The Battling Ropes® Training System is a unique one of a kind training system which forces the athlete to use velocity and the athlete must be able to maintain velocity to be successful. Simply put, velocity is the combination of strength and speed together.
Velocity is seldom discussed or understood and even less implemented into training routines. Unlike training where momentum is used, velocity is high output and gives the athlete no time to rest physically or mentally. For example, let’s look at the humming bird. Most people have seen the speed and intensity that the wings move on the humming bird. This intensity of the wings must be maintained to keep the bird in flight. This is a form of velocity being used with momentum being non-existent. Another form of velocity is the cheetah as it runs and maintains velocity chasing its food in the wild.
Battling Ropes® Training System helps the athlete to be able to train or compete at a higher level of intensity for longer durations of time.
POWER IS NOT THE SAME AS VELOCITY
Power and velocity are quite different and often power is mistaken for velocity. A simple example of power would be someone hammering railroad spikes on the railroad. When the person swings the sledgehammer and strikes the spike explosively they are using power. Once the spike is struck with the hammer the user must reset for another strike. As he swings the hammer and strikes the spike he must reset over and over again.
With this in mind, velocity would be like an arrow shot out of a crossbow where as long as the arrow can maintain velocity it continues to travel. Another simple example in training would be an athlete training with a kettlebell. When the athlete swings the kettlebell he uses power as he thrusts and swings it forward and upward. Once the kettlebell reaches its height, gravity takes over and momentum is used as the kettlebells travels back towards the ground. In fact the kettlebell swing or snatch relies on a high percentage of momentum. Once again true velocity training uses no momentum but forces the athlete to use total output to be successful.
With this understood the Battling Ropes® Training System helps the athlete to be able to train or compete at a higher level of intensity for longer durations of time due to the ability of being able to maintain velocity. Battling Ropes® training actually has seven different concepts or elements to the training. The first being the ability to maintain velocity. The second element is the ability to maintain strength without the use of momentum or the use of gravity.
Even though the system is extremely vast and has many levels of improving and countless ways to up the intensity, we will examine and look at one simple technique to start with. It is also important to understand that the training system is very easy to measure your workload capacity and very easy to track your improvement. The Battling Ropes® can be used to simply train or also be used to compete with others.
TRAINING & TESTING USING THE TSUNAMI WAVE METHOD
This method is the ability to maintain velocity by creating a series of waves with the Battling Ropes®. In general, research shows that the 50 ft. ropes either 1.5″ or 2″ in diameter are the best for this method. For much of the training we wrap the rope around an anchor point which gives us two 25 ft. sections which are grasped one in each hand. However, the Battling Ropes® Tsunami which is the exercise we will look at today requires the athlete to simply lay the 50 ft. rope out length wise on the ground. In most cases the 2″ 50 ft. rope is used for training and testing purposes. Depending on the testing environment, the manila ropes or poly ropes are used for testing purposes.
Once your 50 ft. 2″ rope is stretched out length wise on the ground you can either have someone stand on the very end, the end can be weighted down by a couple of weight plates, or it can be tied off to an anchor point. If you are having someone stand on the very end or using weight plates, it is important to understand that it does not require a lot of weight since the athlete training is not actually pulling back or trying to stretch the rope tightly.
Once you are ready with your one end anchored, the athlete simply grasps the opposite end with both hands using either an overhand grip or an underhanded grip. Also, be sure that the athlete grasps the end of the rope hand over hand and not with the hands and fingers interlocked. Now, while grasping the rope with most of the slack out of the rope, the athlete thrusts the rope up and down as quickly as possible which gets the rope moving and creates a wave or series of waves which travels all the way to the other end of the rope.
You will notice that the faster you can move the more waves will flow in the rope. You will also notice that the Battling Ropes® Tsunami may be the hardest drill you have experienced because you are now forced to use velocity and no momentum can be used. The goal is to sustain velocity and maintain the flow of the waves all the way to the other end. Once your waves don’t reach the other end you are through, or if your wave or waves don’t reach the other end you are not successfully completing the drill.
The Battling Ropes® Tsunami can be used for training purposes as well as a way of testing the athlete’s ability to maintain velocity. The testing method can be measured several ways, however, let’s look at a simple way to measure work capacity and workload. This method or formula will measure how fast the athlete can cover a mile of distance with the wave of the rope. By measuring this you must understand that the athlete must successfully complete the Battling Ropes® Tsunami.
To successfully complete the Tsunami you must have the wave or waves travel the complete distance of the 50 ft. every time you force the rope up and down. With this being successful each time you can figure out the distance the rope will travel over time. With this in mind, if you would take 105 50 ft. ropes and lay each rope end to end you would have one mile in distance. With this understood, if the athlete successfully forces the wave of the rope to the other end every time 105 times without stopping or losing velocity, he has covered a mile in distance with the wave of the rope.
Once the athlete can complete the series of waves 105 times without the rope stopping or not reaching the other end he has successfully completed the mile Tsunami. From here you simply time the athlete and see how quickly he can complete the mile Tsunami. The Battling Ropes® Tsunami will force the athlete into total intensity by taking away the ability to use momentum and gravity to his advantage.
You will also find that someone who is quite strong and not fast will not do well on this drill, or someone who is fast but, not strong will not do well either. The Tsunami will not only expose weak links in the athlete but, also correct the weak links as well. You will find that the Battling Ropes® training and velocity training will greatly enhance anyone’s work capacity in any sport or competition by increasing their ability to work at a higher level of intensity for longer durations of time.
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