Buzz
Double unders take jump roping to a more advanced level. Your body still moves up and down, but the rope is rapidly spinning underneath you. The risk of hitting your ankles or the back of your head is higher compared to regular jumping, which makes the success of landing it correctly feel so rewarding.
The concept of double unders seems simple: for each jump, the rope passes under you twice. Physically, it’s not too challenging – just jump higher and spin your wrists faster. The real difficulty lies in the coordination, and the real mental challenge is maintaining form while your mind screams ropetoofastjumpnowgofasteraaauuugh!
I can manage about three in a row, though each one feels more frantic and less precise than the last. But here’s a tutorial with a detailed, easy-to-follow progression that makes learning double unders look simple:
(Why is he in a Crossfit gym? Because Crossfit enthusiasts do a lot of double unders. What, do you think they'd stick to regular jump roping when they could make it more challenging?)
Here’s how the progression works:
Start by practicing regular jump rope (single unders) until you can complete 200 repetitions with perfect form, no errors.
Incorporate “power jumps” into your routine, still turning the rope only once per jump. Try doing three regular jumps followed by one power jump, and keep practicing until you can do this sequence 50 times consecutively.
Next, convert the power jumps into double unders. The only adjustment is increasing the speed of the rope spin.
From here, reduce the number of regular jumps: do two singles for every double under, then eventually just one.
Perform two double unders in a row, then pause. Try three in a row, then pause.
The goal of this final step is to “practice perfection,” allowing your brain to learn the correct way to perform double unders. If you keep jumping until you mess up and hit yourself with the rope, your brain is practicing those mistakes over and over.
Ready for a challenge? Try double unders this week. And if you've already mastered them, why not aim for triple unders?
