HIIT Battle Rope Workout: 15 Minute Workouts to Bust Fat

HIIT Battle Rope Workout: An effective workout with a fun piece of equipment, what more could you ask for? How about three, 15 minute workouts?

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Do you want a fun, challenging workout? One that will get your heart rate pumping, your brow sweating and fat dripping off you?

Of course you do.

What you need is a HIIT workout, high-intensity interval training workout, done with battle ropes.

You might be wondering what battle ropes are. And I’ll get into that in a second.

But before I do I just want to say, a HIIT battle rope workout is a great way to get fit, feel challenged and see exactly what you’re capable of.

Intrigued?

Let’s learn more...

HIIT Battle Rope Workout: Three 15-minute workouts to bust fat

Jump Straight to The Workouts

What Are battle ropes?

As promised, I’m going to tell you exactly what battle ropes are, just in case you don’t already know…

They are, at a very basic level, heavy ropes that come in various lengths and diameters. Obviously the longer ropes and the thicker ropes are the heavier ropes.

They are a great tool for high intensity interval training, because it’s really difficult to use them continuously. You just can’t do it. You need a rest. Although I think I’ve thrown down a challenge there.

Yeah a set of battle ropes would be a great addition to any home gym and at around £50-£80 per rope, they’re not going to break the bank.

You only really need one, as long as you’ve got an anchor point. That way you can use both ends. If you do want to invest in two you don’t have to worry about the anchor point as much.

And by anchor point I mean something very sturdy, like a tree, a park bench. Something that is going to keep it in place, because the exercises you’re going to be doing are very dynamic exercises.

Why Use Battle Ropes? What are the Benefits?

What are the benefits of using battle ropes?

They may not be the most expensive piece of equipment, but they are still an investment. And you want to make sure they’re going to give you the benefits you want.

I won’t revisit the overall health benefits that you get with most exercise. I think we’ve covered them enough.

1. They Ramp Up Your Metabolic Rate

As I’ve mentioned HIIT workouts are brilliant for weight loss and fat loss. That’s because they ramp up your metabolic rate for hours after your workout.

And when you team HIIT workouts with equipment like battle ropes, the fat loss potential doubles.

Why?

Because they’re heavy.

They work your cardio system and your muscles at the same time. Meaning you’re going to be burning lots of calories.

2. They Give You a Full Body Workout

You might think that battle ropes work just your upper body, but you’d be wrong. They actually give you a great full body workout, a functional workout.

That means they work your body as one unit rather than as separate areas.

You don’t work upper body and then lower body. You don’t do cardio and then strength training. It’s all done together.

Functional.

It’s not only a great way to workout, it’s really efficient as well. And that’s what we’re after right? Efficient workouts that will get us to our goal.

3. They Are Great For Cardiovascular Fitness

HIIT workouts, any cardiovascular workouts in general, will improve cardiovascular fitness.

That means your fitness level will improve.

I could go into the technical side of increased aerobic performance and anaerobic power, but essentially it all comes down to the fact you’ll be fitter. You’ll be able to chase after your kids and throw them around easier. But HIIT, particularly when using battle ropes, work

4. They Can Increase Strength

Most of the exercises you’re going to do with a battle rope are going to be quick, explosive movements, which aren’t ideal for traditional strength training.

However, battle ropes are heavy. And using them will get your muscles working. And working your muscles will increase their strength.

They may not increase muscle mass as such, but your muscular endurance will go through the roof.

What does muscular endurance mean?

Well, for traditional strength training, you would use a weight heavy enough that only about 1-5 reps is possible.

So it’s an explosive, one time kind of deal. You can’t do too many of them.

But when you use lighter weights you’re training your muscles to do the job for longer.

Let me give you an example...carrying your toddler.

Probably back to the car because they’ve been running around the park so much their legs are tired and they can’t walk ANY further.

You’ve got a fair way to go and your toddler weighs about 15kg.

On it’s own, it’s not a lot of weight. But over that distance your toddler is going to feel very heavy, maybe very quickly.

Well, increased muscular endurance is going to help there.

Carrying your toddler will feel a little easier for a little longer. And gradually that easier feeling will increase.

I don’t think it matters how fit or strong you are, they’re going to feel like they weigh a tonne by the time you get back to the car because that’s sod law.

5. They’re Going to Give You A Stronger Core

I don’t know about you, but my core strength hasn’t been quite the same since having little K. It’s not bad, but three and half years later, it’s still not quite the same.

So anything that improves core strength has got to be a good thing.

Battle ropes definitely do that.

That’s because you use your whole body for the exercises you do with battle ropes. You use your whole body to slam the ropes down into the ground. You use your whole body to wiggle the ropes, creating waves.

Your core is constantly being used.

And when it’s being used, it’s being strengthened.

HIIT Battle Rope Workout: The Different Battle Rope Exercises

Before we get on to the actual exercises you’ll be doing, you need to get set up properly.

If you’ve one rope you will need an anchor point so that you’ve got two ends to work with.

As I’ve already mentioned, one rope is all you need.

They are long enough.

But if you have two anchoring won’t be as important, because they are so long and heavy you’d have no chance waving them all the way to the end.

These might be quite new exercises for you, so please make sure you’re comfortable with the movement and you can do them with proper form. If you’re not sure speak to a local personal trainer, or me if that’s not possible and we can go through your technique.

Ok, now that’s cleared up...

Battle Rope Wave

how to do battle rope waves

The battle rope wave is probably one of the most famous battle rope exercises.

It works pretty much every muscle in your body, yeah including your lower body, because whilst it’s your upper body doing most of the work, your lower body is providing the foundation for the movement, and a lot of the power.

How do you do them?

You’ll need one end of the rope in each hand.

Stand with your feet hip width apart, or slightly wider. Have a slight bend in your knees and lean your torso forward, just a bit. Think the beginnings of a squat. A quarter squat, if you will.

Engage your core and wave the rope in an undulating fashion, making sure you alternate arms. So the left hand goes up as the right hand goes down. Vice versa and repeat.

You need to do this quite quickly.

Remember, this is a HIIT style workout so you’re working all out.

And it will be all out effort.

Bilateral Waves

How to do bilateral rope waves

Bilateral waves are very similar to the battle rope wave, the difference being that both ropes go up and down together.

So set up as you did for the battle rope waves above, but instead of alternating arms move both arms in the same direction.

Both up, both down.

You’re still trying to produce a wave like motion. And you still need to move quickly. Remember HIIT.

Both up, both down.

Power Slam

This is very similar to the Bilateral Wave.

Your set up is exactly the same...end of the rope in each hand, knees and torso slightly bent as you would in the beginnings of a squat position, and core engaged. That bit is really important to remember, always engage your core.

But instead of trying to produce a nice gentle wave to the end of the rope, you lift your arms over your head, going on the balls of your feet and slamming the rope down into the floor.

Bring them back up over your head quickly and repeat the motion.

You’re still going to get a wave, but think stormy sea rather than peaceful, gently rolling sea.

Alternating wide arm circles

You’ve guessed it, it’s the same set up again.

End of the rope in each hand, slight bend in your knees and torso slightly forward. Core engaged.

Instead of making a wave with the rope, this time you’re going to make a big circle.

With your right arm, swing the rope around in a circle, out to the side. As the rope returns to the starting position, switch sides and repeat the motion with your left arm.

Repeat for the required number of reps or the required time.

Shuttle Runs

Battle rope shuttle runs add a new dimension to your runs.

Ok, we’re going to move away from the squat position type battle rope exercises and move to a bit of running.

Shuttle runs whilst dragging a battle rope add a whole new dimension.

You might think you need oodles of space for this one, but you don’t. As long as you’ve got room to lay the rope out flat you’ve got enough.

But, the more room you do have the better, as your run will be longer. So you might want to head into your garden, or to your local park for this one.

Lay the rope out flat.

Stand at one end of the rope with your feet hip width apart.

Engage your core and pick up the end of the rope.

Standing still gather the rope in, using an arm over arm movement.

Once it’s gathered, grab the end of the rope that’s free and run with it.

How far you run depends on the space you have. As long as you can run until the rope lays flat again that’s fine. If you have got more space keep going.

Stop when you get to the end of your defined space, you’ve reached the time limit or you’ve reached your limit.

So, they’re the exercises we’re going to do. Let’s get to it and check out the workouts…

HIIT Battle Rope Workout: The Workouts

Before you attempt any of these workouts, make sure you’ve warmed up properly.

HIIT Battle Rope Workout Round One: Keep it Simple with Tabata

Battle rope workout: complete each exercise for 20 seconds, have 10 seconds of rest, eight times through. Rest one minute before moving on.

Complete each exercise for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds, eight times through. So four minutes in total.

Rest one minute and then move on to the next exercise.

  • Battle Rope Waves
  • Bilateral Waves
  • Alternating wide arm circles

HIIT Battle Rope Workout Round Two: How About an EMOM

A tough HIIT workout, every minute on the minute complete the exercises

Every minute on the minute for 15 minutes, complete the required exercises. Rest for the remainder of the minute.

Remember with EMOM the harder you work, the more rest you get.

  • 20 Battle Rope Waves
  • 15 Bilateral Waves
  • 10 Power Slams

HIIT Battle Rope Workout Round Three: And now for an AMRAP

Again this is going to be a simple one.

As many shuttles runs (rounds) as possible in 15 minutes.

Take your battle rope to a park, or your garden if it is big enough. You want enough space to lay your battle rope flat, and a bit over. About 30 metres in total would be ideal.

  • Do as many shuttle runs as you can in 15 minutes. Resting where you need to.

Repeat this one in about a month. You should be able to do more runs.

HIIT Battle Rope Workout: A Marriage Made in Heaven

Battle ropes are a great tool to work your entire body and a HIIT workout is a great way to use them.

Battle ropes are made for HIIT workouts, they are soul mates. Mainly because you just can’t use them continuously. It’s impossible.

All of the exercises above are hard. So you will need the rest.

But they are a fun piece of equipment to use. They are a bit different. A change to squats and lunges and sit ups.

So why not give them a go?

If you try a HIIT battle rope workout, let me know how you get on. Tag me in social media or e-mail me.

If you’ve enjoyed this and you want to know when more workouts are added to Mamas that Move, make sure you sign up to my newsletter.

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