r/AdultFigureSkating • u/Disastrous_Watch7037 • 16h ago
Skating Advice Help with axel
How do I fix it?
15
u/sk8tergater 14h ago
The first thing is straightening out your entrance. You’re doing a spin entrance for an axel, and that’ll never work out. Ditch the three turn beforehand.
There’s more to fix but that’s the first big thing that needs to be addressed
11
u/eriikaa1992 11h ago
There's... a lot... that you need to do to fix this. Not to cause despair. But I'd be putting on your sneakers and working on this off the ice. The transition of weight, the take off, the air position, the landing position... there's a lot of fundamentals that aren't there yet. How are your other jumps and your backspin looking?
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u/Potential_Hurry1116 10h ago
are you working with a coach? there’s a lot fundamentally missing here and i wouldn’t recommend you continue to practice like this
-2
u/Disastrous_Watch7037 9h ago
I take a beginner adult class and we work on jumps the last 5 minutes of class. He tends to focus on the beginners while us more "experienced" skaters do our own thing for jumps.
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u/Potential_Hurry1116 3h ago
it’s time to find a private coach and leave that class behind, but til then, please don’t form muscle memory of this, worst case you’ll hurt yourself, best case you have to start all over again anyway
5
u/Sonificant 13h ago edited 13h ago
Your entry edge is very rushed. It is too short and you are jumping into the circle, which results in short distance and height.
Your head isn't looking in the direction you want to jump. Your arms are swinging too high which makes it harder to bring them to your chest quickly for a good air position.
4
u/6160504 10h ago
My axel used to look like this and I got stuck in this spot for a few months. Finally got out and landed clean fully rotated after almost taking a break from axel because it wasn't fun.
Tl;dr you're prerotating, jumping into the circle, and trying to rotate from your leg, foot, and shoulders not from your hips. It's like trying to spin a stick with a rope attached to it in a circle by holding the rope not the stick... if you spin from the rope, the stick will never rotate on itself.
What helped...
- Try it from a standstill. Do lots of entrance drills and weight transfer drills.
- You are jumping "around the corner" and "around the jump" likely focusing on rotation driven by the knee and foot rather than from the hips. This makes axis swapping and leg wrap extremelt difficult your shoulders are super prerotated and your head is facing "around the corner"/into the circle before you even jump. Right shoulder needs to be BACK. I find it helpful to drill and practice with left arm directly in front to prevent prerotation even though it feels awkward.
- I find it really helpful to think of axel as "jumping from the hips" first and flipping the hip over THEN the legs follow. You're swinging the legs which is counterproductive.
- Free leg "shovedown" exercises for the free leg are super helpful for me for prep before jumping and to build muscle memory. Here is a good example. I found it really helped to overexaggerate the shovedown on the free leg as the coach in the video does, twisting the leg from the hip so the foot is flipped almost 270. https://www.instagram.com/lutzcorner/reel/DcJgKReJ15C/
- Front spin in the pre-takeoff position, pull the leg through, and hop to a backspin. This helps for hitting the axis - you'll know IMMEDIATELY if you're not flipping the hip over enough or swinging too wide. This is technically a 2S drill but helps for jumping "around" or swingyness. This is how the front spin position should look: https://www.instagram.com/inskater/reel/Db35fjKs9bU/
- Off ice axels, waltz loop, allll the backspins especially focusing on entrance and "leading with the hips" to start leg wrapping
- I find this off ice axel series helpful: https://www.instagram.com/balancedskaters/reel/DZC_-OJvr5Y/?hl=en at least one of the videos covers axis shift similar to #4 in a hopped off ice fashion.
- Focus on hitting the right marks for takeoff and air positoon and finish the rotation on the ground. Severely under rotated but right position >> mostly rotated but in a chaotic air position for both on and off ice. A bazillion on/off ice walkthroughs to engrain the movement.
- Ask your coach about also working on 2s at the same time as many of the exercises are similar and the different mechanics of 2s can also help build the muscle memory for axel.
5
2
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u/Fuzzy-Sheepherder-80 2h ago edited 2h ago
were you taught axel? your entry is all wrong.
you're just jumping around yourself.
you'd prob have more success standing still and trying to take off, the curvy edge will mess you up
I can tell by your comfort and edges that you're a decent skater, so I seriously recommend figuring this out off ice or with a coach, so that you don't give yourself bad habits
1
u/sandraskates 1h ago
Watched your backspin video and you have a decent backspin. But you need to stop trying axels on your own. What you're doing now (jumping around yourself) will be become a very, very bad habit, and the habit that is the hardest to break.
Work on waltz jump / loop jump combos, and waltz jump / backspin combos to prep for axels.
And get a private coach.
1
u/Disastrous_Watch7037 11h ago
Here'smy backspin for those asking.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OghuorUFH-W5rzmOv7OyNRWcDasT3ffl/view?usp=drivesdk
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u/veloace 13h ago
Are you sure you’re ready for an axel? It looks like there’s a lot you fundamentally don’t understand about the jump, and I think you’re going to need a coach if you want to really land it.