International coach Chris Conte discusses and demonstrates lutz technique and lutz development drills to create proper timing and edge usage. Chris encourages skaters to keep the arms narrow on lutz, or as he says, “think soldiery thoughts.” He does a “walking in place” (gliding) drill to help feel this narrowness, with the arms moving in opposition to the feet. Chris says, “The problem with lutzes and particularly flutzes is the lack of narrowness.” He wants to avoid over-twisting and going around.
Chris shows another drill at the boards, which is done with the non-picking foot gliding into the jump on a flat, but then transitioning to an outside edge as the picking foot comes in and finally enters the ice. The reach is directly behind the picking hip. Notice how close together Chris’s feet are, which is the goal for a great lutz. A common problem occurs when skaters “over-turn” the hips which causes the bulk of the outside edge to happen on the reach and not on the picking movement. This ultimately causes a wide pick placement (Chris calls it “a huge geographic problem”) and a flutz (unwanted edge change).
Here Chris gives an alternative way to think about and perform a lutz as opposed to the traditional “tap and draw” philosophy. Rather than picking and drawing, Chris notes that the “draw” together actually happens in the air and the toe pick goes into the ice as the feet are already coming together. The skating foot goes from a flat to an outside edge to avoid the picking foot, in what Chris refers to as a “game of chicken.” (The game of chicken demonstration is actually for a lefty/CW jumper.)
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