Spirals

[Luckster013]

Does anyboy have any tips on doing spirals?

[Kristin]

Does anyboy have any tips on doing spirals?

Do them off ice, like when you are watching TV or something. Just stand in front of the TV (watch you fav TV show), and put your leg up in spiral position with arms out to the side for balance. Do it at least a couple of times per day, and practice pointing your toe in the spiral position too! This helps for balancing when you do them on the ice!

[flo]

Keep your nose up. I always remember the "follow your nose" Fruit Loops commercials. If your nose goes down, so will you.

[Petlover]

Set up a strong arched back right before you go into them, and keep it strong. This helps get the leg up easier too. Also, never look down!

[doubletoe]

The thing most people are--rightfully--afraid of on spirals is catching a toepick and doing a face plant on the ice. But if you lift the toes of your skating foot inside the boot, that will absolutely not happen. (I've got 10 years of no face plants to show for it! :D) So what I think about when doing spirals is my toes: Point the ones in the air and lift the ones on the ice.

As for body position: Pull back against the heel of your skating foot so that your hips are behind your skating foot, not over it. Keep your chin up at all times, belly button down, and squeeze your shoulder blades together to get that back arch.

Spirals are not just a matter of flexibility, they are a matter of strength. In order to keep that heavy boot at the end of your leg lifted above your hip, it takes a lot of upper glute muscles. So every time you skate, do spirals on each foot and try to hold that leg up as long as you can to build the muscles.

[Team Arthritis]

Anterior Tibialis - that's the muscle that lifts those toes the most. You can see it bulge in skaters:)
I also play games with my skating foot trying to come down off the heel (where is that heel pick when you need it???) http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/teufel/a010.gif onto the flat where I should be (gulp don't hit a rut!) http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/teufel/d100.gif
I also think that stretching the Quads (top of the thigh - eg pull foot up to your rear) helps a bunch.
Lyle

[frbskate63]

Shoulders back. If they go back, the rest of your upper body goes back too, and then you can't face plant.

Fiona

[Casey]

The thing most people are--rightfully--afraid of on spirals is catching a toepick and doing a face plant on the ice.
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/falls/casey-spiral_fall.mpeg :roll:

But if you lift the toes of your skating foot inside the boot, that will absolutely not happen. (I've got 10 years of no face plants to show for it! :D) So what I think about when doing spirals is my toes: Point the ones in the air and lift the ones on the ice.
I think about it differently, but end result is, weight on the heel and the fall won't happen. You can see in my video by the angle of the skating leg how I come up too far forward on the ball of the foot which is what causes disaster. :P If the weight's on the heel, the foot will be farther forward than the hips.

[Skate@Delaware]

If the weight's on the heel, the foot will be farther forward than the hips.
This is exactly what you should strive for (on or off-ice). Push that skating foot forward, while keeping it straight as you can. When you are balanced, then try to extend through your legs and arms...you can actually achieve higher leg-height that way. When you are in a good position, you actually have to work a little harder to get a great line (legs straight, back arched, head up, arms out, etc).

Don't forget to do them on the other side....I do believe they really help to strengthen your core.

Also, be sure to do them while you are warmed up and stretched. This is especially important the older you get. Plus, warmed muscles can work better than cold.

[Bill_S]

http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/falls/casey-spiral_fall.mpeg :roll:

You can see in my video by the angle of the skating leg how I come up too far forward on the ball of the foot which is what causes disaster...

ROFLMAO!

Been there, done that - but I don't have the video to prove it! That's great!