skatingforums
On the Ice => Off-Ice Training for Skaters => Topic started by: rd350 on December 30, 2014, 06:13:49 PM
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I just got an Edea spinner! Dizzier than on ice and also having trouble balancing. Any tips?
One site says you can use them for " Figures and Moves in the Field: 3 Turns, Rockers, Counters, Brackets, Loops, and much more!!"
How would you practice these??
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Just bumping this up. Anyone?
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I got one recently, but I don't know if I'm the right person to give advice. I've mostly been using it to work on staying balanced on one foot on FO3s and one foot spins. I can now do one full revolution, maybe a little more. 3 turns aren't improving much so far. But I've just been messing around with it.
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Thanks @skategeek. I think I need more space. I get the 3-turns on it. Would love to work on twizzles and the other things it supposedly can be used for, and finding center to get more revs on one foot - like in some of the videos I've seen on YouTube!
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Thanks @skategeek. I think I need more space. I get the 3-turns on it. Would love to work on twizzles and the other things it supposedly can be used for, and finding center to get more revs on one foot - like in some of the videos I've seen on YouTube!
I haven't even bothered to look up videos or anything yet… any good links to share? (I can look myself of course, but if you've found any particularly good ones…)
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A few.
http://youtu.be/TNxCPaQr4Js
http://youtu.be/UK4BjYIUd3o
http://youtu.be/lDzcFFm22vU
http://youtu.be/vv0zfVK4jUk
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Seriously dizzy but I think I've got a single Twizzle down on both sides! I'll have to video outside somewhere when it's not 20 degrees.
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I found this spinner very useful for training upper body and arms positions during turns. While the spinner will not put you on an edge, you can lean to the inside or outside of it and move your upper body according to the turn you are simulating. I also found looking in the full body mirror very helpful while on the spinner. You can really see just how hard you have to check!
I also used the spinner for practicing spirals with ankle weights on. I did not find it helpful for spins at all.
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Very interesting @irenar5! Are you able to get into a good spin on it? Just curious. I am having trouble checking and balancing, but got it for a single twizzle.
It's great for vestibular habituation (for dizziness).
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Great videos rd350! I had only seen one of those. I have the skate spinner brand one and find that it is really great for dizziness (and has in turn helped my general motion sickness issues yay)
I can get 4-5ish revs on it most of the time, and generally fall off it haha. Probably due to my upper body positioning.
Love the idea of practicing spirals on it irenar5 :)
Oh slcbelle has at least one video of her on the spinner... And I think the placement of the foot on it does make a difference as they mentioned in the first video. Beyond that, I would love to hear people's tips and experiences too!
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I never got very far with spins or spinners, though the Edea spinner looks a lot like the Rainbo spinner I have. Since I'm not a very good at spinning, take this all with a grain of salt.
But some comments:
1. The Russian girl looks so unhappy. Maybe it is the hairdo - do you think it hurts?
2. You will fall a lot. Make sure you are comfortable with falls first. You don't want to bang your head or elbow on the corner of something. Make sure you have lots of space around you. If you have a helmet, consider wearing it. Also, nice padded gloves, long sleeve shirt, long pants. Elbow and knee pads if you've got them. Think hockey outfit. At least at first.
3. Depending on the floor surface, you may mar it. You could buy a patch (one square yard or one square meter) of floor tile to spin on.
4. The video spins look a lot like off-ice dance pirouettes done without a spinner, on the floor - you center your weight about the ball of your foot, on which you rotate. That would be fine if you wanted to spin on one spot on the ice. But the figure skating standard is to have the foot glide in a small circle - e.g., a scratch spin glides on a BI edge. Likewise a back spin glides around on a FI edge. Your body weight is then centered to the inside of that circle, to counter-act the centrifugal force from gliding around a circle.
That is exactly what makes skating spins so much harder than off-ice pirouettes: balancing those two forces (inward and outward forces), while holding your body stiff and still enough for your body not to shake all over the place.
My coach said you can sort of simulate that by placing your foot slightly to the outside, then keeping your body centered slightly to the inside. At least that is the theory. Didn't work very well for me.
This is a really big thing. If you only master balancing on a point (very much like spinning on your toe pick instead of spinning round a circle), you won't be where you want to be to make figure skating coaches and judges happy. If figure skating coaches and judges aren't happy, you won't be happy. :(
5. I got slightly farther using the type of spinner where you stand on a circle table, and a rotate a gimble lets that table rotate, because they are slightly less sensitive to exact foot placement. But for now, this is what you've got.
6. As other people pointed out in other threads (this is an FAQ), you may find spinning on slippery nylon socks on a slippery floor at least as useful as using any spinner. Maybe a lot more so.
7. The best use of any spinner is to take it to the rink to share with your skating friends. If they haven't used one before, there is absolutely no chance they will get very far with it quickly, because it is quite a bit different than skating on ice. They will fall all over the place. :stars: (Make sure THEY are confortable with falls first!) The rubber mats at the rink may have too much friction, so a floor tile may help there too.
Good luck, and happy spins! :spin:
Edit: P.S. Choose friends that have a sense of humor. I can't get the image of the unhappy Russian girl out of my mind.
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Very interesting @irenar5! Are you able to get into a good spin on it? Just curious. I am having trouble checking and balancing, but got it for a single twizzle.
It's great for vestibular habituation (for dizziness).
I could get 3-4 revolutions for "scratch" and backspins.
2-ish for a sit spin and less than 2 for a camel. All in all, for me it was not a good spin trainer.
The most important skill to getting a centered spin is the entry. Holding the spin position is very easy once you are centered and on the correct part of the blade. Not being centered is what leads to dizziness. Unfortunately, the entry can not be simulated on the spinner.
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I got a spinner too, this summer while stateside. The Holy Salchow one. I'm less impressed than I hoped I would be.
I've tried practicing spins on it, and am more and more in the camp of Irenar5. It's useful for some things....twizzles hopefully, threes and the like (am intrigued by doing loops on them... never thought of that), and the spiral/camel exercises she's described elsewhere. I haven't found it's helped at all with my dizziness, which really frustrates me. I can only get about 5 (!) minutes of practice on it before I almost need to vomit. But, dizziness has always been an issue with me....have always to fight the vertigo to stay balanced and control the check after a scratch spin, so maybe I'm a special case. I was hoping to move in a direction of getting things somewhat under control. Ugh, just thinking about using the spinner is nauseating me.... How bad is that?!
So I wish I had more insights to share, but am reading this thread with interest.
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Thanks for your input everyone. We'll see how it goes. I haven't skated since I got it. Maybe today but still so crowded everywhere with kids off school.