Why I Don't Do Double Unders

(Disclaimer: If I had been good at double unders, I would not have written this)

Like Muscle Ups and HSPUs¹, Double unders are something you do because they are Crossfit. Notoriously hard, notoriously frustrating, yet no one questions them. Seriously. Google "Why I don't do double unders". You get links on how to do double unders². No one questions them.

So I'm questioning them.

It all started when ...

... Coach Pepe programmed a Fight Gone Bad style WOD. 5 movements x 1 min each, 1 rest, for 3 rounds. 1 of the movements was Double Unders.

"Double Unders for 1 Minute!" sayeth Coach Pepe.
No problem ... I'll just do the singles scale-down. 

"And no scale downs! Double Unders or Nothing!"
Er, what?

I tried. I missed. I got mad. Tried again, got 1, then missed. Mad again. Tried one, missed, mad. This lasted for a minute. I spent that entire minute pretty mad. That is acceptable. I also got no exercise. That is less acceptable.

Instead of 5 minutes work on 1 rest (5:1), I was now doing 4 minutes work on 2 rest (2:1). That is a different workout. I would argue that is a worse workout. All because of a stubborn insistence on a specific movement by Coach Pepe.

Double Unders had no place in that WOD.

But That Was Just That WOD, Right?

Well .... is it? Are DUs even safe? Other than getting marked up by speed ropes, it is hard to find anyone with anything bad to say about DUs, as far as safety goes. And if you are talking about people who are already proficient at double unders, they are probably about as safe as anything.

But what about me? Want to know how I do a double under? I do a few singles, 1 ... 2... 3... and then I JUMP as HIGH as I can, ideally with my feet above my waist and knees on clavicles, while I whip the rope as fast as I possibly can. Then I crash down back to Earth, and if by some miracle I don't land on the rope, I soar back in the air, and I do it all over again. Luckily I can only string a few of these together in a row, because by that point I'm wildly off balance. And that's to say nothing about the impact. Unlike a box jump where you can step down or at least cushion the landing, on a double under you are rebounding as fast as possible. That has to be bad for everything.

But it Has to be Worth it, Right?

I honestly I do not see how. Here is something I found online reassuring you about how double unders get easier.

"At first, you'll feel like you're jumping through the roof. But that'll change."
Good call ... so it'll change?

"Soon, your jump won't be much higher than when normally jumping rope."
Really?

"And you'll get efficient spinning the rope, so spinning at double under speed will be effortless"
Is that so?

"Before too long you'll feel as though ..."
 ... I'm doing single unders?

What if I just do single unders now?

Anyway ...

So the end goal here, is to get so efficient at this difficult movement, that it becomes just as easy as a movement I do now. And yes, you can say that at about everything. But getting better at other things is much less stupid. If I start strict pressing 160 as easily as I press 80, then I've gotten stronger. If I can do 20x36" boxjumps as easily as I could do 20x24", I've gotten better. But if I can do 50 double unders as easily as 50 singles ... who cares? 

If YOU care, then that's fantastic.

But if you don't, then why are you doing them?


¹ Handstand Push-ups
²And hopefully this post as well.