Dreaded spins

[inlovewithskati]

Spins - Just comparing notes:

I have been skating for 15 years. Spins seem to get better for awhile-then get worse. I still cannot do very good one foot spins except on occasion.
I think it might be partly psychological.
Has anyone else out there ever had this experience?

I take lots of private lessons and have gotten pretty good at some other things in skating.

I am an adult skater

Thanks!!

[dbny]

Everything that I've had real trouble with has been in my head. I've put off attacking spins for years because I've been scared of them. I recently discovered that I'm a CW spinner, not CCW, which is what I'd been doing. Since that discovery, I've been pushing myself more and it's paying off. Have you tried doing a one foot spin 10 times every time you skate? That's how I crack the whip on myself. The first time I did it with one foot spins, it took me until spin #7 to get a decent one. The next day, I got a good spin on #4, and by the end of the week (lesson time), I got a good spin the first time. Of course, I've just spent a week not skating and pigging out, so I expect to be pretty much starting over :frus:.

[flo]

Don't worry about it, they will come. I had a layback before a decent scratch.

[katz in boots]

Spins are my "bete noir". I am a jumper, and struggle to get my spins to the same level as jumps. Like you, my spins will come good for a while, but if I miss so much as one session (and you do, through illness, work, unexpected events) they go backwards.


This means that on any given day I may not be able to do a decent stork spin, let alone a scratch, but another day they rock. Same with all my spins, I never know how they'll be.

Jumps, on the other hand, do go up & down, but nowhere near as drastically. I wonder if it's the same for you?

(also an adult skater)

[momsk8er]

What is the problem with your spins? For me it has always been the forward step. I either lean into it too much or pull the free leg around instead of just letting it go. Once I relax, stand up straignt (on a bent knee) and hold the edge, letting the fee leg just hang out there, the spin turns out well. Maybe you are trying too hard.

[CoachPA]

What is the problem with your spins?

Exactly what I was wondering. Are you traveling? Having trouble achieving positions? Having trouble getting a certain number of revolutions?

[TimDavidSkate]

I am with you!!! I've been skating since 1994 and I hate spinning and I am so bad at it :frus:

[MissIndigo]

I've always been a more natural spinner than jumper (dang fear factor there :oops: ), but one suggestion I haven't seen yet is have you had the alignment of your blades checked? It may help you center. The momentum needed to carry the spin is of course generated from the wind-up upon entry with plenty of knee bend.

I had my blades realigned last week and my spins are massively improved, centered from the get-go. I had noticed I was fighting a pull to the inside of my spinning circle, which took energy to correct that could have been put into maintaining the spin. Backspin attempts were easier too.

[sk8lady]

It took me forever to get a decent scratch spin. I had a great sit spin long before I was happy with my scratch (and I still prefer the sit). Everyone has different things they're good at.

[Mrs Redboots]

I still can't spin after 15 years or so, either! Mostly because I so loathe the sensation. Also, I am probably a clockwise skater, but as I do primarily ice dance and very little free, I do jump anti-clockwise. This is actually good, as it means I don't have a "wrong way" when it comes to turns, or spins either - I have an equally mediocre spin in both directions!

[NickiT]

I think spins are very much like that. I now find I have a pretty good and consistent camel spin but when I come to it in my programme it's rarely anywhere near as good as I can do in isolation, and boy that's so frustrating when I'm hitting it all the time out of my programme.

One thing I would say though, are you wearing the correct size skates? I ask because when I bought my first pair of skates I ended up with a pair too big and I really struggled to spin. It was several years down the line that I got correctly fitted with a new pair of skates and went down two sizes in blade length, that I found I was finally able to spin because my weight was correctly positioned over the blade.

Nicki

[CoachPA]

I think spins are very much like that. I now find I have a pretty good and consistent camel spin but when I come to it in my programme it's rarely anywhere near as good as I can do in isolation, and boy that's so frustrating when I'm hitting it all the time out of my programme.

Nicki

This is why it's often beneficial to practice sections of a program to the music with all the elements included in that section and the footwork leading up to these elements. Speed, physical exhaustion, nerves, etc. all play a role in how well spins and jumps come together in a program. With repeated run-throughs, the jumps and spins will become part of the program and flow more naturally.

[LilJen]

I hear your frustration and sympathize. I've been fighting a "I'll never get it" feeling about spins for months now, and I know my problem is partly mental. Keep at it, and if you haven't had lessons from someone who has a real knack for teaching spins, try that (I have yet to try this but should soon!).

[jwrnsktr]

Welcome to my world. I'm so happy to hear that there are people like me who just cannot get a decent spin despite years (ten for me) of coaching and hours and hours of trying. I know that's no consolation for you, but I'm just kind of relieved to know that others have the same monkey on their backs. I cannot offer you any advice, nor would I dare, but I can say that I think we should revel in the things we can do. I told my coach that I wanted to take the summer off from even trying and that's what I did. In the fall, I started trying again. It's marginally, and I mean a small margin, better. I'm not afraid, it just doesn't happen.

Anyway, I guess we'll keep on trying til they peel us off the ice. Good luck!

[inlovewithskati]

OK, it has been awhile since taking time to post.

Thank you for the wonderful input on spins. Thank you for sharing your respective challenges and advice.

I can frequently get 8 to 10 revolutions. Spin is seldom centered . It rocks and I tend to fall out of the spin. It is hard to get the body up and over the skating leg and to straighten the skating leg. It is hard to bring the free leg to a position close to the skating leg and near the knee of the skating leg.

It is interesting that some people seem to like a sit spin better than scratch. Maybe I ought to work on sit spin and back spin more. At least I might make some progress on those spins while still working on scratch.

Happy skating

[kander]

It is interesting that some people seem to like a sit spin better than scratch. Maybe I ought to work on sit spin and back spin more. At least I might make some progress on those spins while still working on scratch.

Happy skating

For some mysterious reason of physics sit spins are much easier to center. Maybe has something to do with a lower center of gravity.

[doubletoe]

OK, it has been awhile since taking time to post.

Thank you for the wonderful input on spins. Thank you for sharing your respective challenges and advice.

I can frequently get 8 to 10 revolutions. Spin is seldom centered . It rocks and I tend to fall out of the spin. It is hard to get the body up and over the skating leg and to straighten the skating leg. It is hard to bring the free leg to a position close to the skating leg and near the knee of the skating leg.

It is interesting that some people seem to like a sit spin better than scratch. Maybe I ought to work on sit spin and back spin more. At least I might make some progress on those spins while still working on scratch.

Happy skating

Just from what you're saying, it sounds like you are rushing and/or powering the entrance edge. It's really timing and body position, not power that makes a spin work. Bend your skating knee deeply, make a small, very round circle on the entrance edge, keep the skating knee deeply bent and the free leg pulled back a long as you can before snapping into position. The longer you hold back, the faster and more centered your spin will be once you get into it. You have to milk the edge and milk the open position before gradually pulling in, then the centrifugal force does all the work for you and makes it fast.

For some mysterious reason of physics sit spins are much easier to center. Maybe has something to do with a lower center of gravity.

I think that's because everyone goes into a sitspin on a deeply bent skating knee. The deeper the bend in your skating knee, the rounder your entrance edge will be. Sometimes when my scratch spin is traveling, I tell myself I'm doing a sitspin, and that makes me go in on a more deeply bent knee and then gradually pull up. That almost always makes it start centering better.