Two foot spin advice

[niupartyangel]

Hi everyone...I'm a 25 year old skater and I basically have mastered everything in ISI FS 1 except for the two foot spin. I can do it if i start with my left toe pick in the ice, but I for the life of me, cannot do it with just putting my weight on my left foot and not having to "toe" it. For some reason, after I move my right foot to "wind up" the spin, my left foot moves backwards...so my coach tells me this makes me spin backwards, instead of forward. I would really like to learn doing this spin without having to use the toepick. it's just frustrating because I see other adults who seem to get it right away, even those in lower levels, but i couldn't :( I know i shouldn't compare myself to other adults, but I'm just frustrated because I keep trying yet can't seem to put my weight on the left foot.

Any advice? I feel dumb for not having gotten this spin by now, and I've been skating for about a year already. I am already on my FS 2 jumps but this move is really holding me back :??

[newskaker5]

Dont feel bad - my 2 foot spins always ended up on the right foot as a backspin - funny cause now I cant do a backspin at all- I wish I could do this again! haha.

The only thing that actually helped me (I'm sure there are other ways - just what worked for me) was learning a regular 1 foot spin. Once I got the hang of that, when i did the 2 foot my weight was in the right spot and the right foot. Maybe try a few spins where u keep the R foot slightly off the ice and see if that helps?

[russiet]

I agree....try lifting your right foot (assuming CCW rotation) off the ice. Even just a little. My two foot spins were so-so until my coach told me to stop with the two foot and practice a scratch spin.

As I endeavored to do a scratch spin (with very little success at first), I would eventually sucumb to the need for spin gratification and revert back to a two-footer. The amazing thing was that the two footer had improved a lot.

Sometimes you have to practice more advanced skills in order to make the easier skills fall into place.

Now 1 year later I have a scratch spin (yeah!) and two-footers I can do without a problem.

Another thing you might try to do with the two-footer is to weight the tail of your right blade and the sweet spot of the left. This is a very stable position.

Good luck. Don't give up! Spinning has taken me months and months (OK, I admit it....two years!). Now that I can spin I'm addicted to it.

Oh, and another funny bit of practice help....last year I tried filming myself spinning by holding the camera and aiming it back at my face. It improved the spin dymamics because I held my arm out in a rounded position and held my head back to be in better in-frame. For that and whatever other reasons, it made the two-foot spin much better.

After that I would just pretend I was holding a camera.

OK, here it is....back by popular demand. Or maybe more because I like it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tguanpTq_Ww

[Skate@Delaware]

You could also try going into it with a 2-foot glide...then when you are ready, swing your arms around, put pressure on the ball of your spinning foot, heel of your other foot, and I like to think of putting pressure to the inside from my thighs-like squeezing them together while keeping your feet apart...Be sure you don't have stick-straight legs when you first do this, they should be bent and soft. When you are going around, then straighten them.

I love to do 2-foot spins! They are the only centered ones I have!

[garusha]

Think of a right foot swizzle rather than a two-foot spin. Practice gliding forward, with your right foor swizzling on the ice, and your left foot going straight. Then try your spin, but make your circle tighter, at least at the beginning. It will give you a better control of the spin. Concentrate on the ball of your right foot. I've found out that thinking of the "sweet spot" actually helps to keep your weight on it.

Don't worry, you'll get it. Have fun!

[niupartyangel]

Thanks for all your replies. I'll try it this weekend and let you guys know how it goes!

I feel better now. i thought something was wrong with me coz I thought i was the only one who didn't get two foot spins in like, a month or less. lol:)

[Isk8NYC]

I have an adult student who took group lessons for two seasons before starting privates with me this year. She says she only really learned to spin this year with my lessons. We're working on "pickup" (pique) spins now, transitioning from two feet to one foot. It might just be "her time" since everyone progresses at their own rate.

Without seeing what you're doing, I'd say that the toepick start forces you to keep your body weight on the left side. (You spin CCW, right?) When you use the left inside edge, the weight's probably on both feet or is shifting to the right foot. Try using just the BOTTOM toepick and wean yourself off the pivot start. (Which is what the toepick start is often called.)

I agree with garusha: don't think of a "windup." Put your feet together, bend your knees, and try to do a swizzle with the right foot. Have the swizzle start behind the heel of the left foot, go out to the right side, then come back in to the toe of the left foot. That push should get you started; at the same time, you have to bring your arms from the right side to the left side. Now straighten yourself and force your legs together so that you are spinning on the inside edges. Think: Swizzle, Swing, and STAND UP!

Spin stoppers are: not using your arms, not bringing your feet close together, not squaring your shoulders or keeping them in the direction of the spin, not using the "sweet spot" on the blade.

To find the sweet spot, stand on your toepicks and twist your blades back and forth. The toepicks should grind the ice. Come back farther on the blade. If you find yourself scraping snow, you're too far back on the blade. Try to find the spot behind the toe pick where the blade feels like it's swinging freely. That's the rocker and it SHOULD be under the ball of your foot. That's the arc that we use for spins, clean stroking pushes, and strong turns.

[doubletoe]

Hey, I have a flying camel-back sit and a camel-sit/reverse scratch but a two-foot spin? Let me just say I hope nobody ever asks me to teach it to them! LOL!

[Sessy]

Topic Starter, where are your arms in the spin? I've seen people try to "punch" their spin, basically, when they start to spin counterclockwise, they suddenly pull their left shoulder to the front, keep their right shoulder back and then attempt to start spinning by throwing their right arm in as if they were in boxing class (replace all "left" by "right" for clockwise and vice versa)

The idea is, your left shoulder (for counterclockwise) sort of goes back and pulls you with it! I always tried to imagine there was a pole in the ground at like 120 degrees from my left shoulder that I tried to hit with my elbow when initiating the 2 foot spin (this is very crude though, but for the 2-foot spin it works and from there you eventually feel what you need to be doing anyway)

What I did to show the feeling to one girl was put her right hand in her jeans pocket (the one she was punching with) and tell her, okay NOW try to spin. She had to use her left shoulder and arm then


Also, it might be a blades problem. I couldn't learn to spin - I spun my two-footed spin almost entirely based on the right foot instead of the left one - and I couldn't do a one-footed spin. Turned out my blades were mounted improperly and had bent because of this. If you looked down the length of a blade, you'd see the area by the toepicks curve to the inside of the skate compared to the rest of the blade. 4 weeks after switching blades, I've got 3 differently positioned spins all of a sudden.

Also, some (very cheap) blades do not have a rocker/sweet spot/whatever it's called? Except for the toepicks, the blade should be shaped like this: ) not like this: | although this is an exagerration of course. The curve is only ever so slight, but it's there. If ALL areas of the blades are straight, you just can't do anything but get on the toepicks. You'll never learn a proper spin on those.

[kayskate]

Ask your coach to show you how to glide into the spin. I learned it by doing a hockey glide then bending my knee and pushing into the spin. Someone mentioned thinking of your push in as a rt foot swizzle. Good idea for the entrance. Also picking up one foot slightly works well and also helps you transition to the 1foot spin.

Kay

[kateskate]

Hey, I have a flying camel-back sit and a camel-sit/reverse scratch but a two-foot spin? Let me just say I hope nobody ever asks me to teach it to them! LOL!

I can't do a decent two foot spin either. I don't think I ever learnt one. I also can't do a one foot spin from a lunge type entry. Coach asked me to show a beginner this once and I she was shocked I couldn't do it. Lol! I think I learned from back crossovers.

[niupartyangel]

Thanks guys! I'll try all those out and let you know. I have been improving though and have been able to wean myself off the pivot. I'm still aiming to get a decent amount of rotations with the "sweet spot". Sorry I haven't been to log on for awhile, our work doesn't allow message boards >:(

[Goldjudge3]

The way I teach a two foot spin to kids is to draw a "candy cane" on the ice. The hook of the candy cane would be towards the left. approach it on two feet with left arm in front. "glue" your left foot on the candy cane and use the right to take a moderate swizzle as you come to the end. Hold an object in your right hand behind you the whole time. (I like gloves if we are in class, but if not you can use a skate guard). At the very end of your hook you take your object and pass it to the left hand and squeeze it into your chest. Try to spin right at the end of your candy cane. This all of course must be practiced with BENT knees. Once you can do it on two feet, try the same thing only with the right leg behind you and placing it down as you spin.

[Sessy]

The way I teach a two foot spin to kids is to draw a "candy cane" on the ice. The hook of the candy cane would be towards the left. approach it on two feet with left arm in front. "glue" your left foot on the candy cane and use the right to take a moderate swizzle as you come to the end. Hold an object in your right hand behind you the whole time. (I like gloves if we are in class, but if not you can use a skate guard). At the very end of your hook you take your object and pass it to the left hand and squeeze it into your chest. Try to spin right at the end of your candy cane. This all of course must be practiced with BENT knees. Once you can do it on two feet, try the same thing only with the right leg behind you and placing it down as you spin.

seems a great way!