I don't know why, but over the last month or so my "go for it" juice has disappeared. I bail out of everything. It seems these things go in cycles (I hope). It's a reminder that figure skating is more mental than physical. That's one of the things that make it so appealing, the mind/body connection.

Does anybody have suggestions on how to get the "juice" back?

I'm no expert, this is just my thoughts.

I suspect you are right, it goes in cycles, and that it may depend on what else is happening in life, recovering from a virus, stress in other areas of life, etc.
I suspect the only way out is through, and that technique is the vehicle. When it's not coming naturally,

Having said that, sometimes it is good to take pressure off yourself and rediscover the joy of skating. It's such a good feeling, the joy might be enough to get the 'juice' going again.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

I just went through this; had a very hard time feeling any motivation at all! I was under a TON of pressure and had a lot of things going on at once (stuff with my mom, my son, pressure waiting for my clinical seat letter, and added pressure from my music teacher).

Add that to my skating which had stagnated......but reading over the posts from everyone helped, and I had to realize that sometimes right after a period where things seem to be at a screeching halt there comes explosive growth. I had to try harder to "push" myself instead of retreating into a comfort zone.

Have you subconsciously retreated into a comfort zone? Shake up your routine a bit and see what happens.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I have no advice, I'm in the same boat! I wonder if the economy has something to do with it. In my case, I decided to take a month break after Easterns...didn't like how mad I got at myself when practicing for that...then I had to take a 10% pay cut so break was extended...now I have a new job but I still have only skated once since Easterns. I wish I missed it more, but hopefully I'll want to be a recreational skater again soon, at the very least (cuz I'm really getting out of shape!!)

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

I think there is some misunderstanding. I meant that "Go for it juice" means going all out on the jumps. I bail out of jumps without doing them. I know 100 percent that I can do it (I've been doing it for over 15 years), but I keep not doing it. It's all in my mind

I lost mine from not jumping for a month, so if you can find where they bottle the stuff can you let me know so I can go buy some?
I think my problem is losing a little self confidence from not jumping (too sick to) and just needing to do a few to build it back up again and take it slowly.

But I find a lot of my skating is the same. It just take a fall to knock my confidence and then I just have to build it back slowly and do it at my pace and not push myself too fast. I pick up the speed naturally when the confidence comes. OK this means I can do all my single jumps stationary, but I don't think it's possible to do things like axels that slow but I've not had to cross that bridge, so doubt this will help you, unless you can build your confidence on the singles and work back up to doubles?

You need to:
-force yourself
-give yourself some incentive/reward
-build up from the basics to the more advanced

I "freak out" of jumps altho mine are all singles...but I end up forcing myself and build up to the ones I dont like (loop, flip) and save the one I like (salchow) for afterwards.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I try to force myself but I keep (not) doing it. Arghhh! I wish there were a switch in my head that I could turn on at will.

Like I said earlier, skating is more mental than physical. Working on your skating means working on your brain. It's frustrating when you can do something forever and then it just goes away. Fortuneately these things tend to go in cycles.

I go thru those periods where even forcing it doesn't work. If it's not related to my program or test, I just take a break from it and work on something else and then come back to it.

More times or not though, I force myself to do those things... and at around that time I'm in MAJOR grumpy mood! But I figured that if I force myself enough times I would eventually get out of the slump and get to a better place in my skating.

And yes, the economy and my unemployment is definitely hitting me on the motivation level. I still skate and practice! And I did give myself the goal of working on Silver Moves by end of 2010 to at least give myself a goal to stride for... but as always, the progress is glacial slow.

kander: I would just shut up and skate anyway and wait the period out! You will eventually get out of that "bad cycle." (My bad skating cycle comes once a month! Yes, mine is a "woman's issue." )

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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!!!

A few things that have worked for me:
1) Do the jump on the harness, then do it on your own right after getting off the harness.
2) Practice around someone who does the jump fearlessly. Your pride might take over and make you just do it already.
3) Take the pressure off by just playing on a public session or empty freestyle, maybe even at a different rink.

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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

Hi kander

I am afraid that sometimes you will just have to let that cycle pass, maybe try working on something else that you like, and come back to it later.

Forcing yourself is sometimes good. When I did well in my skating practice, I normally reward myself with some food, or something else, when I leave the rink.

You can try doubletoe's suggestions as well.

londonicechamp

The way skating (and most sports) works is that you'll have periods of progress, followed by plateaus and some setbacks...then you'll have a breakthrough and start to make progress again, until you hit another plateau or setback, and so on.

I find that when I get frustrated, the best thing to do is take a step back and work on something else, or even go back and spend some time on basics (patterns off of moves tests you've already passed, technique on some of your simpler jumps/spins, etc). I went through about a 4 week period over the summer where I didn't even want to skate at all, so I took a week of (was going on vacation anyway) and when I came back, for the next 3 weeks all I did was work on the first 2 figures tests and basics (edges, 3 turns, double 3s, twizzles, brackets, etc) because I didn't really feel like doing anything else.

Still waiting for a breakthrough on my freakin stupid $*@^%$ axel. But I've had one on my moves test in the past week, so I can't complain to much.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

My suggestion, build the foundation stronger. Imagine the difference in climbing 10 feet high on a woobly ladder vrs climbing a solid set of stairs. Theres a lot of little things you can do to improve your foundation no matter what element is freaking you out. For example, if an axel was the thing presenting the problem, work on a better waltz jump and a better back spin. Make them the best in the world. If a slow bracket was the problem, make your three turns even better first. Your coach should be able to identify all the incremental skills leading up to what ever is presenting the difficulty. There isnt anything that you do on ice that should be purely a 'leap of faith'. If it feels like there is, then there is some level of technical instruction that's missing in the foundation. Hope that helps. ....PS. 'time' cannot be made part of the issue. Take as long as it needs to take to build a good foundation, no matter how long.