International coach and jump specialist Jeremy Allen shares 3 different drills for helping skaters feel the proper outside edge lutz take-off. This is a continuation of Jeremy’s discussion of the beginning lutz here. Many skaters struggle with the outside edge, and if not caught and fixed early, a variety of methods may need to be employed.
The first exercise Jeremy calls “crossing back” consists of repeated crossing behind and stepping back like a back cross roll, before doing a single lutz. The focus here is just creating the outside edge on each step, and speeding up the timing for the pick to ensure an outside take-off edge. This exercise has very little “reach” and is quite collected and compact. Again, the focus here is the feet, so don’t worry too much about the arms for this exercise. Jeremy recommends just relaxing with the upper body to let it do what it naturally wants to do.
The second exercise is based on simple edge changes and jumping (without pick assist) from the clean outside edge. This exercise is excellent for learning the required timing for the pick and jump, and the timing is typically much faster than expected for skaters having edge issues. Notice this exercise can be done repeatedly moving down the ice. It can also be done with a pick and hop without rotation. Again, the idea is to feel the edge and get the right timing for the pick and the jump.
The third exercise Jeremy suggests uses a forward outside counter entrance with a pull-back into the lutz. He uses a swing roll to enter the counter, and feels a compact back outside edge after the counter before reaching to pick. Jeremy explains that skaters can also switch to a slight inside edge after the counter before switching back to an outside edge to help feel a stronger outside edge for the jump. This is typical for doubles or triples or jumps with more speed.
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