Physics of Fitness Fridays - Battle Ropes and Waves

When you’re working out with a battle rope, you’re makin’ waves my friend! A wave is energy transported through a medium from one location to another. Here, the elasticity of the rope allows the wave to pass from my hands to the weighted end.

A wave created in a battle rope is a transverse wave; that means that the wave makes the elements of the wave move up and down, while the wave itself travels from left to right.

Waves can be defined by various properties. The amplitude of the wave is the height of the wave, or how much the rope (or your hand) moves up and down.

The wavelength is the distance between two similar parts of the wave, for example, the distance between two peaks or two valleys.

The frequency is inversely proportional to the wavelength, meaning the smaller the wavelength, the higher the frequency, or vice versa. Frequency can be thought of as “how many waves am I making each second”.

As you work the rope, you hands are constantly moving upwards and downwards. They are speeding up and slowing down. The power you are exerting is not constant; it changes with your speed and position. If you calculate the average power it takes to create one wave, however, it is proportional to the square of the amplitude (a) and the frequency (f). So if you move your arms twice as high OR twice as fast, you exert four times the power! Whew! That got tiring fast!

Battle ropes – not just a good workout, they’re waves in action!