Spin trainers?

[LilJen]

Has anyone tried these--tiny little devices that you can stick on a hard floor to practice spinning? I ask because I really STINK at spinning, mostly because I just CANNOT get past the awful, dizzy feeling. Like, after 2 revs. It freaks me out when I'm on the ice. And I'm not able to skate frequently enough to do lots of spins often, so it's like re-learning every week or so when I'm at the rink. I figured at least I can take a couple of spins on this each day at home and start getting my head used to the dizzy feeling. Are these worthwhile?

[Skate@Delaware]

Some of the girls at my rink swear by them. I bought one to use for my backspin over the summer....all I did was fall off of it (sheesh! and I wasn't going that fast either). Maybe I'll give it a go later on for the camel. OTOH, my daughter uses it for her spin and likes it. But, she already spins.

You could try spinning on somthing smooth (i.e. kitchen or wood floor) in your socks. That might help. Just be sure there is nothing nearby you would crash into.

[MQSeries]

Don't waste your money. You get the same effect putting on a pair of socks and spinning on your kitchen floor (make sure there's plenty of spaces aroudn for you to fall though).

I find that most of the issues with spins are due to the entrances going into the spin, and you're not going to be able to practice that with those spinner devices.

There's this new thing now where the coaches are using like one of those flexible chord where one end is tied to your skate and you grab hold of the other end with your hand. The idea is to keep tension on the chord as you go into the spin. This is supposed to prevent your shoulder from dropping on the spin entrance, one of the most common error, since you have to maintain the same tension on the chord throughout the entrance.

[beachbabe]

They really work.

I saw a vast improvement in spinning within jsut the first few days of use.

It helped the most on my sit spin for some reason and helped improve my traveling on my other spins.

Its a useful tool, but definately does not replace practice on the ice.

Its great if you have trouble with travelling and getting a good center because if you dont hold your center the spinner can be kind of dangerous in the way it bucks you off really hard.

[TashaKat]

I had loads of fun with mine but they didn't help my spinning one little bit. What did help my spinning was lots of practise on the ice.

[samba]

Don't waste your money. You get the same effect putting on a pair of socks and spinning on your kitchen floor (make sure there's plenty of spaces aroudn for you to fall though).

That's how I learned, unless you can already spin well its a waste of money, I always thought I could spin well until I got one of these just to improve things further, if you are a fraction off, anything in your path gets it.

[Kristin]

I had the hardest time learning how to spin too. I tried one of those metal ball-bearing spinners and it didn't help me since it doesn't mimic the entry into the spin (and that's the hardest part! The actual spinning is the "easy" part if you do the entry right). The only thing that helped was good old-fashioned hard work with my coach and lots of PRACTICE!

Don't worry, you will get it with time & effort. I made it a point to practice spinning at *every practice* to make sure I don't lose what I have.

Kristin

[Mrs Redboots]

I liked the ball-bearing one (I borrowed it from a friend to try) but not enough to buy my own. Someone gave me one of the plastic one-foot ones, which I actually find are marvellous for practising 3-turns and twizzles on, but less good for spins. Plus you need a wooden or linoleum floor, and we really don't have room in the flat, so I don't use it as much as I should.

[AshBugg44]

The nice thing about spinners is that you can only hold the spin if you are holding your position correcting - especially in your core! They are great for core strength, and you can also practice spirals and turns on them as well.

[Award]

True..... at least you can practise dizzyness training with them. But probably best to have gym mats completely surrounding the device, so if you fly off, then all you do is land on the gym mats and roll around a bit.