Annie
A descending ladder of double-unders and sit-ups. Develops jump rope coordination and midline endurance.
- Format
- Ladder
- Time cap
- 12 mins
- Level
- intermediate
Ladder
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Open in FizAnnie is a ladder workout by Fiz, built from 2 movements, with a 12 mins cap. It is set at intermediate level.
About Annie
Annie is a descending ladder of double-unders and sit-ups — fifty of each, then forty, thirty, twenty and ten. It is short, it needs almost no equipment, and it is one of the most useful re-tests in training because your score moves for exactly one reason: your rope skill improved.
The workout is a rope test wearing a metcon costume
Two hundred and ninety-four skips is not a taxing amount of jumping for anyone who can string double-unders together. For anyone who cannot, it is an unbounded number, because every trip resets the set and the misses compound as your shoulders tire. That is the honest read on Annie: the sit-ups are the recovery, and the rope is the entire workout. Athletes with a clean rope finish in a time that looks unreachable to athletes with a messy one, and the gap has almost nothing to do with fitness.
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Slow the rope, not the workout
The fastest way through is to accept a slightly slower cadence in exchange for not tripping. A steady rhythm at ninety percent effort with no misses beats a frantic one that costs you three restarts per set. Keep the hands low and close to the hips rather than letting them drift wide as you fatigue — that drift is what shortens the rope and catches your feet. On the sit-ups, anchor your feet and use your arms to generate momentum; there is no prize for making them strict.
What's a good Annie time
Under five minutes is a strong Annie and elite athletes go under three. Five to eight is a good competitive time and eight to twelve covers most consistent athletes. If double-unders are not yet reliable, do not substitute single-unders one for one — that turns a coordination test into a long, easy skip. Use double the singles or, better, practise the double-unders as the workout and accept a slower time while the skill lands.