How to land Axel!!!

[FigureSk8ter001]

Heyy peple!!! Do you want to lean how to land your axel in figure skating???? I did, and now it's my favourite jump!!!!
ok let's start!!!:o

1. Keep your back straight!!:!:
2.Go up and not out!:!:
3.When you do the roll, do not swing!:!:
4.Arms in tightly!:!:
5.Legs in tightly!:!:
6.The faster you snap your arms in, the faster the rotation is!:!:
7.Land on your toe pick when you come out!:!:
8.Do NOT bend your waist!:!:
9.Practice backwards spin, and try to keep that same position in the air!:!:
10.Try to focus on 1 step at a time!:!:

Try these tips and see if they helped!:D

Did these tips help???:?: Please reply!!!!8-) (even if they did not)

The figure skater,

FigureSk8ter001:D

[Stormy]

Oh, so THAT'S how you land an axel! :!:

[Isk8NYC]

Man, I feel confident enough now to go out and nail a few on my bent, rockerless blades. (Even though I haven't attempted one since 1994 and weigh about 75 pounds more than I did then.)

Nah, I'm just being sarcastic.

Those are actually good form tips, but I believe the axel always comes from within your heart and soul. lol

[Stormy]

It defintiely is a mental jump, I'll say that! :)

[Skittl1321]

Any tips on how to jump more than half an inch off the ice? I bend my knees and roll through my foot. I get almost a full inch on my jumps off ice... Somehow- I just doubt the rotation for the axel will come until I figure that part out- even if I follow all these steps :giveup:

[Isk8NYC]

Jump height comes from SPRINGING UP off a deeply bent knee as you know. Many people are more worried about the rotation, so they don't let the jump go up into the air. Try picking a higher visual target (I use the clock and scoreboard when I teach) and think about jumping up towards that target. If you look at the top of the rink wall (chest/waist height), you're thinking about going across the ice, not up in the air.

Many moons ago, I read something that talked about the jump's trajectory. A major point they made was for the skater to wait until the jump reached it's highest point (the apex) and then get into the backspin position. Otherwise you didn't have enough height to finish the rotations; rotating early would shorten the jump's height.

Off-ice, practice jumping up from a bent-knee position and do exercises to strengthen the knee muscles.



Stronger landings make you more confident. Here's a practice drill:

Just skate backwards on your RBO edge, bend and pop! (no rotation), then check out the landing. (toe to edge, free foot front to back, arms center to check position.)

[herniated]

Uhh what do you mean by 'when you do the roll' ?

[looplover]

I so want to work on this jump. Strangely I am MUCH MUCH more confident about this jump than I am about the flip or lutz.:??

[Isk8NYC]

Uhh what do you mean by 'when you do the roll' ?
Don't "swing" your free leg through until you've rolled up to the toepick to jump.

[Mrs Redboots]

I so want to work on this jump. Strangely I am MUCH MUCH more confident about this jump than I am about the flip or lutz.:??
Me too; I can see getting this jump (not that I ever will; I have no real interest in jumping, and my knee has even less!), but I can't understand either the loop jump or the lutz. Or not as well.

Isn't one of the drills for a beginning axel to jump up on to a bench or chair, so that you get the height you need.

My coach says that multi-rev jumps are easier to get now than they were when he first came into the sport as back then, they focussed on height above all, so you were practically having to clear the barrier before you were allowed to try any additional rotations - these days, it's all about the rotation and the height doesn't count so much.

[herniated]

Don't "swing" your free leg through until you've rolled up to the toepick to jump.

Thanks!!!!!

[Skate@Delaware]

Oh man, i get as far as step #2 then I forget what comes next :frus:LOL! Actually, my coach is always on me to not pitch forward wen I do my waltz jumps...I can see it carrying over to the axel (I wish).

Any tips on how to jump more than half an inch off the ice? I bend my knees and roll through my foot. I get almost a full inch on my jumps off ice... Somehow- I just doubt the rotation for the axel will come until I figure that part out- even if I follow all these steps :giveup:

What i did to work on the mental part of getting more height, practice at the boards first "jumping" higher by holding on to the boards and just warming up...roll off your toepicks, then land again. When you feel comfy, do a few waltz jumps and make sure you relax and bend! You can't jump UP if you are already there!

[doubletoe]

Any tips on how to jump more than half an inch off the ice? I bend my knees and roll through my foot. I get almost a full inch on my jumps off ice... Somehow- I just doubt the rotation for the axel will come until I figure that part out- even if I follow all these steps :giveup:

I've been told my axel is "huge" and I know it's because I was taught the bench exercise in preparation for learning the axel on the floor. Then it just became habit and translated to the ice. I've actually been trying to make the axel a little smaller and tighter now, but since you have the opposite problem, here's that exercise for you!

Bench Exercise for Axel

- Stand about 1-2 feet in front of a bench or another stable surface that is about knee height.
- Facing the bench, take off like a waltz jump, but with your landing knee bent so that you are jumping up instead of out.
- Do 1/2 turn in the air, landing backward on the bench on your landing foot,with your takeoff foot in front. By the time you land on the bench, you should be done with your half turn so that you aren't doing any rotation on the bench. You'll be facing the direction you came from and your free foot will be in front of your landing calf, just like a loop position (the free leg is open, with the knee bent, not touching the landing leg). Your arms will be open and rounded in front of you, like a nice waltz jump position.
- Once you get that exercise down, try doing the same thing on the open floor, but after you've turned backward and you're in the open loop position, just pull in. That will give you 1 more rotation in the air. I think of jumping up to the 2nd floor and doing a backspin once I'm up there.

[CoachPA]

Bench Exercise for Axel

- Stand about 1-2 feet in front of a bench or another stable surface that is about knee height.
- Facing the bench, take off like a waltz jump, but with your landing knee bent so that you are jumping up instead of out.
- Do 1/2 turn in the air, landing backward on the bench on your landing foot,with your takeoff foot in front. By the time you land on the bench, you should be done with your half turn so that you aren't doing any rotation on the bench. You'll be facing the direction you came from and your free foot will be in front of your landing calf, just like a loop position (the free leg is open, with the knee bent, not touching the landing leg). Your arms will be open and rounded in front of you, like a nice waltz jump position.
- Once you get that exercise down, try doing the same thing on the open floor, but after you've turned backward and you're in the open loop position, just pull in. That will give you 1 more rotation in the air. I think of jumping up to the 2nd floor and doing a backspin once I'm up there.

This is an excellent exercise for axels. I teach it in my off-ice jump classes and it really does translate correct in-air position, body alignment, and takeoffs on the ice.

[peanutskates]

oh my gosh. this is such a mental jump.
I landed it one day (lots of times, felt pretty solid). That was like, three weeks ago. I haven't landed it since :(
I can do the prep exercises. I can rotate it. In fact, I'm doing everything 'perfectly' (says coach) except that I land it either on the wrong foot, or on the right foot and then put the other foot down.

How can I stop this?? I have to land it already, it is soooo sooooo frustrating!!!

[peanutskates]

just remembered some advice:
go for an axel/loop, to get a tighter position in the air.

This helped me land it the one day I actually managed it.. so I guess it only works once? ;)

[CoachPA]

oh my gosh. this is such a mental jump.
I landed it one day (lots of times, felt pretty solid). That was like, three weeks ago. I haven't landed it since :(
I can do the prep exercises. I can rotate it. In fact, I'm doing everything 'perfectly' (says coach) except that I land it either on the wrong foot, or on the right foot and then put the other foot down.

How can I stop this?? I have to land it already, it is soooo sooooo frustrating!!!

Two footing--or landing on the incorrect foot--can be caused by several things:

- leaning outside the circle on your landing
- bending the torso out of the circle on your landing (breaking at the waist)
- not checking your rotation hard enough upon landing
- dropping the free hip upon landing

Most likely, you're breaking at the waist causing your free hip to drop and hit the ice. Focus on lifting your chest upon landing and staying over your right hip (assuming your a CCW jumper). Think of lifting the free hip and knee upon landing before letting the free leg (your left leg) extend behind to achieve that full extension on your landing.

[doubletoe]

If everything else looks fine to your coach, maybe you just aren't keeping your free hip high enough as you check out and land. To keep the free hip high, make sure your free leg is bent and lifted a little at the knee when you are in your rotational position in the air (your legs should not be crossed at the ankle, but instead the calf of your free leg should be over the knee of your landing leg). As you check out to land, lift the knee then extend the free leg back. I always found that it helped me to practice doing loops out of a backspin, then on my axel, I would think, "Up, backspin" and then check out in the same way as I landed.

[peanutskates]

if the free calf is over the skating knee, doesn't that mean you're wrapping the leg?

thanks for the advice, I shall try it tonight!!

[doubletoe]

if the free calf is over the skating knee, doesn't that mean you're wrapping the leg?

thanks for the advice, I shall try it tonight!!

No, you're wrapping your leg if your thighs are stuck together. There needs to be a little space between your thighs and you will get that space if you lift the knee of the free leg a little.