International coach and jump specialist Chris Conte teaches and off-ice jump class for skaters at a seminar. He begins with a series of moving exercises to warm up the skaters, and this process also allows him to see their natural tendencies and issues. The first exercise is simply race walking, or walking as fast as possible. Notice the strong arm swing for this exercise. The second exercise is a light jog forward, and the third exercise is fast tiny steps backwards.
The fourth exercise is a light skip forward, and the fifth exercise is a mechanical walk where the skater impacts initially on the heel of the foot, then walks and rocks all the way forward and up onto the toe with the heel up. Notice the “lilting” nature of this controlled walk. He has the class do this exercise again, but sped up slightly. He says, “It’s almost like I’m jumping but I’m not quite leaving the floor. So I’m working that whole range of motion all the way through.” The class struggles to land on the heel, and many also struggle with kicking too far out. The sixth exercise is “power skipping” where the free leg is driven up strongly into an h-position. For this exercise notice how many in the class struggle with arm timing and movement.
In a side discussion, Chris mentions that the ideal metronome tempo for an off-ice class is 64 beats per minute. He notes that using a metronome seems to increase the focus and attention of the skaters.
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