Say,can anyone tell me how to put a start on a 2 foot spin or any spin? How do you make yourself spin on 2 feet,rather then just turn around? Thanks.

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FSWer

The best way for me to get started in a two foot spin is to bend my knees deeply with my feet pretty close together and parallel (like this ll ). Then I "wind up" by twisting my upper body in the direction opposite the way I want to go. Then untwist and use the momentum of your arms to help you spin around.

Be careful though- it's very easy to lose your balance and trip on your blades and fall. You want to try it very slowly and controlled, don't throw yourself into the spin.

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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)

OFF-ICE:

Find an open place and hold your arms out for balance.

Now, turn around and around - use very small steps so you don't travel from your starting spot.

This will get you used to turning around fast and you don't even need to go to the rink.

ON-ICE:

Make sure you're wearing a helmet.

Move away from any walls, cones or crowds.

Put your arms up for balance.

Use small steps to "tap, tap, tap" while you turn yourself around.
(Same little steps you used off-ice.)

After you turn once, keep both feet on the ice and let yourself glide in a tiny circle.

If you keep your knees close together (and a little bent) you should be able to spin a bit.


Once you're comfortable with the tapping start, then try the way Skittl suggested. Think of swinging your arms from the right side all the way across to the left, almost like swinging a baseball bat. Then let your feet "catch up" with your shoulders and you should start to spin a little.

This is very important, so make a note: start with your knees bent, then make yourself TALL once you start spinning. That should help you keep your balance.

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How would I put speed on it and end up spinning rather then turning around fast?

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FSWer

You make a spin faster by pulling your arms in. Big things spin more slowly and smaller things spin faster, so if you start with your arms stretched out and then pull them in (not too fast!) so that they're crossed over your chest (kind of like giving yourself a hug), your spin will speed up.

Don't try this right away, though. Start with the things the others have suggested first. You have to learn things step by step so you'll be less likely to get hurt.

Like Isk8NYC said, keep yourself tall while you're spinning. It can also help to think about keeping your stomach muscles strong. If your body is all loose and wobbly, you won't be able to keep your balance.

This you tube video gives you an idea of how to do a two footed spin. I am extremely visual, so this helped me when I got started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2YZXZ2LXDI

A few tips to add to what others have already said:

Think of your arms as the rotors of a helicopter. They should only go around, not up and down at all.

Suck your tummy in and hold it in tightly during the spin.

Make your fingers stiff; this will help keep tension in your arms.

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Great basic questions you ask, right were some of us are at. Hope you don't mind, my courage in joining in?

I've just practiced ice-spinning less than 1/2 an hour all together, doing some (to me) quirky things
like -
Right from the get-go, I was told I skated 2 revolutions, no less with my arm/propellers sticking straight out

Now that I've learned to draw my arms in, I haven't been able to repeat these revolutions since, I partly wonder why.
I'm fairly sure, when I skated the 1st. couple spins, I was more relaxed: imagining... & play-pretending... I was just skating them,
like in socks on the floor, there I snap easily 4-x around, at least 3-x, before a little re-orient break.
Now
instead, I am thinking... & focusing... & getting all up tight trying to Time-right what... to do when... Please tell me,
you more advanced skaters, and certainly coaches, can/do relate to this learning curve. - Sometimes, just for a second, I can manage to raise one of my feet on the spins, which prolly looks like a hoot, but we all have to start somewhere.

I have the pleasure of being friends with a dozen really kewl FS-friends, one especially is the best positive CHEERleader, & teacher one could ask for;
but of course, she's working on her own competition-skills, and can't always baby me along...

Anyway, it will be interesting sharing how you FSWer are progressing... in your spins, as well as me.

Happy! Skating...


.

Ok, what's the defining difference
between "not throwing oneself into it, but doing it controlled",
versus
"un-twisting arm/body momentum" to get into the spin, let alone keep yourself revolving... <-apparently somewhere... in this process lies success

follow the tips below-they are valuable, as are the other tips given:
Control-keeping your body tight and maintaining tension; don't break over at the waist BUT don't be so upright that you skate like a zombie and are not as soft in the knees as you need to be.

When I go into a 2-foot spin, I like to think of squeezing the thighs together slightly to maintain some tension there; this places me on my inside edge. My arms stay out to the side, slightly to the front like I'm holding a large tray or beach ball...when I am centered and have spun around many times, I bend my elbows and bring my hands to my chest. This speeds me up. After a few more revolutions, I push my hands down the front of my body until they are fairly straight.

I love 2-foot spins! I think they still hold merit in many programs and put them in mine.

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

http://home.pacbell.net/anamga/figureSkating.html#6.2.8

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

Hi

Well my coach told me to put my hands out, then after maybe 2 revolutions, then pull my hands in, as in that way, I will feel myself spinning faster, and I do feel that.

Hope that helps.

londonicechamp

Ooh, excellent. I was playing with two-foot spins this week (and mostly losing my balance and ending up on my toepicks or bum, lol) but was trying to get the wind-up with my feet already together and it just wasn't happening...and I noticed it worked better with my feet apart to start but I thought that was wrong.

That's right - start with your feet about hip width apart, with your knees bent. As you spin, you can straighten your knees and pull your feet closer together as you pull your arms in. That will make the spin go faster. Eventually, you can draw them together and pick one up for a beginning one-foot spin. Keep your weight over the ball of your foot - as you've found, you don't want to get up on the toe pick.

Thanks! - this video is really helpful. - except for the time being, I have given-up on starting it from a Pivot,
the frustration of that, just wasn't worth it, observing closely how others can spin without one.

ok, so I get the Starting stance just fine, but then between the push-off, and getting it all together, something goes awry -

(at first, I wasn't even aware of my arms, let alone that they stuck straight out, even as I turned).

Now that I intentionally draw my arms in, I hug myself too soon, sigh. - then whilst trying to change that, my feet get mixed up. Basically I think I would really benefit having this broken-down into slo-mo steps, with someone helping me succeed at each step.

Thanks! again

Yeah well, as far as POSTURE & Upperbody control, that's been my biggest challenge.

when I still had a coach, she said: "Let's start on spins next" - as I wondered 'What on earth for?' (as it's Jumping... yeah, all over the place that I entertain in my dreams, day as well as night.

Then increasingly lately, it's come to my attention, that one of her goals for me was "First, straighteningUP my (bad) posture" - hm,
maybe we need a new thread just on posture, correctly... Thanks!
.

re "helmet": When first starting, I wore no artificial safeguards.
Two classes later, a coach agreed to help me out for a while.
As I started skating backwards, she had me wear a helmet!
In no time flat, I was decked-out from head-to-toe; so
to hide my embarassment, I wore a long-sleeved sweater, and jeans.
Alas, I became totally-dependent on all that gear; but
wprse, I no longer felt like a skater, instead
I felt like an ancient handicapped! mummified mummy

Well one fine day, I had had enough!!! of alla that; so
I bought me a cute Rainbow soft-pastelle colored skating-dress; which
beyond helping me FEEL like a skater, additionally
(no longer wearing bulky knee-pads)
I feel more freed, practicing my fxo's with increasing confidence...

This all said, just to ask: for spinning, am I to wear that helmet once more??

Hi

Yes, the suggestion of Clarice is correct.

You do spin with your two feet apart, but then as you spin, your feet should be closer together; as if you have them far apart, that is probably going to stop you from spinning.

Hope this helps.

londonicechamp

I find it hard to skate properly if I forget to take my wristwatch off, so how anyone skates in helmets , and multiple pads I don't know. Of course I have skated in all sorts of weird costumes in ice pantos so probably just a case of what you are used to.

I personally wouldn't but it depends on how likely you feel you are to fall over and how likely you feel you are to bang your head if you do.

It's a risk assessment everyone has to do for themselves. For me I think I'd be more likely to fall over if I'd ever worn one and preferred learning to fall correctly. If you have long hair a good alternative is to put it up in a bun which offers some protection should you fall.

I was speaking directly to FSWer, who is still a beginning skater and as such should wear a helmet, especially when learning to spin. When beginning spinners lean backwards, forwards, or sideways, they sometimes fall.

As FSWer is an adult, that fall could really hurt if he was caught off-guard. Muscle control and balance are issues for him.

I love my tap-tap-tap-gliiiiide! intro to spinning, especially the off-ice practices. I use it for all the Snowplow and Basic 1/2 classes. It really helps to overcome the initial dizziness, encourages proper posture, and almost everyone can do it from the first or second try. Plus, the kiddies like to brag "I learned to spin!"

I still teach the "swing and catch up" starting with Basic 2/3.
I add the half-swizzle pump throughout Basic 5/6/7, in preparation for the "pickup" spin in Basic 8.

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Ok. How should I have my feet and blades? Should I be using my toe-picks?

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FSWer

Says the lady who has skated in a penguin costume with cushions up her front....

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

WOW At my rink. Hats or anything that goes on the head is not allowed. so we gotta live with it. im fine but i need help with my spins too. i can do 2 revs then it stops. i need to do 3 revs but i find it hard. we have to lift our foot halfay through and then glide on an outside back egde at the end. im doing 3 jumps and spirals. i am so happy. skatted in my figure skates 5-6 times and they are really cool. gotta get used to them as im having trouble with toepicks as im not used to them. but thanks for all the links they are awesome and helped me. i like pics or videos as i can see how they do it. also can someone tell me what CCW stands for?

Yui- CCW means Counter Clockwise- so spinning in the direction of your left shoulder.
CW means clockwise- spinning in the direction of your right shoulder.

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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)

Your feet should be slightly apart- shoulder width, maybe a bit more. You want to bring them closer together as you begin to spin. They should be parallel- like this: ll

Some people like to put one toe pick into the ice to help them start- I've never figured out this method and it causes me to trip. You have to experiment to see what works best for you.

In a two foot spin, I like to think about one blade spinning forward and one blade spinning backward, so the weight on my feet is slightly different depending on which way I'm spinning. The forward blade has the weight slightly back, the backward blade has the weight slightly front. That keeps you on your "sweet spot"- but is probably too much to think about when you first get started. A huge mistake of adults (me too!) is over thinking. Sometimes, you just have to do it and see what happens. But like Isk8NYC said- you want to try it with control, and with proper safety equipment.

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