My jumps

I started working on jumps again, after a 2 years break, as I'll need them in my Freestyle program. Long story short, I initially didn't remember the entrances and edges, and I thought I lost them. But they are coming back quickly enough. They are not much, as I learned them in group classes, and the requirement to pass the level was to "get them" not master them.

I wanted to see how they looked, so one day I filmed them all. Firstly, I was very surprised and  happy that my jumps are higher then they were 2 years ago just from working on Ice Dancing and MITF.  It seems that working on basic skills and edges really pays off. On the negative side, I see that on all of them I have a weak landing. I think the problem is the checking... I can see my left hand being in front of my body a lot, as I remember, it should be at 10 o'clock. I also see that the free leg is bent, the back it's not arched, probably the landing leg should have more knee bent. I'm sure as I'll start working on them with my coach he'll find a million things to correct.

The Bunny Hop:

I worked on this with my private coach and I described it here. Analyzing the video I think it looks rushed, let's say I was excited when I filmed. From a technique point of view, I should jump more up then forward.

The Waltz Jump:

 

Technique corrections from my private coach were
- before jumping to bring the free leg at the heel of the skating leg (it took me like a month to fix this, meaning for it to became body memory, to do it without thinking... but I do it now)
- to jump tangent to the circle I was riding, before, I was jumping around
- to jump up not forward, actually he says 45 degrees
- when landing, to look forward, looking back was ruining my checking of the landing.
As I watch I don't like that the free leg is bent while swinging up. Maybe the free leg knee could go more up, to that h-position (my coach didn't mention that yet but I red about it)

The Half Flip:

I totally forgot this one, I asked some friends that are at that level to teach it to me :) I don't know what to say about it, it seems very small...

The Salchow:

This was my least favorite jump in group classes. I absolutely knew I didn't get it... I started working on this with my private coach but all we covered until now  is the entrance. The 3-turn shouldn't be too round, wait after the 3 turn, bend that knee, check, don't release the free arm before jumping. I think again, I'm jumping around not tangent to the circle.

The Toe Loop:

When my left ankle was hurt I was afraid of working on the Toe Loop (on the Salchow too actually). I know you have to transfer the weight on the foot you vault yourself from. I can see at least on my first try I'm not doing it. I also know you shouldn't rotate on your toe pick and jump forward. 

The Loop:

 

I think the entrance is good. I don't think I push enough from the right foot, the arms are wild and I know I'm pulling out too soon.

The Flip:

I've got the idea 2 years ago, but it wasn't consistent, so I don't think it's worth it to try it now without a coach supervision.

Now a tiny bit of bad news. My hip muscles got sore after that jumping day, enough to get me cautious. It's the left hip, the one that was hurt... I don't know if it's from pushing from it, or from lifting the right thigh and knee up. So I cannot get too excited, I cannot have jumping days... for now.

Working towards my first program part 1

If you've red some of my older posts, you know that I was doing Freestyle group lessons for 5 years, then I hurt my left ankle so I stopped jumping and spinning. I started Ice Dancing and MITF (moves in the field). That was more than 2 years ago. I've always had the intention to come back to jumping but there is just so much training time in a week and I was filling it with Ice Dancing and moves. Now, as I hurt my left hip 6 months ago and I couldn't work on power and extension that I need in Ice Dancing and MITF, I was thinking how to still learn something while not pushing my body physically. So I thought to to link all I have together and to have a program choreograph for me. It's gonna be an USFSA pre-bronze program for testing. I wanted to maybe be able to use it as an ISI Artistic program to show it at my rink very casual summer competition, but I think the requirements don't mach.

An USFSA pre-bronze Freestyle test doesn't actually require a program, but you can do one, if you choose. The requirements are 2 jumps (could be 2 half jumps, so easy jumps), 2 spins (I think they require a 2 foot spin and an one foot spin), forward and backward crossovers and a spiral or lunge. The program could be maximum 1.40 minutes. My choreographer/ coach would like to put 3 jumps in, just in case I mess up one, so those plus the spins will take a lot of time. It's not gonna be much time left for the artistic side. An artistic programs requires strong edges, flow, choreography, innovative moves and musical interpretation and is has no score for the technical elements.

My goal in doing figure skating in general is toward enjoyment and self expression. That made me want to progress as much as possible so I can move more freely and securely. I use the process of testing to structure my training and progress. Similarly, I would like to use the process of learning and showing a program not for competing but for developing knowledge to choreograph myself, again not for a competition program but for moving around the rink for my own enjoyment.

I work with a new coach because my main coach doesn't do programs (he is a busy Ice Dancing coach). We had 4 lessons and we plan on few more before really choreographing the program, just so he can see what I can do. But he's teaching me in between all the planning, both technique, and how to approach the elements so I can eventually put them together myself.

The first lesson was about arm movements. He was asking me to do things I know (like power crossovers) and he showed me different arm movements to add to those. Meanwhile he also judges the quality of my elements. He introduced the choreography concept of stepping outside the circle, making a new circle, so creating interesting patterns on the ice, while teaching some arm movement on left forward crossovers and then step on a right forward outside edge.

The second lesson was about turns (steps). Programs ask for a step sequence made of turns (like mohawks and 3-turns for this level). The same turns  are used between jumps and spins and are called transitions. Again, he judged what I can do. For example I can do Ice Dancing 3-turns (dropped 3-turns) faster then the Freestyle power 3-turns... He put together a third of the rink circular step sequence that was 2 strokes, right forward mohawk, 2 right backward power 3-turns  and a double back 3-turn. We got stuck on a pretty flourish on the inside edge of the double back 3 turn. That I could almost do :) And I've got an update on the 3-turn instruction that was all things I knew. But just hearing it from a different voice sometimes helps. I told him after this lesson that I would like easier steps (then back power 3-turns and double 3-turns that I never did before) so I can have more speed, less struggle and feel more artistic. I think one of the purposes of a program is to push you to improve your technical content. I just feel that this being my first program, I'm all pushed already. We decided on the music. I had in mind a piano intro to a song I love but was just 1.30 min. The coach wanted 1.40. So I tried Audacity software for the first time. I was trying to add  from the main song and cut from the piano intro but it seamed to have no focus. Then I tried to chose a part from the main song and I didn't like it. I ended up copying a little of the piano music and pasting it somewhere. Now I have 1.45 min and it's fine as long as I don't move the first 5 sec. I think it's actually great to have 5 seconds to breath before skating.

The coach saw me trying some Salchow jumps just before starting the third lesson. He asked if I wanted any help. I hesitated because I didn't do jumps in a while and I was struggling to remember the entrance and the motion of the jump but I said yes. I was also planning to work on jump technique with my main coach and I was worried not to get confused between the two of them. But I'll have to put jumps in my program and with my main coach I work hard on dances, it doesn't seem I'll do Freestyle soon. I was again happy with him refreshing what I knew. He also added to it! And I felt it helped... Then he gave me some steps that  would potentially work on my music. I was soo happy that I learned them quickly. It was a huge worry for me that I won't be able to remember the choreography. But, I have to say, I really think he explains it so it is easy to remember...

Last week was about how to continue after a jump landing. And the coach gave me 3 options. Step forward on the left leg and continue with forward crossovers on a new circle. There is a little bit of a tricky part when changing the orientation of the upper body. I definitely needed it explained. The second option was to step into a left forward power 3 turn and change direction. AND, the third option, a tap toe for those times when you don't lend perfectly... As I said, I feel he teaches me strategy and choreography options. Exactly what I asked for!

One thing he insists on from the first lesson, and I'm not doing it yet, is to add an intro and an ending to each element I do. So, few strokes, add arms, turn, then jump or spin, then few steps out and arms again. I think it's a very good advice to get used with connecting steps.

Skating technique: jumps - the Bunny Hop

jumps part 1.

The first jump taught is the Bunny Hop. It is a jump that goes forward, with no rotation. It is a requirement in Gamma (beginner) group classes level under ISI curriculum. I think I did this level in a summer, when there weren't adult only group classes, but all ages classes. The kids got this jump quickly so it wasn't done over and over again. I thought I kind off got it, even if I was terrified of doing it every single time. Now I know I didn't. Also, everybody I asked that learned it as an adult, was terrified of it, so it seams it is an awkward jump for adults. Anyhow, come test day, I crossed my fingers and up I went, and I passed...

I thought I'll never do it again, until I started private lessons, mostly Ice Dancing, but I asked my coach to review mu jumps. He was: "Show me your Bunny Hop". Me: "Mmmm, I don't know it. But I know the rest of them up to the flip!" Actually that wasn't even true, I also didn't remember Any of the half jumps.So he explained to me tat the Bunny Hop is the foundation of all the jumps. It teaches hoe to push yourself in the air safely, from the toe pick, rolling on the blade. If you push yourself up from a flat blade you'll slide. Also it teaches you to use the free leg hip, to help you come up...

Prep exercises:
- off ice skipping because the bunny hop is a skip... Pay attention what muscles you use to bring the knee up (hip and core for me) and how the arms goes forward and backward in opposition.
-  holding the boards roll on your blade until the toe pick. It was more foreword then I have thought. You'll have to jump from the toe pick.
-  holding the boards and if it's comfortable from a two foot glide, bend both knees and hop in the air (it's not so much from the toe pick but it's still a little roll on a blade). You land on the flat on both feet.
- this didn't work for me, but here it is: bunny hop from a two foot glide. Swing the right leg back, then at the same time swing it forward (with the knee bent, think knee up) and jump up from the left foot. Land for a sec on the right toe pick, from which you push on a left foot glide. The reason it wasn't working for me is that when I swang the right leg back I was shifting the weight too forward on my left blade so I didn't have what to roll onto, and I was leaning my upper body forward so I was feeling that I will surely trip over the toe pick.

The bunny hop can be done on both legs, I'll describe just the right leg up:
- from standing (or couple of strokes if you can handle some speed) stroke and bend that knee, put pressure onto the left foot (feels like stepping onto that foot), the weight is on the left foot, right foot extended back  the right arm forward and left arm and shoulder back(!important)  to balance both on the blade (be on back of the middle of the blade)  and feeling the upper body square with the hips.
- immediately push up from the left toe pick rolling the blade (up not forward!) while lifting (swinging) the right knee (from the hip) and switching the arms so the left goes forward, and the right back to balance. Some coaches teach to swing the leg forward straight. 
- land on the right toe pick and push forward on a left foot glide

My first problem with the bunny hop was that I just didn't know how to start, that became evident when I started to do it on both legs. I think at the beginning I was thinking of which knee goes up. But the jumps starts before that, you push from the other leg. It helps me to think of it as "step and push up". And it is UP. At first, second mistake, I was trying to go long, it doesn't work... My other mistake was that I didn't use the hip and core to push that free knee up, I was just let it come for the ride. The swinging of the free leg from back to knee up is helping the whole body come up. Also don't forget to use the arms.

Here is me jumping the Bunny Hop on both legs

My coach also asks me to alternate them. That took me awhile...

Skating technique: the Lunge

This is in the requirements for testing Gamma under ISI, the last level before Freestyle, so still a very beginner move.

The Lunge is a glide with the skating foot bent, and the back foot hold straight back turned out so the side of the boot is on ice. It seemed easy for me, AFTER I've got it.... I was recently asked by two beginner friends about it. One had trouble lowering, the other rising. And I remember I had both of the problems.

There are few problems in lowering. The first one is not keeping your weight over the skating hip and foot, leaning the upper body too much forward so going too forward on the blade and then wobbling back and forth on the blade. The second one is placing the free foot on the ice at an angle so part of the blade or the tip of the boot touches ice and steers you on a curve. And for rising I find that firstly, you don't have to let yourself "sink" into the lunge, but just as much as you can control with your inner tights muscles. Then you have to be engage the right muscles, obviously the skating quad to straighten the knee of the skating foot, the inner thighs, but also the core and free hip muscles.

What you have to do is:
- stroke, find the balance point on your blade,
- engaging your core and keeping the balancing point on the blade, start bending the skating knee while keeping the free leg extended back, turned out and flexed so the blade gets parallel with the ice, only then lower totally on the skating foot (until the hip is lower then the skating knee) and allow the free foot's inside of the boot to touch the ice
- hold the position for a distance four times your height keeping the core engaged and the inner thighs tense and engaged.

- to rise, press a little into the skating knee and free foot booth that's on the ice and  lean your upper body a little forward (that will move the balance point on your blade forward, so when you lift the free foot, that will pull you back on the initial balance point).  Then, with the core engaged to balance everything,  lift the free leg from the hip muscles and rise using the quad, hamstring and gluteus of  the skating leg. You have to rise on one leg.

I like practicing the lunges on both feet as a straightening exercise, even if now I'm very cautious not to re injure the hip muscles.

Skating technique: turns - Forward Inside 3-Turn

turns - part 3

Read about the Forward Outside 3-Turns here and Forward Inside Mohawk here.

The Forward Inside 3-Turn goes from a Forward Inside Edge to a Backward Outside Edge, on the same foot. I found it scarier than the outside 3-turn. And it's because you finish on an back outside edge with back and weight towards the inside of the circle and the free foot on the outside of the circle. So, if you would loose your balance after the turn, towards the inside of the circle, the free foot it's not there to "fall on it". It goes like this:

- stroke on an Forward Inside Edge from a T-position, with the same hand as the skating foot in front, skating knee bent. The alignment should be the imaginary neck zipper, in line with the belly button,  in line with the back of the arch of your skating foot, where your weight should fall when skating forward. You can ride the edge with the free foot extended back over the circle tracing that you skated or you can bring it immediately at the back of the skating foot. For "figures" style the free foot boot is perpendicular on the skating boot, for a more relaxed skating like MITF could oblique near the skating foot boot like here or here. For a Freestyle 3-turn, used before jumps and spins, the free leg stays extended, like here. The idea for a beginner is to not keep the free foot boot parallel with the skating foot boot, because it will make the turn harder. One tip I've got was to keep the knees open, that would keep the free boot back and oblique not parallel with the skating boot.
- to turn, twist the upper body towards the inside of the circle (for beginner until the hand that was in the front points to the center of the circle) and look towards the inside of the circle, while rising on on that foot (so straightening the knee) to bring your weight over the skating hip. One thing I'm careful about is to press into the ice during the initial edge and the rising on the skating hip and foot, until I'm ready to turn on the ball of the skating foot when I release the pressure into the ice.
- after the turn you'll be on a Back Outside Edge on a bent knee again and pressing into the ice again. You have to twist the upper body the opposite direction from what you twisted before the turn to check the turn. I feel I have to push back the skating shoulder. And you have to stay over the skating hip, ideally leaning toward the inside of the circle. A correction I still get is to not drop the free hip, that makes the skating hip to stick out.

Important to all the turns is to not rush the turn, at the beginner level that usually means that the upper body is not rotated enough.

If you'll continue holding the BO edge, after the check you'll allow the arms and shoulders to move so you will be with the back at the circle, so the skating arm will be to your front and the free arm to your back, leading the way as you go now backwards. Also is important to allow your head to look back, meaning, outside the circle.

This is all there is to it :)

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Lots of things happened last month, one great, the rest, not...

The great thing is that I had days with absolutely no pain! My initial hip injury was from a fall in March. Then one by one, all the muscles around the hip started to hurt from compensating (working harder because the injured and painful spot wasn't working properly). I was feeling kind of ok in thesummer, when I fell again... then again 2 months ago. The last 2 falls haven't hurt my hip, but the pain was in the same area, so the muscles around the hip were compensating again, and hurting again. The pain made me unable to work on extension both back and to the front, and power. Recently, with no pain, I started working on these, but guess what. I've got another kind of pain, quad pain. As I was bending, pushing and holding the edges and extensions more I worked the muscles that haven't worked in months. I mention this because it lasted weeks and I started to get worried. I googled muscle pain from exercise and the majority of the results were from body building kind of exercises and that wasn't what I was doing. But I've got the idea that some culprits could be lack of enough protein, vitamin D and B12, I think it's not the case because I watch what I eat, but it's not impossible as I'm almost vegan. Lack of adequate sleep, and I think I wasn't sleeping well that period, I rescued a kitten... Other causes, not enough hydration. And not warming up the muscles before exercising hard like skating. I think it was mainly building muscles and being tired from not enough sleep. But it made me add moving exercise to my warm up that was just light stretches before. Besides probably helping with the muscle pain,  I'm feeling so much better on ice, more quick and efficient. Anyhow, I'm quite good now with both the hip and the quads!

The not so great thing is that after the last fall,  I developed a terrible fear of falling and injuring myself again and another terrible fear of bumping into somebody or somebody bumping into me and make me fall... Whoever skates knows that you cannot skate if you are afraid. Lately I was always cautious, tense, obviously neither enjoying or progressing. I was talking to my coach about this and he said that I have two options, to be patient and to wait for it to pass, or to push trough it. Then, we answered at the same time: he, push trough it, me, wait for it to pass.

So, last month when I skated without my coach, depending on how crowded the session was, I was running trough things cautiously. On my private lessons with my regular coach we concentrate on the Willow Waltz as I plan to test as soon as he thinks I'm ready. My rink testing session for November was full before we decided if I'm ready, next session is middle of January, or I can go to another rink in December.

The new coach that it's gonna choreograph a program for me  was busy with his old students that were competing at ISI adult national competition so we didn't meet the last 3 weeks.

AND, my rink is closed for one week. It is a very busy rink, so a studio rink was built. They'll use the same cooling system so the main rink will have to be disconnected and then both rinks will be connected. It is a good thing as more classes will be offered. It's just that it messes my skating week. I decided to do not take any lessons and I went skating on Tuesday on another rink. I'll try to go once more...

I would say it was a "meh" skating month but I'm finally feeling physically better so I'm overall happy!

Goals for next month, just one: be patient... Well, and start working at my Freestyle program.