HOW TO DO THE SKATING SPLIT JUMP || OFF-ICE TRAINING | Coach Michelle Hong

Welcome back to my channel, it's Coach Michelle Hong. I'm here again with my squeaky shoes and we are going to be working on the split jump today. We're going to work on stretches and exercises that will get you to that point. Even if you're not flexible, you should be able to try the split jump on the ground and the split jump on the ice. So, little by little you'll improve that over time and you'll go from here to all the way over here. So, let's get started with some knee highs. We want to warm up our knee and we want to make sure they're ready and prepared to jump. Right, the split jump is very explosive. What you do is you tap your foot behind you and you're going to launch your forward knee up as you kick your back knee behind you, okay, and release for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and jump, 3, 2, and we're going to do lunge jumps, so lunge down here, jump, lunge down here, for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, and release for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, great, and we're going to practice little leaps. So, we're going to step on our left foot and jump, push off our left foot, step on our left foot, push off our left foot, step on your left, push off your left, we're going to do 10 leaps, for 10, 9, 8, 7, notice how my arms crisscross. I step out to the left with my right arm in front, and I switch them, and I switch them, switch them, switch them, two more, one more, good. Okay, now we're going to step on our right foot, left arm in front, and push off your right foot, push off your right foot, push off your right foot, push off your right foot, push off your right foot, push off your right foot, push off your right foot, four, three, two and one. Awesome. So, we've just got to get used to that. Got to get down into the balls of your feet so you can push through your toe bits. Okay, so we're going to get into stretching, everybody get on your mat, I'm going to take my shoes off right now, wear my polka dot socks, and we're going to go into your straddle. Okay, we're going to breathe in through your nose, and reach forward out through your mouth. Open up those inner thighs, and we're going to crawl to the left, and we're going to crawl to the right, for 10, for 9, for 8, for 7, for 6, for 5, for 4, for 3, for 2, for 1. Awesome. Okay, we're going to straighten that front leg, bend your back knee, forward fold, and warm up those hamstrings. Breathe in through your nose, breathe out through your mouth, breathe in through your nose, breathe out through your mouth, and I'm going to turn forward as I lean to my left side of my shoulder, and I'm going to draw my right hand to grasp my foot, breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth, and I'm going to slowly straighten that back right leg. So, you may be here, you may be here, you may be here, you may be here. Little by little, you'll be able to inch towards that split, and you want to keep your hips square. So, I'm lifting up so I can square off my hips, so you can feel the difference. So, when I do the split jump, I actually open up my hip. I open it up as if I'm kicking my free leg sideways so I can turn it out, or that nice look. But I want to be able to feel the difference with my muscle groups, so you can tell if your hamstrings are strong enough, or they're not. Okay? So, this is a square split, and now we're going to do a more open split. An open split, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my foot outward to the side like this, and my hip opens up ever so slightly. And this is actually what my split jump will feel like. Ta-da! Fantastic. We're going to bend our back left knee, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth, breathe in through your nose, breathe out through your mouth, breathe in through your nose, breathe out through your mouth. Awesome. We're going to straighten this front leg, grasp the top of your foot, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. and I'm going to grab my right foot with my left hand and I'm going to pop my head through the hole that I create with my arm and my leg. Breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. Fantastic. And now I'm going to do a straight leg on my left foot and I'm going to square off my hips so I can feel the difference between a square split and an open up split. Breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. Like I said, you might be here, you might be here, you might be here and that's totally fine. You're going to work your way towards the ground little by little. And remember, like I said, you can use yoga blocks. If you need to put yoga blocks, if you need to put a stack of books to support you, that's completely recommended. And now I'm going to open up my free foot to the side like this so I can feel my inner thighs being stretched because this works a different part of your leg. My inner thighs feel this and my hip feels open, right? You want to do a split jump? I face my body forward so that my judges can see how beautiful my split jump is. Ta-da! Awesome. Okay, now we're going to grab the chair and we're going to work on some kicks with the support of our chair. Okay, now that you have your chair, you're going to work on kicking your right foot forward. So I'm going to turn my foot that's on the ground a little bit more diagonally so I have a wider stance and better control. And I'm going to kick forward for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Wow. My leg is so sore from all the lunges that we did this week. 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, make sure your body's nice and tall, four, three, two, make sure you point your toe, one, and good. Now, I'm going to show you what it's like when I kick behind. So when I kick behind, I want to turn out my free foot. I turn out my free foot as if I'm holding a landing. For skating landings, you do not land like this. That's why I was trying to show you the difference between a square split and an open hip split, split. So this would be a square split and this would be an open hip split. Okay? So basically, we're going to do kicks with our hip open, just like that, but you got to make sure that you're still kicking directly behind you. Okay, we're going to go 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, squeeze those glutes, three, two, one. Fantastic. Other side. For 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, back tall, two, and one. Wow. My glutes, my back, my legs are really feeling it. So, now that you've exercised your legs and you're able to do an extension with both the front and the back leg, we got to put it into action with that jump exercise that we did in the beginning. So, on the ice, what we're going to do is a muck hop. I do right to left, tap, pull, pull, pull, and kick my left foot forward. So, we're going to simulate that on the ground. By tapping my right foot behind me, I pull my feet close together and I push off my right as I go to the opposite side of the room and I keep my legs open. So we're going to go bend here and boom. Okay? So, that's how you would do a split jump. And just to warm it up and practice it on the ground, I would go knee. I put my left foot in front, bend my knees, step on my left, and kick my right foot forward. So, I'm going to do that a couple times. One, two, three, four, fantastic. Opposite side. So, I'm going to step on my right and I'm going to kick my left foot forward. Okay? So, I bend with my right and ready? I'm going to push forward and push off my right foot, kick my left foot forward. Boom, boom, boom. I wish I had more momentum, but my room is very small. So, there you have it. That is the split jump. I know these are unusual circumstances. Usually, you would have a lot more space to be able to leap into your split jump, but I actually have small spaces within my household to be able to film these videos. And I bet you guys have the same problem when you're working out at home, but it's okay. We're going to push through and try to fight during these tough times and have a positive attitude. So, I'll see you in the next episode of Stretch with Michelle. And I hope you all enjoy. Bye. Love you all so much.