pulling in tighter

[*JennaD*]

Anyone have any tips on how to pull in tighter in the air? :)

Lately, I've had this really annoying cheat on my axel, double sal and double loop...My coach said that I get plenty of height on all these jumps but I'm not rotating because i'm wayyyy too open during the jump!

Sooooo, any ideas on how to keep my legs closed in the air and my arms in tight would be very much appreciated :) thanks!!

[FlyAndCrash]

One exercise to help that is doing a repetative "pulling in" in a single backspin. It's is-out-in-out-in-out-in-exit. You can really feel how tight you can get and improves your backspin at the same time. My coach makes me do it almost every session.

[Skating Jessica]

For your arms, think of not just pulling them in, but squeezing your elbows down and to your sides. Sometimes we can think that our arms are in when actually the hands are in and the elbows are sticking out (like chicken wings) leaving us open and rotating slowly with less snap.

For overall tighter in-air positions, a tip that I use is to mentally say your full name (first, middle, and last) before you let yourself begin to check out or open up your in-air position. This is really great especially if you have a long name like mine:6 syllables.

[RachelSk8er]

One exercise to help that is doing a repetative "pulling in" in a single backspin. It's is-out-in-out-in-out-in-exit. You can really feel how tight you can get and improves your backspin at the same time. My coach makes me do it almost every session.


My coach has made me do this, and it helps. Another thing that worked is doing back power 3-s and pulling in tight on those. Those two work especially well for loops and axels. We've also been working off ice. I have BAD habits of not pulling in because I don't really need to for singles, but I'll never get doubles if I don't break the habit.

[Stormy]

I have BAD habits of not pulling in because I don't really need to for singles, but I'll never get doubles if I don't break the habit.

I swear we're skating twins. That's totally my problem as well.

[RachelSk8er]

I swear we're skating twins. That's totally my problem as well.

I'm just trying to be like you and follow in your footsteps :)

[Kim to the Max]

I so have the same issue...I oftentimes don't pull in tight enough and I don't stay in long enough...Coach also says that I like to look for my landing...meaning that I'm totally looking down..oops :oops::roll::oops::roll: I should probably figure out how to not do that...part of it is completely a fear thing...ugh...

[doubletoe]

Lately, I've been telling myself, "up, shin, and land" on my axel and it helps me stay tighter in the air. The "shin" part refers to hitting the shin of my landing leg with the calf of my free leg as soon as I'm backwards in the air. If I do that, the arms seem to come in automatically.
One coach suggested the "punching" arm position when I was working on the double loop. Assuming you take off and land on your right foot, just punch your right fist into your left palm right at waist level above your right hip bone/below your right breast. I haven't tried it on the ice, but it helped keep me in a good enough air position to start landing double loops on the floor.