What is a safe way to practice a spiral? I have this horrible fear of knocking my face straight into the ice (ouch!), I've been doing them near the boards but I think I'm creating more of a problem by relying on them and weight shifting towards them for balance. Any suggestions??

thank you and happy skating!

Go slowly and don't try to fling your leg up as high as you can. Don't use the boards since they're not an accurate duplication of the balance and strength necessary. Stretch your leg as high behind you as you feel comfortable. As your body gets used to the balance, you can push your leg a little higher. Don't feel silly if you don't get your leg up very high at all. It's all about learning to be comfortable in a very awkward position.

Spirals are a static (held) position, so practice spirals off ice and hold them for as long as you can. They're actually more about strength than flexibility, and if you don't have the strength to hold the position, it can be frightening. My worst spiral is RFI, and I have definitely had some ones. Time, patience and practice will help you enormously with this.

When you work on spirals, remember to keep all your weight on your heel! It's only when I've forgotten this and rocked forward onto the rocker that I've fallen on spiral attempts. Toepicks have a wonderful way of stopping your foot otherwise.

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I agree that doing them by the boards is not a good idea. The ice near the boards is often irregular and can make anything done there a bit harder.

I'm working intensively on my spirals and here is what I do to feel safe:

• Start from a T position
• Arch back and lift free leg as far as possible without bending at hip
• Bend skating hip and lift free leg as far as you can while maintaing head up and arched back
• To assist free leg lift, bend skating knee just a tad more, then straighten as you lift free leg. This helps put your weight to the back of your blade.
  

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...and while arching your back, remember to keep your head up, looking across the ice rather than down at your foot. You'll go where you look (and if you look down, you could face-plant). When that happens, it's very startling and a painful, jarring fall.

(I know someone who tripped on her toepick while doing a catch-foot spiral. Her arms were up, so she couldn't use them to break her fall. Ouch!)

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Well, that's usually true, but not if you're looking backwards!

Seriously, I find it easier to warm up doing backwards spirals first, because there is no fear of falling since there is no toepick to trip over (and can be used to stop if you need to). After a few of those on all 4 edges, then I do forward ones... The hard part for me is flexibility...

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

If you are concentrating on doing spirals near the boards, maybe you are thinking about going straight rather than on the outside edge in a nice curve. Try curving from the boards out into the center on a nice outside edge and that may work better than trying to stay straight near the boards. When you said you were shifting weight to stay near the boards, it sound like you are fighting the curve of the edge.....

I tell the kids to "follow your nose". It's from the old fruit loops commercials with tucan Sam. Anyway, if your nose is up, you will be, if it's down, you'll follow.

Work on it off-ice. I used to use the aerobics room in my fitness club when it was empty. If there's no barre, bring in a chair. Using ankle weights helps build up your strength faster.


Remember to lift with your skating knee bent first, then straighten and lift the rest of the way.

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At the adult edge workshop, I was told to try to push my hips back over the heel of my foot, it pushes your weight back onto the heel and actually helps give your free extended leg more height.

An exercise to do while skating (if it's not too busy/crowded) is to skate around the perimiter of the rink and when you go round the corners, to do a spiral, each leg, each direction. This gets you used to doing them on each edge! It's wicked fun and you don't have to go real fast at first just concentrate on proper positioning.

Another tip for backward spirals, if you are weak on these for feel uncomfortable or just shaky, to do these on your "jump landing leg" until you are more comfortable. Credit this tip to my teen brat....

Work on stretching off-ice every day, especially the hamstrings. Don't do spirals on-ice until you are warmed up and have stepped off-ice to stretch your legs. I usually wait until mid-session to do them (I'm older-takes longer to warm up)

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

I can't emphasize enough how much the stretching off ice is beneficial. I took someone's advice from here years ago on the stretching using a chair, and I strengthened my lower back muscles and can now lift my leg above my head in a spiral. When I started doing backwards spirals, someone else suggested I start from holding onto the boards, and push off backwards. This is the very beginning move, just so you know what it feels like. Once you're comfortable doing them, you find that speed makes spirals better too. Your balance is harder to maintain when you're going too slow. Good luck practising .

I second that-speed is a spiral's friend! (once you become comfortable with going faster on one leg, that is...!)

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

I agree---and if this is what you're doing, then you're not doing a true 'spiral'...instead, you're on a flat, which can be unstable. Get thyself away from the boards! Seriously...get out into the middle, and work on doing a spiral on a curve, really using your edges. You'll be surprised at how much safer it feels, because your blade can really grab the ice that way.

If you're really freaked out, start with one-foot glides on a curve, only sticking your free leg out behind you a little ways. But get onto that curve, and away from the boards. (Oh, and don't LOCK your skating knee! Keep it 'soft'--not 'bent', but flexible.)

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I have to respectfully disagree here. The first spirals to be tested, in the standard track, on the Pre-Preliminary moves test, are done on a flat. They are done down the long axis, one on each foot, and have to be held for four seconds each. You are not allowed an extra push when changing feet. I think it's actually easier to feel your position on the blade, forward or back, when doing these beginner spirals.

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Thanks everybody for all your helpful suggestions..can't wait to practice on ice later this week. As for off-ice,I've been doing streches for a few months now..I can't believe how effective it is, I went from about hip level to way above hip level !(a michelle kwan spiral is my aim, sasha cohen's I love but i think its too late for that!) thanks for the tip about holding that position (=strength) I'm going to work on that now.

all the best! and happy skating to all! )

My spirals went from below hip level to above head level in one year. That might sound like forever to some of you, but I'm 43. I stretch almost everyday because I have a sitting job and a congenital defect in my right hip which shortened my hamstrings .

So maybe you will be able to have a Sasha Spiral after all! Go for it!!!

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

Froggy, lift your toes up inside your boot and you will never catch your toepick! When I do spirals, I always think about my toes. The toes of my skating foot are lifted up inside the boot and the toes of my free foot are pointed inside the boot. I have never caught my toepick on a spiral in the 7 years since I learned this trick!

Off Ice at my gym I do the same. Also, try to hold a glove between your waist and thigh and look straight ahead. That will get you to arch your back. Also think of your extended leg and your back as a see-saw - that is your body is one long plank of wood on a fulcrum one side goes up the other goes down. It works. seems unnatural but the physics of it works!