Figure Skating | The Secret To Building A Better Sit Spin

Hey skaters, it's Mitch here from Next Stage Tutorials, and in today's lesson, I'm gonna be showing you some off-ice exercises to help that sit spin. So, while sit spins are very, very tricky to learn, just like all these other elements in skating, I do think they're different because once you have a sit spin, it's very hard to lose it. You go into it with power, you sit down low, you stay there, and the revolutions just keep on coming. It really is that easy, but learning it is extremely difficult, which is why these exercises that I wanna give you today are gonna make a big difference. Now, the exercises that we're gonna be looking at are really gonna focus on balance. Sure, we do need some power and some strength in our legs to hold ourselves once we're down there, but the main focus is gonna be balance because when I see a lot of skaters struggling with a sit spin, it's the balance to sit down nice and low on one leg that really gets them unstuck. So, what are we waiting for? Let's get started with these exercises. So, exercise number one. Now, I know a lot of skaters wanna just jump into sit spins, leg in front, sit nice and low, and get straight into it, but for a lot of skaters, they have to find that balance on two feet first before they can just go to one foot. So, for exercise number one, I found a few bars here, and all I'm gonna do is hold onto it while I sit nice and low on two feet and balance. So, I find my position here, my hands are holding on, supporting me, and then I can go lower. Now, as I go lower, I can just move my hands down accordingly. I move lower, I can hold on, and I can sit. Now, as I'm here, I can let go, and I can try and balance. You can see, if I let go right now, maybe I'm too far back. If I let go and I drop forward, I'm too far forward. So, find your balance, and try and sit there, and then eventually, take your hands off slowly until you've got complete balance. And then eventually, you've got complete balance in this position. Stand up. Pretty easy. Now, let's try it facing. So, I have this position. Now, I can just use one hand. And the same thing. I go down, I balance, and I can sit in this position. And then at some point, it feels very, very comfortable to sit here. I'm not moving anywhere. I'm not shifting. I can just basically sit here. If I had to have a conversation with someone, that feels very comfortable as well. So, this is really the first exercise you have to do. And just practice going up and down, bending, sitting, getting comfortable where you're balanced. You're not falling backwards and falling over. You're not dropping forwards onto your hands. You can just comfortably sit down nice and low, get your balance, and stay there. Now, before we jump into this next exercise, be sure to check out the link below in the description for a free PDF guide on the four turns we have in figure skating. I know as a beginner skater, it's super confusing when you see all these people going from forwards to backwards, backwards to forwards on one foot. And you're thinking, what are all these turns? But there is actually only four. A counter, rocker, three turn, and bracket. This link and the PDF that comes with it will explain everything. It's super simple. We've drawn some diagrams. It basically just walks you through everything and makes everything so much easier to understand. So, click on the link below and check it out. Okay, exercise number two. Now, this one is one of my favorite exercises. Now, depending on how far along you are with your sit spin and working on it off the ice, this might be even exercise three, depending on how it looks. So, for this exercise, it's very, very simple, but very, very, very difficult. So, I'm gonna sit here. Actually, I'm gonna face this way first. I have my leg in front of me, like it's for a sit spin. I keep my arms in front, and then I'm going to rock up into a sit spin without using my hands. So, my arms are in front, my left leg is down. Don't worry, I'm gonna flip around after this. And then I rock up into the sit spin. So, I rock up, I get my balance, and I fall back over. I do it again. I rock up into my sit spin, and I fall back over. Then I can switch feet. So, now this, for me, is almost like a back sit position. Arms are in front, leg is up. I rock up. I keep my foot as close as I can to my body, and rock up. That wasn't the best one. And down, and rock up, and back down. So, you can see, there's nothing difficult about it, but it's very, very difficult. And it's not just a strength thing, it's a balance thing. So, like we said before, if you can't sit in this position comfortably with two feet, you're really gonna struggle to sit on one foot in a sit spin position, holding here. Otherwise, you'll keep falling back. And that's the mistake that I see a lot of skaters make. So, that's why the exercise number one is so important. Getting your balance on two feet first, then you can work on how you can find that balance in a sit spin position, where you can rock up, hold it, and then slowly keep working on that until it becomes better and better. And then you can take it to the ice, and it feels so much more comfortable knowing that you can do the sit spin off the ice, and then take it to the ice. All right, and the last exercise that we have is a mixture of exercise number one and exercise number two. So, in this exercise, I'm gonna be squatting down on two feet into a squat position. Once I'm comfortable there and I have my balance, then I'm gonna move one foot out, arms in front, into a sit spin position. So, it looks something like this. I have two feet, I'm set, arms in front, I go down, I transition my weight to one of my legs, so my left leg, and I do a sit spin. I move it back, I come up. And you should really just feel the strength on your legs and the tension on your legs as you're moving through that half squat position. So, I feel it here. Once I can get down to here, I have the balance and I should just be able to sit there very easily. I transition my weight to my right leg this time, hold a sit spin, and stand back up. So, as you can see, it is quite easy for me to do that. If I really want to challenge myself, I could do something even more difficult, and I could go straight into that sit spin from one foot up high. So, I might start with two feet, my arms are apart, and then as I go down, I straight away, one leg, and come back up. Oh, that's really difficult for me to come back up. Let's try it one more this time. So, maybe this time my right leg, two feet, transition already onto one foot, arms come in, I have balance, and back up. Left leg, transition, and back up. So, again, that is quite difficult for me, but if I didn't want to challenge myself too much, I can simply do two feet down, transition my weight, check position, two feet, and back up. And if you wanted to sort of mix it in between, you could always do two feet down, and then stand back up on one leg, or one leg down and stand up on two legs. So, you can mix and match it how you deem fit, and what's comfortable for you, but after that, it's just gonna be repetition, doing those over and over to check your balance. All right, there you have it. Those are the three exercises off the ice to help your sit spin. Now, I know what you're thinking. What if I'm not great at these? What if I fall over? What if I just can't do them? The only two things you have to remember is if you're down nice and low and you fall over, you're not gonna hurt yourself. So, don't rush. It's just about getting balance. Go down nice and low. If you fall over, you fall over. The second thing you have to remember is sit spins just take time. It's a balance thing. Taking and getting balance just takes learning with your body, putting your body in different positions until you feel that balance come on more and more. Once you have it, it's very, very hard to lose it. So, keep that in mind when you're trying these exercises, and the great thing about these exercises is that you can do them anywhere. You can do them at home or watching TV. You can do them at the ice rink. You might even wanna do them at work while you're on a break. So, don't be afraid. Just take your time, get down low, find that balance, and eventually, it will all come together and you'll notice the big results on the ice. So, thanks for watching Next Edge Tutorials. Happy skating, and we can't wait to see you again soon.