Lutz or Flutz practice thread 8/17 - 8/24

[icestalker]

I've never posted a practice thread before so if I did anything wrong, tell me :)

Summer is winding down and kids are going back to school, so freestyle and publics will be emptier. It's still very hot, so of course the best place to spend the day in is in a rink. In Florida, it's gonna be hot till November.

Title is pretty self-explanatory :D

Lutz: Backspins are coming along. 4-7 revolutions. Scratch spin much faster- but the rink doesn't stop spinning when I do!

Flutz: My coach broke her foot. She'll be back on the sidelines soon, but probably not anytime this week.

[davincisoprano1]

Amen to the still hot in florida thing. I can't wait for it to cool down here. I guess at least I'm not in Miami...

Lutz: I put heel inserts into my skates since they've gotten looser as my feet have shrunk in my weight loss journey and I found my stroking was a lot stronger.

Flutz: Scratch spin is still traveling, coach said she is going to work on that with me next week. Also public session still too crowded to do anything yet. One more week and then the little monsters are gone. :)

[katz in boots]

Down under Down under (yes I meant to type it twice) winter is finally biting. Snow day before yesterday, in higher areas, though not at my place. I love snow! Next day I was basking in the sun in a t-shirt. Cold again today. Weird weather.

Lutz
friend had a cancelled lesson, she invited me to join her 1 hr private ice time. The ice was patchy: some smooth, some rough, but it was fast and rather brittle. It magnified any toe-pick noises, but also that magnificent rip sound when you get an edge really right. Love that sound! A little disconcerting on spins though, sounded like I was shredding the ice.
So nice, just the two of us on the ice, music turned down, and the sound of blades.

Flutz
Loop has been MIA for sometime, and wasn't there again today. Didn't even try a flip or lutz. Spins were intermittent.

Chocktaws (still keep calling them chicktails - see thread I started under that title. Sometimes chocktails, other times chicktaws :lol:) well, I can do 4 in a row on one foot, but am not happy with the step fwd again. I'm doing fwd outside/inside at the mo, is that easier or harder than inside/outside?

[icestalker]

Down under Down under (yes I meant to type it twice) winter is finally biting. Snow day before yesterday, in higher areas, though not at my place. I love snow! Next day I was basking in the sun in a t-shirt. Cold again today. Weird weather.

Oh no- I forgot the other half of the world is still in winter- silly me..

[singerskates]

Flutz:
Forgot to put the toe spacer between my big toe and the toe next to it (have servere bunions and this fixes things a bit for me) before putting on my skating socks and skates. Opps.

Anyway, my spins were horribly uncentered.

Lutz:

The jumps. Waltz, Toe, Sal. no problems. Split no problem.

Loop is all the way around and starting to land mosty on one foot only (remember that commercial about not be able to get up) I've landed and I can't get out. That's right, I just keep on spinning until I put my free foot down. And when my coach saw me land my loop he said that I was pulling out too early with my arms which is why I kept on going around when on the ice and why I don't always have time to get my freeleg around and out. Other times, I try to check out the freeleg and arms too early and am a quarter turn short of rotation but that's rare now. So if I say the words, "pu---lll in and out" when I jump will that give me enough time with my free foot and arms cross enough time to land properly and to check out both at the same time?

Coach had me try doing a waltz jump with pulling in my arms to my chest to get me to exercise getting in my arms in far enough and long enough and I just about did an Axel (was half rotation short and had to hop it to not trip over my toe pick on the landing). Now I wonder if I learn to get over my right side would that have been a complete Axel? Coach wasn't teaching me the Axel. I just had that much power in my Waltz jump and now he understands why I don't pull in on my Waltz jumps, Salchows and Toe Loops.

The Flip was all the way around and just had me toe tapping with my freeleg on the landing.

Lutz is the same as the Flip. It's all a timing thing for me. Just wish time would hurry with the clean landings.

Loop, Flip and Lutz jumps are so close to clean, I can taste them. So frustrating waiting. That's life.

Being that the Spiral Sequence is now going to be always called a Level 1 or not called at all, I've talked with my coach about it and he agreed with me that I'm going to have to work on footwork and my skating skills much, much more. I think has to do with many of the higher level skaters out there putting in so much in between the elements and having higher level footwork sequences. Also, many of us Adult skaters even at the Prelim/Adult Bronze level were capable of doing the Spiral sequence, which probably means to the ISU, if low level adult skaters can do it, it must be too easy for the competitive skaters. We don't have ISI here so we have to go by Skate Canada and ISU rules.

Anyway, I've been working on my CW turns, twizzles and anything I can think of that doesn't scare me so that my coach and I can put together a footwork sequence for this year. Just glad that I won't need it to pass the Skate Canada Preliminary FS.

[Bill_S]

Lutz:
I made the trip to Columbus to skate an early morning freestyle session. Because I haven't skated for weeks, I was very rusty, but I improved by the end of the 1:45 session that I skated.

Funny thing about spins - I completely nailed the first spins early in the session with nice, tightly centered tracings. Later, I regressed, and traveled badly. By the end, they slightly improved again to be merely OK.

I was able to get low and put power into the skates after the first hour of practice. Early-on, if I'd try for power, I'd start out OK, but get out of control. I even had a full-bore "hang-on-tight-I-caught-the-toe-pick!" panic once. I stayed upright, but it wasn't graceful. Wild arms swinging and odd clackety sounds attract attention.

Overall, it was great to be back on the ice. I'm completely worn out now, but in a good way.

BTW, I haven't seen any posts by Mrs. Redboots lately. I find her extended absence from here unusual. Anybody know what is going on?

[Isk8NYC]

Lutz: I felt fairly comfortable in my adjusted skates, but they still need something more.

Learned (actually, relearned - I had forgotten about it) a great exercise for teaching the checking on the MIF circles. You skate backwards on a flat down a hockey line, check the arms and free foot (toe to heel), then reverse the arm/shoulder check without moving the free foot or hip at all. It's really not easy unless you learn how to isolate the upper body movement from the lower body. Challenging and I could actually do it, after a try or two, without deviating from the line.

Flutz: I don't like the insoles - they make the skates too tight. I have a small blister on top of my second toe from it rubbing on the top of my skate. Get the scissors!

[Skate@Delaware]

Flutz:
Forgot to put the toe spacer between my big toe and the toe next to it (have servere bunions and this fixes things a bit for me) before putting on my skating socks and skates. Opps.

I use one as well, but also found a way to tape my toe so it is better aligned. I searched "bunion taping" on youtube and found many results. It really helps-bunions suck!

My rink opened officially today and my club had an open session, which I did not attend as I had other plans with my son (school clothes/supply shopping). So, I guess I can start skating once I know my schedule at school (which starts on Monday)!!!!

[AgnesNitt]

Flutz1: Caught a toepick and went for a sprawl. Was halfway up only to find every male figure skater in the rink was next to me asking if I was okay. I should have learned this trick back when I was young and good looking.

Flutz2: I'm doing 5 step mohawks okay in practice. Then coach comes over. "Let's start with mohawks." What can I say, it's 'curse of the coach eyes' --I lose it. Body parts refuse to coordinate.

Lutz: No one will ever think I was a child skater, but making progress. 3 turns are much better, mohawks are back, forward crosses are occasionally smooth and pretty. oh, okay, back crosses are uuuuuggggglllllyyyyy, but I'm back to doing them on my own.

The boots hardly hurt anymore, and the formerly broken ankle has stopped hurting. Skating pain free!

My 3 guys took me out for my birthday. Got a boot bag, a boot bag tag of a tiny figure skate, and a bag of wasabi peas (see, my life does not revolve around skating!)

[icestalker]

Flutz1: Caught a toepick and went for a sprawl. Was halfway up only to find every male figure skater in the rink was next to me asking if I was okay. I should have learned this trick back when I was young and good looking.

I do the toepick sprawl a lot, you're far from alone :lol:

[GoSveta]

Lutz: Can do Toe Loops on my own (was a confidence issue), as well as Salchows (still getting over the confidence hump for those). Coach worked with me on my Waltz and it's improved a lot.

I rotate really fast, so I think I'm just going to start going for double toe loops. I have the technique down. Landing it should be a "will I actually go for it, or bail out" issue, since I can most likely jump high enough and rotate fast enough in a good air position for a triple, even (but I'm not gonna go there O.o).

Think I'm gonna start working on Loop and Backspin at my next lesson.

Scratch spin is progressing marvelously. I just need to start crossing my feet, now.

FLUTZ: Coach team teaches with another coach, and usually I do freestyle with the other one. Well, she set me up and told her to do Moves. As important as they are... Moves translates to "Blah" in my mind... Ugh... I guess if I was uber good at them, they wouldn't frustrate and/or bore me so much!

Also public session still too crowded to do anything yet. One more week and then the little monsters are gone. :)

AMEN!!!

[katz in boots]

Lutz:
I'm enjoying my skating again, which is good. I start with a warmup, then edges, then go onto spins. I don't jump so much lately, but run through up to flip. Mostly I potter around doing dance steps & general footwork. I've never had good flow or transitions, and footwork has never been a strong point, so it's good to make progress there.

My adult synchro team had a good practice, with a coach who used to skate here and an ice dancer. Both made useful suggestions, and it will improve the program.

Looks like my rink management are going to approve me to coach without accreditation (it's a long story why I can't get accredited), so hopefully I can start coaching soon. Yay! Already have one private student lined up as well as LTS stuff.

Flutz:
I shouldn't go skating on the session prior to synchro practice. :frus:
My brain died 1/2 way through synchro, just wasn't thinking - which is not a good thing when you're supposed to be in charge. Not sure if it's a blood sugar thing or what, I did eat in between the sessions though. Maybe it's all those nights of excessive red wine taking their toll:lol:

[Isk8NYC]

Flutz1: Caught a toepick and went for a sprawl. Was halfway up only to find every male figure skater in the rink was next to me asking if I was okay. I should have learned this trick back when I was young and good looking. You're too funny!
My 3 guys took me out for my birthday. Got a boot bag, a boot bag tag of a tiny figure skate, and a bag of wasabi peas (see, my life does not revolve around skating!)
Happy Birthday! Mine is this coming week and DH gave me a new skate bag, too. The girls have jewelry planned.

[AgnesNitt]

You're too funny!

Happy Birthday! Mine is this coming week and DH gave me a new skate bag, too. The girls have jewelry planned.

Happy Birthday too! Hope you get nice jewelry.

BTW I have learned the secret of aging on ice. (59 is the new middle age)

Slam down two advil half an hour before you put your boots on, and do stretching exercises in the parking lot as if no one is there. Then when you get home it's an extra hot shower and wrap yourself up in an electric blanket set to low. Then have some man wait on you hand and foot until you're ready to get up (I'm working on that one). If I had real money I'd get one of those massage chairs and have him deliver a mojito with nachos on the side.

[dbny]

I rotate really fast, so I think I'm just going to start going for double toe loops. I have the technique down. Landing it should be a "will I actually go for it, or bail out" issue, since I can most likely jump high enough and rotate fast enough in a good air position for a triple, even (but I'm not gonna go there O.o).

Think I'm gonna start working on Loop and Backspin at my next lesson.

Scratch spin is progressing marvelously. I just need to start crossing my feet, now.


Doubles are something you really need to work on with a coach. Height and rotational speed are necessary, but there is a lot more to it than that. One very important factor is leg position in the air, which is learned via the backspin, so you need that backspin before starting doubles, and you are still not crossing the free leg on scratch spins. It's better to get everything right from the start than to spend months or even years fixing bad habits.

Agnes - You can get a heating/vibrating chair pad that goes all the way up to your head for under $100 if you keep your eyes open. I have one and it's saved me more than once.

[Isk8NYC]

The jewelry is beautiful - I saw it on sale last week and checked the pieces out four times on two different visits. I finally decided to use my discount coupon and buy them while they were in stock and on sale. I gave them to DH so the girls could wrap them up for me. I've never really done that before, but I really liked the pieces, the price was right, and they were the last ones on the shelf, so Carpe Diem!

[AgnesNitt]

Agnes - You can get a heating/vibrating chair pad that goes all the way up to your head for under $100 if you keep your eyes open. I have one and it's saved me more than once.

But what about the guy with the mojito? :yum:

(PS Thx for the head up on the chairs--I didn't know the price had gone down that much.)

[doubletoe]

I rotate really fast, so I think I'm just going to start going for double toe loops. I have the technique down.

The more you know, the more you will realize that you do not have the technique down. Unless you can do a backspin and a toeloop-loop-loop comfortably, you are probably not rotating over your landing hip in the air and you can have a very bad fall if you try to do a double toeloop. There's a reason the jumps are taught in the progression in which they are taught and there are lots of injured skaters to attest to that! :P

[davincisoprano1]

Lutz: The last two days I've gotten paid to skate. I skateguard at the local rink.

Flutz: Classes begin tomorrow (my final semester in college) and I'm not going to have as much time to skate. Right now I'm scheduled for all public sessions so I can't practice yet... we'll see how next week looks.

Lutz: I'm earning money so I can take lessons again.

Flutz: Hopefully I have enough time to practice with my job and school and finishing my graphic design projects. Also I did not make my pop up book this summer even though that was my plan and now I'm kicking myself in the rear for it. That is going to be week 1 project, ie this week, since there hopefully won't be much classwork yet.

[GoSveta]

Doubles are something you really need to work on with a coach. Height and rotational speed are necessary, but there is a lot more to it than that. One very important factor is leg position in the air, which is learned via the backspin, so you need that backspin before starting doubles, and you are still not crossing the free leg on scratch spins. It's better to get everything right from the start than to spend months or even years fixing bad habits.

Of course, I'll be working with a coach - two, in fact.

[GoSveta]

The more you know, the more you will realize that you do not have the technique down. Unless you can do a backspin and a toeloop-loop-loop comfortably, you are probably not rotating over your landing hip in the air and you can have a very bad fall if you try to do a double toeloop. There's a reason the jumps are taught in the progression in which they are taught and there are lots of injured skaters to attest to that! :P

I wouldn't put my health at risk just to land a jump, which really isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things :P

[dbny]

GoSveta - What a lot of info you left out of the post doubletoe and I replied to!

[GoSveta]

What information did I leave out? No one asked me any questions so I didn't think anything was really expected. I chalked it all up to "opinion." In any case Olympians and coaches that competed in Nationals should know enough to tell me whether or not I can or cannot start attempting the jump :P

In any case I fixed my post. The way they are now allows me to better comprehend what you mean :P

[icestalker]

In any case Olympians and coaches that competed in Nationals should know enough to tell me whether or not I can or cannot start attempting the jump :P

That's the thing.. just because they competed in big competitions doesn't mean their coaching is just as good. Good skater doesn't automatically translate to good coach.

If you really want to start working on double toes, ask to do them in the harness.. for fun.

[jjane45]

Lutz: bonus additional ice time, practiced back outside figure 8 again and surprisingly got full circles (with shaky arms though)

Flutz: bask spins shakier than ever, capable to lift free leg high on the side but not able to cross it at all. In anticipation to get new skates I lost motivation to work hard in the current pair! :roll: lol

[GoSveta]

My coaches know what to do, but thanks for your concerns.

[doubletoe]

What information did I leave out? No one asked me any questions so I didn't think anything was really expected. I chalked it all up to "opinion." In any case Olympians and coaches that competed in Nationals should know enough to tell me whether or not I can or cannot start attempting the jump :P

In any case I fixed my post. The way they are now allows me to better comprehend what you mean :P

I'm glad to hear you are working with good coaches. I was just worried because at first it sounded like you were going to go ahead and try double toes on your own, rather than letting your coach(es) guide you through the jumps.

[icestalker]

Lutz: Coach seems to be doing well. Besides having to roll around the rink all day long. I'm still getting over the shock.

Flutz: I kept falling. I fell on a spin exit, I fell out of a simple two foot glide a couple of times. Felt really.. off.

[Isk8NYC]

I'm glad to hear you are working with good coaches. I was just worried because at first it sounded like you were going to go ahead and try double toes on your own, rather than letting your coach(es) guide you through the jumps.
That was also my impression when I read GoSveta's posts, because she mentioned working on much lower elements (loop, toeloop, backspin, scratch spin) than a double toeloop.

When my skaters "go for it" with elements above their skating level, it sets us back weeks because they inevitably develop bad habits and it takes them longer to learn the skills properly. Using video really helps to enlighten them to the true level of their "almost got it" skills in a kindly fashion.

[Laura H]

Lutz: Coach seems to be doing well. Besides having to roll around the rink all day long. I'm still getting over the shock.


My coach ruptured her achilles tendon and has been coaching me from the boards since May . . . like you, I was also in shock myself over the whole thing! So glad she has a great attitude though and has continued to coach from the boards (although it will definitely be weird once she gets back into skates and can chase me around like usual!).