Exercise guide · Advanced · Compound

Rope Climb: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

The rope climb is a challenging upper body exercise that targets the upper back, forearms, biceps, and shoulders. It requires significant grip strength, coordination, and core stability, as well as the ability to use both the upper and lower body to ascend and descend a rope safely.

Primary muscles
Traps
Secondary muscles
Forearms , Shoulders , Biceps
Equipment
Rope
Level · type
Advanced · Compound
Demonstration of the rope climb
Front view: muscles worked by the rope climb. Primary: traps. Secondary: forearms, shoulders and biceps.
Back view: muscles worked by the rope climb. Primary: traps. Secondary: forearms, shoulders and biceps.
Primary Secondary

How to do the rope climb

  1. Step 1: Stand facing the rope with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  2. Step 2: Grab the rope with both hands, palms facing towards you.
  3. Step 3: Bend your knees slightly and engage your core.
  4. Step 4: Begin pulling yourself up the rope by alternating hand-over-hand movements.
  5. Step 5: Use your legs to assist in the upward movement.
  6. Step 6: Continue climbing until you reach the desired height or the top of the rope.
  7. Step 7: To descend, reverse the hand-over-hand movement while controlling your descent.
  8. Step 8: Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Sets, reps and programming

Suggested sets, reps and rest for the rope climb by training goal
Goal Sets Reps Rest Effort
Strength 3–5 3–6 3–5 min 1–3 reps in reserve
Muscle growth 3–4 6–12 2–3 min 1–2 reps in reserve
Muscular endurance 2–3 12–20 1–2 min 1–3 reps in reserve

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

Rope Climb alternatives

More exercises that train the traps as their main target:

More traps exercises

See the best trap exercises, ranked →

Sources

  1. American College of Sports Medicine. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708.
  2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(12):3508-3523.
  3. Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(7):1805-1812.
  4. Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Sabol F. Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sport Health Sci. 2022;11(2):202-211.

Step-by-step instructions and demonstration media are from the ExerciseDB exercise dataset.

This guide is general fitness information, not medical advice. Stop if an exercise causes pain and speak to a doctor or physiotherapist about injuries or health conditions before starting a new programme.