BATTLE ROPE TRAINING FOR JUDO

Become a machine, train like a judoka with THE BATTLE ROPE. 

Judo is a rigorous and demanding physical activity and it’s demands are unique and rather complex.  A Judo fight is too long to be pure anaerobic effort, and too intense just to be purely aerobic . 

A judoka must be powerful and ALSO have great endurance, be fast and very strong in ALL planes of motion. The battle ropes have very quickly become one of my  all time favorite training and conditioning methods. It is a very versatile and eclectic piece of equipment and the varying degrees of workouts make the battle ropes extremely fun and enjoyable...not to mention extremely effective for judo. The versatiliy of the tempo and the intenisty of Battle rope training makes it possible to go back forth either gradually, suddenly and explosively from a pure muscle strengthening exercise into a collection of more mixed exercises going back forth ranging from pure strength to cardio to strength endurance, aerobic to anaerobic.

The battle rope is really an essential tool that is ultra-specific to the judoka. It simultaneously developes grip strength, wrist strenght, the muscles of the back, the rotator cuff, scapula stabilizers, abdominals, biceps, triceps and the forearms. A major cardiovascular and injury preventative dimension is added with the intense muscle engagement.

Also in Judo one has to use strength in situations where our base isnt stable and often we are even on one leg during throws. One of the neglected aspects in training is co-ordination of hands and feet. Battle ropes offer a great method of training because you can make both huge improvements in strength and stamina yet also incorporate the feet.

Benefits of battle rope training:

You can maintain a high intensity over an extended period of time

You can use it to get in a full-body workout

It increases lactic acid threshold in the upper body which is super unique because most of the time work like this is done with the lower body

You can alternate between low and high impact by the way you move the rope

Great for developing grip strength 

You’re able to work the upper body independently

You can engage the wrists to develop wrist strength

Helps improve balance and coordination

Circuit battle-rope exercises to boost arm and shoulder strength.

Effective exercise for grip-fight in Judo.

A battle rope is one of the few pieces of equipment that targets almost every major muscle group in the body. You can use these ropes for individual exercises, as a finisher, or as an entire training routine.

As a judoka, in practice one gives 100 percent and engages with the opponent constantly using everything you have physically in randori/free practice. The battle ropes can be used hundreds of different ways to “mimic” the exertion that a judoka has to put forth in randori/competitiion.

Barron Shepherd is a 3rd degree black belt instructor and coach in Judo, a certified boxing coach and certified NASM Sports Performance Enhancement Specialist.