Figure Skating | Correct Your Back Spin Mistakes

Hi skaters, welcome to Next Edge. In this lesson today we're going to be looking at the backspin and some common mistakes that you might have and how to fix them instantly. So before we jump in and get started, I want you to click on the link below in the description for your free PDF guide on a competition checklist. There are some obvious things there like skates, costume, but then I also added in some extra stuff like maybe extra band-aids, headphones. So give it a look over and just so that you have an idea of what you might want for a competition. Now before we look at these common mistakes on a backspin, I want to go over why a backspin is so important. It is a key element to our skating. We learn a backspin because it also helps us in the air. It's our air position and there is a direct connection between how fast we spin in our backspin to how fast we rotate in the air. So it's just a vital skating element move that you need to know and to be able to understand. Now I'm going to show you my backspin and what a backspin is going to look like. Hopefully mine is okay because I don't practice it that much, but I'm going to give it a go. So and there you have it. This is a backspin. Mine's not super fast. It could always be faster, but I just want to give you the idea. We're gliding in on one foot. We three turn into the backspin. I have a nice tight position and then I exit out. So mistake number one is that your backspin travels. We push into it and we find ourselves traveling and it winds up traveling more than you would travel on a vacation. So what does that look like? I'm going to show you right now. So you push and into this backspin and then you turn into it and it travels and out. Why does the backspin travel? It travels because we don't hold the edge. We have too much line speed going down and not enough circle speed. The circle speed turning into the spin. So watch the difference of me just holding that inside edge a little bit longer. I hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it, and then I can then I'm able to turn and do a backspin. As you can see, I didn't have this line speed like on that first mistake. I let that turn into it into the backspin. So that is a common mistake right off the bat that how you can fix your backspin. So we're going to take a look at this from another angle and I'm going to hold the edge and what you're probably thinking, Stacy, how long do I hold it for? You just hold it. You will know, your blade knows when to make the turn into the backspin. So I'm going to push onto this edge here and I'm just going to hold it as long as I can. And this is a great exercise. Just push and just hold on that forward inside edge and then it just naturally told me, okay, it's time to three turn into that backspin. So try this multiple times until you get comfortable. Okay. We're going to do it one more time. I'm going to add a little bit more speed to my push going into this backspin. So I'm going to push onto this right foot, press, press that edge, hold it, hold it, hold it, flip, and then pull it in. And there you have it. That is your first common mistake that you can easily fix. All right. Now, mistake number two, you can't balance on one foot. Every time you go for the backspin, you're not able to just hold over that leg. Now this can be a couple of different things, but the most common mistake is that you're spinning forwards. You're actually not spinning backwards. So what I'm going to show you is exactly what that looks like and how to fix it. So I see a lot of skaters go for the backspin, they push into it, they turn, and then they're actually trying to spin forward versus spinning backwards. So what we need to make sure that we do is that we're going to hold the edge and we're going to grind on our toe pick. I'm going to show you now what that looks like. Now, this isn't something I recommend. This is for someone who's just starting out. You're going to push into the press here and then grind on that toe pick as much as possible. Now you can grind even more, but it just helps you to get up on that toe and stay backwards because that is the key to the backspin is spinning backwards, not spinning forwards. Now let's take a look at it from a different angle and what I want you to think about if you wind up flipping forward. I want you to try grinding on your toe pick and making a bigger circle because it's so much harder to flip the edge when you're on a bigger circle. Now this, remember that this is just an exercise to help you. We're not going to want every single time a backspin that's really big. We want it to be nice and tight and fast and a centered spin. So this is just an exercise to help you. So I push and then I'm going to grind my toe pick and do a bigger circle. And as you can see, I stayed backwards. Yes, it is not a spin, but you're learning how to press towards the toe pick and then remain on a backwards outside edge versus that flipping to an inside edge. So let's go one more time and I'm going to press the edge and keep it on that back outside edge. So I'm going to go push and then press it around. And I can feel how I press that edge and I know how much pressure to give it so that it stays backwards. So this is a great exercise if you find yourself on that forward inside edge while doing the backspin. So mistake number three is you might find yourself not spinning as fast as the other skaters around you at your rink. Now this common mistake I find a lot of skaters have is that their arms are too high in the backspin and then they can't increase their speed because they go here and then they wind up just pulling them in and nothing's happening. So what does that mistake look like? I'm going to show you right now. So you have nice edges going in but then you find your arms too high and then they pull in. Everything's off your body and we don't want to be off our body. We want our center to be nice and low when we spin. So what we're going to do is we're going to take those arms that are really high and we're going to drop them down here. Make sure they're at a nice height for you. Not too low but just nice and pulled up. You can feel this position. You can look in the mirror and just find that position there. So we're going to just take our arms and lower them because we want our arms to be nice and low so that we can increase our speed when we use them. So I'm going to try to increase my speed when I push into this backspin. Now my arms are nice and low and then I'm going to increase. Now you might increase your speed by grabbing your arms, pushing them down, grabbing them here and just holding them there. It's up to you but the main thing that I want you to take away from this is lower your arms. It will help everything all around in the backspin. So we're going to take a look at this one more time but what I want you to be clear on is that it's easier to gain speed when our arms are out to pull them in to feel that increase of speed. It is harder when they're up high to pull them in this and to get that spin going really fast. So what I want you to do is just lower your arms so that we can increase our speed. We're going to take a look at that one more time. So I'm going to push into this backspin. My arms are at a nice level here. Then I'm going to try to increase my speed. A bit of a travel there but that's just something that you can work on and it can easily fix your backspin. You might just go okay my arms are a bit too high. You lower them and then all of a sudden you have this beautiful fast backspin. So before we end this lesson I want you to check out that competition checklist because competition season is right around the corner and it can just help you to go over everything that you can remember because I know as a skater you get to competition you're like oh my goodness I forgot my hairspray. So then you're asking other skaters hey do you have hairspray? It's just small things like that that you can just make sure that you have so that you're going into competition knowing you have done everything you have everything and you're ready to skate. All right those are the three common mistakes and I just want to go over them one more time. So the first common mistake is that it's too much on a straight line and you might find yourself traveling. So just please make sure you hold that edge until the spin kind of tells you when to pull in. The second one is that spinning forward. So what I want you to remember that that was just an exercise to hold on that back outside edge. Please do not do it forever or say Stacey told me to do this. It's just an exercise so that you remain on that back outside edge instead of flipping to that forward inside. And the third common mistake is that your arms are too high. Just lower those arms that way you can really increase your speed in that backspin. Now I'm going to give you a little bonus something that is definitely a personal preference but also you don't see high level skaters do it is that even I was taught this to begin a backspin is dragging your toe pick into that backspin. You push and then you wind up dragging the toe pick and then pulling into the spin. This is definitely a great way to learn the backspin. It keeps the hip right in line where it needs to be but after you get your backspin I want you to remember pick that leg up nice and high so that you don't have this grinding toe pick going into that backspin. And this is what I want it to look like here holding and then it flips into that backspin. So that is just a quick tip. So if you have that backspin and you wind up still dragging that toe pick grinding it pick it up. Be that great high level skater I know you can be. That concludes our lesson today and there is no excuse why you cannot have a fabulous backspin. Please video yourself. It will help you to recognize where you're going wrong in a backspin and you might find yourself oh I remember some of those quick tips that Stacy gave me and you can apply them. So please practice that backspin. It is a great element that we need in figure skating and happy skating.