I finally started working on BI3's again today cause I bought kneepads and now I have no fear of getting a big fat swelly knee bruise when I catch my pick. But then I realized, I'm really not that sure what to do with my free leg after the turn. Should it be held in front or in the back?

My RBI3 only works if I have the free foot in front before the turn and then push it to the back during the turn to balance myself out. I tried doing the entire turn with the left leg in front and promptly fell backwards, so I think I tend to end up on my heel on the RBI3. (Funny how I used to catch the pick all the time on that...now it seems like I'm overcompensating.)

My LBI3 is different - I either end up directly on the pick, or I turn kinda okay-ish with the free foot to the side and then I'm able to bring it to the front. Yeah, my body's weird. BI3's are weird, what am I talking about? They feel so unnatural.

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I'm with you on the BI 3's; they're evil, pure and simple. They were the wicked little sops that had kept me from passing my silver MIF. I do like the LBI, only because that's the edge you need to hold for the salchow.

After the turn, I would either keep the free leg in front, or right next to the skating leg, but not behind. If you are doing this as a 3-turns in the field move, then you have to do the FO 3-turn following the BI 3. If you have the leg behind you, that might cause you to swing your free leg before stepping onto the FO edge, and you probably want to avoid that!

The thing that really helped me get the BI 3's was to turn my head and look where I was going (instead of just looking forward), which caused me to get my shoulders, arms, and hips in sync for the 3-turn. (This also made the slide chasse move much easier to do.)

Good luck and stick with it!

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I caught the FO edge on a RBI three and fell flat onto my right side like a ton of bricks. I don't think they make any kind of padding for that kind of fall and it really put me off them.

I only feel comfortable with my free leg in front, but that's from my roller skating days. Your weight does have to be towards the heel on the all the B threes. I think working F power pulls has helped me with that.

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Your free leg should be in front. On any 3-turn, your free leg really shouldn't move, and thus it should remain the same position after the turn as it was before the turn. Make sure to bend your skating knee before the turn and rise up mid-turn, then bend again. If you are stiff-kneed going into the turn, you won't be able to rock onto the proper part of the blade, and you'll catch. Good luck!

I'm not keen on these and have had some horrible falls on them, but finally after forcing myself to practise them, I'm finding them a lot easier now. I do them for the Bronze field moves exercise in which you do a figure of eight with two back crossovers between each BI3. In fact I must point out that I do them as double three turns - keep my free leg tucked in behind my skating foot. What you must remember is to rotate before the turn and bend your knees. Also, as with all skating things, speed helps though this is catch-22 since you need confidence to go fast.

Nicki

It is far easier to learn BI3s as double 3turns. Do FO3-BI3 and BI3-FO3. I like to do the following exercise:

LBI3 to LFO3, cross the right foot in front for a back xover . (Now you are making a new lobe in the other direction) RBI3 to RFO3 cross the left foot in front for a back xover. Now you have made the second lobe. Continue down the length of the rink. This is not a MITF, but it can be practiced in the same manner. This is how I "got" my BI3s. This exercise is actually a lot of fun. Then you can do a BI3 to FO3 as a modified wind up spin entrance. Love this trick.

Kay

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