any one got any tips on FI mohwaks?

What kinds of problems are you having with them? If you have trouble positioning your free foot prior to the turn, bring it forward first, then back into the heel to arch position. If you are not sure that you have heel to arch, you can gently tap the heel against your skating foot before turning. Point the free toe down as your foot takes the ice for the turn.

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I turn too soon, ie before i have changed feet....

anyone know what the tracing is supposed to look like?

FI mohawks, that's forward inside edge to backward inside edge, right?

Try it on the floor: place your feet side by side and leave the length of your foot between the heels, turn your feet out as much as you can with your knees pointing in the same direction your toes do. Don't turn out more than that. Now lower yourself by bending your knees. You'll notice turning out has become a little easier with this. Bending the knees makes the mohawks easier too (actually, skating in general).
Now, get your weight over your right foot without changing the direction you're facing in and without lifting the left foot. Then get your weight over the left foot without changing the direction you're looking in or lifting your right foot. That's kind of what the change of foot on the mohawks feels like. It's not like an inside 3-turn at all.

I have EXACTLY the same problem as you - and my coach always tells me to make sure that my free leg is in a T-position, and not to far off the ice. I have a tendency to have it right up behind my knee, and then I slam it down too quickly (and on the wrong edge) because I have to get it down so far. 'Just above the ankle' she told me to have it.

I find it difficult to hold the entry edge for a Mohawk, so while my Fiesta mohawk (one beat each edge) is fine, my Swing Mohawk (2 beats each edge) is occasionally rushed, and my Willow mohawk (3 beats) almost always is.

I actually find it difficult to do anything from a sustained RFI edge - I can do inside 3s and Mohawks okay, but not if I have to hold the edge first!

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

I managed to find what a tracing of a FI mohawk should look like . . .

. . . here

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Amanda

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance . . . "

My Skating Journal

Common problem - your upper body is checked wrong, so you're turning a 3 before changing feet. I used to have a student who did this CONSTANTLY.

I teach the beginning mohawk from a spreadeagle position near the wall. Skate forwards in a semi-circle on one foot, then change feet to finish it back to the wall. You have to practice placing the free foot down with the toe pointing backwards. For some people, thinking "heel forward" helps.

What's the first rule? That's right: BEND YOUR KNEES. (Before, During, and After the turn.)
Second rule? CHECK the upper body before and after the turn.

The easiest way to check the mohawk is to think about keeping your chin over your free hip.
Place your arms/shoulders on each side of the hip.
Now, bring the free foot into play, toe pointed backwards already.
When you change feet, CHECK and bend your knees.

Later on, you'll be able to use the shoulders more, but this should keep you from three'ing your way through the mohawks.

Takes a lot of practice throughout your entire skating life. The basic ones get easier, but then you need to do fancier ones.

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It does help a lot if you do exercises to improve your hip turnout. The chances are you are turning too early because your hips are closed.

Your (slightly bent) knees should be pointing in the same direction as your toes, and IMO you should aim at a absolute minimum of a 50 degree angle between your inner thighs. (isk8nyc recommends "spreadeagle" position, above, which is more like 90 degrees to 180 degrees) )

You can "cheat" an open mowhawk with less turnout than this, but IMO to do this is much harder for a beginner, as it requires a sharp hip movement and fast foot co-ordination to raise/drop the feet. Also, what is the point in "cheating" it, when you will eventually need the flexibility/strength for a good hip turnout anyway, for other skating moves like spirals.

A search on this site will throw up a few exercises for "turnout".

thanks for the tracing airyfairy, mine doesnt look anything like that! prob cus im doing it soooooooooo wrong....

i managed to get a video made of me attempting a Forward Inside mohawk on my Left leg.

I hope this link works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdHKdceA1Bo

ignore the sound please lol

What helped me a lot was having my coach tell me to look down my arm...for a RFI mohawk I look down my right arm first, then down my left arm JUST before switching feet. It works! For the other side (yeah, my worst side) just do the same thing...

My husband has zero turn-out and he does this. His mohawks are fine. Actually better than mine because he bends his knees more.

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

IMO you are not transferring your bodyweight quickly enough. So you are getting "stuck" with bodyweight on R foot for too long.

You should feel bodyweight over RFI skate, then centrally between skates, and then - just before you place down your LBI skate - the bodyweight should be over the LBI skate. All this with shoulders level.

Bodyweight is head and hips in a line over skate.

It may also help to think of mowhawk as a "turn to sideways" and not a "turn to backwards". This will stop you from pre-rotating too much.

I think you can correct this by practising lots of mowhawks off ice in front of a mirror.

Let us know how you get on!

Your first mohawk looked just fine. But on the second one (LFI mohawk), you seem to be afraid to really lift your right foot off the ice and have your weight completely on the left foot. Once you get comfortable balancing on the LFI edge, you will be just fine. You may want to try just doing a left forward inside edge with your free foot lifted behind you and holding the edge for 5 seconds. Do that several times, then do it again, but after five seconds step down onto the RFI edge to complete the mohawk.

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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

thankyou

ill try practising the LFI curves for 5 seconds tomorrow

p.s. double toe, wernt both of the mohawks RFI to LBI?

Oh, that's so funny! I just went back and watched again, and now I see that the second one was also RFI, not LFI. Since your tights are black on both legs and the resolution was a little low, it looked like you were stepping out onto the LFI. (kind of like that CW vs. CCW rotating woman illusion, LOL!)

If you are only doing RFI mohawks, hold a RFI edge for 5 seconds, repeat several times and then step down on LBI edge. Sorry!

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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

You should place your free foot to the instep of your skating foot bye your arch, not behind. It will feel much more stable.

I don't think you've seen my mohawks, unless you have been sneaking around my rink...and I don't work on them nearly enough!! I know, I should....

Now I'm nervous if you've been watching my mohawks.......

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

ROFLMAO! What is with me today? I didn't mean to post my response to yours (as you have hopefully figured out). I also apparently can't tell a LFI from a RFI today. . .

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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

LOL, thats funny

Well you will never guess what......

......i had a 30 minute lesson with coach today she said that the RFI to LBI mohawk is fine but i just needed to make sure i put the right foot infront of the left one not behidnd (thankyou lov2sk8) , so i tried that and it was fine.

then we moved onto the LFI to RBI ones which i couldnt do at all. she explained them to me again we did them with her holding my hands and then.......... I DID THEM by myself!!! yay

then we went through the rest of the stuff she taught me last week:
2 back crossovers to BO landing position CW&CCW
forward drag
2 foot change of edge (stretched slalom).
(level 8 skate uk) and she said to me 'right, im going to pass you on level 8 now' i was SO shocked! iv only been learning the elements for 1 week, i thought it would take at least 4 weeks, plus i was skating in my new boots.