To this point, heavy rope exercises that we’ve described have been largely total body exercises, being meant to integrate lower body, core, and upper body movements. Today’s post is going to describe a heavy rope exercise that is primarily upper body focused. As we’ll cover at the end of this post, this is an important part of a conditioning and warm-up program.
Today’s exercise is called a heavy rope wave. To perform this exercise, stand up holding a handle of the heavy rope in each hand. Your hands should be at your sides. Stick your chest out and pull your shoulders back. From here unlock the knees and push the hips back until you are in a quarter squat. Your hands should be holding the ropes at hour sides with a slight bend at your elbows.
Maintaining this position, you want to perform this exercise by alternating the raising and lowering of your arms. Quickly raise your right arm until it is parallel to the ground. As it reaches parallel, raise the left arm and lower the right. Continue alternating the arms until either the desired time has passed or the desired number of repetitions have been performed.
This is an upper body focused exercise. This is important for a balanced conditioning program, especially with throwing athletes. It is also a great warm up exercise for upper body-themed workouts or for throwing athletes. This exercise is a rhythmic exercise, so it lends itself to being performed for periods of time (for example, perform the wave for thirty seconds).
Revised July 31, 2021
