One of the best things about this board is the search feature. When I'm bored, I search something just to read. When I'm nervous, I search and read how other people got through it. So I thought I'd add this thread, not to ask a question I need an answer to, but to share my experience, and see if anyone else wanted to share theirs, so when others (or maybe me in the future) need the answer, it will already be there!

What do you do for your test warm ups? Do you have your coach there to guide you through it?

I just took Bronze MITF, and I did not have a coach with me, though I did bring a friend. I noticed most kids who were testing did have a coach- who called out each element to warm up- especially for freestyle. My coach did plan my warm up for me ahead of time, though we never practiced it, nor timed it.

For my Bronze MITF warm up, I did the following:
2 laps around the rink, stroking nicely, getting the feel for the ice and looking for bad spots.

1 side of the rink of the forward alt crossover pattern the other side of the rink with the backward alt crossover pattern.

1 side of the rink of power 3 turns, switching sides halfway and 1 side of the rink of 5 step mohawk

Then I skated to my friend and asked if anything really needed work- she said BEND the knees. I then practiced all my entrances, and did the exit twice (to make sure I could t-stop), did a few left foot 3 turns and got off the ice at the 1-minute remaining call, so I could breathe before I started my test (I was the first one up)

It worked out pretty well for me. I had skated 30 minutes that morning (about 4 hours before the test) and that warm up was sufficient to have me confident in the test.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
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My coach is there, but she doesn't really guide me through it. I also start with one or two laps of stroking, then just do whatever patterns I have the most trouble with. I also skated for 45 minutes beforehand, which helped.

FS I just run through each of the elements. I'm not really testing any levels that give me any trouble yet, so it's not too stressful.

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Five minutes on the ice is not enough for my muscles to get warmed up enough to skate full-out and confidently on moves that involve both power and precision. E.g., the power threes on the Preliminary MITF test, which is the most recent one I took (and finally passed).

So I try to make sure that I'll be testing at a rink that has a second ice surface so I can get in some additional warmup there before the official test session warmup.

For the preliminary test, I needed to make sure I did the alternating threes and the inside spirals, because those were the moves I was shakiest on. And the alternating threes before the power threes so I had the feeling of FO threes in my body before I did them at speed.

So something like each crossover circle once (not repeating the pattern) to get the muscles warmed, then inside spirals because I wasn't worried about the outside ones, then alternating threes, then power threes. Then I spent more time on the alternating threes.

I don't know yet exactly how I will warm up for the prejuvenile and/or silver test MITF when I'm ready to test them, but I will need to do each of the back threes at least once slowly before I'm ready to skate them in the pattern.

When I tested Silver the last 2 times or so (out of 4 total, lol), I skated for about 30-40 minutes on the other rink surface at the rink where I tested. I was lucky that we got a 10-minute warm-up (1 time was a group of 3 adults, the other was with 5 kids - it was a quick test session) so I was able to do whole patterns of the 3-turns. I actually hadn't planned to do the whole pattern, just 1 or 2 lobes in each foot/direction, but since I had the time, I figured why not. But I did the turns last in the warm-up - the first move I did was the power pulls and then the cross strokes, b/c those were the least scary moves for me and they also got me to bend my knees and get warm (moving fast). I think I warmed up the 8-step next, after which my coach would usually call me over to correct something , and then I did the 3-turn patterns. I don't think I warmed up the spirals, b/c I had done them on the practice and I knew they'd be fine.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

I always have my coach to test. I think I'd be a nervous wreck without her. Long before a test or a competition, we go over exactly what I will do for a warm up and a few weeks before, I start my practice by doing the exact warm up I will do for my test or competition. My coach reminds me of key things to think of, she hangs on to my sweater and my guards and hands me my towel to wipe off my blades in between each move on a moves test.

Is that babying me? Maybe, but as a single mother I rather like being taken care of.

j

This is exactly what I have my skaters do. I "choreograph", or rather map out, their warm-up for them that way they know exactly what to work on to make use of that fleeting five-minute warm-up before testing. My students won't spend three minutes on one move and then feel rushed to warm-up the other three or four they have left, which only creates unnecessary stress.

My coach and I make a plan of what I need to warm up on 6 minutes, especially for the fm tests. For free skate I do one of each item, make sure to get in my step sequences and spins. Unfortunately, I skate at a level where you can either do it, or you can't, I won't suddenly land my first double-double in the warm-up so I work with what I can do and don't stress about what I can't do, I usually won't attempt things that are less than 80% in practice.

These days I just go for a good score in comps. For testing I always get a critique about 6 weeks prior to putting out a test.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
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We have two ice surfaces at my rink, and during the day, one is usually just a big, long public session that isn't crowded (with some instructors over there teaching private lessons, a small group lesson going on in the corner). Usually when we have testing, people will use that surface to warm up in addition to the few minutes we get on the other surface before our group. Normally I'm on the ice earlier that day before my test practicing(sometimes I'll have a lesson during that time) and I'll rest for half an hour or so before I test, change, take my skates off for a few, etc. (Pretty much everyone at my rink will skate over there before they go change for their test, or take the extra time to stroke around on that ice right before their warm-up group.) So by the time it comes to actual warm-up all I really do is stroke around to get a feel for the ice, if it's a free test do everythinig in the program once in the same order as in my program. I don't always have my coach around for free tests--if he's already there he'll stand by the boards, if he's not there for other skaters I won't have him make a special trip (since I'm used to competing without him there anyway). I pretty much do my own thing on warm-up, though, unless he calls me over to do something specific.

If it's a dance test, we usually have a longer warm-up so they can get in the music for everyone in that group and give the coaches taking skaters through a chance to work with everyone. Sometimes we have as long as 10 min. I start off by stroking around, do some swing rolls, and then do 2-3 patterns solo and 1 or 2 with my coach to the music. Then I just stroke around a bit, and sometimes just to stay relaxed and keep my mind off my test, I'll actually do a pattern or two of another dance that is played if it's a dance I like (I got some strange looks at the last test session and a few "wait, didn't you already pass this" when people saw me doing the American. LOL).

I haven't bothered with moves in like 8 yrs but since there is not enough time to run the entire test on a warm-up for some of the longer tests (and you can really tire yourself out trying to fit it all in), from what I remember either did one pattern of every patten on my weaker foot/side, or just focused on doing the patterns I normally have a harder time with. When I test my junior later this year I'll probably do one power circle forward, one backward (to warm-up), both diagonals in their entirety, and rockers if time allows starting with inside on the R foot (weakest) and then see where I am time-wise.


I generally REALLY don't like doing much on the official warm-up if I have the time to skate earlier because if something doesn't go well, I get mentally tripped up when I have to do the test, especially with freestyle. EVERY time I've done something poorly on warmup, I've messed up the same jump or spin when I competed.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything