Consistency?

[sk8joyful]

Hi,
Hearing comments at every practice, from other skaters too, like "gosh, what's :roll: happening to my ...... (fill-in) skills,
I can't seem to do them today, for the life of me"

For instance, as a Natural-leftie, for some time my L-foot liked holding my L-glides to count of 20 on the flat;
while my R-foot fishtailed like a drunk, stopping the glide. - Well,
the coach taught me Edges, (tho we obviously don't skate edges on the flat), yet my Glides evened-out.

Then it switched-back & forth, until I never knew what I would skate 1/2-way well one day,
only to have it switch all around the very next day, lol &
this past week, my L-edges went south :roll: No amt. of committing is resolving this.
oh,
and Lunges... gee, a coach decimated :cry: me
with: First, you need to skate on 1 foot (knowing I can hold glides 30+ft.,
or more on a good day). - So how does one keep F-ft. elevated :!: off the ice?; may be a separate discussion.

I wonder, may we share a discussion re CONSISTENCY-issues, please. Thanks! :)
.

[liz_on_ice]

Whenever I have something I'm better at on once side than the other, I practice the off-side more - like I'll do 2 left for every 1 right - for weeks. Then I'll notice one day the "good" side sucks. :roll:

[Isk8NYC]

Could just be a bad day. Lack of proper rest, nutrition, or illness can cause an athlete to lose their consistency. So can your mental attitude - if a skater is discouraged or upset, it shows in their posture and attitude on the ice. That translates into blown spins and popped jumps.

I've always found that there's a pattern to learning new jumps (and some spins.) The skater learns the jump technique, practices, starts landing the jump, then "loses" the jump for a short time before they master and land the jump consistently. There's this plateau of frustration that happens after the initial euphoria of "I CAN DO IT!" and before the satisfaction of "I own this jump."

When a skating skill that's usually consistent goes awry, the first thing to look at is technique. Learning new things sometimes causes you to change the way you've been doing established skills.

For example, a skater who had a solid backspin suddenly starts to have trouble with it when s/he starts learning an edge variation of that spin. The cause could be muscle memory confusion - s/he's trying to do a regular backspin with the technique of the edge variation. Once the skater focuses on proper technique, they get their old skills back and master the new skills.

If it's not technique, check your blades for sharpness. Camels are my weakest spins and when my blades are dull, I slide on the entrance edge and can't hook the spin easily.

[Kim to the Max]

The first thing I do when something goes wonky is to check my body positions. If my layback starts traveling, I make sure my shoulders are level, or if my axel falls apart (which it has a tendency to do) I go back to doing them from a side-toe-hop to help me focus on technique. It's always 2 steps forward, 1 step back....I have no explanation for it, it's just the way it is....but that's why we practice :)

[katz in boots]

Elements or moves come & go. Some have said that the easier an element comes in the first place, the harder it is to get it back when it goes. It seems that having to really work to master something in the first place helps you work through getting it back if it goes away.

I have had to really slog at backspins, for eg. Last 2 sessions they were gone, by end of today's session they were back. That's quick retrieval for me.

Sitspins, however, I've been doing forever without too much problem (except really getting low enough). Putting a sit spin in a program guarantees it will disappear until said program has been performed.:roll:

Jumps, for me, are more consistent (usually).

[iSk8Dance]

Consistency is the hardest thing to achieve. It depends on so many things. Perhaps the first key point is how significant skating is in your life. Are you training for elite competitions or are you at the other extreme of a recreational, or recreational++ skater who's got some day job to pay for the skating?

From the recreational end there's just never enough time to practice - let's say you need at least twice as much practice time as lesson time. OK, you learn the basics of a move and then you spend ages improving it to make it consistent. Your coach tells you to do something which improves it, and then you build on that to an extreme which ends up making it worse, and you start all over again. Maybe something goes wrong with some trivial move you thought you could do, or you have an accident, and you then have to get over the fear of doing it. Maybe it's something your partner does (why can't s/he turn their shoulder so I've got some space to do my turn) - or you do with them (hold is too tight).

If you're just learning, then just practice on the side where you're having problems. Sure it will change around.

And sometimes some days are just !"%()__"£"$ - you had a bad day at work, you've been stuck in traffic, too many things to do, a late night, your partner, your kids, too much to eat, drink or whatever.

Or maybe you are an elite skater. You've been up from 4 in the morning to get to the rink for 5.00a.m. and then there's the off-ice exercise. There's that all important competition just a few weeks away. You've spent your life getting this far, so get it under control.

Just remember why you're skating. You're doing it because you enjoy it.

[sk8joyful]

Lack of proper rest, nutrition, or illness; so can your mental attitude - if a skater is discouraged or upset, it shows in their posture and attitude on the ice.

Yes, & I had each of those in my original OP, tho deleting something, took them with it. Just saying, I'm aware of those.


When a skating skill that's usually consistent goes awry, the first thing to look at is technique.

yeah, and there's at least 2 things wrong with mine:
#1. posture, &
#2. everything else, I continue learning


If it's not technique, check your blades for sharpness.
Nope, got the best :!: Sharpener going :)


I've always found that there's a pattern to learning new jumps (and some spins.) The skater learns the jump technique, practices, starts landing the jump, then "loses" the jump for a short time before they master and land the jump consistently. There's this plateau of frustration that happens after the initial euphoria of "I CAN DO IT!" and before the satisfaction of "I own this jump."

Not yet spinning or jumping, but I find this is true on other skills too, some kind of confidence expressed in: 'by golly, I CAN figger this out!' :)

Thank you! for your time

[sk8joyful]

The first thing I do when something goes wonky is to check my body positions.
It's always 2 steps forward, 1 step back...that's why we practice :)

'Body-positions' as another part of 'technique', is also already an awareness; but there's more to it, than just the visual body I've noticed. -
It's more this invisible mind-aspect, like how can we change this, to enjoying success more dependably, I was asking to discuss. Thanks! :)