you struggle and progress to no feet. Soon you will be climbing up and down the rope quickly. Try and do as many climbs as possible in a time frame for a fantastic conditioning workout.

As well as climbing, ropes can be used for many other exercises including bodyweight tricep pulldowns and bicep curls. If you have enough room for two ropes, some variations of pull ups and other pulling exercises can be included.