Learning the Lutz
"THIS IS OBSCENE!" I cried for the tenth time that session.
About a month ago, the Tammasaurus and I started seriously working on the Lutz jump. I've said before while learning the Salchow that I thought it was a fairly contrived piece of nonsense at the time (it's actually one of my favourites now), but anyone that's familiar with the Lutz will I'm sure agree that it is a similarly insane piece of body shenaniganary (not a word). It's also the Tammasaurus' favourite jump, so I mentally prepared myself to disappoint her for a while as I got up to speed with it.
I'm currently writing up a humorous description of the execution of the Lutz in a separate post, but the general gist is you glide on a back left outside edge and twist your top half (arms and all) round to the right, far beyond what you think would be comfortable for any human. When settled in this position ("settled," hah!) then you reach back with your right foot and smack your toe pick into the ice and untwist your upper half in time with your lower half as you take off anticlockwise (reverse all left/right directions in this post if you want to rotate clockwise) and hope to land on your back right outside edge.
The challenge in the Lutz is that you essentially begin twisted in the opposite direction to the take off rotation, so one moment you're twisted one way and the next you have to go back the other. This kind of corkscrew action might seem quite logical when trying to achieve rotation in the air for all the free skating jumps, but it's not actually an action you use for any of the other jumps and it's a stunningly unnatural feeling to execute.
The Lutz is surprisingly easy to do off ice because the distinction of which edge your gliding foot is on is harder to appreciate without a blade under you, but I assure you that on ice then you will no doubt feel fuelled to something a little stronger than the "THIS IS OBSCENE" that I managed multiple times while learning.
Today, I was enjoying my fourth lesson where we had a bash at the Lutz towards the end and, after a few failed attempts, I FINALLY took off and landed it!
"I DID IT!" I yelled, and I have never called out in triumph for anything at the ice rink before, I'm normally very sedate. I turned round excitedly to see the Tammasaurus' face...
Had she seen it? Of course not. That's always the way though, isn't it?
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I'd just like to pay credit to Babbette Duboise's fantastic, adult skating blog 'The Ice Doesn't Care' for the inspiration to start integrating GIFs into my posts. I've been a long time fan of her blog and her mastery of the GIF in humorous applications is a joy to be experienced; I recommend! My own GIF savvyness still has a long way to go, but I can only aspire to her standard in my future endeavours!
About a month ago, the Tammasaurus and I started seriously working on the Lutz jump. I've said before while learning the Salchow that I thought it was a fairly contrived piece of nonsense at the time (it's actually one of my favourites now), but anyone that's familiar with the Lutz will I'm sure agree that it is a similarly insane piece of body shenaniganary (not a word). It's also the Tammasaurus' favourite jump, so I mentally prepared myself to disappoint her for a while as I got up to speed with it.
I'm currently writing up a humorous description of the execution of the Lutz in a separate post, but the general gist is you glide on a back left outside edge and twist your top half (arms and all) round to the right, far beyond what you think would be comfortable for any human. When settled in this position ("settled," hah!) then you reach back with your right foot and smack your toe pick into the ice and untwist your upper half in time with your lower half as you take off anticlockwise (reverse all left/right directions in this post if you want to rotate clockwise) and hope to land on your back right outside edge.
The challenge in the Lutz is that you essentially begin twisted in the opposite direction to the take off rotation, so one moment you're twisted one way and the next you have to go back the other. This kind of corkscrew action might seem quite logical when trying to achieve rotation in the air for all the free skating jumps, but it's not actually an action you use for any of the other jumps and it's a stunningly unnatural feeling to execute.
The Lutz is surprisingly easy to do off ice because the distinction of which edge your gliding foot is on is harder to appreciate without a blade under you, but I assure you that on ice then you will no doubt feel fuelled to something a little stronger than the "THIS IS OBSCENE" that I managed multiple times while learning.
Today, I was enjoying my fourth lesson where we had a bash at the Lutz towards the end and, after a few failed attempts, I FINALLY took off and landed it!
Had she seen it? Of course not. That's always the way though, isn't it?
-------------------------
I'd just like to pay credit to Babbette Duboise's fantastic, adult skating blog 'The Ice Doesn't Care' for the inspiration to start integrating GIFs into my posts. I've been a long time fan of her blog and her mastery of the GIF in humorous applications is a joy to be experienced; I recommend! My own GIF savvyness still has a long way to go, but I can only aspire to her standard in my future endeavours!
Excellent gif-ing. You describe these moves really well and have me doing weird kinds of hops and jumps in my living room to try them! Well done for nailing it, typical the Tammosaurus wasn't watching!! Looking forward to the "humourous post" all about the Lutz :)
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