Hook, hook, hook.
Please, camel-challenged skaters, look at the Lussi video. You do not need to do a outside edge camel for the hook method to work. It is excellent for a basic forward camel (on BI edge). The hook is the secret to centering and speed. It applies to forward and back camels. It's even easier for back camels. If you are suffering from camel problems, also work the back camel, not as a combo but as an individual skill taken from a FI3 entrance. In many ways, it is easier to enter and achieve good center.

The "sweep the table" method works. Combine w/ the hook, and you have a very fast camel!

Kay

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My forward camel sucks. At BEST, it gets about three slloooooow revs and then peters into a truly lame one foot spin.

On the contrary, I can do a pretty decent back camel, usually get about four revs, not nearly as slow and I can manage a back scratch out of it. My coach says that this is very odd.

I think I may try and learn a back camel, back sit combo instead of traditional camel sit.

Wooooooooo we have progress!

At practice today I was like, okay, here goes nothing.

And I did a great camel spin - well, great for me at least lol - nice and fast, centered, good upper body position, about 3 revs. A friend said it looked awesome, except that I still need to work on locking out my knees. I'll take that though - at least I'm doing much better than I was.

Unfortunately after that great camel spin I wasn't able to duplicate one quite as good. But now that I understand the mechanics of the spin I should be able to work it into something somewhat decent. And to think it was just that stupid hip being closed.

Now to keep working on it - I'm going to post a video soon hopefully so you can rip my camel to shreds.

Your knee and your arm need to work together...so your knee needs to straighten at exactly the same time and pace as your arm is snapping around, or it won't work. Also, look at your left hand as you hook the camel, it'll keep you from dipping forward.

You also need to step (after the three turn) more in front of you than you would in upright spins...in upright spins you step sideways a little, but for the camel it's more in front of you, that'll help you hook it. And make sure you're not snapping your arm around or straighten your knee too quickly, it should almost feel like slow motion compared to the entrance to other spins. You gotta hold that forward edge for a little bit before snapping.

Hey, thanks to this thread, MY camel just got better today, too, LOL!
Telling myself "high sweep" as I pushed off onto the entrance edge reminded me to keep my leading shoulder high and keep it high as I swept the arm around in an arc. Always good to be reminded of these things!

It must be reading this thread, but last night I actually dreamt I tried a camel spin - sweep the table, boobs on the table - and it worked! Only snag was that my free leg didn't go high enough.... and because it was a dream, I was bare-footed on the ice!

Don't suppose I could do one in reality, with or without my skates!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Count your blessings!!! That's what I got on a GOOD day!!! (And I did get one of those yesterday too, except the one foot spin coming out of it wasn't too bad!!!)

I'm gonna try the "boobs on the table" idea tonight and see what happens! (Especially since I don't have much...ummm... boobs... I'll probably have to learn to lower my torso a bit more...)

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jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
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Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Lol @ boobs on the table.

Well if my thread has inspired at least a couple of people to improve their camels then woohoo! I'm going to try to work on mine a little more tomorrow - maybe even a video??!

OMG!!! I had a lesson today and I showed my primary coach a camel... and then he said to try for a camel-sit and I GOT IT on the second try!!!! And then he asked me to try it again a third time and the third try was better than the second try!!! OMG!!!

There is a God at my rink today! There is a God!!!

(And if you want to know what made the difference, think pressing on the baby toe when you come up to a spiral position and stay pressing on that baby toe thru the spin...)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Congratulations!

Wow - well done, Jazzpants!

I did amuse myself by having a (rather half-hearted, I must admit) go at a camel spin today, after my dream - managed 1 revolution, rather to my surprise! Well, maybe 3/4 revolution is more accurate..... who knows, maybe there'll be a spin I can do?

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Camel spins are my favorite spin...and untill just recently it was the way i got into the layback. but now there is not enough time in the music to do that into a layback with a catch pull up overhead thing (tecnical name?...i call it the my back hurts spin!!!) and it actually puts my leg in the wrong position in the layback to catch the spin. I learned my camel spin technique from a russian coach (sergey Tartakov) i can say that he is responsible for a lot of my spin technique. i find that some of the things i do seem unorthodox at first, but when i have shared them with friends and most recently my partner , 2salcow, they had their doubts at first but adapted some of the techniques later. so heres a list of things that i have picked up from sergey as well as various other coaches that have worked for me.


the slower entry usually leadds to a faster spin. because i spin fast most people think i "pop up" out of my knee fast. on the contrary i go around at least 2X in a bent knee position before i pop up. if the entrance is a little off or it doesnt feel right i do more. to save or reset a spin even mid combo or mid program, i bed the leg i am spinning on to regain control. then i can come back up again if i want.


on the entrance...i am strictly same arm same leg style. i was taught to keep my entrance arm exactly lined up with the imaginary extension of my entrance blade. my back arm and leg are exactly lined up with each other from the cross over . thats the key thing for me. if that arm crosses the line of that blade at all it is evident in the quality of the spin.

to gain speed during the spin i was told to extend my arms and legs away from the sockets. also to squeeze my back leg toward my entrance arm.

other things to note.....


heres a few basics i was reminded of from my pairs coach and 2 salcow as i am trying to master this spin on my opposite leg...(tim's direction)

if you thnk you are flat and low on the enrtance and the spin is not working...you are probably still too up right.

if you think you are waiting long enough on the entrance curve...wait longer.


when in doubt slow down the entrance...a bit...re group then try to speed up the process. when we are going fast and make mistakes we don't know what ehy are...slower we can really feel it. learning it on my opposite side i have to go slow in the entrance to avoid popping it.


well i hope that was somewhat useful. i don't know how to post video, but i think my pairs coach might. i will try to see if i can. i have been told that my methods are not common, but the end resuts are not bad for an adult skater. good luck...long live camel spins!

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a can of stickum : $5.95
the email asking "how do you get this sticky stuff off " ...priceless

those are great ideas...now what lift were we doing again?

hey Tim...i finally figured out how to get the sticky stuff off!

Missing: east coast stunt doubles poster