Help!!!!

Does anyone have any tips for how to get your legs crossed in axels? I've been working on them for awhile now and I'm still landing them under-rotated and two-footed. My coach says this is because my legs are side by side, so my main focus lately has been trying to get them crossed but I just can't do it!!! Any tips would be great!

Backspins, backspins, BACKSPINS. Also a lot of waltz jump, loop jump combos.

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I second the waltz-loop. Also try waltz-backspin. Make sure to lift the knee of the free leg and then push it down again crossed in front. Maybe backspin-loop-backspin...

Don't think of crossing the free leg in front of the landing leg in the air, just focus on getting backward over your landing hip so that you can pull in and it will automatically end up crossed in front. It's just like the entry to a backspin, where you turn the right hip into the free side hip, then straighten the spinning leg and pull in. You also need to make sure you really straighten your landing leg as you snap the hip and get backwards, because your free leg cannot cross in front of the landing leg if the landing leg is bent. When you pull in on a backspin, notice how you feel the calf of your free leg touch the shin of your spinning leg. It should hit the exact same spot when you get backward and pull in on your axel.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

One of the things that can cause your legs not to cross is pulling your shoulders too far around in the direction of rotation while you're in the air.

Some of the most beautiful axels are done with feet side by side. Case in point Dorothy Hamill

Doubletoe and Kander have very valid points. Opening your left shoulder while taking off makes it very difficult to transfer to your right side for rotation. When I think of an axel, I think of aiming myself into an airborne backspin. So the waltz backspins will help. Once you get the hang of the waltz backspin, gradually do more of the backspin in the air before touching the ice. Pretty soon, you'll be doing an axel without hardly trying. Best wishes.


BlackManSkating

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Waltz-backspins definitely help, as does practicing the axel on the floor. There, you can practice a true leg cross without fear of killing yourself. On the ice, what you need is a really long, straight takeoff, which prevents your upper body from pre-rotating. Once your shoulders start to turn on the takeoff, leg cross is almost impossible. I was working on axels yesterday, and found that when I aimed my takeoff even farther outside the circle, I was getting even more leg cross and easier rotation. When I say "outside the circle", that's where I was aiming, but given that the takeoff edge is on a curve, it was probably just a straighter takeoff than I was used to. The timing on the takeoff is key too- I need to hold that edge until I almost can't stand it anymore, and then go into the jump. If I rush the takeoff, I end up with a little spinny clunky thing. Unfortunately, that's what I tend to do in competitions, when my nerves get to me.

Not that I'm gonna be doing any jumps till september but how on earth does one do a waltz-backspin? At our club we're taught waltz-loop-loop as prep, and we're only allowed to go do an axel when the waltz jump is reaaaaly good and really fast and powerful, and wouldn't the sheer speed of the landing edge make it impossible to do a backspin?

For a waltz-backspin, you can't really do a big waltz jump that simulates an actual axel takeoff; you need to do a small waltz jump from a practical standstill. But it does train you to get backwards over the landing side and rotate. I think waltz-loop-loop is a great exercise, but even for that one, you can't make the waltz jump takeoff quite as big as you would if it were a real axel.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Try doing back power 3s in the direction you jump and really focus on bringing your free leg (if you jump R handed, your L leg) in to a crossed jumping position on the 3.

Waltz jump from standstill landing w/your legs crossed (again, if you're R handed, land on your R foot, left crossed).

And work on same thing as above but back spin a few revs when you land.