They aren’t very big, they’re kinda tentative, and it’s just the mohawk, not the five-step mohawk, but this is huge for me!
You have to understand, I’ve been working at this for five years and for five years of trying every exercise I could think of to strengthen various parts of my body, all my back edges have been positively terrifyingly unstable.
The mohawk is one of several ways a skater has of changing direction. The easiest CoD to recognize is probably the three turn…which also finally came off the wall yesterday. The three turn is all done on one foot and involves a change of direction and edge. For instance, a left forward outside three turn would mean you glide forward on your left foot on an outside edge, then, with a quick shift of your body, you flip around to a back inside edge. Since edges make curves, this results in the tracing of a 3 on the ice, hence the name.
Curiously, while the body is involved in that flip, most of the salient action takes place in the foot and ankle, a subtle, quick little shift of weight from the outside of the heel toward (but not quite to) the ball of the foot where the blade’s “rocker” is. There, you literally “rock” your foot over to the inside edge as you give what is by that time a very natural twist to your body and settle back off the rocker toward the heel…but not as far into the heel as you were with the forward outside edge, because now you’re going backward, and if your weight gets too far into your heel, you’re on your head.
This happened to me a lot, because I couldn’t stabilize my back edge, because the foot and ankle were too weak. I’ve spent hours exercising my stupid feet, but until I got my magic shoes, nothing seemed to make a difference. They’re still a long way from strong, but they’re definitely improving!
The other key to a smooth shift is core strength. You don’t need ripped abs, but you need balanced strength between front and back and side to side so the twist of your body doesn’t send your center of gravity rippling all over the place. That’s the other thing these shoes have subtly improved.
Mind you, I’ve done a lot more exercises than just the shoes, but as I say, I’ve been doing those for years. The shoes are the “what’s unusual” between five years of struggling and finally getting those moves off the wall.
Oh, yeah…the mohawk. The mohawk involves a change of direction and feet but not edge. I’m working on inside mohawks. You do a forward inside edge on one foot, bring the other foot in to the instep of your gliding foot in a turned out position, then, with a quick twist and check of your body, you transfer your weight to the opposite foot, going backwards.
Anyway, I have serious hopes now that I’ll finally be able to begin seriously thinking about testing this year! Spins. Jumps…they all become possible, once you can do back edges! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!
Ja ne!
wheee, Jane!
Remember to keep bending those knees — the deeper the knee bend the easier it is to bring heel-to-instep. Soon the mohawk will be so automatic for you, you won’t recall a time you ever struggled with them. Congrats!
Oh things we try and try to learn…..until one day we get through that step so automatically that we stop and think, “Wait, how did I get ‘here’? Did I really do that without thinking/obsessing about it” *That* is such a good feeling it can make you fly. A convoluted path to saying CONGRATULATIONS ON THE MOHAWKS, JANE JI!
