Sit spin problems

Hey guys,

I want to know if anyone else has these problems:

For one, my foot will not turn outward like it needs to. I have slight crow's feet (my feet turn in) and it isn't a problem normally, but when I try to do spread eagles and sit spins, the foot twists inward. My coach tells me to turn my hips out but my hips are also stubborn to turn out... Are there any stretches I can do?

My free leg doesn't pull in (next to the spinning knee) on my sit spin. I think this is just a comfort/strength/physics problem since the force is pushing my leg away from where it needs to be, but when I try to pull it in I fall. Anything to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

Are you doing off ice sit spin strength exercises? If not stand between two chairs. Put the palms of your hands flat on the chair seats for support, sit and hold a sit spin position for about a minute. Back should be straight, and the raised leg should be straight out in front of you, and parallel to the top of the supporting leg. Repeat about five times.
You can try this with an ankle weight on, to compensate for the boot weight. It will take several months to build right strength level. Ankle weights are pretty cheap at Target in the yoga section. You can also get these and resistance bands at Marshalls quite often. Sounds as if muscle strength is an issue for you on the sit spin.

I don't know really anything about a proper sit spin, but if your hips are tight, these might help. I am a dancer and it is really important to open your hips to get proper turn out, so it sounds like that is part of the problem from what your coach is saying.

http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Basic-Stretches-Tight-Hips-3130483#photo-3130483

The butterfly stretch is great for increasing your turnout from the hips as long as the tightness is just muscular, but if your hip joints are located more to the inside of the hips instead of the outside, you are structurally incapable of doing spread eagles and Ina Bauers without damaging your knees. But turning your free foot out as you bring the free leg forward on a sit spin entry shouldn't require open hips.

It's hard to know what the issue is without seeing your sit spin entrance, but I know that when I have trouble turning my foot out and bringing the free leg around until it collides with the skating leg, it's one of two things: (1) I'm letting my back get rounded or breaking at the waist instead of keeping my back strong and arched, or (2) I'm trying to bring my free leg around too early instead of waiting until I've completed the entrance edge. And both of these things tend to happen when I'm not bending my skating leg deeply enough on the entrance.

The best exercise I've ever been given for the proper sit spin position is to do backward shoot-the-ducks. Glide backward in a straight line on your left foot and extend your free leg in front, turned out and pointed. As you lower yourself into position, arch your back and push your chest and free leg forward. Bend your skating ankle and lift your heel off the ice so that you are on the ball of the blade, even allowing your bottom pick to scrape just a little. Keep lowering your butt and pushing your chest and free leg forward until the calf of your skating leg is pressing against the inside of the thigh of your free leg. Once you feel that, you are in the correct position.

Thanks everyone! I will do that off ice exercise (a bit hard on my ankle and knee, definitely need to strengthen up). I do shoot-the-ducks fairly frequently and I find them quite easy actually, my leg stays in the correct position, but when I do that when I spin, it doesn't stay on my leg, it just flies out and hangs around (causing my knee to bend a bit, which obviously doesn't look good). I will keep trying to strengthen and focus on the free leg.

If you can do a shoot the duck you can do a sit spin. Totally separate to spread eagle that some people can never do because of hips, fyi. You can increase flexibility and core strength with a yoga class at local Y. But if your core balance is off you will not get the spins. Everyone has an individual core balance point unique to them. Forget looking at your bad foot on your sit spin. Focus elsewhere and do not look down or at the foot. Sit to the thighs parallel, like you are on a chair and imagine you are grabbing a pole and spinning around it holding it. Center the spin. Once you have enough strength to handle 15 revs in one spin you can figure out a broken leg position or something to handle the bad toe positioning. Get around the problem. Spread eagle may be a no go but not related to spiral.

TheSnowQueen2013 said:

Thanks everyone! I will do that off ice exercise (a bit hard on my ankle and knee, definitely need to strengthen up). I do shoot-the-ducks fairly frequently and I find them quite easy actually, my leg stays in the correct position, but when I do that when I spin, it doesn't stay on my leg, it just flies out and hangs around (causing my knee to bend a bit, which obviously doesn't look good). I will keep trying to strengthen and focus on the free leg.

Click to expand...

If that's the case, your free leg is probably getting stuck because your body position and timing of the free leg swing is not right on your sit spin entrance. Get really low on your skating knee for the entrance edge, then waaaaaait and let it curl into a smaller circle, with your free leg extended as far behind you as you can. Keep your right shoulder back, too. Keep your back straight, arched and very strong. When you feel the entrance edge curl and tighten and you hit the bottom pick, NOW you bring the free arm and free leg around together, keeping the free leg low to the ice, with toes facing forward, only turning the foot out when it reaches 2:00 (in front of you and a little to the right). It helps to count how many seconds you hold your preparatory edge and then count out the exact same timing on your entrance edge.

I don't think a good sit spin necessitates a good turn out. Some variations like the broken-leg doesn't need turn out at all. What's important is to get the balanced and strong position. I've seen skaters perform sit spins with their held leg wide, for artistic effect. Whatever variant of the sit position, what matters is that you hold the position strong and firm. (Therefore, off-ice strength training is beneficial.)

For the standard sit position, I second vlaurend's comments about the free leg position: focus on pressing the shin of your free leg against the calf of your skating leg. This pressing force and core strength helps to firm up the position. To get well-balanced and centered spins, press on the ball of your skating foot, around the base of your 2nd toe. That's where the sweet spot is.

If you have difficulty with the entrance timing which then causes difficulty in balance, you can try rising into an upright to find your balance first, then close down into the sit position. Eventually you'll want to learn to enter directly into the sit position, though.

cl2 said:

For the standard sit position, I second vlaurend's comments about the free leg position: focus on pressing the shin of your free leg against the calf of your skating leg.

Click to expand...

I think that was supposed to be "pressing the thigh of your free leg against the calf of your skating leg.