My "New" Toys

No newfangled training equipment for me! I received a big box filled with 40' of 2" thick manila rope. If you don't know what manila rope is, just envision a dock with a very big ship tied there by a very large rope. Chances are that that is manila rope. I think I read that it has a weight capacity of 27,000 pounds per foot. That's a lot of rope.

So, what does one do with manila rope? Basically you run it around a pole or a weight on the ground and grab each end of the 20' length (half of 40 is 20). You can then begin to wave it up and down, side to side, circular or any which way. Because of the huge displacement, it forces your body to root down and stabilize especially around the "core" muscles of the abdomen and thorax. It only takes a few whips of the rope to get exhausted. Right now, getting to 30 seconds is a lot of work.

The real beauty of this tool is its simplicity. A rope, a pole/weight and effort. Like most old-fashioned tools, it works multiple body parts at once and creates a stronger, more unified type of bodily strength.