Skating spinner: we have written this short guide to explain what it is, because it is possible that you do not know this tool yet, which is very useful for learning balance, for improving the sensitivity of your foot and for practicing perform different figures, used for example in roller and ice skating and freestyle.
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Description
In the most common version, it is a plastic tablet (the best are made of nylon), just over twenty centimeters long and 8-10 cm wide, which has a flat surface, on which you can comfortably rest a foot . The opposite surface, on the other hand, is convex in shape, in such a way as to create a tilting system, in the sagittal sense, that is, along the main direction of your foot. In this way, by positioning yourself on the spinner, in turn positioned on a flat and smooth surface, once the other foot has been lifted off the ground, a system with a degree of freedom will be created, i.e. free to swing back and forth, following the movements of the your ankle. This dynamic system, in order to be kept in balance, requires the intervention of your muscles, in order to make the small adjustments necessary to stay in position. It is possible to make the spinner rotate around its vertical axis, while you are balanced on it: this will get more complicated because you will have to manage the maintenance of balance during the rotation.
What is it for
The spinner is a fun tool, which is used by many skaters, for different purposes:- improve your static balance, with the body arranged in different configurations (for example: one-footed trolley, angel, crane, amphora, etc.). In this case, one possible exercise is to minimize the movements and corrections necessary to maintain a certain position. With this type of exercise, foot sensitivity is also improved, which is a fundamental skill for successful skating.
- Improve your dynamic balance, making the transition from one configuration to another, staying in balance. In this case, the exercise can be made more complex in case the spinner is rotated around its vertical axis.
- Improve your posture.
- Train yourself to perform complex exercises, such as spins and some types of jumps. We will see later that, in the latter case, it is necessary to use a more advanced type of spinner.
- Teach yourself to apply pressure on the skate's edges (right and left).
- Warm up "dry" (ie without skates), before a workout or a competition.
- Having fun with your friends and teammates, organizing small races...
Many professional trainers consider the spinner a very useful tool to improve your skills and to allow you to learn new techniques: for this reason, in the case of figure skating, for example, it will be one of the first tools that they will advise you to buy together with the your basic equipment. This does not mean that, in other disciplines, the spinner is not useful: it is, on the contrary, a tool that can offer you advantages whatever your favorite discipline, because it allows you to train in confined spaces, or when the slopes are inaccessible (for example for weather reasons, for those who skate outdoors). Furthermore, being easily transportable, with a spinner available you can keep fit even in situations where it is uncomfortable to carry your skates with you.
Usage
Generally, to learn the use of the spinner, it is useful to follow the advice of an experienced skater, or a coach. However, if you want to try it on your own, you can try to follow one of the many tutorials you find on Youtobe, such as this one, created by Ice Coach Online:
Types of skating spinners
Traditional spinner
It is the type of skating spinner described so far, and is the one most commonly used in figure skating schools. As you can see in the previous figure, the traditional spinner has a relatively flat bottom if you look at it from the front, and convex in the longitudinal direction. If you are interested in more technical or commercial information regarding this type of spinner, you can take a look at our product page dedicated to the Edea spinner, a product of excellent quality. If you are interested in purchasing a spinner, you can take a look at our page dedicated to this product.
E-Spinner
It is a tool recently created by the Edea company, which - as shown in the figure - has a particular lower surface, with double curvature, which allows you to train more effectively as regards the management of the wires and also allows you to simulate the execution of some jumps of figure skating on ice. Furthermore, the sagittal center of rotation of the e-spinner has been moved to a more advanced position, to better simulate the behavior of an ice skate; the visible elastic band is a further innovation, which has the purpose of defining a stop point, corresponding to the so-called "drag pick" present on ice skates. It is used to train in the execution of some types of jumps.
Fixed spinners
There are, on the market, spinners equipped with a fixed support base and a rotating mobile platform, equipped with ball bearings. This type of spinner is used only for learning spinning tops, as the tool only has the ability to rotate around its vertical axis. RooL Art has developed its own high quality fixed spinner, which is available on request, as it is a tool for professional use (if you are interested, contact us). The tool in question is represented in the following figure.
In this short guide we have seen the characteristics and main uses of a tool that cannot be missing in the equipment of a skater. Good training everyone!