Everyone says you get used to the dizziness when learning to spin. Does that mean the dizziness goes away? Or you figure out how to work through it?

The dizziness is really getting to me, and I'm just doing two- and one-footed at the moment. I ask myself, "Wait. Why am I doing this to myself? I feel SICK."

After you keep practicing it you will get used to the dizziness. it just takes practice.

Your body adjusts to the spinning; it's an inner ear thing. You still may get a little dizzy, but the recovery time gets faster, until eventually you don't even notice that you're dizzy anymore. The sick feeling also goes away.

Yes, it does go away after some practice. When my training partner first returned to the ice, she almost needed dramamine she felt so crummy when spinning. The moms used to go get her wet towels to press to her face it was so bad for her, but she got it all back and has no problems now.

The actual dizziness goes away. Your inner ear doesn't change, but your brain starts to ignore the signals. The more you spin, the sooner this happens.

As a side note, this helps with motion sickness (on boats, anyway) as well- it's the same type of signal. I just spent three hours on a boat that was rocking so violently my feet would come off the deck (hooray for weightlessness) after every wave. No seasickness- I haven't been out on a boat for more than a year (about when I started skating), and I used to get AWFUL sickness after about 20 minutes even on calm water. So...

Last year at this time if I practiced more than 10 minutes at spinning It just got worse & worse. Occassionally I had to sit down on the ice rather than risk falling down from the dizziness.

Now I seldom get as dizzy (although about a month ago I toppled over after several spins).

So it does get better the more you work at it.

Don't get discouraged. It took me almost two years to do a scratch spin (it's not perfect, but its mine). The improvements for me come along every couple of months, but the practicing never ends.

And then some days they still stink.

What everyone else already said, plus - do spins until you feel dizzy. Then stop and skate around until you aren't dizzy at all. This could mean one spin or six spins in a row. For me it's usually three or four. After you're not dizzy anymore, start spinning again. You will gradually get to the point where you can keep spinning as much as you like without the dizziness.

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What everyone else said, plus, don't look at your spin tracings until after you have completely stopped. I often forget this and start looking at my tracings and that is a no-no for me.

Something else I found helps for me, is to do one turn the opposite direction to my spin, somehow that helps equalise things.
(If you imagine stiring a liquing several times one way, it takes ages to stop swirling that way, but if you suddenly stir it back the other way, although there is more turbulence initially, the swirling stops quicker. There must be some law of physics at work there.)

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Don't look down at all until the dizziness has passed. Then it's safe to look at your tracing. At the GP final, Dick Button commented on how Daisuke Takahashi was spinning in a position that required him to look down (it was a sit spin variation), and that that could make anyone queasy. Takahashi was recovering from a stomach bug, and when he came out of the spin, he lost his balance and had to struggle to keep from falling. The two things together were too much even for that world class skater.

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I agree with what others have said - don't look down (that's what my poor coach is always telling me!), and Karen's suggestion about briefly turning in the other direction to equalise the balance again is a good one.

As russiet says, spinning gets easier with time. I don't think it's uncommon not to like spinning, which kinda makes sense coz it's a totally unatural movement. A year ago I hated spinning, but I stuck with it and now I'd go as far to say I love practising spins and it's something I do well.

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

I don't like spinning either, because I get so dizzy. And yes, I know it's supposed to go away, but.... maybe one of these days it will.

And I still get car-sick, if I'm not driving.

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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 am always dizzy after I spin - not sick to my stomach, just dizzy. I did spins for nearly 5 years as a teenager, and I was always dizzy then too. My coach has had to change a part of my program (she added a quick turn in the opposite direction) so I can get un-dizzy after my sit spin before I try to go into a loop jump Despite the dizziness, I still love to spin.

A quick spin or turn in the other direction usually gets rid of dizziness for me. I haven't found that the dizziness goes away after more spinning experience - I just get more used to it and learn how to deal with it.

When I started to learn to spin, I also got horribly dizzy. My coach had me practice 2 things - one, after you come out of your spin if you spin ccw do a right outside three turn, it helps reduce the dizziness by turning you the opposite way you were spinning. The second thing my coach had me do (she was really cruel!) was have me do 5 spins in a row, so that doing 1 spin was not a big deal. Sounds awful, but it worked for me!

I agree that you get less dizzy as you get used to spinning. Also, the more centered you are, the less dizzy you will be. For starters, try to get really good at holding and curling your entrance edge so that you get better centered. Also, wait before pulling in, and pull in very gradually; that will help, too.
But the dizziness never completely goes away, especially if you have changes of position and and/or a change of foot, both of which force you to readjust to a new axis. The trick is to give yourself a move right after the spin that has you either curving in the opposite direction of your spin, or straightening out and focusing on a fixed object in the distance as you get your bearings again. Basically, you're actually a little dizzy and disoriented but you fake it.

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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

Oh god, I hate spinning too. Especially the scratch spins ... ughhh just the idea of the scratch spin makes me sick. Camels and sit spins are fun, but not the upright spins - they're doomed for me. =/ I usually use the quick turn that Morgail suggested above; it really does help get rid of the dizzy feeling!

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I actually did a little work on my spins today (not a great idea with sinuses still a bit iffy!), and realised the thing I really, really, really hate about spinning is when it shakes up your eyes and you get "floaters" for ages afterwards! Just like one's very own personal snow globe, only you don't get a chance to say when you'll shake it up!

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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!

Thank you, all, as always, for your tips (and sympathy)!

Now it'd be nice to master the one-footed exit on these things. I'm so busy spinning that I forget to think, OK, let's wind it down here and make a graceful exit.

Sigh.

It may sound weird, but I actually close my eyes on certain spins (layback and broken leg sit) and that really helps . Not really a safe thing to do though.

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The trouble with life is, you're halfway through it before you realize it's a 'do it yourself' thing.

A girl at our rink, just lies down stretched out on the ice occasionally to stop from puking lol! I used to do ballroom & latin dancing and there we "spotted" turns like in ballet (in latin mostly, in ballroom - especially the vienna waltz - you just got dizzy), that is, try to fix your eyes on 1 point, and then your head makes 1 very quick turn and then you fix your eyes on that point again. So I still "spot" my slower spins sometimes LOL! I almost got used to the dizzyness on the scratch spin.

It helps to like, spin in the opposite direction (or do a few 3-turns that way) to stop the dizzyness.

The trouble is, spotting slows you down on the ice. I know one of my friends, a former dancer, has trouble not spotting her spins, but when she does, it slows her down dreadfully.

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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!

If I remember correctly, Kevin Van Der Perrin used to spot during his triple jumps. I think in dancing and ballet spotting is good because you just have a couple of revolutions. In skating, the revolutions can be so numerous and fast that spotting will not allow you to accomplish your goals. Also, I think the layback and camel spins would be tough to spot with (ha ha, not that I can do either one!).

LOL I'm not saying it's a good idea I'm saying it's what I do LOL!

It's kind of like that my spins used to be better in the direction opposite to the one natural for me because that's the direction we had to turn in in dancing in the jive and cha-cha and stuff (clockwise instead of counterclockwise). Bad habits from different sports.