ARGH!!!

How you think you skate, to how you look like you skate are very different things. I have a really bad posture, I look hunched over all the tme, but I am like that in everyday life too.

My crossovers also look horrid, they don't look very graceful.

I think looking at yourself skating is a bit like listening back to your own voice when someone records it.. Cringeworthy???

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starting at 28

I like the video camera to my coaches fristration. She usually gets it out to show me what is going wrong but when she films me, I don't make the mistakes!!! Ironic or what!!


But it is a very useful tool for learning, especially if you are like me in that I learn at my best visually and by practice as opposed to all theory so seeing what is wrong and then seeing the correction puts a picture into my head as to how I need to do it, whatever it may be

I just hate how dumpy I look on film. I think my camera adds about 35 pounds. In my head I'm 5'8 with a lean, ballerina-type body - video destroys that fantasy!

But I will admit that it does help me see what I'm doing wrong.

Yes, it's painful, but I've also found it to be the most effective way to improve my skating! The good news is that you learn what to fix every time you see yourself on video, so you gradually correct your mistakes and you cringe less and less. This year I finally got my first completely cringe-free video!

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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

I will say the first one is always the worst.

My coach pulls out the video camera on her phone (which will hold, ironically, a whole Gold length program with the space she has left) for a specific issue. I was MOST happy (and surprised) when she got a really nice forward camel on tape.

I have realized how long and thin my legs are, I swear they are straight...they never are,....but I am getting better. One day I will stop wearing long black pants to skate in...sigh.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Yeah, and it is usually quite painful. Bend knees, bend!

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Youtube Videos

Yeah, and I always wonder who that fat, bent over, old woman is. Didn't see her on the ice.....

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

I love getting tape of myself skating. It's never good at the time, but 6 months later when I tape again- having the old tape makes me appreciate how much better I've gotten, even if I STILL don't look like Alissa Czisny out there.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Not really. I filmed myself every 3 weeks or so the past season and before that I filmed many of my dancing competitions and the more I filmed, the more my perception of what I THOUGHT I was doing approached what I was REALLY doing. So it became less cringeworthy every time, basically, although out on the ice I started to cringe at things I did which on film, actually didn't look half as bad as they felt...

I oughta do it more often. It's VERY informative. . . .

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

I think I'm one of the few people who actually likes seeing videos of myself. It sort of makes me realise that I can skate, and makes me give myself credit for what I can actually do. I do sometimes think "oh that jump wasn't very high" or whatever, but generally I get really proud of myself. But I think that comes from not having a very high oppinion of my skating ability in the first place!

Yes, my coach has done that a few times. I make her erase it while I watch!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I got a Flip video and take it to the rink every time I skate. It's so easy to use that just about anyone can use it. When I'm not doing what my coach wants she video tapes me and shows me. Everytime I see a video of myself I think: "When did I get so fat? Was I always that short? Didn't I used to be a blonde? Are my tata's really down there? "

I also have some great videos of the fussy ice dancers. They look at the video and say things like "See I told you your foot was (not extended, too extended, in the wrong place, not the right angle, wrong timing--take your pick). Also some funny videos of pratfalls, or showoffs that go wrong.

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Great forum quotes:
On Falling: '...it doesn't matter, it's what you do AFTER you fall that's more important' ISK8NYC

I agree it's a shock, but it's also one of the best learning tools ever. I video almost all of my students, even the beginners - and it helps! While I hate being videoed myself , it is such an eye opener that I now ask DH to video during my lessons whenever he can.

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LOL!!!!

Along the same lines, I always wonder, "Am I THAT short? And THAT slow? And isn't my sit a whole lot lower than that? Who is that person???"

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You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky

I like lower resolution video; it makes it look like I'm skating faster, LOL!

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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

LOL Doubletoe! I film mine in .avi format and I use windows movie maker and virtualdub to edit the video's and I admit, I set virtual dub to 110% speed a few times haha! Never for my youtube video's of course, cuz that would ruin the line of progress I'm trying to record, but just for fun hihi!
Downside of that is, you skate faster, but the spins look even shorter, lol.