Hey Buddy Weightlifting

Struggling with double-unders? Can’t figure out the skill through trial & error? Here are some key fundamentals with regards to jumping rope:

Much like when telling joke, the pause between the set up and the punch line needs to be right, meaning your timing needs to be right. If you time your jump properly, you will jump when the rope is around hip height or slightly below. This means the rope has to do a 1/4 revolution to pass the 1st time and then a full revolution to pass the 2nd time. This will reduce the distance the rope has to travel per rep.

A proper jump should have as few moving pieces as possible and should be as similar to the bound for a single under as you can make it. Look for terminal extension of: ankle, knee and hip, aligning one another in a straight line & still upper body so that you don’t incorporate your arms. Om Yun Chol like extension is not recommended.

You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets, right Arnie?! Same rule applies to jumping rope or double-unders: keep your arms tight to your sides.

As many of you know, the Manager is a big advocate of footwork, isn’t that right ?! Improve your footwork pattern & challenge your ability to coordinate your body, while holding a rope with the following drills:
- Vertical jump & single leg single under: strengthen the ability to rebound, triple extension, while keeping control over the rope.
- Speed steps & single speed steps: encourages you to maintain same rope speed while manipulating your lower body to change its movement pattern.
- Backward single unders: likes to implement these in his warm up routine. Practicing humility, disconnection and hand positioning.
- 4 foot-work: having the ability to change your jump and maintain a constant tempo on the rope; looking like Rocky.
- 1-1-2 drill: improving timing, hand position and bounding. Transitioning smoothly from singles to doubles while slightly changing jump and hand speed will train most fundamental components.
- 360 degree single unders: rotating in one direction while maintaining single under pace; learning how to control the rope arc.

In case one doesn’t have any Jerk Blocks, you need to learn an efficient way to lower the barbell from overhead. What a cliffhanger from our last post.

When you’re doing multiple reps in the Jerk or Push Press for instance, you’ll need to lower the bar under control back to your rack position. Here we can see trying to follow some key points, starting from overhead:

• Bend your knees & keep arms straight
• Let the bar come down & resist a little with your arms
• Lower bar to rack, keep legs straight & go up on your toes
• Meet the bar in your rack position, while still being high on your toes
• Rebend your legs & as soon as the bar touches your rack position, heels hit the floor
• Bend your knees for final amortization

This method has a slight learning curve. But you’ll get used to it by practicing it with lighter loads. It will aid your training by not only preventing injuries, but by also retaining energy & becoming more efficient in your training; this having greater potential of getting stronger in said movements.

Same can be done when lowering the barbell behind the neck or when finishing a set of presses.

Try it out & feel free to tag us in your attempts. Yeah Buddy! 🤟🏻

Some old Jerk footage: 3,2,1 building load, increasing load by 5kg each set, went from 120 to 140kg. Those sweet Jerk blocks would come in pretty handy right now.
In case one doesn’t have any Jerk Blocks, you need to learn an efficient way to lower the barbell from overhead.

How do you do this? Stay tuned...