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The Torque Relentless Rope Trainer turns a typically difficult movement to do in a home gym, into something convenient with no setup time. I love doing rope pulls for both back/bicep hypertrophy as well as conditioning work, but it’s cumbersome to set up. The Torque Relentless Rope Trainer is extremely well done, very compact, and a piece of equipment I will use every week. It is a bit spendy, but it’s well done.
Home Gym Rope Trainer
Torque Relentless Rope Trainer
Product Highlights
Pros & Cons
Bottom Line
Torque Fitness has been making greater strides to infiltrate home gyms. First with the Torque TANK M1 Push Sled that we’ve reviewed and now the Torque Relentless Rope Trainer. This is not the first drum rope pulley system on the market, but it is the best for most home gym owners of the ones we’ve tested due to both the well thought out details and the more budget-friendly price (although, it’s still too expensive for most.)
Using manila ropes for battle ropes, climbs, and pulls is one of the things I miss about my old CrossFit Gym. Rope climbs are pretty much impossible in most garage gyms and setting up the sled outside for pulls in the winter is the last thing I want to do. The Relentless Rope Trainer makes a typically inconvenient and sometimes impossible type of training possible in a home gym. It’s also really well done with a lot of attention to detail. Let’s get into the review.
What Is The Relentless Rope Trainer?
Every once in a while a product for the home gym comes along that really surprises me. Not always because it’s revolutionary or something that hasn’t been done before, but because I didn’t expect to like it as much as I do.
The Relentless Rope Trainer from Torque Fitness (known for their TANK line of sleds) does exactly that. It’s not the first rope climb simulator, there are many that have been on the market for a while, but it is one of the first that combines adjustability, is rack attachable, and is situated at a price that is able to be stomached by many who own a home gym.
The idea is pretty simple. Torque Fitness took the magnetic resistance motor found on their Torque TANK M1 Sled that we reviewed and figured out a way to instead of providing resistance to a wheel, add resistance to a braided rope. We’ve tested this exact magnetic resistance piece on their sleds for years both outside and inside and they still work as they did on day one. They’re extremely durable, require little maintenance, and provide consistent resistance.
If you’ve ever done legless rope climbs or rope pulls on the sled, then you know how good of a training effect they can have on your forearms and grip, back, and biceps. They will wipe you out. The Relentless Rope Trainer allows that to happen without any setup and either attached to your squat rack or a wall.
The versatility isn’t necessarily endless, but it’s very high.
What We Like About the Torque Relentless Rope Trainer
The versatility of the equipment you put in your home gym should be the most important factor. I get it, price is definitely up there. But if something is cheap and you don’t use it, it could be free and it would be worthless.
This is what I like so much about the Relentless Rope Trainer, also known as the XERT.
It has an extremely high level of versatility, but on the inverse, an especially small footprint. This is what I call the home run zone for products used for home fitness.
I’ve said it before, but weight sleds are an extremely underrated home gym product. They’re great for conditioning, but you can throw a rope on one and do pulls and various upper body movements as well. The XERT essentially takes this function of a weight sled and allows you to do it inside without having to do any setup. You can go from walking into your gym to training at maximal effort with a high level of resistance within seconds. It’s a beautiful thing.
As I’ll discuss in a bit more detail further into the review, I’ve found so many different exercises that can be done with the trainer. I’ve always loved manila ropes and this allows me to experiment quite a bit.
In terms of the build quality, the Rope Trainer is surprisingly well done. I say surprisingly because many products in the fitness space are either welded together with little attention to form with all the focus on function, or cheaply made and easily breakable. The Rogue Monster Rhino Belt Squat is a great example of a piece of equipment that combines both form and function well.
Torque Fitness has taken what they’ve done with their TANK Sled line and improved it further in my opinion. The powder coat is the same gritty, swirled matte black finish that is featured on the Torque TANK M4 and many of their power racks. It’s extremely weather-resistant, chip-resistant, and corrosion preventive. Honestly, I’d love to see it on more equipment. They charge more for it, but it’s worth it.
Everything that isn’t powder coated is either aluminum or uses hard nylon, such as the pulleys, or a custom-molded rubber such as the top cap of the motor housing. The entire piece screams premium build which is the same experience I had unboxing the TANK M1 Weight Sled.
Unlike most drum rope systems, the Rope Trainer has a pivoting roller design. This allows you to have the same resistance whether you’re directly under the rope or farther out. In actual use, the biggest to the pivoting roller is that you don’t have to think about what’s going on above you. You can just focus on the workout and the roller will move with you.
Inside the roller are multiple pulleys with bearings that proved the smooth movement of the rope. The resistance uses Torque’s Mag Force Technology. This is a sexy name for what is essentially a magnet flywheel motor. These systems are fantastic and have been used throughout the industry for years and continue to be added more and more to equipment. Magnetic resistance, in this case, is bidirectional and increasing. This means that no matter which side of the rope you pull on, the resistance will be the same. Additionally, the resistance will increase the faster you pull it similar to an air bike like the Rogue Echo Bike or Assualt Bike.
Again, similar to the M1 TANK, the Relentless Rope Trainer has four levels of resistance. Level 1 is pretty light and great for conditioning while Level 4 is very challenging and equal probably to over 135 LB I would guess. The levels in between very well. Being able to superset from light to very heavy within seconds is very nice to have.
The rope itself is 1.25” in diameter which is good for both ladies and men and is double braided nylon and polyester. This is a much softer rope than something like manila and although we had a hiccup with the prototype, we’ve been assured that the retail model won’t experience this issue, and if it does, it will be warrantied.
Lastly, we liked that the Relentless Rope Trainer can be mounted to a power rack or the wall. We actually mounted ours to the storage rack we have in the garage that holds my dumbbells, kettlebells, bumper plates, and medicine balls.
Video Review
Using the Relentless Rope Trainer
Using the Relentless Rope Trainer is extremely easy, which is one of it’s major selling points for me. You simply pull on the resistance dial strap to place the resistance at the level you’d like and it’s ready to go immediately.
Doing standing rope pulls is great, but I’ve found a few movements that I like even more.
One, that I’d suggest starting with is sitting on the ground with your legs spread apart as you would for a legless rope climb and pulling your elbow down with your lats to your rib cage. This will blow up your lats and feels great.
Using the bidirectional component of the Trainer, I put a hand on each side of the rope, turned the dial up to Level 4, and did single arm alternating lat pulldowns. This was one of my favorite.
To simulate a movement I’ve heard Mat Fraser (see Mat’s home gym here) discuss, I took a band peg, wrapped the rope around it, and then did bent over rope pulls with my head down and palms up. This absolutely blew my biceps and forearms up. I’d suggest using something like this as a finisher or as part of a HIIT workout.
There’s a ton of variations on workouts that can be done with the Rope Trainer. I’m excited to see what the Home Gym Community comes up with.
Things We Dislike
My biggest dislike on the Relentless Trainer? The price. It’s very well done, but it’s also very pricey. I was expecting the price to be similar to the Torque TANK M1 Push Sled as it uses the same motor, but being over $1,000 makes it difficult for many to get their hands on it.
I can understand the price point in one regard. It’s a very complete product with a lot going for it. On the other hand, this will price out a ton of the market. My hope is Torque Fitness eventually comes out with a more budget-friendly model with fewer resistance options or something.
The other flaw we found was specific to the prototype, but still worth mentioning. The Relentless Rope uses a double braided rope that is weaved together to connect the ends and then glued. On the prototype, the rope came undone. We reached out to Torque and they said it wasn’t surprising as the prototype rope we received was manufactured differently than the retail version. However, be careful wrapping the rope around things as it could shorten its life.
Who Should Add The Rope Trainer To Their Home Gym?
I wish I could recommend this to every garage gym owner with a solid rack, but the price is too prohibitive.
If the price doesn’t phase you and you want something for conditioning and some hypertrophy work it’s an easy recommendation. I will likely use it at least twice a week and I could foresee others using it every workout, it’s that versatile and fun to use.
Full Rating
Torque Endless Rope Trainer
The Torque Endless Rope Trainerturns a typically difficult movement to do in a home gym, into something convenient with no setup time. I love doing rope pulls for both back/bicep hypertrophy as well as conditioning work, but it’s cumbersome to set up. The Torque Endless Rope Trainer is extremely well done, very compact, and a piece of equipment I will use every week. It is a bit spendy, but it’s well done.
Product Brand: Torque Fitness
Product Currency: USD
Product Price: 1095
Product In-Stock: InStock
4.4
Torque Relentless Rope Trainer FAQs
Is an endless rope machine good?
It’s an excellent technique to strengthen your back and core. ” The rope simply continues coming as you pull it, and it takes muscle and aerobic endurance to keep going.” It strengthens your back and biceps, but it’s also a fantastic aerobic workout if done at the correct intensity.
What muscles does the endless rope machine work?
The endless rope machine is a machine workout that primarily targets the shoulders, but also the biceps, chest, forearms, lats, middle back, traps, and triceps to a lesser extent.
What is the Torque Relentless Rope Trainer?
The Relentless Rope attachment compliments individual and group fitness regimens. Sleek design, four selectable resistance settings.
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