Lately I've been splatting on the ice. And that's OK, because it doesn't hurt the way it used to. I'm not resisting. I get right back up and continue doing what I'm doing.

Funny how your body kind of figures it out after awhile. (Of course, $150 worth of knee and elbow and bunion pads has to be part of the formula.)

I'm afraid I'm past the age where that could ever be true again. I do get right back up, but now instead of the pain disappearing fairly quickly, I still have sore spots and pain weeks (or months ) later.

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Sometimes falling makes me happy because it means I've progressed on a jump. For a long time, I was landing my axel two-footed and cheated, but I stood it up. I first started landing it after a few weeks of fully rotating, landing on one foot and falling.

Falls never feel particularly good, though. I'm sporting a nasty-looking bruise on my elbow from lots of falls.

I have a good chiropractor who justs asks me not to knock my head (again). He re-adjusts me. My medical doc doesn't see half of the bruises I get...

I have been falling on my jump landings (loop) which means I'm over far enough for my coach's satisfaction.

But sometimes it does hurt to fall, even with the pads!

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

I had a private freestyle session today since no one else came. I decided to video a few spins, just to see what I could see.

I plopped down on a sit spin and I just laughed and went TaDa! LOL

FallDownGoBoom's right: it does get easier to fall.
(And extra padding is useful.) :wink:

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I fell on a loop on Monday, (cue gasps from coach) and it didn't hurt at all! no idea how bad it looked, but I didn't feel a thing. I think I've knocked off all my nerves, they can't feel anymore!

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Yeah I've got to protect everything too. Especially my elbows and wrists - they don't really seem to heal well. My elbow has been blue for the past 1,5 years - the blue spot doesn't even disappear anymore, so now I'm using an elbow pad too.

But once in full protection gear, I get right back up too. And I can skate as well without the protection gear too, it's not like I get a mental block, so why not use it? That's what it's there for.

Sometimes falling makes me feel good, in a fearless sense. Like after I fall once on a session, I'm not afraid to fall again and that usually makes everything I do much better.
(Except for those falls that result in major injury...those aren't so great)

I fall pretty often, probably average 2 falls per 1.5 hour session. My record is 10 falls on my flip. Most of the time it doesn't hurt and I get straight back up. Sometimes it hurts, and I lie there a while or sort of crawl to the barrier for support in getting up. At age 47 (48 next Wednesday ), most people watching look worried for me. But falling is just another part of skating for me.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I fall all the time - going without a fall for a whole session is quite unusual for me. It used to really freak my coach out - apparently he was convinced he was going to have to call 911 for the entire first year I skated with him. But now he approves, because apparantly a lot of the other adults he coaches are too timid and don't push themselves hard enough (in his opinion). At this point, I usually just let myself fall - I seem to hurt myself worse when I'm frantically trying to save it, than when I just go down. I tell myself it's osteoporosis prevention.

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

The older I get, the longer I stay down.

I don't know about it feeling good, but I fall every day. It's a good thing I've learned how to fall on my butt instead of my joints otherwise I'd be in some serious trouble. I bought those bunga gel pads too, but now I don't use them. I do just fine with the padding God gave me. LOL I've never hurt myself on a fall (Knock on Wood) so I will continue to push myself until I can finally do all the elements I want to do. My coach is very protective of me and he won't let me do elements if he feels I am not ready for them.


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

HaHa! I thought about buying some padding, but then I thought, I don't really need that right now - I've got plenty of my own! Maybe when I get skinnier, though...

Heh, falling. My mom used to ask me after every session how many times I fell. I would tell her it's not about how many times you fall, it's about how many of them hurt afterwards.

And during one of our manipulation labs, our "pod professor" (the prof. in charge of our small group in lab) asked me how I got so flexible. Apparently, most people can't touch their toes. But I told him I started improving my flexibility for skating, and even though I haven't had a chance to skate as often as I would like because of our schedule, I still stretch every day to keep myself ready. So then he asked me about falling, and i admitted I had my share of them. So he told me that next unit when our schedule is lightened and I have more time to go skating, if I ever need to manipulate something back into place, that's what the clinic is far. Apparently Anton Ono had this OMM done the day before he won Olympic gold. But he also thinks all these falls could have contributed to the amny dysfunctions in my back. I think somebody has managed to find something out of whack with all my vertebrae. Thing is, you don't realize you have these dysfunctions until somebody finds them and treats them and you feel so much better.

At least if I keep falling, my lab partners will have a lot of stuff to observe.

When I was taking jump & spin with the kids that one session, we were doing "mini routines" as part of the class (i.e. do a spin, a jump, etc of your own choosing) and I lost the edge on my spiral . . . knew I was going down, so just carefully slid myself down and ended up in front of the class and said "TA DA!!" (It's a miracle my DS - who was also in that group class - still speaks to me).

That's 'cause if you're like me, you have to do the quick head-to-toe assessment to make sure there isn't any real damage!

LOL. I was taking a group class once, and I basically knew i was going down. I kinda sat down on the ice to avoid sliding into anybody else from the group and taking them down. One of the other skaters told me it had to have been the most graceful fall she'd ever seen. My reply? "At least I'm graceful at something!"

LOL, I KNOW what you're talking about there!

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am