Skate Spinners

[Luckster013]

My coach suggested hat i get skate spiners to help with my scratch spins. Has any one used them? Does it really help?

[jazzpants]

I have used one. Save your money! They didn't help me with my spins at all. :x

[Award]

They can help. But you have to be careful, because of the nature of the thing. You don't really want to be falling on it if you do fall. And also, if you do fall off it, you don't really want to injure yourself on the ground or anything else that surrounds you.

[froggy]

i bought a skate spinner and ihave not been too impressed with it, it gets me dizzy when i use it and it does not help in training the entrance of a spin -that which i need most of the help with. i recommend to save your money and use the money you saved for practice on ice.

[jazzpants]

i recommend to save your money and use the money you saved for practice on ice.Or better -- a coach to show you how to spin. (Now THAT worked better than the spinner!!!) :D

[samba]

Waste of money

[Scarlett]

I have one and I didn't get much use out of it. It helped a little with the dizziness aspect of spins but for the most part it was only really good for throwing me into furniture. The thing that helped my one foot spin was the conscious decision to practice them every time I got on the ice and to go back to two foot spins. Now as far as the sit spin goes...I got nothing.

[Isk8NYC]

Check out this thread (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=21675&highlight=spin+trainers).

BTW, the "Search" function on the dark blue bar is useful for questions like this - it gets you answers much more quickly.

Here are the results of searching for SPIN TRAINERS:

http://www.skatingforums.com/search.php?searchid=114548

[russiet]

...The thing that helped my one foot spin was the conscious decision to practice them every time I got on the ice and to go back to two foot spins. Now as far as the sit spin goes...I got nothing.

Agreed, its practice on the ice.

My coach doesn't want to see me two-foot spin anymore. So I practice the spin entrance and scratch spin everytime I get on the ice.

Now if I go back to a 2-foot, it's very easy and very centered. If I hadn't tried to progress to a scratch spin my 2-foot would probably still be a mess.

If you do want to try a spinner, you can make your own for less money. I posted a link or instructions from the link (I don't remember!) here a few months ago....I may still have it, but I can't find it at the moment. Try a thread search.

[TashaKat]

I agree with the others. It's great fun but pretty useless.

Save your money for lessons :)

[russiet]

Found it

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=270678#post270678

[Bill_S]

The link given in that thread for a home-built spinner was for an older web server I once used. It's no longer active, and I've moved the spinner-making instructions to a new server at:

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~schneidw/skating/homemade_spinner.html

BTW, it's fun to try, but it's not exactly like a spin on real ice. I still have my spinner (as pictured in the link above) however it gets no use.

[russiet]

Thanks, Bill.

You could always use it in the middle of the table for a lazy suzan.

[Bill_S]

You could always use it in the middle of the table for a lazy suzan.

Heh heh --the woodworking is a little rough for that, but it's a splendid idea!

Maybe we should devise alternative uses for unused skate spinners...

How about a stand for a potted plant that needs to be rotated to get the sun properly?

A base for a stuck globe?

A sobriety testing device?

[katiepeach]

I got mine for my birthday last year, and my dad used it to decorate my cake. He put the cake (on a clean platter of course) on the spinner on the counter so that he could easily access all sides of the cake.

[miraclegro]

That's funny. All the different uses for a skate spinner. I tried one and it scared me too much. I practice spins a lot on my kitchen linoleum floor. In my socks. Especially my backspin!

[Skittl1321]

That's funny. All the different uses for a skate spinner. I tried one and it scared me too much. I practice spins a lot on my kitchen linoleum floor. In my socks. Especially my backspin!

I practice entrances to spins on my kitchen floor too- after a few revolutions though I stop them so I don't fall. I find that a swiffer cloth under my feet helps me do a "real" 3 turn, where I have to fake it with socks

[jazzpants]

I find that a swiffer cloth under my feet helps me do a "real" 3 turn, where I have to fake it with socksHelps clean the kitchen floor too! :P :lol: (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

[Skittl1321]

Helps clean the kitchen floor too! :P :lol: (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

That's how I figured it out. I couldn't find the broom handle

[Team Arthritis]

last time I used mine was to practice falls while taking out the garbage. http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/boese/d015.gif
Lyle

[Isk8NYC]

I practice spins a lot on my kitchen linoleum floor. In my socks. Especially my backspin!I think we're related. I drove my mother crazy with that trick - she was terrified that I was going to crash into something.

[Mrs Redboots]

You should have seen Husband, me, and another skating friend (in her 60s) practising 3-turns on the floor in the church kitchen the other Sunday.....

[Skates]

Hi sorry if this question has already been asked. But to those of you that have a spinner, im considering getting one to help with centering and balance, what spinners do you have? and could you link me to a picture of them so i can compare and find which is the best for me

[miraclegro]

I tried some friends' spinners, and i was always flying off of it. I agree, the linoleum floor is great, i learn and better my backspin and working on axel some. But there was the time i fell really hard on my butt and th whole house shook! ha ha, but it's still safer imo, than that crazy spinner thing!

[xofivebyfive]

Spinners suck for all foward spins. Backspins can get a lot better though. My spinner made my backspin amazingly better.

[slusher]

I use one to practice turns. I've done a couple of slow backspins on it but I don't find that the feel transfers to the ice the same. However for turns it is great. One of the older coaches at the rink said that's what she used to use one for when she did figures and since I was having trouble with back 3's, I borrowed one and used it in front of a mirror. I can see my body alignment and how a move of an arm or hip can make my turn actually turn. That was a tremendous help on the ice, and falling on the carpet was so much easier than falling on the ice trying to do a bracket.

I also had an chance at the rink gym to use a couple of them and practice a 3 turn pattern. It looks weird but it make sense. You put them about a step apart. ie, step on the first spinner, do RFO 3 turn step off left, step on the next one, do RBO, step off, do RFO. The step in between simulates the skating step, if you don't check your turns, you know it at the third spinner because you're not even near it!

Mirrors of course are essential and humiliating in a good way.

[Morgail]

Hi sorry if this question has already been asked. But to those of you that have a spinner, im considering getting one to help with centering and balance, what spinners do you have? and could you link me to a picture of them so i can compare and find which is the best for me

Here you go:
http://www.rainbosports.com/shop/site/department.cfm/id/20EB5563-475A-BAC0-5729E5C623BF8A3C

I have the cheaper plastic one (the last one pictured on that site). I wouldn't really recommend it to improve spins. I have fun playing around on it, but it just makes me dizzy more than anything else.

[RinkRat321]

i dont like them, i'm always afraid i'm going to hurt myself on them. my friend brought his to off ice class, we actually didnt even use them for spins we used them for jump take offs. i dont really think they help

[looplover]

You should have seen Husband, me, and another skating friend (in her 60s) practising 3-turns on the floor in the church kitchen the other Sunday.....

Ha! I was just doing this on my living room floor (carpet is not helpful, I miss the hardword floors!)

[FLskater]

I got a tip to use an Everlast twist board. It's much cheaper than the "real" spinners ($10). It's really meant to stand on both feet & twist. I'm not sure if it really helps me, since I'm not that great at spinning. But since I've used it I've been less dizzy on the ice. It's also helping me get my leg crossed over for a scratch spin. Now if only I can do that ON the ice...

[Sessy]

Here you go:
http://www.rainbosports.com/shop/site/department.cfm/id/20EB5563-475A-BAC0-5729E5C623BF8A3C

I have the cheaper plastic one (the last one pictured on that site). I wouldn't really recommend it to improve spins. I have fun playing around on it, but it just makes me dizzy more than anything else.

I've got their gold metal pro spinner. GOOD stuff, especially given the ridiculously long summer breaks here. Very hard to use for spins though as in to really SPIN, but, I was getting 2-3 revolutions on my backspin on that trainer (never having done a backspin on ice), then I tried it on ice. Within an hour I was up to 6 revolutions, within 3 hours to 9, reasonably centered even.
Also really really helps for the 3-turns. I hadn't done a back 3 turn except on the spinner and I went onto the ice and just did one, and then some more.

It does far less for the forward spins than it does for the backspins and 3-turns though. And I haven't noticed any benefit at all for the forward camel spin. Basically I'd say it's worth it though if ice time is an issue.

Also interesting to film yourself on a spinner. Makes you see what your errors are. Like at first I thought I was just dropping my right shoulder, turned out I only drop it after I raise my right hip too high. Alternatively, that I'm not dropping my left shoulder but instead my right hip actually, then over-compensating by leaning to the left.

[liz_on_ice]

Spinners suck for all foward spins. Backspins can get a lot better though. My spinner made my backspin amazingly better.

that's interesting. maybe I'll get mine out of the back of the closet again and try that out. I can't postpone learning the backspin any longer. :halo: