In spite of every link I clicked on telling me that the Cap Barbell Pull Down Rope will firm up my triceps, it does so much more of which you may not be aware. You may be reading this because you see it at the gym and don’t know what to do with it and are embarrassed to ask (been there, done that, I know how that feels) or you have home equipment and are looking for attachments. I would put the Pull Down Rope on my top two in my list of attachments to buy. I can and do work almost every body part with the Cap Barbell Pull Down Rope. I have no idea why the word Barbell is in this product. The company named it but as you can see it doesn’t look like the barbell you think of when you think of barbell, which is a straight or curved shaped long metal attachment or stand alone piece of equipment.
So what is the Barbell Pull Down Rope?
It is a very simple piece of equipment! It’s made of heavy-duty rope. The rope is twisted making it more heavy duty than any rope I’ve come across. I can say it is virtually indestructible and unless you take a saw to it, it will last in your home forever. This is one piece of equipment that never looks used although it is constantly used at my gym - that's how durable it is.
It is rough so if you are used to wearing gloves like I am, this is a piece of equipment I would suggest using gloves for. Many don’t and it’s up to you. It certainly isn’t as hard on my hands as the metal dumbbells, especially the textured ones.
Each end of the rope has rubber tips. These ends come in very handy with some of the exercises for which I use the Rope. The Rope is known for its work on your triceps. Your triceps are the part of your upper arm that flap in the wind when you lift up your arm. I will get into a few exercises you can do later.
I’m at the gym holding this thing what should I do with it?
Ok, you are going to connect it to a cable or pulley machine. Your gym or your home will have machines, such as a bicep curl; it will have free weights such as 10, 20, 50- pound dumbbells; it will have equipment on which you will put weights in whatever size you want. These weights are often put on barbells or machines. Finally your gym or home may have (your gym should) a machine that works by pulling the weights with a cable. The rope is used on the latter. The cable will have a ring on the end. Hopefully it will also have an attachment that looks like a modified safety pin. We usually call it a clip. If it isn’t on the ring, look around. That attachment will be on another ring and you can attach the Rope to that or move the clip to the pulley you are using.
The Rope has a hole on the top that just slides onto the clip. If the pulley is high and you are having trouble pulling it down, look to see where the pin is that is in the stack of weights. Pull out the pin and then you can easily pull the cable down. You can also move the whole cable to various levels and will if you want to make the most of this fantastic attachment. That’s it. Once it is attached, which should take all of 30 second or less, you can then get in shape.
Can you give me some exercises to use with this Rope?
I sure can but feel free to e-mail me, leave a comment or question and I will answer it. The Cap Barbell Rope Pull Down's signature use is the tricep press. Quite simply the cable should be at a height that allows your elbows to fit snugly by your sides. Standing away from the machine pull the Rope down and as you hit the bottom of the movement allow the Rope to part slightly. Hold for a second or two and slowly go back to the original position. You will have put the pin in at the weight level for which you are comfortable. If you did 12 of those at 50 pounds easily go up at least 5 pounds. Again if that is easy, go up more. You just don’t want to attempt to do a tricep pull down with more weight than you can pull down to avoid injury.
Another tricep exercise I love to do with the Rope is the overhead extension. Standing with your back to the machine and the cable at a higher than your head level, grab hold of the rope at the plastic ends and pull so that the rope is over your head (some people tilt their heads down – but just a little). Pull the rope straight out and you should feel your triceps tightening.
Other uses for the Rope: I use the rope a lot for bicep work. Lower the cable so it is as close to the floor as possible. Take an end in each hand, bend your knees as if you are lifting a barbell, come up pulling the rope and weights with you. At the top of this exercise I part my arms slightly in a sort of reverse tricep pull down. The rope can be used to do hammer curls, Zottman curls, one arm bicep curls just to name a few. (I’ll be glad to explain these if you want.)
The Rope can even be used to work your back. Basically each side of the rope acts as a dumbbell and you would do a one or two-armed bent over row. The cable would be below waist level. You can also put it at waist level, hold a plastic end in each hand and pull back as you would do in a seated row.
Jo Your Personal Trainer’s Final Thoughts:
Clearly this is one of my favorite attachments. It should be an essential part of a home gym that has attachments. If you belong to a gym, experiment a bit. Start with the tricep pull down and the bicep curl, which are the easiest to do so you won’t feel so self-conscious. Good luck, have fun and be careful.
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Tired of that upper-arm flab? Firm up those triceps with the secure help of this heavy-duty rope, which comes with heavy-duty rubber ends.More at Amazon Marketplace
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