Sports: how to improve rope climbing?

Rope climbing is a demanding exercise. Whether in the context of a selection test, an annual physical fitness test or for a personal challenge, you will discover in our article valuable advice to finally improve your rope climbing.

Summary:

• The rope climbing test
• Qualities and muscles worked
• Exercise examples

A flagship test for firefighters and armed forces in general, rope climbing is an exercise that can be used either to measure endurance or speed. In the first case, it involves chaining rope climbs while, in the second case, the test is timed.

To climb a rope, you obviously need brute strength, but also what is called "grip", that is, the gripping strength of your hands. A good grip will allow you to adhere well to the rope and not slip. Rope climbing is a complete exercise that mainly works the upper body muscles (forearms, biceps, back, ...) but also core stability, coordination, cardiovascular endurance and power. If you use your legs to help climb, the exercise is even more complete by also working your quadriceps.

Rope climbing with weighted vest

If you're lucky enough to have access to a crossfit gym or a gymnasium equipped with a rope, you'll be able to train in the best possible way. Indeed, to become good at rope climbing, nothing beats ... climbing a rope. In real situations, try to chain rope climbs and reduce, as you progress, the rest time between each set. From the moment you can chain several sets of rope climbs, you could for example consider adding weight thanks to a weighted vest. This way, on the day of the test, with less weight, you'll feel like you're flying through the exercise!

"Towel" pull-ups

Pull-ups are useful, but pull-up bars are often less thick than a rope. The sensation and muscles worked are therefore not totally the same. The best approach is still to perform what are called "towel pull-ups". For this, take a fairly sturdy towel, fold it and wrap it around the pull-up bar. This allows you to reproduce the instability and thickness of the grip. A 5-meter rope is approximately equivalent to 7 towel pull-ups.

A simple towel can also help improve your grip. For this, nothing could be simpler, perform several repetitions of twisting with the towel by turning your wrists opposite to each other. You should feel the muscles in your forearms contract. Perform this movement several times then take one to two minutes of rest before starting a new set again. As with any new exercise, we advise you to gradually increase the difficulty over the weeks to avoid any injury. Similarly, we also advise you to allow yourself a day of rest between each session so that you can recover well and progress. Don't forget that rest is part of training!

With this advice and these few exercises, you should be able to improve quickly at the rope climbing exercise. And don't forget, once again, that the key words are consistency and progression. Give yourself time and persevere to progress!

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