Double Unders are the most frustrating move ever

Almost Everyone

Double unders have become increasingly popular. People are wanting to learn how to do them for the CrossFit Open. The general fitness community has taken a hold of them. It’s a good tool to have in your fitness arsenal. So with that said. We kind of wanted to talk about some of the things that we’ve seen when it comes to people doing double unders, and identify some mistakes and make sure that we’re not doing it when we go to practice.

Bad Habits To Avoid

• First and foremost, people try to force it. They get really dense and really aggressive, so like some aggression levels that people don’t have all of a sudden come out when they want to do double unders and you don’t have to force it. You want to be smooth.
• Don’t Bent your elbows: It’s creating poor mechanics that we don’t want to practice and we don’t want to hone in. Make sure that we’re practicing the correct mechanics all the time.
• Doing Singles Under: People think that what is going to help them is doing a single under and then a double under. But what that creates is poor rhythm and board timing. Again, it’s ingraining a bad habit.
• Speed to Jump Ratio: It’s like people think that they need to jump really high and spin the rope as fast as they possibly can and not realizing that they’re probably going to do a quadruple under before they’re going to do a double under with the speed of their rope. Make sure you slow it down and your smooth timing is everything.

Mechanics To Learn Double Unders

• Make sure your arms are straight. Everything is going to start from the wrists and you want to have straight arms in order to do that. When I say straight arms, think relaxed arms, arms that kind of just drop to your side. You’re not trying to lock your elbow out, you’re relaxed.
• Make sure that our body is streamlined when we’re doing double unders we want to stand and jump with good posture. Don’t become so erect that you tense up, but don’t be so relaxed that you droop forward. Just think good smooth posture as if you’re just walking down the street with a smile.
• Jumping Consistently: It is very Simple. Bad timing equals inconsistent jumps. Make sure your jumps are the same over and over and over when we’re doing double unders.
• Make sure that you’re spinning the rope from your wrist and not your shoulders. Too often I hear people talking about how their shoulders are burnt out when they’re doing double unders. It shouldn’t be that way, because your arms are straight to your side and relaxed, if you’re spinning from your wrist, it should not go all the way up and transfer to your shoulders. If anything, your forearms should be burning.
• Do not tuck your knees. This doesn’t help. Tucking your knees is going to throw off the timing of your double under and it’s going to make it for an inconsistent jump. And not to mention it is not sustainable and your quads are going to get extremely tired. One of the other things that will throw off timing is piking your body. Where you jump up and your feet come out in front of you and your chest goes forward a little bit. It creates a lot of unnecessary movement and it is definitely going to tire you out a lot more than you realize.

Steps to Help You With Your Double Unders

• The biggest thing with double unders is you have to have rhythm. When I first learned, I broke it down to a simple three word rhythm that really resonated with me and that was jump, spin, spin, jump spin, spin. If you can find that rhythm, you’re going to get double unders. Whether you jump high or whether you’re jumping really short, the rhythm doesn’t change. It may speed up, but it’s the same rhythm.
• Repeat this Over and Over. Try doing without a rope. Listen to that rhythm; the jump, spin, spin, jump, spin, spin and I got used to that sound. So as soon as I started doing double unders I could listen for that and I could hear whether or not I was close. So as soon as you get that cue like oh my gosh, like I can hear it, it’s coming, you know that your double under is just right there.
• Practice these every single day until you got them. I would practice them as long as I could mentally stand because I understand how frustrating it can be. And I’d come back the next day fresh and I’d practice again and I’d get used to that rhythm. Get used to that sound.
• Again, Practice them every day, whether in your warm up or your cool down, give them a shot and familiarize yourself with it. And I think they’re going to come quick.

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