Inside 3's

[skatin' mom]

Does anyone else 2-foot their inside 3-turns? I have a horrible habit of doing it that I need to break (preferably before my next competition)! But no matter how hard I try, I can't take my free foot off the ice until AFTER I make the turn. Help!:cry:

[dbny]

FI threes? Yes, all the time because I'm scared of them. I can usually manage a few RFI threes near the boards, and do very nice ones with a very light spot. Something that also helps is to have another skater face you, hold both hands with arms outstretched and make the turns that way.

[icedancer2]

I would also try working at the wall. Try not to think of it as a wall. think of it as a barre, like in ballet and you are a beautiful dancer... (it works for me)

and practice, practice, practice. Also practicing long inside edges with good extensions should help you get the feeling of being over your skating hip, foot and knee better.

and practice, practice, practice. For me the biggest trick in re-learning inside 3's was not stepping down AFTER the turn and really just holding that outside back edge and I have seen other skaters do this also.

and practice, practice, practice...

[SDFanatic]

Yes, practice, practice, practice!

Something you can do to help on the stability after the three turn is anything that involves backwards outside edges. Backwards crossovers are one thing that comes to mind, do one and hold that back outside edge for as long as you can hold it. Don't worry about overdoing it, you'll need that back outside edge for all kinds of things!

Doing it on the wall is an excellent start and will give you an idea of what it's sopposed to be. Look at your tracings and see if your too far back (wide patch of ice scraped) too far forward (spooning or hitting the toe pick) OR perfect! Which looks like a 3 of course!

Lets say you want to do a right forward inside three turn (do this on a hockey circle to help your curve, Inside edges Opposite arms, Outside edges, Same arms, IOOS) So left arm in front, right arm back, right foot forward in a T position, push off, put your free leg (better be your left one!) toe to the inside of your skating leg, (don't forget, soft knees!) Now can you hold that for a little bit?

Good, lets continue! Slowly change your arms so your right arm is now forward and your left arm is back, rotate your upper body CCW but keep your lower body and skate leg following that curve! (like winding yourself up) Now the hard part, (or easy!) Rise up on your skating leg and let your lower body unwind, then sink back down into your skating leg. Your right arm will now be behind you, and your left arm in front of you and be going backwards (keep your right arm pushed back! It will help you from falling into the circle or loosing your balance)

TADA! 3 turn, yes?

Steven

(edited once so far cause my cat stepped on the mouse!)

[AshBugg44]

On working on my preliminary moves, I have discovered that my inside 3's are actually better than my outsides!

[Isk8NYC]

Originally posted by SDFanatic
Yes, practice, practice, practice!

Good, lets continue! Slowly change your arms so your right arm is now forward and your left arm is back, rotate your upper body CCW but keep your lower body and skate leg following that curve! (like winding yourself up) Now the hard part, (or easy!) Rise up on your skating leg and let your lower body unwind, then sink back down into your skating leg. Your right arm will now be behind you, and your left arm in front of you and be going backwards (keep your right arm pushed back! It will help you from falling into the circle or loosing your balance)



A fellow instructor taught me to turn your head around [B] towards the inside of the "circle" [B] to look behind you before you rotate the upper body. It really does help check the turn and eliminates a lot of the forced movement of your arms and legs.

[Justine_R]

Originally posted by AshBugg44
On working on my preliminary moves, I have discovered that my inside 3's are actually better than my outsides!

Me too,Im working on those.
Mine are actually better too!
I have more control.

[garyc254]

Originally posted by SDFanatic
Something you can do to help on the stability after the three turn is anything that involves backwards outside edges.

My inside threes are MUCH easier after I warm up my back edges.

Another tip from one of my coaches is to "reach" for the walls with your arms as you turn. Helps me keep my posture properly erect.

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by skatin' mom
Does anyone else 2-foot their inside 3-turns? I have a horrible habit of doing it that I need to break (preferably before my next competition)! But no matter how hard I try, I can't take my free foot off the ice until AFTER I make the turn. Help!:cry: I am not quite that bad, but I have to "push" into them with the other foot. If I push on to an inside edge and then try to do something with it, it simply doesn't happen - I think I am afraid of rotating into the circle, or something.

[mikawendy]

I just worked on FI3s in my moves lesson last week. I, too, have a problem with 2-footing the turn to make it happen.

My coach had me try a few things to get the turns going on one foot.

1. Pick a foot and just push from a T position onto an FI edge on that foot. Keep the same arm as skating leg forward (as you would do for an FI3). Just skate the edge...and keep skating the edge...and voila--you probably did an FI3 without thinking about it.

2. At the boards, do an FI3 while hanging on. Start out by pushing from a T position. When you get to the top of the lobe, where the turn would happen, draw in your free leg, turn the turn, then extend the leg again. I know that various 3 turns are skated with different free leg positions, but this exercise trains you to skate the edge, draw in for the turn, and skate the exit edge (instead of dropping the foot). Eventually, work on this away from the wall so that the turn is more of a true turn rather than a shallow one.

Good luck! I find these quite difficult, especially on my left foot. My main error is trying to turn the turn before I even skate the FI edge. It makes the turn very small and "wrenches" my body around (making me feel out of control and like I need to put my foot down).

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by mikawendy
I just worked on FI3s in my moves lesson last week. I, too, have a My main error is trying to turn the turn before I even skate the FI edge. It makes the turn very small and "wrenches" my body around (making me feel out of control and like I need to put my foot down). I find this a problem with almost all my turns except my FO3s - and I have trouble enough pushing into those, even when I can hold the edge! Have you - or anyone else - any idea how to remedy this? I think that in my case it's largely "bottle", but my coach seems to come up blank when I ask him how I can overcome my fears!

[sk8pics]

Originally posted by Mrs Redboots
I find this a problem with almost all my turns except my FO3s - and I have trouble enough pushing into those, even when I can hold the edge! Have you - or anyone else - any idea how to remedy this? I think that in my case it's largely "bottle", but my coach seems to come up blank when I ask him how I can overcome my fears!
When I'm rushing a turn, my coaches tell me to slow down, and make sure to push off onto the edge with the arm corresponding to the skating side in front. Often when I'm rushing I already have my arms positioned to do the turn before I even push onto the forward edge. So, to do a RFO3, push onto the right forward outside edge with the right arm in front and left arm in back, wait...wait... then switch the arms and do the the turn. If you do that, it always makes the entry edge longer and the turn better. That's only an issue for me on my LFO3's, though, which are always better when I do this; I can do my RFO3's with any arm position or entry, hallelujah!

Pat

[Isk8NYC]

Some more tips from a (very old) footwork class I took:

Tucking or touching the free foot to the boot helps keep the hip in check.

If you're doing a three with the extended free leg, keep the free foot over the tracing.

Try to "cross" your upper thighs to check the hip rotation.

After the turn, really bend that knee and hold the edge. It is important to keep the free hip UP, so lift your buttocks. (No offense intended.)

Hope this helps.

[Justine_R]

Oh thanks.

[JDC1]

Inside edges generally are easier for most skaters, my coach explained why but I've totally forgotten there's some really basic reason. Not being able to see you my advice would echo some of what's been given 1) keep your free leg close to you and keep it STILL do not let it swing 2) check your arms and do not let either of them swing around or keep going 3) Practice your insided edges over and over and over until they feel natural to your body 4) do the backcross overs someone else mentioned and hold the edge 5) BEND your knees MORE you'd be surprised 6) make sure you go down/up/down in a nice fluid motion.

[skatin' mom]

Thank you so much everyone for the advice!!:D

[vesperholly]

When I taught Learn to Skate classes, almost everyone had such a hard time understanding inside 3-turns. Most of the skaters were fighting the direction of rotation. What I remember of my tips:

- keep the toe of your free foot close to the heel of the skating foot. For example, RFI - the left foot should be lingering behind the skating foot. It acts like a rudder.

- try to do one from a FO edge around a hockey circle. Do LFO, bring your R foot in front, then step onto RFI.

- for RFI, right arm in front before the turn with L arm to the side. After the turn, R should be to the side and L should be in front.

- steadiness on the entry edge will contribute in spades to the comfort of the turn. You should be able to hold a good FI edge for at least 3 counts. It does not need to be fast.

There are a lot of good suggestions on this thread. How's it been going?

[Tessie]

Thank you SDFanatic. I have printed out your advise. I love outside 3s and can do backinside and outside 3s. But the forward inside 3 I always skid on it!

[SDFanatic]

Originally posted by Tessie
Thank you SDFanatic. I have printed out your advise. I love outside 3s and can do backinside and outside 3s. But the forward inside 3 I always skid on it!

Try pressing your hands down on an imaginary table, (still keeping then in the proper position of course) skidding is a recent problem I've had now since I had my blades moved. My one coach said not to worry about it, if you can still do the turn, it's still a turn, stopping the skid just takes some time. If I do a fast inside 3 turn, I have a good inside edge, about two feet of skid, then a good outside edge. It's something strange as right now if I do a regular three turn on a hockey circle, I put too much into it, but if I try to do it larger, I'm not quite fast enough so it seems. Pressing down on the imginary table has helped, it's kept my upper body more upright and rigid, then just being overly soft.

Maybe this will help a bit more,

Steven