Adult Skaters: Dealing with roadblocks

[Kat]

Hi all. I've been really disappointed with my skating lately. I know I should be proud of my accomplishments as an adult. I've gone from doing beginners 3-turns and back crossovers to starting flip and backspin in the last 6 months. The earlier elements came pretty easy to me. However, lately, there are some things that I've been trying over and over again and I just don't seem to make any progress.

Now, I know I have it in me to do these things. I've been able to do these elements at least once before, but it seems like a fluke because it takes me another 100 tries before I can do it again. The problem is, once I start getting disappointed in my progress, it starts to show in my body posture. Obviously, this makes it hard to practice correctly. It seems like the harder I try, the worse I get. It feels pretty much useless to practice when I get to this point because even my basic skills become affected. It's a vicious cycle!! :cry:

I started skating as an adult with good intentions: fun, exercise, and learning something new. When I started I had no expectations for myself because I didn't even know what was possible. I just wanted to see how far I could go. I don't test or compete, so I don't feel that kind of pressure. However, now that I have a taste of what I can achieve, I'm kind of anxious to see how much more I can do. It sounds kind of stupid, but this is a new kind of challenge for me. It's nothing like academics where you can just study harder. I'm becoming my own toughest rival, you know?

I'm sure I'm not the first adult out there who has come to their first roadblock and felt really depressed about it. How do you guys deal with this so that you can practice effectively? I just can't seem to shake the cycle of repeatedly practicing and getting worse, not better!

Are the any adults out there who can give me some advice? Thanks :)


Katya

[TashaKat]

Hi :)

We ALL come across the roadblocks! The time between achieving things becomes longer the more you achieve, it's not only adults, it's kids too!

I'm having my own 'roadblock' at the moment! After a year of injury (damaged the ligaments in my knee and then broke my wrist) I'm resisting going back to skating even though I sort of want to! Things were starting to get really tough (axel and doubles in Free and Inter-Silver dance!) and going back after a long time off meant that I feel slow and sluggish and that I need to go back to the beginning and start again! On my first time back I did up to Lutz and attempted axel BUT I felt heavy and slow.

I've had roadblocks before, we all have, and sometimes you just need to put your head down and keep on ploughing OR get your coach to teach you something else for a few lessons. Sometimes a break is what you need to break the 'mind control' cycle and things will start to work when you go back to them (the mind is THE most powerful weapon on the ice!). Sometimes you need to go back and pull the element to pieces and 'relearn' it ...... everything progresses ...... crossovers that we do after a year bear NO resemblance to the ones we were doing at three months! I was 'retaught' the flip (although my flip was fine it was a bit inconsistent) and actually pulled each little bit of it to pieces and practised it section by section, eventually putting it all back together to form a MUCH better jump.

Don't be disheartened (she says, Queen of Dishearten). The guys here are really supportive so come and moan on the practise/lessons thread or post a new topic with something that's troubling you.

(((Hugs)))

L x

[kayskate]

Originally posted by Kat

I started skating as an adult with good intentions: fun, exercise, and learning something new. When I started I had no expectations for myself because I didn't even know what was possible. I just wanted to see how far I could go. I don't test or compete, so I don't feel that kind of pressure. However, now that I have a taste of what I can achieve, I'm kind of anxious to see how much more I can do. It sounds kind of stupid, but this is a new kind of challenge for me. It's nothing like academics where you can just study harder. I'm becoming my own toughest rival, you know?
[/B]


Sounds like we have similar interests in adult skating. I do not test or compete, though I have taken a couple of tests. I did not enjoy testing. it made me too nervous and that is *not* why I do this.

However, I do find skating much like academics. The harder I studied, the better I did. Similarly, the more I practice, the better I skate on a day to day basis. It does nto take as long to warm up and skills don't disappear or weaken b/w sessions. I also find that the more exericise I do off ice, the better shape I am in. Therefore, when I do skate, my muscles and stamina are ready for the challenge.

I used to be able to skate about 8-10 hr/wk. This season, my skating has been much more limited for various reasons. I see a dramatic difference in my performance, even with basic single jumps that used to be very easy for me. Example: my flip used to be very powerful, entered w/ speed and covered a respectable distance. Now I am less secure w/ the entrance and it does not cover as much ice.

Depending on your schedule, you might be better served by skating more short sessions per week than one or two long ones.

Kay

[dooobedooo]

Originally posted by Kat ........ It seems like the harder I try, the worse I get. It feels pretty much useless to practice when I get to this point because even my basic skills become affected. It's a vicious cycle!! ....

Sometimes you need to DO less and THINK more. It is possible to overpractise things badly to the point where your muscle memory remembers the bad way of doing things.

I also like to do a lot of practise of basic skating and edges, to build posture, stamina and fitness for skating.

If you are really stuck, just take a week off from skating and then come back. Your body may have "unlearnt" its bad muscle memory, so you can start again on a firmer basis.

Skating does take much longer to master than people think, so don't be impatient with yourself; pace your skating and don't be tempted to overdo it. Just enjoy it. You could get somebody to video you when things aren't working; I'll bet that you get very angry with yourself, your body gets tense, and this inhibits natural movement; and if this is the case you will need to work out how to relax.

Have fun!

[Mrs Redboots]

Skating is not something that progresses in a straight arithmetical progression. You have peaks and troughs - or, my coach makes me say peaks and plateaux; you get to a peak of skating really well, then you lose some of it for a time. But each time you slump, you are at a higher level than the last slump.

The secret is not to get disheartened, as that is how skating is learnt! If you are in a trough, then stop even trying to work on the higher skills, and go back and rebuild your basic skills. I am sure that, no matter how good you are at them, you could use some practice and some "going back to basics". It's not admitting defeat, it's dealing with the reality of the situation. After a couple of weeks spent working on edges and turns and Field Moves and so on, you will find your jumping skills have increased tenfold - and you probably look infinitely better while doing them, too.

[sk8er1964]

You are definately not alone - this is quite common in our sport.

What I try to do when I get into a slump is take a skating session or two and just have fun - no working on any elements, no worrying about what I should be doing. Just move on the ice however I want to, mess around, talk with friends. Kind of a mental health day, so to speak.

In fact, I need one of those days right now 8O

Hang in there - don't overthink your problems, and remember - skating is fun!

[JDC1]

It took me 6 months of constant trying to the point of being close to tears to even BEGIN to spin just off of a LFO 3 turn!! Now for the last 4-5 months I can spin but rarely have any control and cannot cross my leg for all the tea in china. One of the things that gets me through these slumps is to break down the element and start from a different point of view or just QUIT that element for a while and focus on things I can do and make them even better. Or if I really feel frustrated I remember learning swizzles and crossovers and realize now I'm doing backward brackets and progressives and then I realize I have made progress it's just not linear, pretty much like Mrs. Redboots said.

[backspin]

Another thing to remember is that you are starting to hit harder elements now, & you can't expect to just get them easily, like you did some of the more basic things. Spins and some jumps may take years to really get comfortable with. I am not a natural spinner, & my backspin still is pretty pathetic, which I've been working on now (diligently) for about 3 or 4 years! Sit spin is finally semi-recognizable & consistant, after the same amount of time.

Be patient with yourself--what we are doing is really quite difficult.

I also highly recommend going back to basics & continuing to polish them. They are what everything else is built upon. I'm mainly an ice dancer, on my last Silver dance, & still, on every lesson I take, we start with forward stroking--and there are still things I need to correct!

Actually, that's one of the things I really like about skating; always more to learn. ;)

[Chico]

Roadblocks, even if there short, occur all the time in skating. It's a fact of life! Sometimes the "bad" times last a short time and sometimes they can last for just about forever. Folks who understand this and keep working at it will be sucessful. The harder skills are harder because it does take longer to get them consistent. Those miracle times on your journey occur to keep your hopes up. =-)You can do the easier skills with some mistakes, but you have to have good basic skills to be consistent on the harder skills. Skating skills are a building block. I firmly believe if you want something enough and work at it you'll obtain it. Like backspin mentioned work on the basics really hard. Good luck and enjoy you skating journey. The trip should be fun. In skating you never know where your journey will take you.

Chico

[Kat]

Thanks all of you for your replies.

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of skating troubles before too, but thus far they have just been small ones. These current ones are just really getting to me because it seems like I've been trying for so long... I guess it also doesn't help that the other adult skaters that I skate with skated until their teens before coming back as adults. The elements we are working on now are things they have all tested before as kids. :( I know I shouldn't compare myself, but sometimes it's hard when we all skate together.

I really do try to go back to basics and work on 3-turns or something when things start getting really bad. But sometimes, by that time, my frustration has affected my body so much I just catch my toe picks. As a last resort, I do laps around the ice or just leave the ice for a few minutes. It hasn't seemed to work very well so far. I guess I just have to somehow learn to convince my mind to convince my body that I can do it. Easier said than done... but I'm determined! Skating is a long-time dream for me, and I don't want to lose hope yet. :)

Thanks for letting me vent my frustrations, but even more for sharing your roadblock experiences with me. Perhaps these trials that we put ourselves through are to teach us another aspect of patience... and we all know how hard THAT is to learn as an adult! ;)


Katya

[vesperholly]

Try something new. When I got bored with moves, I started dance. I really think that I would've been stuck on Intermediate MIF a lot longer if I hadn't started dancing. A few summers ago, I even started patching again. Can you ask your coach to give you an alternate exercise that would indirectly benefit the other things you are working on? Don't overload your plate though - as frustrating as it is to only work on A and B, it's worse to work on A, B, C, D, E, F, G, L, Q, Z and M!

I definitely think that your mind can get "stuck" on something. It's not a bad thing to just go, "Ok, screw you, you dumb spin" and leave it alone for the day. It's not counterproductive to NOT work on something for a few days. I think it's actually better to leave a troubling element alone for a bit, then go back with renewed focus. Just make sure you do go back! :-)

Everyone has bad overall days, bad spin days, bad jump days. On Sunday I was doing awesome flying camels, so much so that I wished I had brought my video camera. On Monday I could barely fly let alone have any camel to the spin. Consistency is the single hardest thing to develop in skating - just ask any young skater working on their axel.

And don't worry about the toe picks - I've done that as recently as a few weeks ago, and I've been skating for 10 years!

Jocelyn

[Debbie S]

Don't get frustrated, Kat. Everyone has things that are hard for them. I was moving through the Basic Skills and Freestyle levels pretty quickly until I got to Freestyle 4 (USFSA sequence). Now, I'm taking it for the 2nd time b/c I still haven't mastered the loop jump. I was pretty bummed about it, but then I realized that I'm 31, I'm not training for the Olys, and I'm not on any timetable. At heart, I am a competitive person who always wants to do something well, so my loop struggles are frustrating, but then I think about how much I've learned that I couldn't do a year or 2 ago.

I agree with vesperholly/Jocelyn that it is also a good idea to move on to something else for a while. Try to divide your practice time between the skills that are hard and some new skills that might be a bit easier. For example, I plan to practice the loop jump and sit spin (they're in my current level) as well as the alternating 3's pattern to prepare for Pre-Bronze Moves. I'm not taking the test anytime soon, but I want to be prepared when/if I decide I want to test. And it gives me a chance to work on something different and not have to worry about the loop the whole practice time.

Good luck with your skating. Keep us updated.

[Chico]

The worst thing you can do is compare yourself to adults who skated tons as kids. I admit I do this too on my bad days. I skate with a gal who had double axels as a child. Pretty hard to compete with. I use her as my role model but try hard to remember that she will be hard for me catch. I'm a pretty competitive person and my insides do have this urge. I've been skating almost four years, started skating with an injury, and am now working on the axel and 2 sal. I'm playing with the 2 toe. I have to tell myself that I'm doing well for me and not get down because my peer is better than me. Slumps happen...you do get stuck at times...and then you have a spurt of improvement. My coach says it's one step forward and two back. I have been working on axels one day and trying hard not to fall practicing stroking another. This is what makes the sport so challenging. It's a journey. The reason so many of us are responding is because we've all been there many times!!

Chico

[Elsy2]

Chico,
Your making me feel just a little bit inferior....;) I think you are truly an exception to be working axels and doubles after 4 years. At the four year mark I still couldn't spin worth a darn and the harder singles still elude me...sigh....Did you skate at all as a kid? and if not, how do you explain you comfort level on the ice to have come so far in a short time? I have to say that my comfort level is still lacking after 6 years.

I feel I must confess my skating shortcomings, as I'm sure there are others out there like me, who have not progressed as quickly as we might have hoped. On the bright side, I really have accomplished way more than I ever expected, and do enjoy my skating. Sometimes I think I've reached a plateau that may signal my limits physically. I'm no spring chicken....:P

[quarkiki2]

I'm approaching my 1 year mark and find myself stuck in ISI Gamma because I've been trying to learn FO3s for five months with little success. And I'm a little discouraged because it's been FIVE months, for pete's sake! I know that a lot of it is due to the fact that I started directing plays at a local high school and can't find as much time to practice as I'd like -- actually, that's most of it.

But then I think about what I could do 1 year ago before I started lessons: skate forward and do backward swizzles. I was so uncomfortable on the ice that the thought of doing forward stoking the long way down the rink was terrifying -- I could only go the short way across the rink LOL!

A lot of times I think I'm being a big chicken -- I have a fear of going backwards which makes it difficult for me to do back crossovers and the last half of turns and mohawks. But I practiced last night and made myself do alternating back glides and I actually did them for the first time, so maybe there's hope for me yet. I could only hold them for about four feet, but that's more than before. That's my mantra: "It's more than before!"

I'm looking forward to the summer months when I'm not in rehearsals constantly and when there's enough daylight at the end of the work day that I don't feel like running home and going to bed so that I can get more practice in. I'm also looking forward to camps this summer because I enjoyed last summer's camp tremendously -- even though most of the content was above my head. Now, not so much.

Where were you guys after a year?

[Jeanette]

Mostly everything has been said, but I might add that it is true - our sport seems to be one where we progress, feel great, hit a plateau, feel crummy, work harder, feel great again, and progress once again. Yay! You just have to hang in there and take the plateaus with a grain of salt, knowing that progress is right around the corner. You have to ask yourself though, if you are putting yourself out there, really working hard, skating hard to gain the progress. I hit a plateau one time that took forever to get off, but it was because I was comfortable there and wasn't really striving to get to the next level. I was afraid because it entailed speeding things up and leaving the ground! I finally got up the guts and it wasn't as bad as I thought and I felt awesome in having accomplished what I set out to do. Go for it and good luck. Jeanette

[Elsy2]

Jeanette, everything you've said is so true...perhaps I'm just comfortable with where I am at sitting on my plateau ;)

Quarkiki2....it can take forever to get those 3-turns. I still work on them...recently I had problems with the outside 3 at the beginning of the swing dance....Coach told me to bring my freefoot in closer to the skating foot, which in turn put my weight over the skating foot where it should have been in the first place, and gave me much more control. I still work on controlling the check out of outside 3's. Some things do become so darn frustrating, and then one day viola....it works! Be sure to pay attention to your upper body as well as your feet.

[Chico]

Elsy,

I can't tell you why I'm doing okay really. I'm a pretty small adult, weight, and my coach is forever tellimg me how good this is. I might add that he mentions that having a small front, =-0, doesn't hurt either. First time this is a good thing! I'm pretty brave, my coach says I'm fearless. Seriously this isn't true, but I do do a pretty good job of ignoring this problem. I'm pretty flexible. I still can do the splits. I was a cheerleader in school and I must have kept some of my physical abilities with me. (Timing, rhythm, and ability to hear my bodies signals.) I skate as much as possible, 3 - 5 days a week, an hour at a time. I have a good coach who has demanded good basic skills from me. I have skated summers with the kids to push me. I also skate with quite a few very good adults who also inspire me. I absolutely love this sport. My coach claimed that I have natural ability once. I might add that he was bawling me out big time when this came out. Something about he didn't care how much ability I had but that I was being an idiot. This is when I was skating with an ear infection. =-/ It was a backward compliment at the time, but I did hear him. From my point of view I feel like a pretty poppie skater. Honest. To me, I see all the kids and the talented adults and feel like I'm lacking. It takes a good talking at to make me think that I'm doing okay. Maybe it's this self doubt that makes me move forward and a good pace. My learning curve is pretty slow compared to even the slowest kid. If I had to pick just one thing, I would say it's because I want the skills a ton.

As for you, I've heard that your very good. =-) Skating isn't a race by the way. It's a journey to enjoy. I remember this each time I skate. My friends are all ages, sexes, and abilities at the rink and we all have different talents. Nobody is better than someone else. We all give and get something different at the rink.

Chico

[Mrs Redboots]

Quarkiki, you will be working on 3-turns until the day you hang up your boots. AND Mohawks! Edges and turns are what makes a good skater, and you can never work on them too much. There is always, but always, something more to learn! My Mohawks are in the process of being rebuilt so that they actually look like a Mohawk and not just getting turned around somehow....

[Michigansk8er]

Elsy2,

I'm on the no spring chicken plateau with you, LOL!!! :D I hope I can stay on the plateau...........but I think I'm getting very close to the edge of it, the edge that will have me sliding helplessly down the other side. Sigh! My goal is to hang out on the plateau for as long as possible before old age really creeps in and I start to lose things. It's pretty much a given that losing things will happen as we get older.................but not yet, eh? We still have a year before AARP finds us.

I'm a skater that is the queen of ups and downs. I can do a jump fine for months, then for months on end I can't do it at all. I lost a loop for an entire year, and before that it was my favorite jump. It was soooo pathetic. ;) Anyhow, I feel I've done well for my current 4 years of skating. I'm in Silver now (where I will stay for life............believe me, there is no axel in my future). I did, however, take a basic skills class when I was 16............then got back into basic skills at 25. At that time I passed the basic skills levels, along with all but one bronze dance, and my preliminary freestyle (which is now the current pre-pre test) in a 2 year timeframe (ah, the advantages of youth). My current 4 years is after being off the ice for 18 years. In a way it was like being back to square one, but not entirely. I feel that even with my limited prior adult skating I have an advantage over those who are just starting as adults. Within 6 months I had jumps through flip back. Previous skating helps, no matter what age it was at or how long you were off. That being said, you can never compare yourself to others. You don't know their history, and we all have different learning curves and comfort levels (my current thought with new things is "I'm going to die" if I try that). I am really amazed at the accomplishments of adult skaters.........especially those who truely started at square one as adults. Bravo everyone!!!!!! :)

[Elsy2]

I appreciate all your comments here, and in reading these responses there are some profound statement about why we skate, why we succeed and why we should skate.

Chico, I was thinking that I can still do the splits too.....but only after a glass of wine to kill the pain ;)

Best of luck to us all on our journeys!