Skating on the Planet

[guitarist]

2 minutes ago, axelnojutsu said:

 

It was great, I was worried I'd be totally out of my depth but there were actually quite a few newbies and I did better than I expected 
Definitely gonna go again tomorrow  

I was surprised with how many different things we went through in just 1h and that I was (mostly) able to keep up - except skating backward apparently, that just didn't seem to want to happen for me 

Nice! That's how my first lesson went too. Practice swizzles a lot, that's how I got better at backward. I'm jealous you get to go two days in a row!!! I've been going once a week, but hopefully I'll be able to cram in an extra hour a day once more rinks start opening. 

[axelnojutsu]

Just now, guitarist said:

Nice! That's how my first lesson went too. Practice swizzles a lot, that's how I got better at backward. I'm jealous you get to go two days in a row!!! I've been going once a week, but hopefully I'll be able to cram in an extra hour a day once more rinks start opening. 

I can do the backwards swizzles (not as good as forward but still), but the wiggles are just like  so far
It's like my feet get a big error sign on what to do 

If everything goes right I'll be able to go 3-4 times a week (although probably not every week because life) I'm very excited that I'm finally doing this 

[guitarist]

6 minutes ago, axelnojutsu said:

I can do the backwards swizzles (not as good as forward but still), but the wiggles are just like  so far
It's like my feet get a big error sign on what to do 

If everything goes right I'll be able to go 3-4 times a week (although probably not every week because life) I'm very excited that I'm finally doing this 

That was my experience too, I think what helps with the wiggles is moving your hips and shoulders as well, it's actually less about the feet and more about shifting the weight with your whole body. Kinda hard to explain, especially since mine are far from perfect haha.

[axelnojutsu]

3 minutes ago, guitarist said:

That was my experience too, I think what helps with the wiggles is moving your hips and shoulders as well, it's actually less about the feet and more about shifting the weight with your whole body. Kinda hard to explain, especially since mine are far from perfect haha.

 for the advice, I'll see if I can make it work next time

[axelnojutsu]

How to give me a mini heart attack:

”Alright, let’s do some jumps”

 

[itiahs]

15 minutes ago, axelnojutsu said:

How to give me a mini heart attack:

”Alright, let’s do some jumps”

 

Don't be afraid of jumping! (it's more likely you'll kill yourself on a crossover <-- personal experience wise)

[axelnojutsu]

16 minutes ago, itiahs said:

Don't be afraid of jumping! (it's more likely you'll kill yourself on a crossover <-- personal experience wise)

Well, I attempted both today and at least with the crossovers I felt like I was getting somewhere that wasn't the floor although I'm scared of either still 

[guitarist]

26 minutes ago, itiahs said:

Don't be afraid of jumping! (it's more likely you'll kill yourself on a crossover <-- personal experience wise)

That is so encouraging...

 

24 minutes ago, axelnojutsu said:

Well, I attempted both today and at least with the crossovers I felt like I was getting somewhere that wasn't the floor although I'm scared of either still 

Oh, cool, what kind of jump? I've only tried hopping on 2 feet, I'm too scared to try anything with one foot.

[axelnojutsu]

9 minutes ago, guitarist said:

Oh, cool, what kind of jump? I've only tried hopping on 2 feet, I'm too scared to try anything with one foot.

 

I mean same 
I managed like half a bunny hop and we were also doing the waltz jump but that basically translated to me spinning around on the ice or just falling down 

[yuzuangel]

All your stories about skating make me want to go skate 

 

It's been almost a year since I started skating more seriously, and if I look at it that way, I can definitely see improvement, even though it doesn't feel like it on a day by day basis 

 

I can still only do four jumps -- waltz jump, toe loop, salchow, and loop -- and I haven't even attempted the flip or lutz yet! But I think I'm at a point where the jumps/spins I'm attempting are already a lot harder than my current skating skills level so I need to work on those first.

 

So when I started, I could do two foot spins (about 6 revolutions), waltz "jumps", "toe loops", and "salchows". I put them in quotes because my waltz jumps were both incorrect and smaller than hops (my friend was like "nice footwork sequence!"), my toe loops were actually toe waltz jumps, and I don't remember what my salchows were like because I just started on them. I couldn't do clockwise backward crossovers or correct forward crossovers. A toe waltz jump is when you tap directly behind you, foot not turned out and tap not back and across the takeoff foot. So basically, WRONG.

 

I had a coach who I probably took lessons with less than 10 times total, and in hindsight he was pretty bad, but he tricked me because he constantly talked about how great of a coach he was. Curses! He didn't correct my bad technique even just doing waltz jumps and singles, and it took me many months to fix them, whereas for a jump like the salchow that I had only just started, I was able to get that almost immediately after I started practicing it with my current coach. So, I have to say, having a good coach who doesn't brush everything off with "That's correct, you'll get it soon -- just practice!" is important. Some things obviously just require practice but there's no way you're doing (insert ANY move here) correctly the first time, so if he's not correcting your body alignment, knee action, timing, setup, air position, landing, etc. multiple times, then he's probably just not noticing them. Or maybe I'm just bitter because it took me at least three months or more reworking the waltz jump and toe loop, when it took me maybe a month to get the sal and one month to get the loop, both new jumps. At one point I literally only worked on my toe loop for a long time.

 

I think in another year's time a realistic goal for me would be to get all of my singles except the axel and the basic spins (upright/scratch spin, sit spin, camel). I would be perfectly fine with that. I can do the sit spin now  (again, after losing it for a few weeks). That was a struggle but nothing compares to the struggle of centering the upright spin....  I'd also like to get maybe one backspin but I haven't started that. It feels like starting from complete scratch (no pun intended...*groan*). And of course, I need to work on basic skating skills. While a bit dull sometimes, there's nothing like gliding on a backwards edge on newly sharpened skates and just chilling. Sometimes I wonder at night how one can do any of these crazy things balancing on a thin, thin blade on ice. I still have no idea how it works!  

[itiahs]

3 hours ago, guitarist said:

That is so encouraging...

 

Oh, cool, what kind of jump? I've only tried hopping on 2 feet, I'm too scared to try anything with one foot.

 just some days makes you curse toepicks ... but remember the SEIMEI crossrolls as motivation

[robin]

@yuzuangel Aw thanks for sharing your personal progress. I'm glad you found the right coach for you! sigh reading this makes me feel like I don't really have a chance. I know I'm basically doing everything wrong but I currently cannot afford classes let alone a coach and I'm not getting younger. Oh well, harping on on my restrictions is not going to help me so I'll just focus on the fun I have. And I honestly also enjoy just working on my skating skills and edges

 

23 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

A toe waltz jump is when you tap directly behind you, foot not turned out and tap not back and across the takeoff foot. So basically, WRONG.

 

 

Ok I tried a toe once and I think I did what you descriped here or what I think of when I hear toe waltz jump. I basically did half a rotation on my toe pick and then ended with a waltz jump. Lemme watch that vid of Yuzu doing a 1T again...

[yuzuangel]

1 hour ago, robin said:

@yuzuangel Aw thanks for sharing your personal progress. I'm glad you found the right coach for you! sigh reading this makes me feel like I don't really have a chance. I know I'm basically doing everything wrong but I currently cannot afford classes let alone a coach and I'm not getting younger. Oh well, harping on on my restrictions is not going to help me so I'll just focus on the fun I have. And I honestly also enjoy just working on my skating skills and edges

 

 

Ok I tried a toe once and I think I did what you descriped here or what I think of when I hear toe waltz jump. I basically did half a rotation on my toe pick and then ended with a waltz jump. Lemme watch that vid of Yuzu doing a 1T again...

 

that's frustrating. I want to say that there's a way to improve at skating without a coach but unfortunately I really don't think so if you want to do jumps and spins and stuff. It's really the most frustrating thing about this sport and it sucks, a lot. But I do think going, skating, getting used to the speed and your skates will be beneficial as well, and maybe you can take videos and post them and someone who knows how to skate can give you pointers online too?

[Xen]

15 hours ago, robin said:

@yuzuangel Aw thanks for sharing your personal progress. I'm glad you found the right coach for you! sigh reading this makes me feel like I don't really have a chance. I know I'm basically doing everything wrong but I currently cannot afford classes let alone a coach and I'm not getting younger. Oh well, harping on on my restrictions is not going to help me so I'll just focus on the fun I have. And I honestly also enjoy just working on my skating skills and edges

 

 

Ok I tried a toe once and I think I did what you descriped here or what I think of when I hear toe waltz jump. I basically did half a rotation on my toe pick and then ended with a waltz jump. Lemme watch that vid of Yuzu doing a 1T again...

Practice edges, and a number of turns can be learned on your own, I learned counters, brackets and rockers on my own. They are also super useful and help later on when you do get a coach, since they are fundamental to everything. My coach made me go back and work on edges etc if I were failing my jumps that day.

 

You are never too old to skate. There are guys at my rink in their 60s working on one foot spins. A 27 year old guy who just landed his axel. I stopped skating for about ten years, and recently just got a good portion of my old jumps and spins back, and I am old. If your goal is to get an axel in half a year, then being very young might help, but if your goal is to just see how far you can go, you can go far at any age. The guys mentioned above? The 60 year old guy was only considering up to one foot turns, and the guy on axels had no goals though his coach is thinking he could maybe try double axels. 

 

 

 

 

[guitarist]

Soooooo... I got sick of my neighbors complaining about the guitar noise. So I'm moving out in a month. To an apartment complex that has an ice rink during the winter. Totally didn't influence my decision at all. Really, I swear. But this means I'll be able to practice every day for at least 2 months or so!