im really struggling with these but i need them for the fs4 dancestep. anyone have any advice?

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use your knees and keep your shoulders checked. If you let your upperbody fly loose, it will make the turn hard to control

Don't have any advice really, just wanted to share in the I can't stand back 3-turns sentiment.

Oh goodness. I remember my hatred of back threes.

One day I was doing double threes and I just "had" them. It was soooo strange. If you have a loop jump and a backscratch spin then you have to have at least one decent outside back three. Just practice the others a ton. And make sure you practice them by themselves and not just in the FS 4 footwork pattern alone. It is easy to cheat them in that dance step sequence.

One day they'll become second nature and then you'll have to do backwards brackets....( )

Good luck!!!

My back threes aren't very strong (and my BI threes are practically nonexistent). But I agree w/Dressage Chica about double threes. I've been working on my BO threes by doing FI-BO double threes (verrry slowly just cuz they're not good yet). Doing it this way helps me get the feeling of the check of the upper body/shoulders and strong placement of the arms along the circle during the FI3 and then have a similar feeling in the BO3.

(With BI threes, I have a problem with dropping my free side and kind of corkscrewing into the BI edge and never turning the turn.)

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What is it with back 3's? I can do the entry and turn, but stop dead, can't get a running edge out of it, and have to put my free foot down. Every other adult I watch seems to have the same problem.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

99 percent of problems I see people having with back 3's is that they are not checking properly. You can't initiate a turn if there is no counter-motion. CHECK YOUR HIPS! CHECK YOUR SHOULDERS! The turn will just happen for you. If it feels like work, you're doing it wrong.

Yup, that pretty much summarizes it for every element in skating.

I was struggling with these too but our top skater gave me a tip that has made them so much easier. Remember to rotate your shoulders before you turn. I was concentrating so hard on getting my skate to turn I completely forgot about my upper body, but once I started using it properly the turns just happened!

Nicki

My problem with them is that I have no flow coming out - don't tell me, I know, my weight is too far forward. But I don't know how to make it go to the back of the blade - we (Husband and I) do all sorts of toe-heel-toe exercises but for me, they simply aren't having any effect. Husband, the beast, can do a really, really nice triple 3-turn (sadly, in isolation only; he can't yet do it in his footwork sequence, which is where he wants it. I told him to put it at the beginning, and then do a 3-bracket-3 sequence on the other foot, but his coach is wibbling!).

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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!

I worked on these today in group lessons - outside, not inside - and I noticed that a STRONG check is the only way to maintain some flow. Since I'm doing mine at a paltry speed the flow out of them is minimal, but if the body is REALLY checked the flow just kind of happens. We did back 3, mohawk, back 3, mohawk sequences around the circle and as I gained more speed they actually felt better than doing them from a near standstill...I'm just still too afraid of them to go faster, especially on the left side.

I love back 3's, a little too much and tend to do them by accident sometimes when I ought to be holding a back edge. As soon as I figured out where towards the back of the blade to shift the weight (opposite of forward 3's), they were never a problem...

Maybe you're trying to do them with the weight on the ball of the foot instead?

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
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If your weight is too far forward and you can't seem to get it back, go back to doing them two footed for the security of that other blade just barely touching the ice. Also, watch out for breaking at the waist.

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That's what I said, Casey - I can't get my weight far enough back on my skate! Still.....

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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!

Whoo-Hoo! I made a conscious effort to work on these today, and I got it!
At least the right outside back 3.

What I did was stop being scared of it and took some real speed into the turn, making sure I got a knee bend on it. The big thing that really helped was to NOT LOOK DOWN while doing it. Lo and behold, it just fell into place. It just feels really natural and easy.

I love that reading stuff in this forum inspires me to work on things and to see real improvement.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I, too, made an effort with these today! Managed to get more flow than I normally do, but that wasn't much, and then I discovered I could do LFI counters, so played with those instead..... Can't do RFI counters, though, or not with the same amount of flow.

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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!

the bending and lifting of your knees will really help\

Pressing to your heel will also help. You have to be down in the knee to press to your heel