But let’s be honest, they can also be really frustrating when you can’t seem to get them right. That’s why I’m here to give you three tips that will help you improve your double under technique.
Three tips to improve your double under technique are:
- Don’t jump like a dummy
- Use your wrists and forearms
- Check your rope
Ready? Great, let’s break down the details.
Tip one: Don’t jump like a dummy
My first double unders tip is don’t jump like a dummy!
I know it seems crazy, but for whatever reason, when people have a jump rope in their hand, their jump mechanics go completely out of the window.
If I told you to jump up and down repeatedly, the chances are you’d do it by jumping up vertically about 5 inches into the air – that’s how it’s meant to be done.
But throw a rope into the mix, and this basic form gets completely derailed for some athletes.
I’ve seen pike jumping, donkey kicking, and just about everything in between.
So, how do you avoid this?
All you need to do is jump like you normally would.
To not jump like a dummy:
- Keep your torso vertical
- Look straight ahead
- Bend your knees slightly
- Keep toes pointed at the ground
By allowing your toes to stay pointed at the ground, you can rebound really easily. Keeping your knees softly and tucking them slightly with each jump also enables you to set yourself up for the next rep.
If you can do all of this, then you have what it takes to jump for double unders; you just have to make sure that once the rope is in your hand, it doesn’t go out the window.
Tip two: use your wrists and forearms
Tip number two in our double under breakdown is to use your wrist and forearms to spin the rope – not your shoulders.
A common problem that people run into when they do double unders is they immediately tense up, widen their hands, and they try to spin the rope by flailing their entire arms around – moving your arms like this is exhausting.
To get the right action out of the rope, stay relaxed and avoid fatiguing too quickly; instead of straight arming the rope, make sure your elbows stay bent with your shoulders relaxed. Then to get the rope to spin, you just need gently move your forearms and wrists up and down.
To get the double under cadence right, you need to do this in twos, with a very slight pause between each of these doubles.
Your hands and forearms positioning should be slightly in front of your body. At no point when you’re doing double unders should your hands go behind your hip bones.
If you’re spinning the rope properly, and you have the right control over it by focusing on just your forearm and wrist flick, you should be able to whip that rope around without much effort and without needing to flail your arms around crazily.
Tip three: check your rope
Tip number three is you need to check your rope.
The length of your rope is the thing that will usually be the thing that matters the most about your rope jump.
Too short, and you could end up tripping. Too long, and you’re going to struggle to keep your double unders efficient, and it can come back up and hit your feet or just drag across the ground for way too long, messing up your jump.
There’s no one size fits all when it comes to rope length – regardless of how tall you are or how long your arms are, it doesn’t really matter because everyone’s different.
As a general rule, your rope should click the ground ever so slightly as it hits the ground a few inches in front of you – listen out for it.
If it doesn’t, or you have a hard time getting it to make contact with the ground, it’s probably too short. If your rope slaps the ground really hard every time it travels round, it could be too long.
The more efficient you are at jump rope, the shorter your rope will be because your hands will be really low. So if you’re starting out, you may need to opt for a slightly longer rope.
As well as listening for that clicking sound, I would recommend filming yourself in ultra slow motion – something you can do on pretty much every smartphone nowadays. This will help to give you a much better idea of whether your rope is the right length for you.
Another thing to look out for when watching yourself jump in slow motion is to check if your rope has an arc shape. It should maintain a nice, tight U-shape as it spins around your body.
If you’re noticing that the rope is losing its shape and going crazy as you’re spinning it, that means that you’re probably not keeping tension on the rope, and it could mean that you need to go with a rope that has a slightly heavier cable.
To summarize
And there you have your three tips for mastering your double unders! Give them a go, and I guarantee you’ll be well on your way to perfecting your double unders.
If you’re someone that wants to improve your double unders even faster, we have a completely free double unders training guide for you. Or, if you’re ready to take your double unders to the next level, I have a fanatics course called double unders unleashed. This is a full-blown coaching course where we guarantee you’ll learn and improve your double unders in eight weeks or less – check it out!
Are you tired of tripping on double unders?
I’ll give you a step by step progression to help you crush Double Unders once and for all… completely free. Just enter your details below!
This article’s part of a series to help you go from 0 to 100 double unders – and beyond! Continue reading today:
- My 6 Best Tips to Learn Double Unders FAST
- Double Unders: Fix These Jumping Mistakes (to hit a PR!)
- How To Learn Double Unders Before The CrossFit® Open!
- How to do Heavy Rope Double Unders from the CrossFit® Games
- What Exactly Are Double Unders? The Mystery Solved
- From Basic to Awesome: A Guide to Jump Rope Variations Plus Benefits!
- Jumping to New Heights: Step By Step Guide to Crossover Single Unders
- Master the Art of Triple Unders: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Double Unders: Go from 10 to 100 UNBROKEN! (5 Tips)
- How To Do Double Unders – 3 Dynamite Tips!
- Single Unders: Your Double Unders Missing Link
- Double Unders For Beginners: A 7 Step Progression To Mastery
Your Questions Answered…
Why do I keep tripping on double unders even though I can do single unders fine?
The most common reason is that your jump mechanics completely change the moment a rope is in your hand.
If you just jumped up and down without a rope, you would probably do it perfectly: straight torso, eyes forward, slight knee bend, toes pointing toward the ground so you can rebound quickly. That is all good jumping. But for a lot of athletes, the second they pick up a rope, the wheels come off. Pike jumping, donkey kicking, tucking their knees to their chest, flailing their arms out wide — it all shows up.
The rope does not require a different jump. It requires the exact same jump you would do without one. Torso stays vertical, gaze stays forward, knees bend slightly, toes stay pointed down so you can rebound cleanly. If you can lock that in and stop letting the rope change how you move, tripping becomes much less frequent almost immediately.
Why do my arms and shoulders burn out so quickly doing double unders?
Because you are spinning the rope with your shoulders instead of your wrists and forearms, and that is an enormous amount of unnecessary work.
The correct technique keeps your elbows bent and your shoulders relaxed. The only thing moving to spin the rope is a small, controlled flick from your forearms and wrists. Your hands should stay slightly in front of your body at all times. The moment your hands drift behind your hip bones, your shoulders have to take over to keep the rope moving, and your arms will gas out within seconds.
The other sign you are doing this wrong is that your elbows are straight and your arms are wide. That position means every rotation of the rope requires your whole arm to move, which is exhausting. Keep it small, keep it controlled, keep it in your wrists. Done right, double unders should not be anywhere near as tiring for your arms as most beginners find them.
How do I know if my jump rope is the right length for double unders?
Listen for a light click as the rope makes contact with the ground just a few inches in front of you on each rotation. That sound tells you the rope is the right length.
If you are not hearing that click, or it is hard to get the rope to reach the ground at all, the rope is probably too short. If the rope is slapping the floor hard on every rep, it is likely too long and is going to drag and disrupt your rhythm.
There is no universal formula based on height because everybody’s arm length, jumping style, and efficiency level is different. A good shortcut is to film yourself jumping in slow motion on your phone. Two things to look for: first, whether the rope is maintaining a tight U-shape as it travels around you. If it is losing its shape and going all over the place, you probably need a slightly heavier cable. Second, check where the rope is making ground contact and how hard. That will tell you quickly whether length is the issue.
One more thing to know: as you get more efficient, you will naturally start to use a shorter rope because your hands will sit lower and closer to your body. If you are just starting out, err slightly longer while you get the mechanics sorted.
What is the correct body position for double unders in CrossFit®?
Keep it simple. Torso vertical, eyes looking straight ahead, knees with a slight soft bend, and toes pointed toward the ground throughout the jump. That is it.
The pointed toes are more important than most people realise. They allow you to rebound off the ground quickly and efficiently, which is what lets you keep a rhythm going when you are stringing reps together. The moment your feet go flat or your toes start coming up, you lose that snappy rebound and the whole thing falls apart.
Your arms stay relaxed with elbows bent, hands slightly in front of your hips. The rope spins from small wrist and forearm movements, not from your shoulders or full arm swings. If you can hold this whole picture together, you have the correct position for double unders. The challenge is holding onto it when fatigue sets in and the temptation to start compensating creeps in.
How long does it take to learn double unders in CrossFit®?
Most athletes can get their first double under within one or two focused practice sessions once they understand the correct mechanics. Getting to a place where you can string 10 or more together consistently usually takes two to four weeks of regular practice. Being able to do 50 or more unbroken in a WOD setting typically takes one to three months, depending on how often you practise and whether you are following a structured progression.
The athletes who take the longest are almost always the ones who skip fixing their mechanics and just try to jump harder and faster. If your jump form is off, if your rope length is wrong, or if you are spinning with your shoulders, you can practise for months and barely improve because you are just reinforcing a broken pattern at higher volume.
Fix the three things covered in this article first: your jump mechanics, your wrist and forearm action, and your rope length. Get those dialled in on single unders and on controlled slow attempts before you try to go fast. That foundation is what makes the difference between athletes who crack double unders in a few weeks and those who are still struggling a year later.