Rope Climb Progression
If you are looking to get your first full rope climb this simple 6-step progression will help you work towards mastering this movement. An instructional video outlining each step can be found at the bottom of this post.
- Lying Floor Pulls: From a standing position lower yourself to the floor using a hand-over-hand technique until you are resting with your back and shoulders on the ground. From there lift yourself to a standing position using the same hand-over-hand technique. Try to do the majority of the work with your arms and avoid standing with your legs. If using this movement as a substitution for full rope climbs in a workout, complete 3 reps for every 1 rope climb.
- Dead Hang: In order to do a full rope climb we must have adequate grip strength to hold our body weight on the rope in a dead hang. For this movement jump to a support position on the rope holding your body weight using your arms only. You should be able to easily hold for 15-20 seconds.
- Seated Foot Lock: From a seated position on a box establish a foot lock on the rope and then stand up. You should be able to support your weight on the rope and have a solid lock with your feet. This is a great drill to learn and develop the foot lock which is a critical step in the rope climb progression. Once you have mastered the seated foot lock, move on to step 4.
- Jumping Foot Lock: Similar to the seated foot lock, in this drill you are jumping to a position of support on the rope and then establishing the foot lock. The quicker you are able to lock in your feet the more efficient your rope climbs will be.
- Single Pull: Now it’s time to start moving up the rope. From the ground, jump to a position of support hanging from the rope, bring your knees to your chest, establish the foot lock, and then stand up with your legs. This drill should be repeated over and over until you are 100% comfortable with the single pull.
- Full Rope Climb: The final step in the progression is to repeat the single pull until you have scaled to the top of the rope. After completing the first pull, release the foot lock, bring your knees up to your chest, re-establish the foot lock, and then stand again. Repeat until you have reached the top. If you are not comfortable scaling to the top, consider using a lower rope, or only climbing half way.
Hopefully this progression helps you get your first rope climb. If you have any questions on this progression please let us a comment below.
