Wine Country CrossFit

How to Get Better Double Under Skills (Yes, it’s possible!)

I’ve seen it from everyone. Yes, EVERYONE! It’s probably the most painful thing to watch, someone trying to get (and missing) double-unders. Double under skills are truly a white whale of many a CrossFitter.

HOW DO YOU GET BETTER AT THOSE AWFUL THINGS??!!!

Well, first you have to make sure that you’ve got the basics down, then slowly add in the components of the skill:

1. Make sure that you can do a solid, consistently accurate single-under first
   1. Hold your upper arms close your body, with your forearms out at an angle (floppy arms are a sure-fire way to skunk a double-under), turning the rope under you by “flicking” your wrists downward.
   2. Practice jumping in “hollow position” – legs zipped up, belly in tight, jump from the mid-foot).
2. Now that you’ve go that down, work on being able to do your single with the same tight and solid form, but now practice jumping as HIGH as you can each time. This takes time to condition yourself up to, so practice this when you’d rather be doing singles.
3. Once you’ve got your high-jump, now it’s time to add in a SUPERFAST flick of your wrist to allow you to get the rope underneath your HIGH JUMP twice. Like the high jumps, the superfast flick requires time to master, as it requires strength and endurance in the shoulders.
   1. First you’ll get one, then you’ll get two, then you’ll get three, and so on!
4. Now, to go from 2,3,4, etc to 20+ at a time, this is where focusing on what happens to your body as you jump, and HOW you jump, to determine what is the best position for you to be in and maintain in order to consistently move the rope and your body for each rep. But how? A few ways:
   1. Videotape yourself and see what happens when you fail
   2. Use different ropes to determine which ones are easiest for you to use in your practice
   3. Practice with Speed Balls – this a REALLY easy way of finding out if your arms are unevenly moving the rope, and builds strength at the same time. These are also great if you want to avoid slashing up your legs while practicing your double- and triple-unders.
   4. If all else fails, seriously, it takes PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! If all you do to work on your double-unders is practice them in the warm-ups, and then NEVER try them during the WOD, then you WON’T get better at them! It’s just the way it goes.

You’ll have PLENTY of opportunities to practice your Dubs today with “Annie,” so take advantage of the focused work, and go BIG!

-Emilie

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Monday’s Workout

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit Ups

*Sub 4x singles, or 1x HIGH JUMP SINGLES as needed for the Double Unders
*Rx’d Situps are with Ab Mat, no anchoring of feet
*Scale Up to GHD Situps ONLY if athlete does 30+ on a daily basis

Compare to:
5/18/10
12/13/10
4/11/11
8/15/11
12/12/11
6/4/12
10/1/12
2/4/13
7/1/13
10/7/13

Cash-Out – Coaches’ Choice