Rope climbing -- good whole body workout

Just wanted to mention an exercise that I like a lot because it gives a workout to almost all body muscles. I recently bought a 1" thick braided rope, made knots on it spaced about 1 foot apart, and hung it on a perhaps 15 feet high tree branch. I now climb this rope, which is a little difficult. It can get to the top but it is not easy. But it gives my body a nice workout without having to work with barbells, which I personally do not like. Plus it exercises the back in a manner that is relatively difficult to accomplish with weights.

Someone who has a tree may get a relatively cheap exercise platform that exercises a lot of muscles.

Soon I will hang it on a higher branch as I have some extra length that is not being used now.

In fact, I hated it in middle school. But now I am in a better shape and besides, I do not have jeering classmates watching me either.

Perhaps I am not well versed on English muscle names. But it gives a huge workout to the back muscles. Also a lot of workout to the muscles that bring legs together. Abdominals and let extenders also work.

I got this idea from a Navy seal training book.

You must be the only one in the world that does not have nightmares about rope climbing from middle school PE. I swore I would never, ever try to climb any rope ever again. I was always very glad when those ropes were retied to the gym rafters. Elise. PS. Good luck - I agree with all your points about it.

an interesting point!

Well, rope climbing will help with developing endurance also. And if you can climb rope for a long time and endurance is not even the issue, you would be in outstanding shape and perhaps then some much more advanced exercises are called for. Or you could just stop improving your development at that point and just make sure that you maintain what you have.

At any rate, I can climb rope, not hand over hand yet, but I plan on getting there. It is a great exercise for me at this level of my personal fitness.

Thanks, outstanding post. I want to note however that, while I have no doubt that you posted the easiest technique for rope climbing (the royal navy wanted its seamen to climb rope as fast as possible), other techniques can be used to develop other muscle groups as the primary purpose.

As someone who has a degree in sports and who also holds a range of sports coaching qualifications I have worked with athletes across a wide range of ages and ability levels from novice to Olympic level athletes.

I can say this regarding rope climbing.

IT IS NOT A CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE AND WILL PROVIDE VERY LIMITED PHYSICAL FITNESS BENEFITS.

USING FREE WEIGHTS SUCH AS DUMBELLS AND BARBELLS IS AN EXCELLENT EXERCISE FOR BUILDING STRENGTH AND WORKING SPECIFIC MUSCLE GROUPS IF IT IS DONE CORRECTLY.

MANY SUPPOSEDLY FIT GUYS WHO USE THE GYM DO NOT EXERCISE CORRECTLY AND OVERDEVELOP CERTAIN MUSCLE GROUPS LEADING TO INJURIES BECAUSE THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE BIO MECHANICS OF MUSCLES AND GET OPPOSING MUSCLE INJURIES BECAUSE THEY HAVE EXERCISED IN CORRECTLY.

IF YOU WANT TO DEVELOP CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS YOU HAVE TO EITHER RUN SWIM OR CYCLE.

ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT CLIMBING A ROPE IS BUILDING THEIR FITNESS IS WRONG AND UST BE REALLY UNFIT.

A BASIC LEVEL OF FITNESS THAT ANY AVERAGE MALE SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF IS THE FOLLOWING:

A FIVE MILE RUN COMPLETED IN UNDER 40 MINUTES.

THREE SETS OF 50 PUSH UPS

THREE SETS OF 50 SIT UPS

THREE SETS OF 50 PULL UPS

IF YOU CANT DO THIS THEN YOU ARE NOT EVEN AVERAGELY FIT!

tzu don yim, welcome to the forum

I think you are not correct in saying that this is the 'average' fitness of men.

So you think I am not correct well let us look at what I have aid in more detail then.

elite level athletes run a mile in just under 4 minutes.

Men are running the marathon in 2 hrs five minutes and women in about 2 hours 20 minutes.

The basic fitness test in the British army is a three mile run called the battle fitness test. or BFT. The first ile and a half being done in a bout 12 minutes as a squad and the last mile and a half being done as best personal effort. The time limit being ten minutes for a mile and a half run for a man under 30 years old.

So running 5 miles at n eight minute mile pace is a reasonable average. The last BFT i did I completed the mile and a half run in 7 minutes dead.

Now lets look at push ups if you are unfit you can easily achieve being able to do 50 push ups and be able to do 3 sets in about three weeks.

At university did a fitness test the maximum number of push ups in a minute. I managed 126.

To do 50 push ups at a comfortable pace takes about 1 minute. So if you can not exercise your arms for 1 minute have a minute or two minute rest and do another minutes exercise then you are seriously unfit.

I know rock climbers who do repeated sets of one arm one finger pull ups (about 20 repetitions) every day as part of their training for rock climbing.

Now lets look at rope climbing it actually was a gymnastic event in the earl modern Olympics and is still a competitive event in the Czech republic. They usually climb an 8 meter rope. They start in a sitting position and climb arms only legs held out straight in front of them and only use their arms to climb. In the old days the record for this was 2 seconds with many people achieving 3 seconds as the average. Now to achieve these times it will be dependent on body type ie how long your arms are if you have long arms it will mean that you can reach the top with less arm pulls than a man with short arms. Also strength to weight ratio will be important.

SO WHAT IS FITNESS? FITNESS IS SPECIFIC. BUT FOR GENERAL ALL ROUND FITNESS YOU SHOULD BE CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING.

CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS
STRENGTH
ENDURANCE
FLEXIBILITY
BALANCE
AGILITY
SPEED REACTION TIME

MANY PEOPLE FAIL BECAUSE THEY CONCENTRATE ONLY ON ONE ELEMENT OF THIS IE MOST GUYS IN THE GYM ONLY DO WEIGHTS FOR STRENGTH AND SO LACK FLEXIBILITY AD ENDURANCE. R CONCENTRATE ONLY ON ENDURANCE.

SO IF YOU WANT TO BE FIT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THE FOLLOWING

RUN TEN MILES AT 6 MINUTE MILE PACE
STAND UP STRAIGHT FEET TOGETHER AND PUT YOUR HANDS FLAT ON THE FLOOR EACH SIDE OF YOUR FEET.

YOU SHOULD HAVE A FULL RANGE F MOVEMENT IN YOUR SHOULDERS AND HIPS ETC.

YOU SHOULD BE USING YOUR HEART RATE AS A GUIDE DURING YOUR CARDIO VASCULAR TRAINING.

I KNOW AN ELITE EDURANCE TRIATHLETES WHOSE RESTING HEART RATE IS 25 BEATS PER MINUTE. HE WONT ENTER AN EVENT UNLESS THE RUN IS OVER 50 MILES OR IN EXTREMELY HILL TERRAIN THE SWIM HAS TO BE TEN MILES AND THE BIKE RIDE HAS TO BE IN EXCESS OF 500 MILES.

NOW THAT IS CARDIO FITNESS!!!!

OK, you convinced me Very thorough account, Tzu don yim! However... (and sorry to sound obnoxious) - I still don't think the average fitness of average people is anywhere near where it should be...