National level coach Debbie Warne-Jacobsen continues a short series of videos where she shares ideas for a well-balanced warm-up intended to be skated to begin the first on-ice session of the day. See Part 1 here. In this video, the focus is on a drill Debbie calls “loop steps.” Loop steps are basically a walk-through of a loop jump entry and take-off.
Initially performed at the wall, Debbie has the skaters simulate a loop jump take-off with the focus on straightening the axis leg and pushing the axis hip up and across into rotation. The drill begins on two feet with the feet crossed and both skates on outside edges (like a loop jump setup) and then twists up into an h-position. Debbie does 10 repetitions of the exercise and focuses on getting the axis leg straight.
Next she has the skaters perform loop steps around a circle on the ice, going from a loop jump setup or entry and pressing for rotation into a back three turn and up into an h-position (gliding forward on a slight inside edge). The skater then steps down using an inside mohawk and resets to repeat the exercise, again 10 times. This drill provides an excellent opportunity to work on head anchoring. In this exercise, Debbie says, “We’re practicing the drop to up and the right side coming through at the beginning of our rotation. We’re practicing position of head. We’re practicing depth of edge for the loop. We’re practicing straightening the right leg as you push up into the jump. So I do these all the time as a beginning exercise.”
The next exercise is “loop step loop step pirouette” which consists of two loop steps and then a final loop step followed by a pirouette or twizzle. The idea is to perform the loop steps as desired, up into an h-position, and then on the last one transition to the d-position from the h-position. The goal is to make the third loop step look exactly like the first two, and then get the feet to touch in the d-position. Debbie says, “The right (axis) hip is the driver of the three turn and pushes your left (non-axis) side up into the h-position.” She also comments to one of the skaters, “I want you to let your right side go past your zipper up into the three turn, we’re going to catch up with it, and on the pirouette I want you to get your elbows all the way in.”
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