hey everyone!
just wondering if anybody has any stretch exercises for split jumps.My coach says my legs arent spliting and my feet are flexed. she has me doing a split jump, falling leaf into a flip combination in my program , need to really improve that combination before my next competition
Thanks in advanced

~Cutie

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It's usually and issue of strength more than flexibility - if you can do splits off the ice, then flexibility isn't the issue right? But if you can't work on splits and oversplits. Remember to keep your hips square, back knee under you, toes pointed in both directions.

If it's an issue of strength, practice leaps off the ice and try using ankle weights to simulate the weight of the boot. It'll take some getting used to, but it'll happen

Or at least thats what I hear I only just started working on them when my rink blew away

When I was a ballerina a lifetime ago, split jumps were my "wow" trick. Not a Russian split, but a grande jete -- or a split falling leaf.

I always think of them as a kick-kick motion. Kick the front leg, then the back leg as high as you can. The movement is from the bum in the front and the quads in the back. I always tried to get my front leg parallel to the floor and the back leg higher than parallel to the floor, sometimes with my back foot as high as shoulder level -- think Michelle Kwan in pointe shoes. You get height by keeping your ribcage lifted going into and through the jump.

To get your toes pointed, try thinking about making your legs longer than they are. Send energy all the way out of your boots instead of letting it stop at your ankle.

I'd practice the jumps off ice and also practice grand battments -- big kicks to the front and back. Make sure you're not leaning backwards on the front kicks or forward onthe back kicks. And always point your toes for these so you put that into your muscle memory and use the right muscles -- you shouldn't be lifting your leg with your quads in the front or the hamstrings in the back. Think of pushing with the glutes for the forward kicks and the quads for the back kicks. And keep your stomach muscles strong so you're not wobbling on the top half!

Ann-Margreth Frei video 2, Becoming More Limber

It has a great workout at the end that I use. I can do the splits again thanks to this vid. As for strength to lift the legs in the air against gravity, i work split jumps on a trampoline. My trampoline is put away now for the winter, but I got great air positions on it and practiced russians and pikes. My prob on the ice is my take-off. I really need lessons on this when I have time to skate more regularly.

Kay

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There are more comments on split jumps in this thread:

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=18650

(Thanks to those who posted in that thread about using the momentum of the non-picking foot to get better height & split position--I tried a split jump at the rink yesterday for the first time. I was nowhere near a split position, but I could feel the momentum of the non-picking foot helping during the jump.)

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