International coach and jump specialist Chris Conte begins an on-ice jump class by doing simple knee bounces on two feet with the body remaining vertical. He spends some time explaining the need to be back on the blade, as so many skaters are taught to be too far forward on the blade when skating backward. He discusses the rocker and the amount of blade on the ice to help convey the concept. [Editor’s note: Chris is correct in noting that we glide on the ice due to a thin layer of water between the ice and the blade, but the generally accepted scientific explanation for the formation of the water is pressure rather than friction. Where the rocker has less curvature (near the heel) the force is distributed over a larger area, thus reducing the depth the blade sinks into the ice. Reducing how far the blade sinks into the ice reduces friction.]
Chris explains “power swizzles” by showing the circular arm movements and knee action in the context of picking up and dropping a sandwich. He also describes the arms as having “a circular motion (up) through the middle like a fountain.” Rather than pushing the body up to jump, Chris describes it as pushing down on the Earth. He also explains, “Everything I can let nature do by itself, I don’t have to do. It’s kind of lazy, but it makes things kind of easy and repeatable.” He wants a “relaxed drop” and quick push up. He says, “We get a quick force that’s applied for jumping.”
Chris has the class do backward power swizzles with the drop and arm movement. The common error in the class is bending forward at the waist. Instead, Chris wants the body to remain upright. On the second time through the exercise, he asks the class to slowly increase the tempo of the swizzles.
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