Any advice for how to get into the splits on the ice? I have been trying to do this from a lunge, but then there's the problem of how to get the blade the heck out of the way without totally dinging the back of my blade and/or smashing my nether regions into the ice! Tips for how to accomplish this gracefully much appreciated. . .

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Hey Jen,

The most common way is definitely just sliding down (I'm assuming you're doing front/back splits, yes?) because you can anchor your back foot at a 90 degree outturn, and keep pressure on your front heel to slowly lower down. The last bit of this can be a drop though, and you stated that you want to avoid smashing the ice.

Another way you could try is to use this approach, but from a crouch, so that you hands are on the ice to prevent that last drop. Bend your knees and crouch down, sort of in a two-footed sit spin position if you will, until your hands are touching the ice, (palms down). Then slide your front foot out and your back foot back, straighten your legs, and use your arms to lower yourself to the ice completely. Does that make sense? I hope I explained it alright.

Another less used, but still viable and certainly more gentle way, is sort of a roll over method. Get down on the ice, and sit supported by your front-foot-side hip. Put your legs out in your split position, so that the outside of your front skate and the inside of your back skate are resting on the ice. Then, just sift/roll your body weight over so that your torso is upright and centre, and your legs will also roll up into the right position. A lot of people use this method in reverse to get out of the splits, if that helps you to picture it at all.

If I you would like me to clarify anything that doesn't appear to make sense, don't hesitate to ask!

~Kay

are you doing it from a forwards lunge or a backwards lunge? the easiest way is to do it from the backwards lunge. the way i used to do it would be to go into a forwards lunge, turn so i'm going backwards, then just slide down.

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Have you tried doing in from a backwards lunge instead of a forwards one (apologies if you have, wasn't sure from what you said in your post!)? Once you're low enough on the ice turn the foot in front of you out slightly as you kind of slide off the blade sideways if that makes sense (to avoid catching the back on the ice), putting the palms of your hands on either side of you for support if you want...

I do it from the back lunge because that gets the toepick out of the way.
Just step into a forward lunge with the knee on the ice, turn 180 degrees around (you must learn to turn and check it) while staying on the knee, then slide the supporting skate forward and the knee back and keep the hip open so the toe (and picks) point out. With control you may not need any hands on the ice.

I have seen this method on TV by an elite skater whose name I cannot recall. I think she was French. She did a turn in place on both feet. Her legs separated and she went all the way down into the splits and pulled herself back up as part of the same continuous turning motion.

Her name was Vanessa Gusmeroli. Her wikipedia entry mentions her splits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Gusmeroli

Bobek used to do a forward lunge and kick her leading leg out. She dropped to the ice in a split. Looked painful. Button said something about it looking like a move from the Roxy Theater in NY.

Kay

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Um- WOW!

I need to get better lunges to be able to do on ice splits- the skates just really get in the way. Right now the only lunge I can do well is fwd dragging the right foot- and I can't do the left splits! So I need to be able to lunge on the other side.

Quarkiki does splits in the ending of almost all of our synchro programs (this year she does them in both of them), and it would be nice for some more of the team to be able to do it. (Then we could do the really cool straightline footwork where half the team gets dropped and dragged by the other half in the splits. A few kids groups do it- but it would be really neat to see adults do it too!)

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I think I do a gentler version of Bobek's split. I do a forward lunge and lunge deeply enough that my back knee is brushing the ice, then I turn my front leg out sharply and push my heel forward. When I get close to the splits, I extend through both legs and point both toes and end in the splits. Given enough time, I can get down hands free, but not with either synchro program this year, so I usually use my hands to get down, then pop them up on the final music bump.

Thank you, everyone! Yes, it's front/back splits (sideways? HELL no!). I'm not quite there but close enough to fake it (it's just the ending pose)--for that reason I don't want to just hop down in there for fear of mangling my 39-year-old body even further. Boy, was my rear wet yesterday after my various attempts. You have all given me some great ideas. <reminding self to bring extra (dry) clothes to the rink next time>

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Hehehe... I'll be 35 in June and, yes, you end up with a wet bum. Getting up gracefully is waaaay harder than getting down, though, just so ya know...

Clearly you need to learn Vanessa Gusmeroli's trick

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
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The way Vanessa went into hers was pretty cool. With both feet on the ice and turned out, she pushed off from a RBI edge onto a deep LFO edge and did a half circle on that LFO edge as she went down into the split. It looks like her hands went down onto the ice as she lowered herself into the split, then she used her hands to initiate the push back up.

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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

I can get down like her, but not back up like that. I bet she could crack walnuts with those thighs, LOL!

Yep! BTW, how easy do the splits have to be for you off ice in order to do it on ice without risking pulling anything? I can do a split off ice but I don't just drop down into it. I slide into it from a half kneeling position (front leg extended straight in front and back leg bent 90 degrees with the knee on the floor). I think I take about 8 seconds to get into a full split from that starting position.

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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

Oh... I'm so NOT a good one to answer that. On the floor, I've never not been able to drop into the splits cold. I was only partially joking when I told Jessi that when I was younger and thinner, I was Sasha Cohen (with boobs ). On ice, I'm usually falling into them fast enough that I worry more about my knee banging the ice than I do about getting all the way down.

My guess is that, once you figure out how to deal with the blade, you'll likely get into the splits about as fast on-ice as you do off-ice. Of course, if you slip off the front blade, you're gonna crash faster than you do on the floor with it's friction and all...

Warm up your hips, hamstrings and back and give it a shot -- that's really the only way you'll know if you can do it or not. Do a couple of splits off-ice to make sure that you've got your full range of motion before trying it on the ice and go slow the first couple of times out there.

It is so funny, but I swear that ending a program in the splits wipes so much other stuff from the memory of the general public, LOL! Our performance at the Christmas show was miserable, but we got off the ice and all the teens/preteens came running over because "That was SO COOL! You did the splits!" Never mind that the circle broke wrong and the footwork was bungled... I did the splits, so we were a success!

LOL! That's good incentive to end a program in a split!
Yeah, my concern is that the lack of friction could make me go down too fast and maybe pull something (or bang the knee of my back leg; I suppose I'd have to have it already locked out straight as I go down). I guess I'd need to try it on a more slippery surface on the floor, but hold onto something so I can control how fast I go down. Then I could gradually increase the drop speed and see how it feels. . .

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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

EXACTLY!!! After our disco moves--which could either be hilarious or just very embarrassing--they'll forget it all and be under the impression that I'm much younger than I really am. . . .

I might try it from a shoot-the-duck, too (which would impress the girls' synchro team--they're all shoot-the-duck obsessed!!), although then I run the risk of toe-picking myself in very unpleasant places. . .

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Here's Vanessa practicing her cat burglar routine. Splits are at ~3:50.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0tkQl03Z0

Kay

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