“The higher the rope, the more thrilling it is to climb.”
-Michelle Gibson
It was Marine Corps boot camp. Summer of 2002. Well before I even knew about obstacle course racing. The sun was blazing hot in MCRD San Diego and a twenty foot rope hung in front of me. I hadn’t climbed a rope prior to that so I made sure to pay close attention to the recruits who had gone in front of me. The drill instructors weren’t particularly pleasant if you failed, so that was not an option for me.
When it was my turn, I jumped high and grabbed the two-inch thick rope. My hands clung tightly to it with slightly bent arms, straining my upper body. I remember one of the DIs yelling “Use your legs!” at that point. However, it didn’t click right away – even after watching one of the DIs and the recruits in front of me. My legs flailed for a second or two and just when that “oh shit” moment was about to hit, I finally found it. I secured the rope between the top of one boot and the bottom of the other.
To this day, I don’t remember exactly what technique I used. It was probably the S-wrap. I just remember locking that rope in and using my legs to help hoist my way to the top. Then, I remember feeling a sense of pride and achievement for what I had just done.
What are the physical and mental benefits of the rope climb?
The positive feelings you get with a rope climb aren’t limited to just pride and that sense of achievement. You also feel optimistic, empowered, and flat out unstoppable. When I do my own rope climbs in training, I also practice them wet occasionally. I’ll tell you more about this later, but overcoming something like this over a 15-20’ ascent is no easy task. When I’m done with them, I feel mentally tougher and ready for anything on race day.
Pulling your body weight up a rope using leg-based techniques requires a great deal of strength from most of the body. Grip strength. Upper body. Lower body. You need to use your hands, forearms, biceps, lats, and shoulders to acquire and hold the rope. You need a strong core to draw your legs up and reposition your feet. You also need your glutes and hamstrings to stand after every cinch.
A rope climb gives you a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to strength. It’s functional and does more than making you the boss at your company’s tug-o-war competition. It actually trains the same muscles you would need to ever pull yourself to safety. That makes it a very useful skill in survival situations or even if you do things like rock climbing.
Why You Need it for OCR
The rope climb is one of the most common – and dreaded – obstacles in OCR, especially when it’s at the end of a race and your body is already spent. It’s a staple of obstacle course races, so you can pretty much expect it regardless of the provider or venue. It’s typically between 16’ and 20’ high and uses a 1.5”-2” rope. There are also rope climbing aspects of other obstacles such as the slip wall and the 8 foot box.
Technique Demonstration of 3 Common Climbing Methods
Here are some videos demonstrating three common rope climbing techniques: the J-hook, S-wrap, and arms-only climb. The first two are what you’ll typically want to use, though it doesn’t hurt to reach a level where you can competently do arms-only.
J-hook
The J-hook is a little more intuitive than the S-wrap lock and a go-to for many including myself. It’s not as secure as the S-wrap, but it is the faster of the two to execute.
To perform:
- Stand in front of the rope, reach up as high as you can with both hands and cinch the rope. If you’re already pretty comfortable with the rope climb, just jump and reach instead.
- Then bring one leg up, leaving your knee to the outside of the rope and the dangling part of the rope resting against the outside of your foot.
- From there, engage your core and hoist your body up, bringing up the rope with your other foot and trapping it on top of the starting foot.
- Then just stand up while staying close to the rope, reaching again with your hands to reacquire the rope, and keeping your arms slightly flexed, use your core to bring your body up.
- Then, just repeat until you get to the top or ring the bell.
- To descend, just keep the rope a little loose between your shoes and come down hand over hand. If you stay close to the rope and maintain some friction between your shoes and the rope, you should be able to descend without using too much arm strength.
S-wrap
The S-wrap is a more secure technique than the J-hook, which means you’re less likely to slip if the rope is dirty, grimy, or wet. However, it’s a little less intuitive and takes a bit longer to execute because you have to shake off and reposition your feet with every pull. It also creates a lot more friction with your legs.
To perform:
- Stand in front of the rope (or get a nice jump), reaching as high as you can, and grab the rope.
- Bring one leg up, this time wrapping your leg around the rope like a corkscrew. Leave the dangling rope draped over the top of your shoe.
- Place your free foot on top of the other to secure the rope.
- Use your core to bring your knees up to your elbows and then stand up.
- Next, grab the rope again, shake your feet loose, reposition your feet again, and repeat until you’ve reached the top of the rope or rung the bell.
- To descend, get your feet into a loose S-wrap position and go down arm-over-arm until you’ve reached the bottom. Keep your torso close to the rope as you go to minimize strain on your elbows.
Arms-only/legless
This is probably the easiest way to climb the rope in terms of technique, but it requires the greatest deal of upper body strength – particularly in the biceps and lats. It’s also the fastest of all the techniques.
- To start, jump and grab the rope as high as you can with your dominant hand on top.
- Keeping a tight core and staying close to the rope, pull yourself up hand-over-hand, letting the lead hand do the pulling and the other hand holding your bodyweight.
- As you ascend the rope, you can pump your legs to help generate momentum with each reach. However, if you are being strict, you can position your legs in an L-sit position, maintaining a tight core and keeping your glutes contracted.
- On the descent, keep your body close to the rope and go down in the same hand-over-hand fashion. If you’re doing a lot of these in a single workout, I’d descend using a loose J-hook lock.
How to Improve Your Rope Climb
- Develop grip strength. Rope climbs put a lot of wear on the forearms. You can build this up with dead hangs, working up to 1 minute. Also, you can incorporate farmer’s carries into your workouts to supplement more grip work.
- Develop bicep strength. Rope climbs are killer for elbows, so improvements to bicep strength can help take the load off and help your elbows adapt to the increased resistance during flexion. Hammer curls are perfect as they mimic the movement and develop both bicep and forearm strength.
- Build pulling power. If you can confidently bust out 5 pull-ups on an actual rope, you should have sufficient pulling power to get up the rope. If you struggle with just 1, start with some inverted rows with a bar or rings. Work your way up to assisted (band or machine) pull-ups and eventually strict pull-ups or chin-ups. Then, you should have the strength in your lats and the shoulder mobility to climb a rope.
- Strengthen your core. Movements like hollow holds, hanging knee raises, and knees-to-elbows will develop that strength you need when you’re ascending the rope and bring those knees up for repositioning.
Rope Climbing Tips
- Jump high with your arms extended when mounting the rope – if you are confident with your technique and ability. Starting higher means less total distance to cover. Also, if you’re in an actual race, do not stop before mounting. Just keep running or slightly decrease your pace and jump on if you can. This will not only save you distance to climb, but overall time as well.
- Keep your body and arms close to the rope. It’s more efficient and will put less strain on your elbows, especially on the descent.
- Protect your shins. Rope burn is no joke when you’re descending a rope. Invest in some high socks, some neoprene knee/calf sleeves, or even some shin guards. In training, you can probably wear a little more protection, and then just wear something a little more lightweight for race day.
- Get wet occasionally. If you can climb a rope like it’s nobody’s business, try simulating a wet rope climb. This is a scenario that could easily happen on race day after a rain or drizzle. However, with practice you can overcome this situation and be prepared when many other athletes are not. To simulate, try climbing an outdoor rope after it just rained or dunk yourself in a pool and then try to climb the rope. It won’t be easy at first, but it’ll test your grip and give you feedback on how good your technique is. Plus, it’ll have the added benefit of making you mentally tougher and more resilient.
- If available, hang a rope off a tree in your backyard (aim for a sturdy branch about 15-20’ high) or even a sturdy pull-up bar. This will be a great option for your OCR training if you don’t have a rope at your local gym. If you’re into CrossFit, chances are good that your box already has a rope, but it still doesn’t hurt to have one at home in the event you can’t make it to your box that day.
To sum things up, the rope climb is amazing for building confidence, grit, and full-body strength. It is also a staple of most obstacle course races and used in more than just the stand-alone version. To master rope climbs, I’d focus on either the J-hook or S-wrap foot locks and see what feels the most comfortable or fastest for you. It doesn’t hurt to eventually learn legless climbs too, but I wouldn’t suggest using these during a race as they expend a lot of energy.
Some key areas I’d suggest for improving your rope climbs: grip, biceps, pulling power, and core. Remember to jump up the rope initially if you can, keep your body close to the rope, and experiment with shin protection prior to race day so you can avoid the dreaded rope burn. Also, incorporate some adverse conditions in your training, like wet rope climbs, to mentally and physically prepare for different race-day scenarios. The added benefit of the latter is that you’ll develop some killer grit in the process.
Now, don’t sit there and mope. Go climb a rope!
