For the backspin pivot method....where is your weight? Should it be evenly between both legs or mostly on the right leg? I'm really good at messing this up and I can't remember what my coach said (she says so much I'm on information overload).

She just taught me this method. This is method #4......don't know what we will do if this doesn't work...

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I do this exact same thing. I can get about one revolution and then come up too far on my pick and end up grinding to a stop (or losing my balance or falling over to the inside edge).

The ideas everyone has posted sound great - I'm going to try them on Saturday when I skate again

The weight tends to be on the right (CCW). You will need a bit of weight on your left foot to do the pivot around, but then as you lift the left foot up and come off your toepick to start spinning on your foot, your weight will be entirely on the right (left for CW spinners).

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

I just learned how to do a cross-stroke (the optional step on the Canasta Tango pattern), and I'm having some difficulties understanding how I'm supposed to cross over my LFO onto a RFO without, well, dying. I keep twisting the under-push onto the toepick.

More knee bend?

Sorry this isn't about spinning. I have a very good one-foot spin as long as I only start from the pivot. Try to do a 'big-kid' start and I'm all over the place.

Crayonskater--
When you go to do the cross stroke, make sure you're not trying to keep your hips square to the front. That would keep you from getting over onto the RFO edge. Think of your hips almost steering you onto that edge.

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Surely you have to be able to do the backspin from a pivot for change foot spins? You have to have that sort of push off from the left foot (for CCW) onto the right. And I can't do it to save myself. Tips on how best to do this are welcome.

My backspins are a series of teeny 3 turns rather than a spin. Once or twice I have got some circles happening, but rarely. Mine are more of a twizzle (see Casey, I remembered; twizzle not swizzle).

The entry seems fine, coach seems happy with it. As soon as I do the 3 turn and hook onto the toe-pick my weight goes back onto my heel even though I am pushing down really hard on my right little toe. I've tried keeping my weight forward, keeping my weight back, keeping it in the middle.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Whenever you are doing a pivot, your weight is (mostly) on the pivot foot -- the one with the toepick in the ice. That's why I teach 1 foot spins and lunges before pivots, especially for ISI skaters. (I get in trouble doing this in groups - "Work on the elements, not the drills!") Otherwise, the skaters perform pivots as awkward two-foot spins. For example, a good forward inside pivot starts like a spin, but your weight is on the pivot foot and the free leg goes around BEHIND the other foot, like a good lunge position.

You're correct: change foot spins DO use a pivot. Let's say you're doing a pique (upright) spin on your left foot in a CCW position. You OPEN UP the free arm and foot, put your right toepick into the ice next to your spinning foot, cross-check BOTH your arms to the right, then transfer your weight to the right foot. Your left foot will perform a backward half-swizzle as your arms start the new spin by coming across your body. The left leg/foot comes to the front of your right foot as you start the spin and close your hips. Bend your knee to center it and hold onto that back spin!

If you're looping on the back spin, you're rocking to the toe or heel. You have to feel like you're pressing down with the pinkie toe to find the spin spot.

It could also be your shoulders causing you to bobble. The free leg SHOULDER should be pressed back to continue the spin. Many beginners hold that shoulder in front, twisting against the spin direction and losing momentum. Again, it feels like your back is up against a big column or pole when you're doing a backspin on the outside edge.

I find the pivot is the easiest way to practice an inside edge back spin, in preparation for a change-edge spin variation. Practice both separately, then all you have to learn is the edge change!

Sorry, Crayonskater, I am the WORST footwork teacher in the world. Anyone else good at cross-strokes?


CASEY - START YOUR NEW ADVICE THREAD for Nov 10 - xx.
You might want to synch up the end date with the practice report thread. (Just a suggestion)

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So which way do my hips rotate then? Like a normal crossover?

Your hips should rotate toward the direction of the FO edge that your skating onto.

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Yes. Right pick is in the ice, and you push with a LBI edge.

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