International coach and jump specialist Nick Perna teaches a skater a basic axel development drill, referred to as the “axel pivot drill.” As you can see in the previous video, this skater is just starting the axel journey and the focus here is on introducing some basic concepts. The exercise Nick shares is based on a forward inside pivot with the pivot toe being the same as the axel take-off toe. Notice how the arms are pressed back to a waltz jump or axel preparation position during the pivot.
Nick has the skater perform the forward pivot and then step down into a backspin, and later hop from the forward pivot into the backspin. When performed with the hop, the timing is important so the skater jumps from the toe pick of the pivot and doesn’t perform a forward spin before the hop. Notice the tendency for the arms to swing around the skater in this drill. Later improvements would change the arms to more of a down up motion close to the body rather than swinging all the way around.
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