I tried the search function but I got a LOT of "sit spin" hits and the first page, none of them were about the sit spin so I decided to make a new thread.

I'm sorry if there was one recently already, if there was, could you tell me how to find it?


Basically I'd like to hear lots and lots of tips for the sit spin, mostly - what people tend to do wrong on it? What did you do wrong on it?

Here are links to older threads about this topic. It's been a while, so others will have things to add and suggest.

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin

I like this one: shoot the duck vs sit spin - sounds like a WWF event! LOL
http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...light=sit+spin



ETA: Sorry, didn't see that you wanted help with searching.

I went to the "On Ice - Skaters" forum (where it shows all the threads for that forum) and clicked on "Search This Forum."

Then, I clicked on "Advanced Search" at the bottom of the popup window.

Typed "Sit Spin" in the text to find box, clicked on the pull-down and changed it to "Thread Titles Only"
(The default is "Search entire posts")

Click on SEARCH at the bottom and a whole list of threads with "Sit Spin" in the title comes up for review.

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Hmm the gravity thing sure explains why my sit spin won't come along despite a very very very good shoot the duck...
Ok more forward. Great


And thank you very much for the links!!!

Not doing the sit spin yet by any stretch of the imagination, but just wanted to say good luck with it!! Although it may be a way off for me, I've already started working on squats to build up the muscles to be able to get back OUT of the sit spin position once I get into it - maybe one of these days I will even get brave enough to work on a shoot the duck - managed to "skate" through LTS by substituting a lunge instead! One of my adult LTS buddies though, does a great shoot the duck - so I know it CAN be done . . . LOL.

LauraH - You're very smart. One of my students has an awesome shoot-the-duck but she can't get out of them, nor can she lower/raise herself easily in the sit spin. Knee/leg strength is an issue that squats and leg presses/lifts can help resolve.

Practice shoot-the-ducks while skating backwards. (Watch out for traffic!)
The back inside edge is what you spin on anyway, so why not? If you fall, you just sit down. Plus, you can't catch a toe pick.


FWIW, I have mediocre shoot-the-ducks, but I have wicked good sit and back sit spins.

I start with an upright spin, then lower into the sit spin. Centering it upright works better for me, but I teach it both ways.

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My worst/most hated spin! I no longer HATE sitspins, I just don't love them. It's much harder for me to get down into a sitspin than it is to do a camel or layback or almost anything else! I've worked and worked on this spin and it HAS improved but it's just not easy for me. My coach thinks maybe it might have something to do with the fact that I'm 5'6" with really long legs and so it's harder for me to get down lower? Right now my sitspin is a little bit below level and I can do a back sit that's a little higher but not much. Both front and back sits are fast and centered - the position is low enough but just not "pretty" enough to satisfy either my coach or myself. Given the choice, I'd choose a layback any day!

EDIT- I can do shoot the ducks - forward on one leg - but can't get up on one leg. I have to put the other foot down into a dip position and then stand up. I can go into them on one leg though.

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Cara - that description is EXACTLY what I'm seeing in my student - right down to the gorgeous shoot-the-duck. Her "tush" is only about 2" off the ice, the leg/foot is stretched beautifully, but she can't get back up. Only difference is that her back spins aren't strong enough to try a back sit yet.

She's also about 5'6" tall and if she gets low in the sit spin, she doesn't turn her foot nicely. As a result, her free heel catches the ice and she gets scared of the spin.

Can you close your hips in the sit spin and keep the legs together or are they always apart?

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I don't love this spin, either. I have a really, really good - and I mean really good - shoot the duck; I sit down a couple of inches from the ice. I exercise my calf muscles off ice a lot, and it helps! However, when I spin, I can't get down even close to that, because I then horribly travel across the ice.

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To prevent traveling, make sure you go in really low on your skating knee, do a deep round entrance edge and extend your free leg way behind you on the entrance edge. Then keep your back arched and core muscles tight as you swing your free leg around to the front, turning the foot out as you reach 2:00 (or 10:00 for CW skaters). Without letting it slow down, let the free leg hit the skating leg and lock into it.

To get low enough while keeping your weight on the ball of the blade, keep your back arched and push your stomach and free leg forward as you lower your butt. When you can feel the inside of your free leg thigh pressing against your skating leg calf, that means your skating thigh is parallel to the ice and your weight is far enough forward to keep you on the ball of the blade and allow you to stand up again when you need to.

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Well I wouldn't call my shoot-the-duck gorgeous but it's not bad. Not good enough for a program mind you but it would be if I ever practiced it...My sit spin only gets that low when I "bottom out" and end up on my butt. I'm not sure if this link will work but here is a picture of it. Sit Spin Photo This is not the lowest I have done I just don't have any other photos. But you can see I need to lower my butt, and my arms and the free leg is slightly bent. For some reason I can't manage to get all of these things right at once. I can keep my legs together or almost together (maybe two inches apart? they often do touch) and I have no problem with speed or centering (if my spins stop being centered my mother takes me to the doctor, 99% of the time I get an ear infection two days later), it's just getting down/up and the pretty position. On the rare occasion I hit it I can't hold it for more than 3-4 revolutions.

I'd really like to improve my sit since almost every other one of my coach's students has a pretty good one. It's actually easier for me to get up and down on my back sit leg (I skate CCW) then my front sit...And now to prove I really can spin well, my layback which has improved much since this photo (taken a month ago).

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Working on:
NOVICE! MIF
Juvenile FS
Bronze Dances

Cara, I don't have long legs, I only have very long upper legs (like, thighs), and my lower legs (like under the knee) are actually pretty short - but my upper legs are so long that I can't drive asian cars because my knees are past the dashboard when my feet aren't reaching the pedals yet...
I also can't get up from a shoot-the duck although I can sit down on one leg into it... Hmm... Maybe I should practice getting up from the shoot the ducks on 1 leg?

Oh thanks!

well FWIW - this weekend I learned that when your leg gets stuck out at 2:00, THAT is when you you turn the heel in so that you can use the stronger muscles of the hamstrings to pull it the rest of the way in rather than need ing the relatively weak adductors to do all the work.

However, it is not enough to know, I must now DO!!!
Lyle

turn the heel in? explain
oh wait you mean the hamstrings are those muscles at the back of your thighs right? I think I know what you mean then.


I think i pretty much figured out my problem with the spin. I'm doing more of a broken leg spin, trying to center that, then pull in the leg to my other knee. When I manage to pull the knees together from the very first revolution, I get 9 rotations no problem. That's happened like, thrice.

I LOOOOVE your free leg position on the layback!

Turning the heel in means turning the foot out, so your heel is facing to the left instead of down to the ice (assuming your right foot is the free foot and you are spinning CCW).

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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

My sit spin advice:

For the sit, go in w/ a *very* deep knee bend. This is the main prob I see
w/ almost all beginning spins: inadequate knee bend or almost none at all.
You cannot exaggerate the sit spin entry knee bend enough. This will center
your spin and give you something to pull on as you bring the free leg
around. Grab the free leg w/ the free hand as you descend. Pull it into
position and sit down.

Getting up req's muscle that you may not have fully developed yet, esp if your sit is low. I started w/ a low sit as my coach would not let me do 1/2 sits, which she called "squats". As you learn the spin, bring the free leg in and push up w/ the toe. You won't need to do this for long, but it builds strength to get back up. I think I did it for a wk or 2.

Kay

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Sessy, your leg proportions remind me of the ballet dancer Peter Martins. He once said that one day it dawned on him that his lower legs were completely out of proportion with the rest of his body--much shorter than his upper legs.

I've heard of people practicing shoot the ducks on dry land (going down and up) so maybe that would help you develop the strength to get up. If you do it this way, I'd do it wearing shoes that are supportive but that have a bit of a heel, to mimic the position that your foot is in when it's in a skate boot. Also, wall squats can develop quad strength.

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