89. Twizzles: Forward Outside Twizzle + Skating Tip 3

We're Xenia and Oleg, five-time U.S. national competitors whose goal is to make Team USA and represent the U.S. in international competitions. We'll share with you what we learned along the way so let's make this journey together. Hi everyone, we're here in St. Louis. We came here with our coach Alina to work with Synchro Team Synergy and we also skated in the Nutcracker Show here and today we're going to be showing you guys a new skating element. What are we showing today Xenia? We will show you how to do a twizzle. All right, let's do it. Today we're going to show you how to do the forward outside twizzle. What separates the twizzles from three turns is that twizzles are continuous. In three turns you check the turn. To do a twizzle you need enough speed not to stall. If you stall you may fall. Furthermore, speed makes doing the twizzle a lot easier. You convert the speed you have going into the twizzle into rotational speed. However, if you can't control the speed it can make your twizzle unstable. Here we see how the pressure is spread out in your foot. Notice the weight transitions but avoid rocking back and forth. To initiate a twizzle you do a very precise snap like rise and twist. It's small and very precise. Do this by leaving the shoulder of the freeside back about 30 degrees. As you rise you snap this forward to square the shoulders with the hips. Be very smart about it. If you overdo it you will fly right out of the twizzle. The strength of the snap varies depending on how many rotations you want to do and how fast. The more rotations the sharper and more precise the snap. Though you could end the twizzle skating forwards, in this video we show you the simpler way to end it. Backwards extending the free foot. Extending the free foot will help you check the exit edge ending the twizzle. In dance the maximum number of twizzle rotations usually done on one foot is four rotations. Though you can do more it won't count toward your twizzle. When doing a forward entry twizzle and exiting backwards you need to do a half turn extra. This half a turn is the exit turn you do in order to end up backwards. More on this in the twizzle diagrams. When doing a twizzle you have to maintain tension throughout your body but don't be rigid. If you are loose in a part of your body you will likely fall out of the twizzle. Don't be rigid either as this can cause you to mess up your twizzle. If you maintain the proper tension you will have a much easier time controlling the twizzle. The biggest mistake on forward outside twizzles is twisting your upper body past your hips. This will cause the twizzle to unravel. While you do have to alternate turning on the ball, heel, ball, heel, etc. if you start rocking back and forth you will lose control of your twizzle. Remember that twizzles are all about maintaining control. Now let's look at some twizzle patterns. Here we see an idealized twizzle. This is used for illustration purposes and not something to obsess over. In practice while you should try to maintain your twizzle turns about the same size Remember what makes a twizzle is continuous turns. Here is a more realistic twizzle. Notice that the turns vary in size though not drastically. Also the twizzle has a slight curve to it which may or may not be your intention. Here we see a twizzle with drastically different size turns. This usually happens if the skater is rocking on their blade. Doing a twizzle like this will feel like you're holding on for dear life. Here we see a twizzle with a check three turn. If you have even a slight pause in your rotation your twizzle has ended. Doing a check three turn ends a twizzle even if you keep turning properly afterwards. Here we see a loop in the twizzle. This happens if a skater stops turning ball, heel, ball, heel and instead holds on to the ball or heel of the foot for a full rotation. Avoid rocking on your twizzles, doing check three turns or loops in your twizzles as much as possible. Working on twizzles takes a lot of focus. Losing one's focus usually will negatively affect the twizzle. When doing a twizzle your body turns around an axis. Usually this axis runs through your body. Twizzles can be done off axis or rather you can have parts of your body off axis. That takes careful redistribution of your body weight, time and practice. When doing twizzles you have to spot. You can spot like ballet spotting where you rotate your head separate of your body or you can do eye spotting as in this video. Eye spotting is where your head rotates with your body but you pick something to look at. When you come around on your rotation, you find that spot each time. One, two, three, four, exit. Count whatever amount of rotations you have to do. Twizzles are hard to maintain if you don't work on them on a regular basis. So whatever twizzles you have to do, go over them every day you skate. In our previous video we talked about the importance of warming up off ice. Today's skating tip is to warm up on ice. Before you can make progress, your body has to be warmed up. You have to soften your knee action, lose any stiffness and find your speed and flow. What you do on ice as part of your warm-up varies based on your skill level and what you have to do on ice. A general warm-up will include stroking as well as forward, backward, outside and inside edges. Furthermore, you have to do forward and backward crossovers, both clockwise and counterclockwise. The warming up can include any number of skating exercises such as double knee presses, backward pushes, crossovers plus inside or outside edge in Killian, etc. If you want to find out more about warm-up exercises, check out our Skating Essentials playlist or our Skating Exercises playlist. Most of the videos there are meant to be warm-up exercises or to improve your basic skating skills. Hey everyone, we really hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, hit the like button or click on the subscribe to subscribe for more videos. Alright, see you next time!