Figure skating specialist coach Sheila Thelen works with a skater on the off-ice harness and electric spinner. (In the previous video, Sheila offered insights and advice about equipment and safety.) This skater is very proficient on this equipment and is able to hit accurate rotational positions easily and repeatedly. This is relatively natural for some athletes, but most athletes benefit from this kind of training as they can work on air positions in a way that simulates dozens or even hundreds of jumps in a single training session.
Sheila spins the skater up to speed while on two feet on the electric spinner and then lifts her into the air so the skater doesn’t have to fight any jerkiness or axis issues from jumping up. This skater goes immediately to a h-position followed by a d-position (tight rotation) and then a partial starfish position (reset) with the arms remaining in throughout. Notice how she can cycle through these positions comfortably without losing hardly any spin energy. Sheila notes another benefit of using this kind of off-ice equipment, related to dizziness. She says, “One of the magic superskills of figure skaters is we really can train that dizziness out.”
In the second spin up, the skater does a full starfish (including open arms) which is a great position to help skaters reset their axis and just hang in the harness with slow rotation. For skaters without much experience on the stationary harness, the starfish position is extremely helpful. Sheila also has the skater do another h-position simulating a loop take-off and the skater’s axis wobbles for a few seconds, suggesting a slight loss of core control during the movements back to the tight d-position.
In the final spin up, Sheila asks the skater to make errors on purpose, especially with the head position and movement. Notice how much this degrades the skater’s axis and ability to rotate fast. She also asks the skater to “lead with your shoulders way more” which is a common issue where skaters open up and turn the shoulders into the rotation rather than staying neutral or slightly closed. This has a massive negative effect on the axis and rotation rate. The spinner and off-ice harness are great tools for fixing these kinds of issues, or just training the skills properly in the first place.
