lost my double unders...cable speed rope issue?

[Benjamin Goodale]

wasn't quite sure whether to post this in equipment or exercises...

in the past few months i have gotten much better at double-unders: i started to be able keep my legs straight and string together 40-50 in a row with decent efficiency.

i have gone through several different ropes and about a month ago i tried a cable speed rope at my cert. i liked it so much i bought one. (http://www.buyjumpropes.net/product_p/006.htm wfs)it took some getting used to because it was so fast i had to adjust my timing. but once i got used it no problem.

now i am starting to lose my double-unders! i do them at least 4 days a week, so i don't think it is a matter of being out of practice. i used to just have trouble when i would attempt double-unders at the beginning of my workout. i train at 6 am most days, so i just chalked it up to being cold and stiff because when i would do some at the end of class, i could usually get it going pretty well.

but for the past few days my double-unders have just sucked! i can only get one or two and the rope goes slack. for some reason i just can't keep any tension on the rope to keep it spinning. i think that it is worse with my cable speed rope than the other licorice ropes at the gym.

anybody use a cable speed rope have problems like this?

i know it seems silly to blame the equipment, but something just ain't right...

any thoughts?

[Karin Jonczak]

yes, and I stopped using the really thin ultra speed rope I had for that reason.

I found a slightly heavier rope made a big difference.

[Eric Montgomery]

I'm very hit or miss on double unders even though I do them as part of my warmup just about every day...some days I can't get them at all, or I'll get no more than 2 or 3 in a row for 15 minutes straight then string together 40 out of nowhere. I've tried several different types of ropes and used to think that changing ropes threw off my timing, but have since figured out it's just a technique thing. What has helped me lately is warming up with 10 or 12 bounces...without swinging the rope, just bouncing up to the height and pace I would use for double unders to make sure I'm doing it smoothly without moving forward or back. If that doesn't help once I start swinging the rope, I'll alternate single-single-double-single-single-double for a while til I get used to the pace and realize that going from singles to doubles is more a matter of wrist speed than bounce height. If I go through that sequence I can get adapted to pretty much any rope.

[Benjamin Goodale]

well, it turn out it was me...not the rope. I bought about 6 different ropes to try to find the best one. my double-unders were still sucking big time. so i just kept working on them, and when i finally came back to using the cable-speed rope, i got back to rocking them out just fine.
i think i had been having trouble because my arms were continually overworked from lots of overhead work, and my legs were generally whipped too. the tired arms let to an inability to hold the necessary tension in the arms, and tired legs led to a lack of coordination of jump and swing. also. i think i was also holding the rope slightly differently.
i rewatched the buddy lee videos, adjusted my grip, practiced my bounce, and then did a s***load of du's. back to normal, praise the lord.
i knew it had to me, not the equipment.
my faith in the cable speed rope has been fully restored.

[Karin Jonczak]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Goodale

well, it turn out it was me...not the rope. I bought about 6 different ropes to try to find the best one. my double-unders were still sucking big time. so i just kept working on them, and when i finally came back to using the cable-speed rope, i got back to rocking them out just fine.
i think i had been having trouble because my arms were continually overworked from lots of overhead work, and my legs were generally whipped too. the tired arms let to an inability to hold the necessary tension in the arms, and tired legs led to a lack of coordination of jump and swing. also. i think i was also holding the rope slightly differently.
i rewatched the buddy lee videos, adjusted my grip, practiced my bounce, and then did a s***load of du's. back to normal, praise the lord.
i knew it had to me, not the equipment.
my faith in the cable speed rope has been fully restored.

going to have to try my cable again... my DUs have run away :-(