Training with youtube - video tools ?

[Diane Mars]

Hi there ,

I wonder if some of you are using youtube or other videos to learn / correct / progress in your skating. If yes, do you have any link / playlist to share ?

For my part, it starts to be hard to find what I'm looking for, as I'm too "advanced" for basic skating ones and not mastering enough for others

A part of that, I'm asking myself WHY nobody never thought about using red and green boot cover on each left and right foot before shooting a video ! It would be sooo helpful for seeing where left and right foot are, as quite everybody is wearing black pants and it's sometimes really hard to visualize what's really happening .

A part of that, I went skating this morning and it was soooo cold (-9°C on the icerink) and, after 1.5hour, I couldn't feel my feets -except of my heels- so I had to stop, because I couldn't "feel right" the ice anymore ... Any tip ?

[misskarne]

I only tried to use Youtube once, when I was having trouble with the ballet jump. At the time it was the only FS1 element I couldn't do, and the test was fast approaching.

Watching the Youtube video made it WORSE. I had even MORE trouble with it after that.

Eventually I just went to an empty public session and spent two hours doing nothing but ballet jumps. Practice makes perfect. Youtube makes confusion.


For the feet - what kind of socks are you wearing? Socks that are too thick constrict circulation in your feet and can make them feel cold.

[briancoogaert]

I use Youtube to learn new compulsory dances steps.
But my coach doesn't like it and says to me that I just learn to imitate, not to skate

[Diane Mars]

@Misskarne : I'wear really thin socks. Always the same (I've got 10 pairs, lol), but I think that when it's too cold, there's not so much to do Hopefully, the weather is now a little bit better and the temperatures have increase, so it should be ok now. Will see tonight, as I've got a skating session planned with a friend.

Regarding youtube, I sometimes use it in order to remember what I've been told during my skating lessons (shoulders position, arms, etc.). I don't use it to learn anything new. For my part, it helps

[Johnny_Fever]

I use Youtube to learn new compulsory dances steps.
But my coach doesn't like it and says to me that I just learn to imitate, not to skate

Sounds like your coach doesn't want to miss out on billable hours. YouTube makes him/her expendable.

[LLOS]

No, I don't use videos to learn. If I want to learn a new thing or have a problem with something, I ask a coach, the learning progress is very quick then and worth the money

[misskarne]

Sounds like your coach doesn't want to miss out on billable hours. YouTube makes him/her expendable.

Or the coach doesn't want the skater to pick up bad habits that the coach then has to spend even more billable hours to fix but is much more frustrating.

[overedge]

I wouldn't use YouTube videos to learn something on my own, but I have found that some of them are very helpful to reinforce what my coaches are trying to teach me.

There is a series that just shows someone doing the element on its own, which I found really useful. This is the flip jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfpERbeCPQ

Looking at this helped me figure out for myself where my arms and legs were supposed to be and when during the entry and the jump itself. This isn't something that you can always figure out for yourself, because you can't see where everything is going when you're actually doing it.

[Johnny_Fever]

Its a great source for choreography. Back in my day, we had to videotape skating competitions off of the TV. Either that or rely on our coaches to make something up. They usually just handed down moves that they had done in their own careers. Either that or they had a 'generic' free dance that they taught all their students.

I use YouTube to remind myself how the pre-bronzes go. I didn't grow up with the pre-bronzes, so they're not indelibly etched in my mind the way the other dances are.

[Aussie Willy]

I use Youtube to learn new compulsory dances steps.
But my coach doesn't like it and says to me that I just learn to imitate, not to skate

It is okay to watch the steps, but for learning how to really do the dances and get the expression and nuances, that is what a coach is for. You need someone to watch you to tell you that you are doing it right.

[Diane Mars]

I wouldn't use YouTube videos to learn something on my own, but I have found that some of them are very helpful to reinforce what my coaches are trying to teach me.

There is a series that just shows someone doing the element on its own, which I found really useful. This is the flip jump:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfpERbeCPQ

Looking at this helped me figure out for myself where my arms and legs were supposed to be and when during the entry and the jump itself. This isn't something that you can always figure out for yourself, because you can't see where everything is going when you're actually doing it.

Ok I do exactly the same... with the same kind of sources !

For my part, I filmed myself yesterday, in order to understand WHY I couldn't S.P.I.N. anymore -even on my spinner- as it was OK one month ago. OK. My left arm . I tried on the spinner : that was really due to my my left arm position

EDIT : ... and to my right leg, not enough "straight" once entered the spin

[treesprite]

If you are trying to use the videos to learn for the first time, you need to make sure that what you are watching is not putting bad practices into your head.

I'm a "returning adult" skater, so the videos are just like a refresher of things I already know but am too out of practice to do. I know when what I'm looking at is being done poorly, so I know to not keep watching the bad ones over and over again.