Land Your First Figure Skating Jump in 5 Minutes (Beginner’s Guide)

Hey skaters! Welcome to Next Edge Tutorials. In our lesson today, we are going to be learning a waltz jump in five minutes. So the very first thing, let's take a look at what a waltz jump looks like. It's where I'm gliding on a forward outside edge and I jump and I land on a back outside edge. So if you jump clockwise, you're going to be going the other direction, pushing on a right forward outside and jumping to a left back outside edge. So the very first thing that we're going to do is we're going to start at the barrier here. Now I jump counterclockwise so I'm going to be jumping from my left foot and landing on my right foot. So because we can't do a very deep outside edge, we're going to keep it more shallow here. So I'm going to hold on to the barrier. I'm going to make sure that when I push forward, I bend my knee and we're going to push and we're going to do a little hop over, pressing and land. Now a very important thing that I want you to remember when doing a waltz jump at the barrier, you must maneuver your hands around. So I'm holding on with my left hand, making sure when I push that this right arm comes back. I'm going to jump right arm and then my left arm is going to open up for a landing. If you jump the other way, it's going to be right arm, right leg, hold and out. So this is our waltz jump at the barrier. Now when you're feeling confident and you understand how it works, I want you to come off the barrier and I want you to find yourself a nice axis or red or blue line and we're going to think about a little semi-circle here. So the very first thing that we're going to do is making sure that my left foot is in front in a T position. I want you to take those hands and I want you to put them together and I want you to twist your shoulders here because when we push forward, we're going to open, we're going to make sure that that left arm stays in front and this right arm gets back here. So you can go here and hold. Now we're going to do a little three turn action on this very first one because we're just getting that rhythm of it. Press, turn and land. Let's do that again. So start off in a T position, hands come together. I want you to notice how when I pull back, my right shoulder goes right back where I need it to go. So we're going to go press, hands together and out. So there I'm just doing more of a three turn. We haven't really done a jump, we're just understanding how the upper body works and how we transfer our weight from our left to our right. Now we're going to, the next thing that we're going to do is we're going to do a little step over. We're going to roll through and hit that left toe pick and then go to our right toe pick. So again, T position, setting up, hands together, we're going to pull back, we're going to bend, press, up and over because it's so important that we feel that toe pick leave the ice. Let's go one more time. Hands, press, up and out. Very good. Now let's add the jump. So we have to remember, it's always on an outside edge, it's on a curve. So hands together, we're going to bend, pull the right shoulder back, jump and out. Fabulous. Let's do two more. Hands together, bending, pulling the right shoulder back, up and out. Now I like to clap in the air only because it kind of just gathers everything when you're learning a waltz jump. So let's do one last one. Hands together, pull back, lift and out. So that's the start of a waltz jump. If you are feeling confident with that and you're like, oh my goodness, I'm ready to go from back crossovers or back pumps, let's do that right here. I'm going to do a back pump. So I'm going to always look where I'm going, back pump, slice the arms down, look where I'm going, get balanced, bring those hands together, pull the right shoulder back, up and out. And that's how you do a waltz jump just starting out in five minutes. This waltz jump is so enjoyable because it's the next step, you know, other than the bunny hops and the mazurkas, it's a real jump that we have. So it's always fun to learn and start off with. Now if you have any other questions about other jumps, I want you to click on the link below in the description for your free PDF guide. It's going to go over our salchow, our toe loop, our flip, our lutz, and it's going to give you diagrams that way you can start seeing the difference of our jumps, how we have some edge jumps and then we have some toe jumps. So when you're ready, just give it a click. Thanks for watching Next Edge Tutorials and happy skating!