The Four Figure Skating Turns (3-Turns, Brackets, Counters & Rockers)

Hi skaters! Welcome to Next Edge. In today's lesson, we're going to be looking at all the turns we have in figure skating. So before we even get started, I want you to check out the link in the description below for a free PDF guide on all your four turns. Just as a little reminder, if you're on the ice and you can't remember, there's that guide to help you out. All right, before we jump in and get started, I want to just go over the four turns. You have a three turn. You have a counter, you have a rocker, and you have a bracket. Now, I know that seems quite simple, but it can get a bit confusing because with each one, you have a forwards, backwards, inside, and outside. So today, I'm going to be giving you a quick review on those turns. So let's get started. So let's start with a forward outside three turn. And just a quick reminder, I'm going to do all my turns on the right foot just to keep it super clear and easy for you. So we're going to start out with this right forward outside three turn. I have my right foot in front. My arms are up. I'm going to push onto a forward outside edge, turn, and now I'm on a back inside edge. And how I like to remember that is that I like to think about turning into my circle. So let's look at it one more time. Arms are up. My right foot's in front. I bend, push, press, turn, and hold. And there you have it. That is the forward outside three turn. Now, the other forward turn is the forward inside three turn. Again, right foot is in front. I am on a right forward inside edge. And we're going to think about turning into the circle. So we're going to go push on that forward inside, turn, and exit on a back outside edge. We're going to look at it again. So I have my nice pulled up position. I'm ready with that right foot in front, pressing on this inside edge, push, press, and turn. And as you can see, I exit on that back outside edge. Now let's look at the back outside three turn. So I'm going to start here. My arms are pulled up. I'm going to push on a right back outside edge, press, turn, and hold. And I exit on a forward inside edge. Let's look at this turn one more time. So I push, press, turn, and hold. And that's just your back outside three turn because we are entering on that back outside edge, and then three turning, and then exiting on that forward inside edge. Now let's take a look at the right back inside three turn again. The name of it gives a clue. It's going to be on a right back inside edge. So we're going to go push, back inside, to a forward outside edge. Again, let's take a look at it one more time. So we're going to go and push, press, turn, hold. Again, just a simple thing. Make sure that you change that weight in the blade. I'm on the ball of the foot because I'm going backwards, and I press and turn, and then I exit towards the back of my blade. We don't want to make sure that we're in that front of the blade on a turn because then we'll go straight over. So just make sure you change that weight in the blade. Now we are ready for our bracket turn, and I'm going to start off again with the right forward outside bracket. Now it's very similar to a three turn, but the only difference is that we're going to turn out, and that's how I can kind of remember it. I'm facing outside my circle. My shoulders aren't rotating in. So let's take a look at this forward outside bracket. I'm on that right forward outside edge. My body's facing outside the circle. So let's go push, press, turn, and hold. We're going to look at it again. Right arm is in front, left arm slightly back. I bend my knees. I push. I'm on the outside edge. Turn inside edge. Again with this, I can't stress enough. Please make sure that you change your weight in that blade. Heel to the ball of the foot. That way we don't have an unnecessary fall. Now let's look at that forward inside bracket. Again, my right foot is in front. My left arm is in front this time with right arm back because I'm going to push on that right forward inside edge. Push inside, outside. Let's take a look at it one more time. Bend, press, inside, outside. And there you have it. That is your forward inside bracket. Now we're going to look at the back outside bracket. And why this one is so tricky is that we're on the curb. We want to rotate our body, but instead we have to turn into our circle and fight against it. And that's why this one is really, really hard, but you can do it. So what we're going to do is we're going to push onto this right back outside edge, turn and exit on that forward inside edge. Again, it's that fighting against. So what we have to make sure that we do is press the edge, ball of the foot, push into the heel. Let's take a look at it one more time. So we're going to go push, ball, push into the heel. And there is your back outside bracket. Okay, now back inside bracket. It's the same thing. It's that kind of fighting against. So the biggest thing that we need to make sure that we do is change the weight in the blade and arms are facing inside our circle. So we're going to go push on this back inside edge, inside, outside and change the weight. Let's take a look at it one more time. I'm going to push inside, outside. I like to use a little bit of knee action just to also help me make that turn. Now that three turns and brackets are done, we are going to move on to counters. And what I want you to notice is that on the three turns and brackets, our turns are off the axis. With counters and rockers, our turn is on the axis. So let's begin with the forward outside counter. Again, I'm going to do my right foot. I'm going to push onto my right outside edge. I'm going to press, turn and hold. As you can see, right outside, make the turn, exit on a back outside edge. And I try to make the turn exactly on the axis. We're going to look at it one more time. So we're going to go push, press, turn. And there you have it, your forward outside counter. Now it's time to look at this forward inside counter. And one easy way to remember this turn is that we're going to be turning into our new circle. We're not going to backtrack into our old. So I'm going to again push onto this right forward inside edge, press inside, exit on that back inside edge holding. So it's an inside to an inside edge. We're going to take a look at it one more time. So I'm going to push onto this right forward inside edge. I'm going to use my free leg a bit here, make the turn and sit and hold. And there you have it, that is your forward inside counter. Let's take a look at this now, right back outside counter. I'm going to push onto this right back outside edge, pull with my free leg, make the turn and come out on a forward outside edge. I do like to use my free leg a bit just to give it that little extra pull and then turn for rhythm. But again, you don't have to do that. It's just something I personally find a bit easier to do. So we're going to take a look at it again. Arms are up. I'm going to push. I'm going to use my free leg here, pull, turn and hold. And there is your right back outside counter. Now we're going to look at the right back inside counter, probably one of my favorite turns to do. So we're going to start, we're going to push back and we're going to enter into that back inside edge and then turn forwards onto a forward inside edge. So I'm going to go push, press and turn. You want to make sure that that blade comes all the way back to the axis before you make the turn and it's not done on a flat. So let's take a look at it one more time. I'm going to go and push, press, turn and hold. Again, can't stress this enough. Make sure you change the weight in the blade because it makes the turn so much easier to do. Now it's time for the rocker turn. But before I move on, I want to go over just quickly the difference between the counters and rockers and how you can remember. So with the rocker turn, our shoulders kind of continue on the circle. Whereas the counter turn, it feels like they go against the circle and then hold. So you can kind of remember that way where it feels a bit smoother with a rocker turn and the counter turn feels like a little bit pressed and then around. And that's how I can kind of identify the difference between counters and rockers. Now let's look at the right forward outside rocker. Right foot is in front. I'm going to push. I have my shoulders ready to go. Push, so it's just my freed leg I have to worry about. Outside, turn and hold. Now we're going to take a look at that turn one more time. Arms are ready. Push, outside, outside. And there you have it. That is your forward outside rocker. Let's take a look at the forward inside rocker. Again, right foot just to keep it very simple. So I'm going to push. Arms and shoulders are right where they need to be. Inside edge, turn, back inside edge. Let's look at it again. So we start off forwards on that forward inside and exit on that back inside edge. Push, heel pressure, turn, follow the foot. There you have it. That is your forward inside rocker. Now let's look at the right back outside rocker. So I'm going to push on that back outside edge. So I'm going to go push, open my shoulders up, ball push into the heel and hold. We're going to look at it one more time. That right back outside rocker. Rotate my shoulders, ball push into the heel. And there you have it. That is your right back outside rocker. Now for our last one is that right back inside rocker. So I'm going to push onto that back inside edge, open my shoulders up, ball push into the heel and hold. Make sure that you get that nice open pull. It will just give you a bit of rhythm when going for this turn. We're going to look at it one more time. I'm going to push, open up, look my direction, press and turn and hold. And there you have it. That is our right back inside rocker. Okay, there you have it. Those are all our turns that we have in figure skating. And remember there is actually 16 turns because we have forwards, backwards, insides and outsides. Now you probably notice my free leg is a bit different than maybe yours and that is okay. You can put your free leg anywhere as long as the turn is clean. It doesn't matter where you put your free leg. So just always remember that. Don't worry like Stacy has her free leg here but my free leg's here. If you make the turn, great. That's all that matters. Thanks for watching Next Edge Tutorials and look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.