Official Competition Warm-Up Guide For Figure Skaters | Ice Skating

Hey skaters, it's Stace here from Next Edge Tutorials. In this lesson today, we're going to be looking at an official warm-up for competition. So if you've never done a figure skating competition before, we have what is called an official warm-up before you skate your routine. This gives you a chance to check your elements, get your feet underneath you before you skate your program. In this lesson, I'm going to show you a four-minute warm-up. Now, depending on what level you are, it can be shorter or longer. So I picked four minutes for me to check my elements before I run my program. So before we jump on for our four-minute warm-up, you want to make sure that your guards are already off. We don't want to step on the ice and have a fall right at the start. So my guards are off. You're going to see me do some skating skills, four jumps, two spins. So what are we waiting for? Let's go. So my first lap that I'm going to do is going to just be getting my feet underneath me. I'm just doing some nice pushes, getting my upper body involved. Now I'm going to do some inside edges, bending and pressing. Again, this is getting my feet underneath me. I'm going to check a landing position. Now I'm going to go for a spin because I want to do a backspin to get that jump position. All right. Now I'm going to start my jumps. I'm going to do a waltz jump first. All right, that felt good. So I'm going to move on. I'm going to do my loop jump. I have a loop-loop combination. Good. At this point, I might look over, see if my coach wants to give me any advice on that loop-loop. Okay, they told me to move on. So I'm going to move on. I'm going to do a flip jump now. Okay, that felt good. Okay. Salchow. Okay. Now, I need a drink of water. I'm a bit out of breath. So I'll head over and then grab some water from my coach. Let's pretend my water is right here. Grab some water. Okay, my coach might give me a little bit information on, hey, on that salchow, make sure you don't rush and drop your side. So I have one more jump to do. It's going to be the toe loop. So let's go. Right now, I got to spin because I'm starting to run out of time. I'm going to do an upright. Okay, that felt good. Now I'm going to do a combination spin because I have that in my program also. All right. Now, I have a minute left. My coach is telling me to start going over my choreographed step sequence. So I'm going to quickly do that before they kick me off the ice. Okay, now, they said, okay, skaters, time to leave the ice. So I wanted to do one more jump, but I ran out of time and that's okay. So let's hop off the ice and I'm going to show you what I like to do to stay warm until it's ready for my turn to take my program. So while we are on the topic of competitions, I want you to click on the link below in the description for your free PDF guide on the competition checklist. This is going to help you be prepared going into your competition with hair clips, hair spray, extra set of laces, because you never know what might happen. And by going over that list, you are going to be prepared. So when you're ready, give it a click. All right. I just got off my official warmup. I am third to skate, so skater number one is out on the ice. This is the perfect time. You still want to stay close to the ice, but you're away from it trying to warm up. You want to have enough space. During this time, I like to stay warm. I don't want to get cold because I just had a great warmup where I got my heart rate going and I checked everything. Now, some things that I like to do is I like to do small little jumps and then check my landing position with my arms, and you can even lift your free leg up. You want to make sure that you have enough space. You can even do some twisting going on, keeping those knees and ankles nice and loose here. So the first skater, let's just say, just finished. The second skater's now on the ice. This is a time, this is for me, what I like to do. I like to go ahead and take my jacket off and just have my dress on because my body's getting used to the cold. I'm still going to warm up, even though I've taken my jacket off. Again, this is a preference some skaters like to take off their jacket when they get on the ice right before they're cold, and that is perfectly fine, but this is just something that I like to do with me and then also my skaters. So skater number two just finished their program. Now, I don't like to hop on the ice until they have finished bowing. So I've noticed, okay, they're done bowing, so I'm going to step on the ice. Okay, now as I'm waiting, I just don't want to stand and get cold. If you don't know how to do crossovers yet, do some pumps in a circle. Okay, I'm staying warm. I hear my name. Now it's time to pull up and then you can go to your start position, pulling up, acknowledging the judges and audience, and then you can come around and then get into your start position. Just remember, when you take that start position, you are setting the tone of your program. So I want you to be confident. Whatever your start position is, put your toe in the ice, add your arms, and be ready to go. You've got this. You can do an amazing program. So there you have it. That is our pretend official warm-up for competition. Now, I did a four-minute warm-up and I skated third. That means I could use that four minutes all the way. What I want you to remember, if you are skater number one, I want you to leave at least 30 seconds to a minute for you to come to the barrier, regroup, grab some water. Your coach might have a couple pointers for you to remember before you skate your program. Another thing that I want you to do is practice an official warm-up. The amount of times I hear skaters going to competition and they've never practiced a four-minute warm-up or a three or five with all their elements. I mean, could you imagine rocking up to a competition and have never done your program before? So by doing this will help you feel more prepared and confident going into competition. Thanks for watching Next Ed Tutorials and looking forward to seeing you in our next lesson.