How to land an axel?

Question

ive been doing it for a month and i still cant land it:(

i can only do it off ice .. and when i do it inside the rink i always fall or i land with 2 foot..

help me please:)

Answer 1

A month?  That's it!  :)  Don't worry!  Axels take a long time to perfect.  

Keep working on them off ice.  Practice getting your knee through on your take off like you would going up steps two at a time.....almost like a high skipping motion.  If you have a set of ankle weights, try doing them with those off ice to immitate the weight of your skates.

When you're on ice, think of doing your axel on "2 sheets of ice."  When you take off, you're stepping up to another layer of ice higher up than the ice you took off from.  Step up to that ice and snap into a backspin.  I found that the better and higher I got my knee through, the better the jump and landing was.  Be careful not to "muscle" your way into the jump -- allow the momentum from your knee and snap to get you through the rotation.

Don't worry about falling -- everyone has to fall before they improve.  If you weren't falling, THEN I'd be worried!  By falling, you're allowing yourself to keep rotating, rather than stopping yourself and cheating the jump.  The check out will come when you get comfortable.  Practice them by thinking you're going to do an axel-loop.  

Good luck!

Answer 2

Here is a great video! It will definetly help you on your axel. Good luck!

Answer 3

for most skaters, on average it can take about a year to land the axel but i helped somebody on a previous question about axels....heres what i said "this jump is reliant on muscle memory. you need to do it thousands of times in practice before you will land it. it takes most up to a year to learn it and even then it may not be consistant. the best thing is to just 'do it' and not over think it although there is so much to be thinking about. work on it in parts...the entrance, the take off, pulling in tight (practice doing a waltz into a backspin as quick as you can) and last but not least, checking out. watch your arms/shoulder positions and try not to twist. take off straight out and up and then begin rotating in the air (not on the ice).

throwing yourself into the air is a scary thing. ask your coach to use a harneess with you, then you wont have to worry about falling onto the ice. also being video taped will help you figure out whats going wrong in the jump. if you can do it on the ground...the idea is that you should be able to do it on the ice even though it is different. but thats what they say. practice on the ground as much as you can..the more comfortable you are with it on the ground the more you will be comfortable with it on ice"

also i noticed the person above said bring your leg up higher..just be careful with that because you dont want to get 'wrap around leg' ...im sure you see some skaters doing it...the jump will look strange and it will make it more difficult to land correctly because your body wont be in the right line up...

also watlz jumps when you hit your feet together in the middle of it...these will help you with the height and with reflexes on pulling your legs in for the axel and it will also help it to be easier for you to check out of the jump and land on one foot

i hope this can help you too! she said she was able to land it the very next day!!

Good luck!!

Answer 4

I had the same problem!

Think about doing a waltz jump and then pulling into a loop in mid air.

Ask your coach if you can do it on a harness. It feels better even if your coach totally lets go of the rope.

Try practicing a walz jump and land it then immediatly spin.

Try bringing your arms in tighter and your leg up higher in the jump.

Good Luck With Your Axel!

Answer 5

well, i dont know about on the ice but im a dancer and it just takes balance and im sure its way harder for u bc its easy to fall but ya i just started to do it, it became natural to me....

Answer 6

the trick is to kick your knee up to jump upwards and get more height... the more height u get the easier it is to rotate and u have more time... then wen u land hold the arm which is on the same side as the leg u landed on up higher more and keep that shoulder up... that way you wont fall over on the landing edge.

also make sure to keep your body and posture up AT ALL TIMES! this helps u balance

good luck and keep trying!!! =]