Battle Ropes are a great way to do upper body based cardio, as well as being able to do full body High Intensity Training. You can buy some Battle Ropes for around $50, and I have seen them online for upwards of $160.
When you have access to them, you want to make sure you have a good anchor point that will keep the ropes secure when you start aggressively trying to slam them. You can use a heavy rock or a metal pole for example.
Here's how you can use them:
- While in a shallow squat, you can alternate whipping the rope up and down, like left arm going up while right arm comes down, and vice versa, kind of like beating some drums
- While in a shallow squat, you can whip both ends of the rope up and down at the same time
- While doing squats, you can whip both ends at the same time
- You can do jumping squats while whipping the ropes
- You can whip the ropes in alternating diagonal movements. Bring ropes up, then slam to the left or right, then slam to the opposite side.
These movements I have implemented and have really felt that all the above got my heart rate up and kept it up for the conditioning session.
Work hard. Improve yourself. Be the Hero. You got this.