any tips for the spin entry -> forward spin?

[peanutskates]

let's just say that spinning doesn't come naturally to me. this is what I do now (spinning CW):

2 xo's -> glide on LBI edge
rotate body to outside of circle
after some time, turn upper body kinda inside and step onto RBO edge
glide on RBO edge in a curve for a count of around 4
swing left leg across/pull arms in
rotate

any tips on learning? I'm having a hard time centering the spin

2/3 weeks until I get proper boots and blades though, that could be my problem (my current skates are an unknown brand that were v. cheap and are not v good)

[silverbeetle]

let's just say that spinning doesn't come naturally to me. this is what I do now (spinning CW):

2 xo's -> glide on LBI edge
rotate body to outside of circle
after some time, turn upper body kinda inside and step onto RBO edge
glide on RBO edge in a curve for a count of around 4
swing left leg across/pull arms in
rotate

any tips on learning? I'm having a hard time centering the spin

2/3 weeks until I get proper boots and blades though, that could be my problem (my current skates are an unknown brand that were v. cheap and are not v good)


Hi, I'm going to assume you are going from a LBI to a RFO. when you do the "wind-up" on the LBI your L shoulder will be back...when you step forward this check should be maintained until the point you want to spin. This can take quite a bit of strength to accomplish but this leads to the most centered spins. And make sure you only go from L shoulder back to square...you don't want your upper body swinging past square or you'll get all discombobulated. When your L Shoulder goes to square your L leg should be doing the same thing...L shoulder (arm) and leg should change at the same time.

Hope this helps...

Silverbeetle

[SynchroSk8r114]

When teaching forward spin (like 1 ft. or scratch spin), I have my skaters stand on either the red or blue line. Using a marker, I draw a half circle on the line (that leads back to the line). For you being a left-handed skater, stand in T-position with your right foot in front, stroke back with your left foot making sure to keep your left arm strongly in front (to help you curve back around to the line). Also make sure that you keep your left leg behind your butt, not out to the side, which can cause you to whip around and results in an off-center spin. Your right leg should be very bent. This is the trick...stay down in your knee with your left leg sqeezed behind you until you make it all the way back to the line. Once you get back to your line, stay down for approximately 1 revolution, then rise up all the way in your skating knee. What you should end up with is something that looks like a lollipop on a bent stick, which is caused from hooking the spin and centering it nicely.

If you rise up too soon, you'll get large loops or end up with 3-turns upon 3-turns, which is not really a spin and does nothing to help you center.

Good luck, happy spinning! :D

[jazzpants]

any tips on learning? I'm having a hard time centering the spinCentering the spin could be one of a few problems:
1) Spin entry... make sure to hold that RFO edge and stay down on that edge for at LEAST a half revolution. (For camels, it's even longer.) The way to practice that is the ol' stand on the line and then do a RFO edge half circle and THEN come up to a spin. 2) You may have a problem with even shoulders. That might throw you off a bit. or 3) When you're spinning, you're not on a true FO edge but doing little 3turns instead. That will also throw you off center as well. You need to press on that FO edge.

(Guess how I know this... :roll: )

I recommend when you CAN to video tape yourself on the ice and put it up on YouTube. That should help us see what's going on. (Yeah, I know. You have to clear it with the rink. Do make sure it's okay! Given that I suspect that if you are in lesson and you ask your coach politely to film you, it should be okay...) ;)

BTW: I'm a CW skater too! :D When I have a chance, I'll put in a one foot spin video on YouTube. I only have a sit spin one up as of now though.

[WannabeS8r]

Adding to what everyone else said: try to avoid swinging your arms around in order to spin. Remember that it is the force that you put in your curve that gains you momentum for spinning, so always enter in a deep LFO edge, and follow your arm through as you complete the 3turn and start spinning.

I spin clockwise, as well. Maybe next week I could videotape a scratch spin to show you or something. ;)

[Sessy]

We're talking scratch spin right? Some advice from someone who can do a centered scratch spin on maybe 1 out of 20 attempts at best (but this seems to be helping everybody else at the rink who's just learning so see for yourself)

I think the new boots and blades will fix a great deal.

Keep your arm and leg turning around together, so your hips stay right under your shoulders and you don't twist at the waist. Pull your pelvis in, while bringing your ribcage/rib bone over your toepicks and reaching with your neck a little forwards (pull the chin up, letting the back of your head drop a little to the back and your head will pull the rest of it with you). Lead with the left shoulder for ccw, right for cw, as in, don't "push" with the other shoulder, lead with the shoulder into the spin. Keep those belly muscles TIGHT. Also bring your free leg in with the inner thigh muscles, not the outer thigh muscles as this seems - at least for me - to throw the hips off balance.


I'm not a natural spinner. I landed a lutz before I had a scratch spin (although I lost the lutz again, but I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is now - except I can't try it right now).
However, from what my group coaches told me, that's okay, considering I'm not doing like extremely bad in the spinning department, I'm just a better jumper than I am a spinner is all. But it will improve with practice they say and it's not unusual to work on a scratch spin for a year they say.

[peanutskates]

BTW, I'm not left handed. I'm right handed and spin to the right...
and, a YEAR!!! for one spin!!! *whaatt*

[jazzpants]

As promised, peanutskates... here's my one foot spin in OUR CW direction! (Mind you... this is way back about 2 years ago... but it's not that far off than how I'm doing it now... :roll: )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0Ejhpeeyo

[peanutskates]

thank you :)

[chowskates]

Adding to what everyone else said: try to avoid swinging your arms around in order to spin. Remember that it is the force that you put in your curve that gains you momentum for spinning, so always enter in a deep LFO edge, and follow your arm through as you complete the 3turn and start spinning.


That is so true... And after the deep FO edge entry, to center, make sure to keep the weight over the spinning side and press down through the spinning foot as you rise into the spin. Should almost feel like a FO edge, but really isn't... Until I can do them myself, I will always be impressed by those who can do FO edge spins!

I normally spin CCW, but am also working on the CW spins - so far only the scratch is anywhere near decent on the CW side.

- Chow

[Sessy]

Yeah well you know, the way the sport is organised in the Netherlands, meaning group lessons twice a week for an hour and zero hours in 5 summer months.

[mintypoppet]

and, a YEAR!!! for one spin!!! *whaatt*

I first learnt to spin just over a year ago, and work on them every session - and I skate at least five days a week. My spins only very occasionally centre, and I normally get about six revs, though that's improving slowly. I also have a crossfoot spin, something that will one day be a sitspin, and my backspin has *finally* clicked.

Spinning is a skill you acquire over time, and some people have more of a knack for it than others. Just keep at it.

[BatikatII]

BTW, I'm not left handed. I'm right handed and spin to the right...
and, a YEAR!!! for one spin!!! *whaatt*


As my old coach used to say - "If skating was easy , you wouldn't need me"

A year is not that long to be working on gettng a decent spin. I've had a reasonable spin for 3 or 4 years and yet I still work on it almost every lesson. You can get better, you can get good even but you can never get 'good enough' to stop working on anything in skating.:lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

I still can't spin, after all these years! Or not reliably, anyway. And husband's spin is, although better than mine, still pretty dire.

Watching him, the things I think one needs to remember are:

Lift your free hip and make sure your weight is all over your spinning foot.
Look the way you are going - I tend to look over the wrong shoulder, which doesn't help!
Check hard before you go into the spin and use the momentum to help you get into it.

[peanutskates]

hmm I am a little confused about the terms checked and square, any explanations?

[blackmanskating]

hmm I am a little confused about the terms checked and square, any explanations?

Okay I'm gonna try. Here goes nothing. . .

A check is used to stop your body from rotating into or out of a circle you are creating on the ice. When you go into a CCW spin from backwards crossovers, you step onto a RBI edge and hold this edge. You check this position by placing your left shoulder in front of you and your right shoulder back. It almost looks like you are twisted. This keeps you from falling into a deeper inside edge and making the circle smaller.

Square means that your hips and shoulders are lined up with one another. You want to be squared when you are actually in the spin. You want to be checked when you enter it. The power of the spin comes from releasing the checked position to a squared position. So the terms "squared" and "checked" are opposites I guess.

I know what you all mean about trying to center it. I have a harder time centering a forward spin than a back spin. My back spins are about centered 85% of the time while it's a 50/50 chance with my forward spin. It doesn't make sense to me because I've done my forward spin longer than my back spin so I thought it would be better than my back spin. My forward spin is more powerful though and my longest rotation was 34 revs. I was incredibly dizzy but incredibly proud. I can only get about 15 revs max on a back spin before it fizzles out.

BlackManSkating

[Kay]

Hey,

Spins can be really tricky, and often inconsistent, for a lot of skaters. I worked with an elite spin coach at a young age when the whole backward crosscut approach wasn't working for me. Instead, I now always use an inside three turn approach. Since you spin CW, step forward onto a LFI edge and do a three turn into a LBO. Hold this LBO for a bit longer than the LFI, your left arm should be to the side, your right arm in front of you. Then step forward on your right into your spin. As your practice, you will develop a rhythm in your approach. I find this method offers a lot more fluidity because your set-up moves you in the same direction as your spin so you're not fighting against your own momentum in order to enter the spin. Try it a few times, it might feel different at first, so give it a chance!

I am quite surprised that this method isn't taught more often - I enter all of my spins this way and have a much greater success with this method - faster, better centered, and easier to lead into from a program perspective. Good luck!

[Morgail]

Scratch spins can take a really long time to master. Mine didn't really get better until I had learned a change foot spin and a sit spin. Don't worry about having taken year on it so far! That's perfectly normal:)

One of the best scratch spin tips I ever got (from a former coach) was to act as though there is a string connecting your free foot to the hand on the same side. Once you step into the spin, everything on that side (left side for you) should move together. Once this clicked for me, my spin centered.

When you step into the spin, stay low in your knee and keep your free leg (and its corresponding arm) behind you until you're ready to start the rotation. Then, you snap your free leg and arm into position as you come up out of your knee. Some people keep their free leg out to the side. It's easier for me to keep it more in front, with a bent knee. At that point, both my arms are held out (in a rounded position) in front of me, which the "free" arm directly above the free leg.

Good luck with the spin! I think a scratch is harder to learn than any of the other spins I've learned so far.

[peanutskates]

Thanks Kay, I'll try that method today!

thanks to everyone else as well, my spin is now getting better (well, I'm actually rotating...)