How to Learn to Double-Curl a Rope
Double bottom is jumping rope, but heavier. Your body is still moving up and down, and the rope just goes around in a circle. But you’re much more likely to hit yourself in the ankle or the back of the head than jumping, and that’s why you feel such satisfaction when you do it right.
Double jumps sound simple: for each jump, the rope passes under you twice. And physically they are not that difficult: you jump a little higher, twist your wrists a little faster. Skill is coordination, and the real mental challenge is keeping you in shape while your brain speaks ropetoofastjumpnowgofasteraaauuugh!
I can do about three in a row, each in more panic and worse shape than the last. But here’s a video with a good step-by-step tutorial that makes learning double underwear easy:
(Why is he in the CrossFit studio? Because CrossFitters do a lot of double jumps. Do you think they would just jump rope when there was a way to make the task more difficult?)
The progress looks like this:
- Practice normal jumping rope (“single jumps”) until you can do 200 in good shape, without mistakes.
- Accentuate your usual jumps with heavy-duty jumps while still turning the rope only once per jump. Do three single exercises, then one power jump, and train until you can repeat the cycle 50 times in a row.
- Then turn the power jumps into double bottom jumps. The only change is how quickly you turn the rope.
- From there, cut the singles: do two singles for each take, then one.
- Do two double jumps in a row, then stop. Do three, then stop.
The point of this last step is to “practice flawlessly” so that your brain gets the experience of doing the double exercises correctly. Otherwise, if you jump until you screw up and hit yourself with the rope, it takes a lot of practice for your brain to screw up and hit yourself with the rope.
So if you’re ready for some serious challenge, try double strikes this week. Or if you’ve mastered them? Triple underwear is also a thing.