From: aboulang@bbn.com (Albert Boulanger)
Newsgroups: rec.skate
Subject: Re: spins
Date: 27 Jul 92 12:48:46
Organization: BBN, Cambridge MA
Reply-To: aboulanger@bbn.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: tiryns.bbn.com
In-reply-to: paulw@netcom.com's message of 26 Jul 92 07:25:27 GMT



In article <shkm7=m.paulw@netcom.com> paulw@netcom.com (Paul L. Williams) writes:


   I have been working on spins for several years now.  As you mentioned, 
   most people begin with the heal-toe spin.  The heal-toe spin took me 
   about a year before I could realiably execute it on most every attempt.  
   Next, I began working on the toe spin.  I mistakingly thought that since 
   I had one spin mastered (the heal-toe spin), the toe spin would require 
   much less time to learn... WRONG!!!  I discovered that:

Which is better for a person may be a function of your plate
design/placement. The Snyder Imperial plates (with 45 degree truck
angle) are better IMHO.  This is the type of plate I use. I have tried
other folk's skates and the standard design seems to be much harder to
get on the toes. I have seen inline people get on their toes too, but
the forward design makes this a much harder task.

     1.  I simply did not have the strength to bear my entire weight on
	 my toe wheels.  Actually, it's worse than just handling your
	 weight.  During the course of a spin, you are continually having
	 to make corrections in order to maintain your balance.  And these
	 corrections have to work against your weight and the centrifugal
	 forces of the spin.

	 Therefore, I had to postpone working on the toe spin for several
	 months while I built up the appropriate leg muscles.  I did this
	 by doing more and more toe skating (i.e. just skating forward on
	 the toe wheels, until you legs give out, rest a while, then repeat).

Crazy legs are great conditioning for this. (I can try to post info on
Crazy legs, but they are hard to describe. Briefly, they are
stationary on the toes [not all the time] footwork that trace out
interleaved S's) Also the CW/CCW-on-the-toes-step called the grape
vine is good. Here is a prior posting on a description of an inliner doing
this.)

  Tony Chen writes:
  "I met a New York skater (at the D.C. IISA clinic) who did one-toe spins and
  also did some funky two-toed spins that was quite amazing.  He would be doing
  dance routines one his toe wheels and also come ripping down the stretch with
  a circular pattern that's hard to describe.  He'd trace out a circle with
  his skates in the clockwise direction and immediately switch to the CCW 
  direction (the skates trace out one circle together, not one circle each.)
  and kept doing this as long as he wanted.  He showed me a couple drills to
  build up to it, but I'm still practicing 8-)  Takes a bit of balance and
  some firm ankles."



     3.  Fortunately, there is one "skill" that I DID NOT have to re-master.
	 When I first began working on spins, after I would make twenty or
	 thirty repeated attempts during a session, I would be both dizzy
	 and sick.  However, after a while my body got used to world
         spinning wildly about, and it never bothered me again.

One trick I found was to do a mild spin in the other rotational
direction if you feel dizzy.


   Well, after I gained sufficient leg strength, it took me about another
   year before I could reliably execute a toe spin.  And then there were 
   all the variations on the toe spin; beginnig the spin from a stand-still,
   coming into the spin while skating forward and coming into the spin
   while skating backward.

Yes. Since I am an excellent spinner, people come up to me and ask for
the "secret". I have no secret technique -- it is all conditioning.
If there is a secret it is the necessity of putting a *lot* of energy
into spins.

   IMHO, the toe spin is one of the most beautiful spins of all.  You can 
   attain a very graceful looking vertical body position, standing very tall 
   on the toes.  By keeping the toe wheels of the two skates close together,
   you reduce the rolling friction to a minimum thereby making the spin very 
   fast and long-lived (though it takes some time to learn how to maintain 
   your balance with your toes in close proximity). 

Yes!

   The next spin I worked on was the heel-heel spin.  Again, this spin 
   took me about a year to master.  The leg strength was not an issue on
   this spin, but the balance is really odd.  (Try walking on your toes, 
   then try walking on your heels and you will see what I mean.)

There is a "duck" walk you can do on you heels -- both forward and backwards.
Also on can pop up one leg on the heels a part of stationary footwork.

   Presently I am working on a sit spin (i.e. begin a normal toe spin,
   then bend your knees until your rear-end is sitting on your heals,
   then return to the upright position).  I've been working on this spin
   for about 3 months, and I suppose this one will take about a year to 
   master.

This is not what is normally referred to as a sit spin. Sit spins are
the spinning "shoot the duck" position. This spin I would term a squat
spin. The magic here *again* is building up leg strength. On type of
conditioning is to get into a stationary (or moving) shoot the duck
position and to rise up. Another is to do the squat and pop up without
spinning. I do this with a pancake-type (heel-heel in spread-eagle
position) of finish as regular stationary footwork.

   In the future I hope to begin some one foot-spins, maybe even a 
   one-foot sit spin (I only know one person that can do this).

Once you build enough leg strength, these come up naturally. (For me
a spin "accident" became a graceful on-legged toe spin.)

   If anyone is working on spins, either as a beginner or as an advanced
   skater, I'd love to exchange some email with you (paul@netcom.com).  
   I have some tips that I've picked up after years of trial and error 
   that I would be happy to share.  Maybe you have some tips too???

Email me anytime on spins.

Another quad spinner,
Albert Boulanger
aboulanger@bbn.com



Newsgroups: rec.skate