The low-impact, accessible alternative to battle ropes challenges your cardiovascular system and core stability.
Do More With is a series highlighting equipment around the Club that can help you reach your fitness goals. In this installment, we highlight the Wave, available in Circuit Breaker group fitness classes.
There’s a lot to love about battle ropes: They challenge your upper-body strength and hike your heart rate for a one-two punch of a workout. But the equipment comes with just as many drawbacks. They’re bulky and heavy, take up a lot of storage space, can overload your shoulders, and require a level of grip strength that not all members have.
This year, the Group Fitness Programming team at Equinox found an approachable alternative that offers the same value and then some: the Inertia Wave, better known as the Wave in the high-intensity Circuit Breaker classes.
A nine-foot rubber tube with end caps and safety straps for a slip-free grip, the Wave resembles an enormous resistance band you’d use to intensify bodyweight movements. You can anchor one end to a stable object, hold onto the free end, and whip it through the air, creating waves (as is the case with the Solo version). Or, you and a partner can each grasp onto the end caps and work together for an interval training session that challenges your core, cardiovascular system, coordination, and communication skills. That’s the type of workout you’ll get in the Circuit Breaker classes, which utilize the Wave Duo model (the only design available in the Club).
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Why Train with the Wave
Training with a traditional battle rope usually involves slamming the rope to the ground, muscling it back up into the air, and repeating the movement again and again. In smacking the floor, the energy you’ve created is lost, and the exercise becomes more strength-based and has a smaller cardio effect.
But with the Wave, you keep the tubing flying through the air with a tiny motion that resembles flicking water off of your wrist. The energy you create feeds right back to you, thanks to the elasticity of the tubing. That means you’ll be able to move the Wave lightning-fast and, as a result, send your heart rate skyrocketing. It’s an amazing tool to use for HIIT intervals that don’t have a ton of impact on the body. Whether you’re injured, new to exercise, or just don’t feel like putting your joints through the wringer with tuck jumps and burpees, the Wave will help you get the metabolic burn you’re after.
The Wave also requires you to constantly engage your deep core muscles for stabilization — otherwise, you might have trouble performing the exercise properly, lose balance, or potentially injure yourself. That core engagement is at a level unlike any other workout. Pilates may target the same muscle group, but you’ll need to train with the Wave for only a minute or two to get the same core effect — that’s how intense the bracing is with this piece of equipment.
Just as importantly, the Wave allows you to be playful. In Circuit Breaker classes, you have to train on the Wave with a partner (promise, it’s fun!). You might do a coordination-challenging movement we call braiding; you and your partner, plus two additional pairs, will weave the three Waves over and under each other, stand in a circle facing one another, then quickly flick the tubing up toward the ceiling.
In any exercise, when you sync up with your partner and get the Wave oscillating — which requires a bit of trial and error and communication — you’ll hear a wind-like sound. It’s not only super cool to hear, but it’s also a motivating sign that you’re doing the exercise right. You can feel it, but you can also hear it. And when everybody in the class is working in concert, it’s almost like a moving meditation.
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How to Use the Wave
The work involved in moving the Wave is so intense, you’ll feel tapped out after just 60 seconds. That’s why we incorporate the Wave exercises into intervals during Circuit Breaker classes. The tool is one of the four stations in the class, and you’ll spend 60-, 45-, and 30-second intervals working with it. Start with the basics, such as the double wave; with your partner, you’ll move the tubing in a vertical snake-like pattern in the air, making sure to keep it lifted off the floor. Other good starting points include the crossfire, during which you move the Wave from side to side, and the double dutch, which looks a lot like the schoolyard jump rope activity.
It's a sneaky workout. When you’re moving the Wave, you don’t realize how fast your heart is beating or how heavy you’re breathing, just because you’re so laser-focused on connecting and syncing with your partner. Once you stop, you’re like, “Oh, my God, I didn’t even know this was happening.”
Once you nail those fundamentals, you can spice up the movements by performing them in a squat, while sitting on the floor, or while doing Russian twists. Feel comfortable playing around with it and adjusting the moves for your fitness level, needs, and goals. There are so many different ways you can use the Wave, and they’re all so much fun. Don’t be fooled, the work is intense — but it's also a joyful intensity.
Kristy DiScipio is the Director of Athletic Training and Group Fitness Programming for Equinox. Formerly, she held the roles of Regional Director of Group Fitness NYC & Boston, Regional GF Manager for Boston & DC, and Area Manager. She’s a two-time NOXIE Award winner: 2013 Group Fitness Manager and 2021 Lifetime Achievement – Leader. She comes with more than 25 years of operational and group fitness experience in the fitness industry. Kristy has created and presented fitness programming for Equinox, Reebok/Cirque Du Soleil, Helix Lateral Trainer, and Town Sports International. She holds a BFA in Dance/Acting from Emerson College, has numerous national certifications, and is a choreographer, musical theater performer, and proud mom of two amazing children.