Using Jump Harness for Low Level Jumps?

[SmallAminal]

I'm curious about this since I've only ever observed higher-level skaters learning double and triple jumps on the harness (occasional single axel as well).

Is the harness ever used for low level jumps - e.g. waltz jump or any singles? Especially for adult beginners (who may be more afraid of falling than lightweight children and youth), this would be a great way to build confidence. Maybe even for those tentative kids that need some help until they are more comfortable.

 

[JSM]

I've definitely seen it used for both adults and kids who need help getting into "air position", on any jump. Any one who can benefit should use it with their coach!

Though in my rinks, it's most commonly used for axels (single or double).

 

[mystery905]

I learned my Waltz jump by practising on dry land.

Once you have the confidence there, it is easier to try on ice at slow speed.

 

[Jh9772]

I don’t know, I guess I can see the appeal, but I think it’s more important to learn how to fall out of a jump and get the feel of landing with your full body weight.

 

[jf12]

I think it might work for some people. However, especially if you are an adult on the track harness, its not like you don't fall at all. I've worked on doubles on it, and you really have to learn how to skate under it to make it work for you. At the beginning, you might be pulled off your axis and fall a lot more, and more awkwardly. Hopefully the coach be able to pull and will cushion your fall a little, but it's not like you'll be up there flying on wires like Peter Pan in a stage production.

 

[SmallAminal]

it's not like you'll be up there flying on wires like Peter Pan in a stage production.

hahaha....that would actually put a lot of people OFF from wanting to jump.

 

[jf12]

hahaha....that would actually put a lot of people OFF from wanting to jump.

TBH in my mind, that's what I thought the harness would be like, before I actually got on it.

 

[Mussique]

I feel like the main purpose in teaching waltz jump, toe and salchow is to introduce you to the "feel" of jumping. Maybe having a support would help in some cases, but I fear in most cases (definitely mine) it would just pospone the fear, not help it.
But every one is different. In my rink there are not many harnesses so very few people use them —definitely not for single jumps

 

[vlaurend]

I can't see teaching a waltz jump on the harness, since that's just a 1/2 revolution jump and the instructor can hold the student's hand the whole time. But I could see using the harness starting with the loop jump, where the skater really has to stay backward and take off and land on the same foot. That was the first jump that felt kind of scary to me. I was only 28 at the time, so I just went for it, but for an older beginning skater, I could definitely see the harness being a godsend on that one.

 

[renla]

I was asking myself the same question whenever I was first starting to jump, and it was only because I was scared to do it off the wall. Like vlaurend mentioned, the lower level jumps can be done on the wall or using a coaches hands. I'm a very cautious person so I took baby steps with my jumps until I gained confidence, and I think that confidence is important to have for the higher level jumps. I feel like a reliance on the harness could be a bad thing so early.

Though I would like to use it for the loop because it's terrifying, but our harness was broken by drunk hockey players

 

[loopy]

It is used for axel here too. Not for lower level jumps. I think that coaches don't want dependence. Even for 2a, the coach lets them do a couple passes on it but then takes them off the rest of the session. My skater is adult sized and the coach gets a huge work out when she jumps using it. I was going to ask her if she counted it as strength training.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Yes.

 

[acapenci]

Ive never seen or heard of anybody at my rink use the jump harness for anything lower than a single axel. Even then, its mostly used by teenage competitors who are on their doubles and triples

 

[treesprite]

I usually skate in empty noon sessions, and my coach said one day that she wants me to go on freestyle to use the harness (to work on single jumps). I learned all the singles when I was a kid, without any harness. But re-learning them as an older adult is a bit scary. I think she thinks that using the harness will give a sense of security and help me not think about breaking bones. Once I adjust to my new skates, maybe we will try it out.

 

[SmallAminal]

I usually skate in empty noon sessions, and my coach said one day that she wants me to go on freestyle to use the harness (to work on single jumps). I learned all the singles when I was a kid, without any harness. But re-learning them as an older adult is a bit scary. I think she thinks that using the harness will give a sense of security and help me not think about breaking bones. Once I adjust to my new skates, maybe we will try it out.

treesprite I know how you feel! The fear of breaking bones is very real for adults - when I was a kid I did sooooo many things (like handstands on the sidewalk - YIKES!) without any fear of falling because honestly it didn't hurt that much when I did or I was too naïve to understand the risks. I completely understand how the harness would help adults in this situation but also understand that it would not be great to get "dependent" on it too much.

 

[treesprite]

I know most (maybe all) of this coach's adult students, and I have not heard of any of them using the harness. Hence, I am kind of wondering if she thinks it would be useful simply because I already know how to do the jumps, I am just re-training my body to do them after not doing them for so many years.

 

[Arwen17]

For our kids, coaches start them on harness at single axel level usually. A lot time for the younger girls, it isn't about fear, its used as a "reward" if they land some good jumps off-harness or something. The younger girls simply think its "fun" or they feel "important" when they get to use the harness.

My coach trains me the same way as the kids, so I wasn't on harness until single axel too. But she rarely uses the harness with me: partly I think because its a lot of 'effing effort to lift me compared to young children (I'm not fat, just tall), and partly because I don't think it helps me that much. It just becomes a "crutch" for me in most cases. I can and will jump eventually if you stop "babying" me. Currently, I'm working on getting my axel consistently, fully rotated and working on my first doubles: 2sal, 2toe, 2loop. Everything is currently 1/2 under-rotated. YAY!

However, my coach has used the harness on another adult skater who is only 2 years older than me when she was teaching her waltz jump. I'm 27 and she's 29, but we couldn't be more different. I'm a daredevil and she's very, very fearful and cautious. Neither of us is overweight or out of shape, but she's much much more fearful than I've ever been. Putting her on the harness for the waltz jump just once really did help her overcome that fear of jumping. So if you have someone who is incredibly fearful of a particular jump, any jump, then I think using the harness once can help get them over that fear. After that, don't use the harness again since you don't want to "baby" them or let the harness become a "crutch". Once they've done it successfully on the harness, then you know they can do it off-harness. They've just got to get over themselves psychologically. Letting the harness become a crutch won't help them with that.

P..S. I wear hip and butt pads once I started working on axel and above since you have to "commit" to falling on those jumps to see good progress. The pads are great. They give me confidence to push as hard as I can and they've kept me safe and bruise-free many times. So far, the pads haven't become a crutch for me since I sometimes forget to put them on before I start jumping. I have to make sure I remember to put them on since I know a bad bruise or hard fall will make me scared of a jump for awhile and I don't want that kind of setback while I'm still learning.

 

[gkelly]

I used a harness a couple of times as an adult skater trying to reclaim a lost/regained but inconsistent axel. I still fell, but not as hard.

When I first started with my current coach and she was assessing my skills, she once put me in the harness to see if I could do rocker-choctaws. I couldn't.

The harness doesn't fit me very well because I'm too wide around the middle. But maybe it would be useful for trying to do brackets with some flow. I can if my coach holds my hand but on my own I really can't do the backward ones at all.

 

[cl2]

I used a harness a couple of times as an adult skater trying to reclaim a lost/regained but inconsistent axel. I still fell, but not as hard.

When I first started with my current coach and she was assessing my skills, she once put me in the harness to see if I could do rocker-choctaws. I couldn't.

The harness doesn't fit me very well because I'm too wide around the middle. But maybe it would be useful for trying to do brackets with some flow. I can if my coach holds my hand but on my own I really can't do the backward ones at all.

Very interesting point about doing choctaws on the harness. With the FI choctaws, if you trip on your blade, you go straight down onto your tailbone, no way to break the fall. It hurts way worse than any other on-ice fall I've experienced.