off ice jumps

[laalaa1704]

hi all!

I've been doing off ice jumps for over a year now. I can do up to lutz jumps and sometimes a shaky double toe or axel.
I'm doing it on the carpet not on the floor, without wearing anything on my feet.
now since i've got my own skates, i'm so curious to know how it feels to be able to jump with the skates on. I'm not even close to learn jumps on ice now.

is it safe to jump on carpet or hard floor with your skates on? is it gonna cause any damage to the blades?
I'm just afraid if i'll break the blades :)
i never put the skateguards on when i'm jumping, cos it feels uncomfortable.
i did some waltz jumps yesterday and it felt sooo good!
LOL :)
I thought jumping on the floor or carpet with my skates on would help me a lot by the time i learn the real skating jumps.

please give me some advice!
Thx

[Anita18]

I don't think it would help, since you could damage the blades pretty seriously. (And blades are very expensive...I don't think a sharpening would fix the damage done to a blade when it's been landed on off ice!) Especially jumping on a hard floor with no guards! :eek Not to mention the damage done to the floor with the sharp blade edge...I don't think my mom would appreciate me jumping on naked blades on the carpet either...;)

I don't really see a purpose since when you jump, you transfer the energy into a backwards motion, and if you don't go backwards on skates, you could fall and twist your ankle pretty badly, I would imagine...:eek I can't even hold my balance on one foot wearing my skates (guards on) off-ice either, so I personally know that I wouldn't be able to hold it landing a jump!

My only piece of advice would be to work on the jumps in your skates <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> on ice!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> It's great that you're learning the rotation off-ice; it'll feel more natural once you're doing it on-ice, I've heard. But be careful not to practice them too much - I've also read of off-ice jumpers who had faulty technique (especially on the salchow) when transferring their knowledge onto the ice.

If you're not up to that kind of level yet, just work on getting your balance and backward outside edges for the landing. If you don't have both, it's going to be really hard to land any jump. I like to get a feel for that backward outside edge by pushing myself from the boards with my free leg in a landing position. I have a very cheated and weak waltz jump at the moment, but I'm only worried about keeping the back outside edge for now...once I get that down pat, maybe I can throw myself up a little harder...:)

[Anita18]

I've been doing a few off-ice jumps too, and the most I can muster is a 1.5 toe loop, LOL. How do you get a second rev out of that thing? LOL my axel is pretty far from being an axel, I can only get 1 rev out of it...

I really like the loop jump off-ice. It feels really cool! 8)

[QUAD LUTZ]

There are things to consider on achieving the 1/2 rotation, but the question is "ARE YOU DETERMINED TO LAND THE JUMP?". I had problems achieving the double jumps but I realize whenever I attempt double jumps, I am thinking that I wont make it so I ending up underrotated. My advice for you is to do stretching whenever doing floor jumpings. After stretching. Try to practice waltz jumps... then a high waltz... then do it in combo waltz jump then loop jump. Once you're comfortable doing it. try the double toe. Remember when doing the double jump... You need to balance the height and the speed going into the jump. Try a high double toe with slow rotation but make sure you place your free leg infront of your landing foot with your arms wrap around you 8) If that wouldn't work, Try punching you're right arm between your left neck and shoulder that would help you add up more rotation 8) QUAD LUTZ

[Deetlebug]

Actually, you don't want to jump in your skates anywhere but ON THE ICE! Otherwise you are setting yourself up for SERIOUS injury. :( The way the blade cuts into the ice on a jump landing gives you support to maintain your balance as well as actually contributing to the cusioning of the landing. A floor, even with carpet, can't do the same since the blade has nothing to cut into.

Also, if you're practicing jumps on the floor you should wear good supportive sneakers. Otherwise you may damage muscles, ligaments, tendons or bones in your feet and knee. You might not feel it now, but it can add up over time.

But, GREAT WORK!!! You're making terrific progress. Just be careful to avoid injury. ;)

d . . b


PS - I remember seeing somewhere a picture of Michelle Kwan with Frank Carroll. She is mid-air with her skates on. But in this case she was jumping straight up, not having to check out of rotation. Also she was jumping on the soft, rubber that lines the floors at the rink. I guess if you have a surface like this then jumping with your skates on becomes another issue. I hope I didn't confuse you.

[susan ba]

i agree with deetlebug, you souldn't be jumping off ice with your skates on, with Or with out the gueards.

and i've read too that you should be wearing good supportive sneakers when carpet jumping (and they do recommend that it be done on carpet or those rubber mats)...plus, i read that when off ice jumping, you should remember to hop your landings (take little hops)instead of trying to stick them. which makes a lot of sense as you could hurt yourself by twisting yout ankle when trying to stick a landing. plus if i remember correctly, i think another poster wrote that you shouldn't worry about being slightly under rotating when carpet jumping because it's different when you actually jump

here my big question: how do you do a lutz off ice? and how do you practice the loop off ice too?

[laalaa1704]

I don't even know how to do a proper lutz or loop jumps. I learned them by watching skating videos or TV.
So i sorta copy or follow how they do lutz or loop.
I don't even care whether i use "outside or inside edge"
I just want to get used to the rotations on air when i'm jumping.

Hopefully i wont mess up myself by the time i learn proper jumps. :)

[SkatrOnIce]

I don't suggest jumping on the floor with your skates on, you can hurt your ankle real easy, since you don't have the proper speed going into the jump. But I like jumping in my living room (I move all the chairs and everything out of the way)! :)

[lory007]

I haven't read all the replies, so I don't know whether someone has already said this. I wouldn't suggest doing jumps off-ice in your skates. (Sneakers are fine. :) ) But if you feel that it's really necessary, make sure you have on skate guards while doing the jumps. Soakers or nothing on the blade will easily damage the edges on your blade. (Dull/damaged blades will make your skating flop!)

[Skateberry]

yeah, i don't know if this happens to anyone else ever but sometimes if i'm just walking and im tired, my foot collapes under me... this happens also when im just walking in my skates (not regularly! i'm just a klutz, don't worry about me ;) ) but it seems really easy to hurt your ankle doing off-ice jumps, ESPECIALLY with skates on!

the thing about off-ice jumps is that its hard to get height when you dont have speed, so usually people tend to just wrap it around really quickly, which is an easy way to get twisted!

about the lutz and flip... haha, its kind of hard to be on an inside or outside edge on the floor! i always try to go for height when im doing those because then the rotation is easier and it feels like im floating instead of twisitng around really hard to land it!