Hello all!

I am dealing with a very frustrating problem right now . I am working on three doubles - sal, toe and loop. With the sal and toe, I am having the problem of breaking at the waist in the air. I've seen it on video - I go up, the jump looks beautiful, then it's almost like I bail before I check out and down I come, usually short and on two feet.

I know it is mental - physically I can do the jumps because I have done them fully rotated (but, sadly, not landed on one foot - yet ). It's just right now I want to scream at the darn things . It's even crossed over to my axel, which has been like clockwork for the last few months and now is wonky.

So has anyone had to deal with this, and do you have any good tips?

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Maybe try holding your arms up a little higher, instead of letting them drop at your sides? You might catch a little more air to get you off the ground, and hold your upper body up straighter as well.

Hope this makes sense. Can't say I didn't try....

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Would it help to imagine that your legs actually end below your ribcage? I know this has no basis in physical reality, but in ballet classes, our teachers used to tell us to imagine that everything from the last rib down is part of our legs so that our center and our legs would move together rather than broken at the waist...

Another thing I've been told in ballet and skating is to imagine the torso as a rectangle. There are 4 points (2 shoulders, 2 hips). If you bend the rectangle when it's supposed to be straight, such as during an upright spin, then you're in trouble. Same thing if 2 points that should be lined up aren't, such as the 2 shoulders during an upright spin.

And maybe you try jumping while really concentrating on your arms and stomach muscles? I don't jump much yet, but when I spin, if my stomach muscles are engaged, I'm straighter in the air and seem to be centered better. If they're too relaxed, I'm really "floppy"...

YES!!!!!!!! I'm SO glad somebody else has this problem! not that that's good but you know... lol

My coach says you bail out and break at the waist because you're scared to land, so what we do is start jumping up and down three times on one foot in your backspin position , with your legs crossed and your arms in, and then on your fourth jump, jump right out into a sharp landing position.

Also when you jump up think of being totally stretched out and straight in the air, and don't let yourself move from the position coming down, when you reach the ice stay in your backspin and continue spinning on ice after you land, it's an exercise that gets you used to straightening out because you can't be bent in half to do that backspin when you land.

Best of Luck!

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beks~
"winning isn't everything... wanting to is."

" the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary"

"It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at pracitce that counts; it's what you put into the practice."

You need better glue to keep you from Breaking. LOL Hope you're axel and doubles improve soon.

Brigitte

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Thanks for the help, everyone. What you all have said has made sense, and I will be thinking about your suggestions at practice tomorrow. (BTW, Brigette - do you think it should be Super Glue, or is Elmers ok? Off topic - are you doing Wyandotte?)

I had a lesson today, and whined to my coach about my problem. I thought I was breaking right before I checked out. In reality, I am breaking at the top of the jump. So what was happening was that I would break, try to straighten up (impossible) and break again before landing. Amazing that all this can happen in a second or two. Anyway, that seems to be why I was having some rather nasty pitch-off-your-right-blade falls (something this 39 year old body does NOT like).

He told me to:

1 - Think about keeping my abdomin muscles tight throughout the jump (and I heard this when I was relearning the axel - why did I forget?)
2 - Stay in the backspin position!!!!!
3 - practice walkthroughs with the upright position exaggerated, and do the jump-backspin exercise.

I had several tries that did not break at all in my lesson, both sals and toes, and I hope that there is hope!

Good luck, 96.23?? - maybe we can both report nice clean doubles soon!

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

I was going to post your coach's tip no. 1....keeping those abs in. Since I have never (and never will) attempt doubles, I didn't think any advice from me would be of benefit.

But I know daughter's coach has often repeated this when she had trouble!

Good luck Sk8er1964....I know you can do this!

skater 1964,
My daughter's (and my) coach has an exercise that I don't think is specifically for this problem but I think it might be useful. He has my daughter do backspins and then jump out in a loop type jump - its more for the check at that point. Then they redo that exercise and jump up into a double loop and check out. Since you start in the backspin position when you jump up and are already rotating, its a great exercise for holding yourself in the correct position in the air. This really helped her get her doubles going,and when she has problems, they go straight back to it. You might try practicing that and seeing how long you can stay straight up and crossed in the backspin position in the air. Good luck.

Kate