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Sports conditioning
A Tsunami is a series of waves that carry large volumes of water and energy. Tsunami’s are know for the devastation they cause in coastal regions. A Tsunami is also a Battling Ropes® exercise created by John Brookfield; also known for the devastation it unleashes on it’s victims.
If you’ve never experienced it, in the Tsunami, you take a 50 ft, 2 inch rope and your goal is to create a series of waves through the entire length of the rope, at first glance you might not think this would be too difficult. This is where looks can be deceiving. The Tsunami can not be truly appreciated until you actually try to perform the drill. In less than 10 seconds you will feel the wrath of the Tsunami and have a whole new respect for the awesome, effective simplicity of the Battling Ropes system. I can not think of a more demanding exercise.
The Tsunami requires an enormous amount of energy and power from it. It is a total body exercise; head to toe, heart and lungs. In order to get the rope to travel 50 feet, you have to explode your body upwards and then perform a powerful slam downwards.
To create a series of waves, you have to powerfully and efficiently transition from extension to flexion like a jack hammer. This is a phenomenal drill for developing and sustaining explosive power. (See John Brookfield’s demo at the end of this article.)
To implement the Tsunami into your training, keep it simple. Try to incorporate it into your routine twice a week. You can try to sustain the waves for intervals of time, or try to reach a certain number of waves for “sets.” However you choose to train the Tsunami, you can progressively increase your duration, or waves, a little each week. Once you can perform the Tsunami for a whole minute, you will have just survived a Class 3 hurricane!
A word of caution: Because the Tsunami is so demanding, if you are going to incorporate it into your strength training days, you may want to perform it last. The Tsunami may leave you too wiped out to safely perform strength training after you have weathered the storm.
For more ideas of how to infuse the Tsunami into your training check out John Brookfield’s new DVD: Hurricane Ingrid: The Workout.
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The Battling Ropes® Tsunami is quickly becoming the wave of the future when it comes to a standard way to test an athlete’s ability to maintain and sustain velocity and power.
“This has been a great eye opener to a missing link in training, which is the ability to maintain and sustain velocity and power over time without the use of momentum.It has also been a humbling experience, to say the least. The results that can be gained with the Battling Ropes® Tsunami are purely amazing when it comes to being able to maintain intensity over time. This intensity over time will transfer into anything you do. It is my goal and passion to get this training exercise out to everyone wanting to improve their performance in sport or the battlefield. I know that the Battling Ropes® Tsunami will take you past the next level and safely push you to achieve your highest level in human performance!” John Brookfield, Founder Battling Ropes®
The Battling Ropes® Tsunami is simple in concept, however, extremely difficult to maintain for any duration of time. This technique was developed by Battling Ropes® creator John Brookfield.
Everyone who has tried the Tsunami, without exception, has been completely amazed by its effectiveness to test the individual’s ability to generate and maintain power and velocity. They have been equally amazed at the difficulty of the exercise when it comes to pushing the athlete to their limit very quickly!
One unique thing about the Battling Ropes® Tsunami is that the user must generate pure output without any momentum. When no momentum is used, the body is forced to perform at its highest level of performance. With all other methods of training, momentum is used as gravity takes over and this gives the body a slight chance to rest. When trying to train or test an athlete, this momentum factor is poison for the individual who wants to train their body to operate at its highest level.
The Tsunami technique is done with a rope and, as the name says, a tsunami or “powerful wave” is created by the person’s power and velocity generation on the rope. The only thing is that the person must create and sustain these powerful waves for as long as possible without stopping or losing the flow of the waves. It is important to understand that if the person is strong, but not fast, he will struggle with the technique. On the other hand, if the person is fast, but not strong, they will struggle to sustain the Tsunami.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers go at it on the Tsunami
You will also find that the user must have a great anaerobic threshold to maintain the Tsunami and score well on the test. Every muscle of the body and every physical and mental fiber must be used to maintain the Battling Ropes® Tsunami. The testing and training method will also quickly expose any weak link the athlete may have and start to improve the weak link. Even though the Battling Ropes® Tsunami is becoming a standard way of testing the athlete, it is also a way to train the athlete to produce tremendous results which will produce transfer into any sport or battlefield.
2" Anaconda
To train or test on the Tsunami…
You simply need a fifty-foot, two-inch diameter rope. The Anaconda (pictured) is perfect for the Tsunami! It is a thick, heavy duty Battling Rope® which is slightly over 2 inches in diameter and 50 feet in length. The “Anaconda” is also made of high grade manila and is treated for longevity and durability.
Please note that the “Anaconda” is slightly over twice the weight of the standard Battling Rope®. This thickness also plays a part in making the “Anaconda” much harder to grip and hang on to. This rope should only be used by the advanced and elite athlete. Different types of ropes are different when it comes to the weight of the rope. The manila rope is generally used for the training or testing.
Also, by using the manila fifty-foot, two-inch diameter rope you are equally able to make the test standardized and able to measure your performance against another athlete’s performance. You will also find that the surface can make a slight difference. However, your ability to sustain the Battling Ropes® Tsunami and maintain the waves over time will not vary much no matter what the surface.
Wrestlers going at it in the stadium
You can either have your rope stretched out in an outdoor setting such as a park, football field, playground, or your backyard, or you can use an indoor setting such as a basketball floor or large gym.
Simply take your fifty-foot, two-inch diameter rope and lay it on the ground while stretching it out so that the slack is taken out of the rope. Once the rope is in this position, have a partner or friend stand on one end of the rope at the very end.
If you are training or testing yourself without a partner, you can simply place a couple of heavy weight plates on top of the very end of the rope to stabilize the rope. Another way to stabilize the rope if you are by yourself is to tie the very end of the rope around a pole to secure it. However, you must understand that you are creating the Battling Ropes® Tsunami with the entire fifty-foot rope. So, if you tie the rope around a pole you must tie the very end so that you are not losing much length of the rope. This way you can train and test yourself equally with others.
Also, as mentioned earlier, we generally use the fifty-foot, two-inch diameter manila rope for the testing instead of the poly ropes. Even though the poly ropes are popular for training indoors and you can certainly train on the Tsunami with a poly rope, it is important to understand the fifty-foot, two-inch poly rope is lighter than the manila. This, of course, will make the Battling Ropes® Tsunami somewhat easier and will make your performance slightly better than if you were using the manila rope.
Once you have your rope in place and properly anchored, you are ready to begin!
Be sure to have your coach or partner have an accurate stop watch on hand. If you are by yourself, I suggest using a large clock where you can easily see the time. Now, with everything in place, grasp with both hands the opposite end of the rope which is anchored. You can either use an underhanded or overhanded grip with one hand in front of the other. Get a good tight grip and start to force the rope up and down powerfully and quickly. This will start to create the wave action or “Tsunami” effect which will make the rope start to flow.
With enough force, you will be able to create the wave (or Tsunami) going all the way to the other end of the rope. Please understand that your goal is to keep the Tsunami rolling nonstop without slowing all the way to the opposite end of the rope. In simple terms, it’s like waves constantly crashing or rolling onto the shoreline. You will quickly understand that you must maintain constant velocity and power output to keep the Tsunami going. Your goal is to last as long as possible without the Tsunami stopping or not making it to the other end of the rope. You will also notice that the more output you create the faster and more waves you create in the Tsunami.
Once you lose your flow of the rope and the Tsunami is not making it to the other end, you are finished as far as the testing goes. Once again, be sure to measure the time that you are able to keep the Tsunami rolling to the other end. I’m sure that you will find that this training or testing will work and push you to the utmost. There is also no way to gain advantage on this drill — you can either keep the Battling Ropes® Tsunami going or you can’t!
The Battling Ropes® Tsunami has quickly made believers
out of everyone who has tried it! Read the testimonials!
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