Off Ice Axel in 6 Easy Steps!

Hi guys, I'm Shelly. In today's video we will go over six simple

steps

to achieve your Axl off ice. I will also mention the number one mistake to avoid when making your Axl. They won't want to do it. You might miss this, so stay tuned. Step number one for this Axl is that step towards the front outside edge that leads us to the jump itself, so what we're going to do is we're going to go backwards off the ice and our arms are going to face each other. outside the circle, as you see here, we will bring our arms and legs towards our axis right now, at this point, all of our body weight is on our right side, so we are on a right outside edge at this point as I'm going to do this.

I'll do it just like I'm going to do a wall jump or axe so the arms are extended. I'm looking over my left shoulder. I join my arms and my fritto to my skating. heel and then I'm kneeling right now, I'm going to stand up and then I'm going to step towards that left front outside edge and when I step onto that left foot, my arms and legs are going to swing back, that's our setup for our Axl and here it is friends, this is the biggest mistake that people make on their axes is that when they do those things they don't completely transfer their body weight to the left side, so sometimes you will see people come into their axle and when they stop their arm or on an inside edge, your knee bends and you will notice that the right side of your shoulder and hip drop or sink when that happens, that will cause a lot of problems with your forward jump, that will cause a tilt your body will not be able to take off completely as necessary for this axis to function, so believe it or not, this is the biggest mistake people make is not fully committing to that transfer of the body from the step. from the rear outer edge to the front outer edge so that they concentrate on this exercise.

This is huge. If you can do this exercise and have that feeling of body weight transfer, it will be easier for you to execute this axis so you can I can see this exercise here, that's all I'm doing. I'm back on that back outside edge, then I step to the left side and I feel it on my foot, even when I stop I feel like the outside of my foot has more pressure than the inside of my foot and I'm not flatfoot. I just have a slight stance on the outside of my foot so I can almost create that edge off the ice that is super important.

You'll keep repeating this until I really feel like body weight transfer over a good rule of thumb is if you hold a foot wide and let's say if you grab your free side and let go, what's going to happen? You will start to be dragged towards the non-skating side. Well, they'll take you off your axis. This is what happens when we don't fully transfer our body weight on this axis and of course we have another transfer of body weight later in the jump, but this is the first step. In that first body weight transfer of doing the rear outside edge to the front outside edge, the next step in this axis will be the kick towards the lake.

Now we're going to roll it back a little bit and we're going to We're going to slowly blend these things into our first step that we just went over, so you're going to do this first step that you went over when you step towards that front outside edge, your arms and legs. they are back and when you step forward and once you lower yourself into that knee bend, you will rise up and as you rise up from there you will simply swing your arms and legs up and across and create that H position, this It is our starting point. to do the full kick, so in this step this is just going to help us get used to that arm and leg movement so when we actually do the lift itself and when we do this swing, you're going to feel your whole body. weight on that left side, so if you're swinging right now and you feel like maybe you're falling to your right side, that's a good indicator for you that you possibly didn't transfer your body weight with the pulley onto the left side at all. the previous step, now we're going to take it to the next level, so we're going to do the same thing we did in the last step, except we're actually going to jump, instead of just moving our arms and legs now. you're going to add the lift for this, we're not going to rotate, although we're just focusing on combining the last two

steps

into this third step right now, so that when you step on your front outside edge and those arms come back and you get down on your knee when you start to rise from your knee, that's your jump, you're crouching down on your knee so you can turn and power your jump, that's what the knee bends, so if you don't have me there later, a In turn, your jumps will be very small.

I'm not saying go all the way down to your knees until you're literally on the ground, that's not going to work, but you should sink down far enough as far as you can go. a lot of power from your legs and push yourself up, so when we step forward to that left outside edge and bring our arms and legs back, you squat down to the knee and now we're literally going to use that leg that's bent to skate . leg and we're going to push ourselves up, we're literally going to jump up and, as we jump, we're going to move our arms and legs to reach each position with this exercise, literally, if you're having trouble. with this exercise and you feel like you're going to the free side and you're not staying on the exercise side or the skating side, that means you need to rewind and we need to start from the beginning and feel that transfer of body weight which is usually , where the error comes from now, another thing to mention is the direction of that kick through the leg.

When you are kicking, you want to make sure that kick through the leg or knee goes forward, it doesn't cut your body to the left side or that hip doesn't open to the right side, the direction of that leg and arms have You have to go in the same direction because if you go in a different direction, that will also alter your rotation or your direction for this jump when In fact, try this axis right now. We're coming up on our second bodyweight transfer right now and it's step by step, so we're going to do everything the same as we did in our last exercise that we just did now, the only difference. is instead of just kicking up and up and not rotating, we are going to rotate, this rotation will be similar to the Walsh jump, the only difference is that we are landing in an inverted H position, so in this position this is where body transfer occurs.

So while I'm kicking up and jumping in the air, not only do you want to get height, but you also want distance, you want to act like you're jumping over a hill, so not only do you have to jump up, but you also have to jump, so when you first come into that left outside edge with your right leg kicking up and through, it's not just an upward kick, you're actually starting to get some reach and distance to go in front of you when we're doing this so that when you are in the air this is where the body weight transition occurs.

You will feel when you are lifting for the first time and through that body weight, the shaft you are skating with is on the left side as you jump. the hill and you're turning, then you're going to transfer it back to the right side to start on the left side with that axis and now we're going to go back to the right side because you need to land again in that inverted position of the stage, so if you're doing this exercise and when you land, if you feel yourself going towards your inner edge, that tells you one thing: you didn't completely transfer your body weight into the air, a great way to exercise.

To get an idea of ​​this, if just being on the floor doesn't work, you can put something on the floor, either like a small bag or even if you have a yoga mat, try jumping on the yoga mat to do it. This exercise sometimes works really well, sometimes it gives you insight and something you really know, try to push yourself to do it, but those are great ways to try to help yourself with this exercise as well, so be aware of where you sit. your body weight you are able to maintain the imbalance, so pay attention to the sensation of your body when you land to see if you completely transferred your body weight, so basically, after hitting that, we reverse each position, we will simply jump twice in counterclockwise.

This is basically to activate our body and our muscle memory to maintain that rotation even though we're not doing it in the air, we're doing it slowly right now so our body can remember that same sensation, so that's super. It's important that we take that last step to get the inverted H in order because this is essentially our back scratch position that we're going to come in and work on and when we do a back scratch, where is our body weight? right axis, we don't have any pull from the left side, if you have pull from the left side, that will also make your jump tilt in the air, so all you are going to do now is take the last step with the lift reverse stage, land and then do two counterclockwise jumps to try to get that aerial position started right, guys, we're on our last and final step for this axis now, just like the last one we did, we started, we did two counterclockwise jumps counterclockwise later.

We got to that inverted stage position, so now instead of doing two jumps, you're going to do a full turn and then you're going to land and as you jump, you're going to slowly bring your arms and legs closer together to try to mimic. that aerial position and then a good, strong control for your landing that's the axis we really broke it that's how you started slowly because these jumps you have to remember they happen quickly now when you first enter an axis are you going to do all one step perfectly, absolutely not when we work on axles when figure skaters work on axles then they just do the jump itself, they have to work on all these parts, so in this video you saw all the little bits and pieces that go into it.

They come together to make the complete axis and doing these bits and pieces slowly separately and then slowly incorporating them together is what makes your body remember those steps for the axis and then before you know it you will be able to do these steps faster, so that's the only difference here. between what we just did and the axis, the axis is just all these very quick steps, so the next step, once you've mastered them, try to do each step a little bit faster and what I mean by that is what steps we would do faster.

Definitely our step when we go from the kick to the reverse stage that has to be quick and then the step where we rotate in our scratch position and pull in, that will obviously have to happen faster as well, so we are able to rotate in the air, not land, and do it, so a great way to do it is to first do it slowly like we just did and then slowly accelerate the steps that I just mentioned so that way you can start rotating upwards. in the air for the axes the snap which is that step over or that kick towards the reverse H and the pull towards the rear scratch position in the air are the points that have to be faster in this jump but they have to be correct Usually another mistake that a lot of people make and that everyone makes is that when they try to do it faster, they start to learn every single thing, which in turn causes their jump to lean a little or they don't understand the full kick, etc. , so keep that in mind, you know, try to do these movements completely faster, then the kick back h towards the back scratch, so that when you actually go to perform the full axis three axis back stretch that way, you can kind of maintain that rotation, so if you're cheating on your

axel

, let's say you could at least train your body to maintain that rotation with the back scratch, so it's always good to try the

axel

even if He's deceived, put it on the back scratch. to keep that counterclockwise rotation and of course here's the entire axis and right now we're going to break it down so that's how all of this comes together as best as possible, just like you just saw, that's the axis.

A lot of those pieces are in the jump, so it's very important to go piece by piece so that your body and your muscle memory remember those pieces so that eventually they can all come together, so you guys, that's the crux, six simple steps. I think you guys can do it. Comment below, let me know if you're going to try this and be sure to check out my other videos too. I have off-ice axis exercises. I have a ton of new off-ice videos for you guys since some of us can't. Hit the track, so check them out and we'll see you in the next video.

Good bye guys.