help on loops and other questions about skating.

[kittie067]

happy holidays to all! i need some help on my loops. i just started learning them a couple of weeks ago. how do you get all the way around and how do you curl your left foot in front of your right while in the air? also i was wondering if anyone knew of any good books (fiction or nonfiction) about skating. im reading silver blades(even though its below my reading level) cuz they get me in the mood to skate. also i've read some biographies of michelle kwan and tara lipinski. does any one know of some easy footwork i coud try? thanks!
~kittie

[AstarZ41]

Try it from a RFI 3 turn. After the turn keep your leg in front. Then stay on the RBO edge and keep turning it sharply to 90 degrees until you're facing sideways. Then just hop up to land on RBO.

You can first just go through the motions without jumping, sort of back spin it. Then add a small hop. The main thing is to get the feel of where your weight and arms and legs are supposed to be. If you think of it as a small hop after doing almost the whole thing on the ice it will be easier to learn. Then as you get better you'll be able to do them a lot higher and from different entrances.

Good luck! 8-)

[Anita18]

Loops are the coolest jumps! I actually found them easier to rotate when I did them from back crossovers, since it's harder to check the loop entrance right after you do an RFI 3.

In order to curl your left foot over your right, it's going to have to begin that way. :) I see a lot of skaters trying their loops with their feet uncrossed, and they never ever get all the way around. Plus, they're often unable to get all of their weight over their right side. Cross your left foot slightly over your right before your take off, but make sure that all of your weight is on your right foot. It's going to feel kinda scary at first (everyone slips and falls on that RBO entrance edge at least once...ask Plushenko :P ), but you really do have to commit to the weight being over your right side in order to get the jump done.

Secondly, your right shoulder should be checked back strongly and that your left arm is over the circle your RBO edge is making. (And make sure your right shoulder is held level with your left shoulder - the reason why I was falling so much at first was because I kept dropping that right shoulder on the entrance, and it would stay dropped over the jump and take me off balance on the landing) The jump will fully rotate when your shoulders and hips turn around together, and most of the rotation will come from your shoulders going around. When you're ready to jump, bend your knees A LOT, jump up with your right foot, and scoop your right arm straight across until your hand meets up with your left shoulder. (Remember to keep your shoulders and hips square.)

Wow, I wrote waay more than I expected to, LOL....trying all of these things off ice will help, considering that's a lot of things you have to think about while setting up for the jump. Working on your backspin will help, or vice versa. My backspin actually got better after I could do the loop, LOL.

As for footwork, I'm not sure what it's called, but I've seen a lot of skaters do this: LFI mohawk onto RBI edge, check, cross the left foot over to a LBI edge, LBI mohawk onto RFI edge, then repeat. This will take you on a CCW circle. It's really fun to do at the corners, instead of doing crossovers, and you can get pretty far on each step once you've worked out the timing.

[doubletoe]

Start with both feet on the ice, but with all of your weight on the right foot. The left foot is lined up so that the heel of your left foot is in front of the toe of your right foot, and the left foot is sort of trailing after teh right foot as you go around backward on the RBO edge. Your right shoulder should be back, and your left arm should be extended in front of you. If you are in this position when you take off, your left foot will automatically end up in front of your right shin once you take off, which is where it's supposed to be.

[looplover]

even if you haven't learned them yet...start practicing them from a pivot..that gets you used to having your left foot in front and really helps with this jump.

[techskater]

Get the free foot crossed in front of the skating foot before taking off, press down on your skating knee and spring up

[skatingmozzie]

The way I find loop easy is you start by doing your backward crossovers but instead of taking off you do a backspin. Keep on doing this but start doing the backspin and do a little hop from the back spin and land backwardson two feet and gradually land on one foot. When you can finally land on one foot with the back spin start to make your backspin smaller and the hop bigger until all your work turns into a perfect loop. Also it helps if you stand on the spot and do backspins with a hop in the middle. The whole free leg in front thing should be taken care of by the backspin.

About the books, I only have one and its non - fiction. Its called Ice Stars by Kevin Bursey. It talks about the Ice skating Champions from all catorgories
ice dance
figure
pairs, that stuff. They have talked to these people and have some tips for getting through and their style of skating

So good luck and happy reading,
Skatingmozzie. :twisted:

[kittie067]

my loops have improved greatly. my sister (who can already land them!) told me i'm getting good height. they are feeling a bit easier now and also im able to land a half loop fairly well now(not consistently tho).so thanks for all the advice.

so to my other questions about footwork and books. any suggestions?

[kittie067]

i was wondering if a thread isnt needed any more or isnt used does it get deleted eventually?
~kittie

[iskatealot]

Pull your foot in as tight as you can as well and your arms to rotate it. also the Scott Hamilton Autobiography Landing It is really really good

[kittie067]

thanks for the quick answers! and the books ill check them out
happy late new years!
~kittie