Movement Tip: Rope Climbing (Wrapping)

Anybody can climb a rope, even if you don’t have a lot of upper body strength! Over the next couple of weeks, we look at some rope climbing techniques and one form of rope climb that does require a lot of upper body strength! The first technique we look at is a wrapping technique that allows an athlete to climb a rope without having to use arms to pull up the rope. Key to mastering this technique is being able to ‘wrap’ the rope around your dominant foot, clamping it between the two feet and then simply standing up as you walk your hands up the rope. The tricky part is getting the wrapping technique right – you may like to practise the foot work by sitting on a box so you don’t have to practise it while hanging from the rope! Next week we look in more detail at how to use the feet tin a slightly different version of the rope climb.

Points Of Performance

• Grip the rope
• Knees move as close as possible to chest
• Keep rope in the centre of your body
• Rope wraps around the leg and on top of dominant leg’s foot
• Free foot catches the rope steps on rope, pinching the rope between the feet
• Pull with arms to reach them overhead while extending the hips and knees (staniding up)
• Release the wrapped rope from the feet to bring legs up and repeat