Learning the Ropes

Recently we started using ropes in our training. We had an old tug of war rope sitting in the gym and I decided to grab my circular saw and cut it up into 12 different pieces of about 5-6 feet long. That gave us one rope for each rack in our weight room. Now on Monday-Wednesday-Friday we use the ropes for bodyweight rows as part of our warm-up. Our warm-up consists of a circuit of overhead squats (with a doubled up mini-band around the knees), rope rows, and pec/calf stretches. There are a few reasons we decided to use the ropes on a more regular basis.

1. Its really hard to mess up a rope row. When pulling on a stationary object for bodyweight rows, you can get all kinds of arm angles instead of the nice perpendicular angle that you want. With a rope row, this is almost natural.
2. You get a tremendous amount of grip work with the ropes. When we first started using them, almost no one was able to keep their grip for all three sets. Now its not a problem.
3. More bicep work. I know, I know. But we don't have the time to do any "beach work" so it keeps the kids enthusiastic about lifting. Teenagers want more muscular arms and anytime I can help them with that, while keeping it "functional", I will. We especially get good effort when we combine our pushups with rows for super sets during our high rep upper body tier.
4. More upper back work. This is the foremost reason I include these three days per week in our warm-up. I am of the belief that you cannot do too much upper back work. It keeps the shoulders healthy and provides a strong platform for our squats and assists in stabilizing the bar in our overhead lifts.