I'm coming up to the one-year mark on my axel, and I'm still stuck with the rotation. I get anywhere between 3/4 and 1 revolution. Occasionally, on a really good, rare day, I get 1 1/4.
My coach says I've got the jump technique down and it's all there, just waiting for me to go for it.
Does anyone have tips on how to squeak out more rotation? I feel like I can't get my body to turn fast enough before I land. It's frustrating.

Oh my...sounds exactly like my issues!! I have nothing for you, but positive thoughts!!


Here is a recent video of some of my axels...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUk5EYCr5B8

Good luck!! Keep working!!!

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You prob need to focus on jumping up more before you rotate to give yourself the height you need.

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It would be easier if we could see a video. The only thing I can add from my own axel is I have trouble rotating sometimes if I pull my left shoulder back and swing my right leg around. Always strive to jump first and rotate second.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZuc5RC2L0g

This is from early April. I think I put the second axel in slo-mo. That one is about 1/2 turn short on rotation (and I check out 1/4 turn too late...).

I had one of those good, rare days when I posted this video, hence the "I'm 1/4 turn better now!" at the beginning of the video. But all the tries I've had in the past few days resemble the ones in the video.

Kim - you have way more speed going into your axel than I do! I chicken out and creeeep into it

a couple of tips.......

you aren't bending your jumping knee enough going into the axel. The spring up will give you more time. Get down in the knee.

Hold the edge into the jump for longer. Right now you basically get on the edge and jump. If you hold the edge, you will get a better knee bend and therefore get a bit more height. It should also help you get your knee up a bit more which will help drive the jump higher

Kim....hold that edge longer, bend the knee, and in your case, you aren't getting your knee high enough. You aren't driving it up. Right now you are swinging around. Its hard to go up without lift. I have this problem and I'd say its the hardest to fix. Keep working.

Nice layback!!!!

I agree with this. Also, it looks to me like you aren't getting any help in lifting from your arms. Yes they start low and come in high, but they are slow - almost lazy looking. I can't see that they are helping you much with the lift.

The jump looks like your walk throughs - slow and tentative. Have you tried them off ice to get the feel of the lift that you need without having to worry about landing on the ice? Or maybe put emphasis on trying to get lift from both your knee and your arms in the walk throughs. It also might help to think about pushing up off of the toe - you could even try to do the biggest bunny hops you possibly can to get that feeling of coming firmly off the toe with both your knee and arms giving lift.

You are getting the rotation part of the jump just fine - the weight shift is there and you are over the right side so that part of the technique is correct - which is quite often the hard part for people to get. Now you just really need to decide to commit to the scary part - the speed and height. If you get that, I think you will have more than enough time to complete the rotations.

Good luck.

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You need to do a real backspin on the walkthrough, with a real check-out edge. Right now, you're putting your left toe pick in almost immediately and you basically just turn on two feet. Then that technique shows up in the axel - you're heavily two-footing the landing with the left toe and crossed feet, exactly like your backspin.

Thanks for all the great tips! I worked on it a little tonight (and smacked myself in the chin trying to use my arms more ). I definitely felt I got more height tonight, which was a little scary! I just have to keep working on it.
vesperholly - you caught my bad habit! I've done the toe-in thing on the loop, flip, and lutz before I started landing those jumps. I think it's part subconscious fear of falling and part not hanging onto a strong check position on the landing.

I agree that you're not getting all you can out of your arm movement. Your overall technique looks good on the good jumps. You need a little more spring and a little more quickness. You can make up for it by taking more momentum into the air (ie skate faster). You can also work on these things off ice, preferably in a gym with a trainer who knows figure skating.

Kevin