Effects of Rest Interval Length on Acute Battling Rope Exercise Metabolism

The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare the acute metabolic responses to battling rope (BR) exercise using 2 different rest intervals. Twelve men and 10 women (age = 20.8 ± 1.3 years) performed a control protocol and 2 BR exercise protocols on separate days (48-72 hours) in random order while connected to a metabolic system. The BR protocol consisted of 8 sets of 30-second intervals (15 seconds of single-arm waves and 15 seconds of double-arm waves) using either a 1-minute (1RI) or 2-minute (2RI) rest interval length. A metronome was used to standardize repetition number/frequency for each exercise, that is, 15 waves for each arm for single-arm waves and 15 repetitions of double-arm waves. The mean oxygen consumption (VO2) values for the entire protocol were significantly higher during the 1RI than 2RI protocol, and values in men were 11.1% (1RI) and 13.5% (2RI) higher than women, respectively, and equated to 52.8 ± 5.5% (men) and 50.0 ± 11.2% (women) of VO2max during 1RI and 40.5 ± 4.5% (men) and 37.7 ± 11.0% (women) of VO2max during 2RI. Energy expenditure values were significantly higher during the 1RI than the 2RI protocol in men (11.93 ± 1.4 vs. 8.78 ± 1.4 kcal·min) and women (7.69 ± 1.3 vs. 5.04 ± 1.7 kcal·min) with values in men statistically higher than women. Blood lactate, mean protocol minute ventilation, and heart rate were significantly higher during the 1RI protocol than the 2RI protocol, and these data were significantly higher in men compared with women. These data demonstrate that BR exercise poses a significant cardiovascular and metabolic stimulus with the mean effects augmented with the use of a short rest interval.