How long did it take you to learn Axel? | Golden Skate

How long did it take you to learn Axel?

iceskating21

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
My daughter was doing some practice like a waltz jump continued by back spin. I don’t think that’s called Axel. But coach told me she can do 70% of times. She has been practicing that ever for almost a year. I never saw her try the real Axel - jump up, turn and land. I wonder is this the common way to learn Axel? How long does it take on average?
 

alyssamarie

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Country
United-States
Hi!

So about a year ago I started learning my axel. my coach makes me do waltz jumps in a row, waltz back spins, and waltz loops. I still do this today. I'd say 3 months ago once I could to the motion 90% of the time, I started doing a "faxel" from stand still. So an axel with one rotation to try to get the foot and air position right. I'm still working on that now, and my axel walkthroughs are solid, but I haven't landed it on ice yet. my coach makes me practice every thing off ice, including the full axel, which i can do. So almost a year and I still don't have it, but ymmv. I can't work on it that much since my skates are not supportive.
 

vlaurend

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
It took me a year to start landing the axel on the floor, then another year before I could land it on the ice without the harness. So, in total, 2 years.
 

kelliusmaximus

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 2, 2017
It seems a little overkill to work solely on waltz backspins for a year without moving on to other drills, off ice axels, harness jumping, and real attempts. I've never found them extremely helpful or reflective of my ability to do axels even though they're a standard exercise for learning them.

Anyway, I don't really have an axel quite yet. I started late July last yr and had a very under + pre rotated almost axel from a standstill by December - not a proper axel, but I was consistently landing on one foot and getting enough rotation that it felt like big progress. It didn't take much practice to get to that point, the real hard work started afterwards... the difference between that and a clean, fully rotated axel is massive and I'm still really struggling to get the last bit of rotation I need. I have a feeling it will take a long time, but now I'm at least going into it from an edge instead of a standstill.

When people say they started landing an axel I'm never quite sure if they mean they're landing clean axels, because it feels like I've been 'landing' axels for a long time - they're just really bad ones.
 

jf12

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
When people say they started landing an axel I'm never quite sure if they mean they're landing clean axels, because it feels like I've been 'landing' axels for a long time - they're just really bad ones.

It was the same for me - got a pre-rotated, spinny axel within 2-3 months of getting my single lutz solid. It took me over a year after that to get a 'real' one. I've noticed a lot of other people are different - it takes them much longer to land it, but often it is a good axel right away.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
IIRC after 40+ years, I think it took me about 6 months from when I first started working on axels as a teenager to start landing a bad one.

And then I quit a few months after that and never got a good one, although I did get the bad one back for a couple of years in my late 30s.
 

Arwen17

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Some girls at my rink started landing their axel on the 2nd day of attempting it. (That's so frustrating to me!)
Others like myself are still working on it and I'm getting very close to hitting the year-mark. Seems like on average at my rink though is that most girls take a year to land it, and then another year to get it consistent. But it can all vary so much since some people have amazing axels and others have ugly axels.

My trouble with the axel is mainly the rotation. I really struggle to rotation quickly enough to get the full jump in before I'm back on the ground. My height has improved, but the rotation still needs to be a lot faster because I'll never get enough height to counteract grandma-slow rotation. The "skid" takeoff on a deep outside edge is helping me get more speed into the rotation.
 

VegMom

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
Every skater is different and every coach is different too.

Also, “a year” could mean a long time if the skater skates every day but it’s not very long if the skater only skates once a week. So IF you’re going to generalize then it’s more about hours of skating.

When my son learned the axel it seemed like it was very quick but coach had done a lot of prep work before naming anything “working on the axel.”

When you ask your daughter to do it off ice does it look like an axel?
 

AndreaRu

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
It seems like overkill to spend a year on waltz-backspin exercises. Are all of her other singles clean and consistent? If she is only able to do the exercise 70% of the time, perhaps her coach just isn't sure she's ready to move on to the actual jump yet. It's really hard to say without seeing her. My daughter took about 4 months from exercises/first attempts to clean and fully rotated.
 

silver.blades

Medalist
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Country
Canada
As other posters have said, it varies greatly. I took about a year to get my axel consistently, but I probably landed my first one after a couple months. I have a friend who has been working on it for at least 10 years and has yet to rotate it.

In my experience, the average length of time to get an axel for a skater under 14 with reasonably good jumping ability is between 6 months and two years, but as other posters have said, the amount of ice time and the level of coaching is also a factor. It's also not unusual to get a double sal or toe before the axel. My coach had me training double flip before we started on the axel, but that is very unusual and probably wasn't the best idea.

In terms of how your daughter is being taught, this isn't the most common method, but I do know coaches who teach like that. The exercise itself is a super common one, but most coaches with have the axel attempt proper starting once the waltz jump/backspin about 50%. It sounds like you have a very technically oriented coach who is concerned with proper technique over gaining the skill. I worked with a coach for a year on my double toe and he only let me jump a grand total of 5 times over that entire period because my walkthroughs weren't up to his standard. This coaches skaters all picked up their skills a little later on average that others, but once they got a jump, they had it. They were very consistent because the technique had been drilled into them, so it was second nature.

In the end it comes down to how your daughter, and to some extent you, feel about the lessons and the progress. If she's good and doesn't feel stuck, then there's no need to worry. If she's getting frustrated, it might be worth talking to her coach about their teaching technique so that you both can have a better understanding of what they are trying to achieve through their process.
 

Seren

Wakabond Forever
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2014
As an adult skater who skated as a child but never did the axel as a child it was really 1.5 years of working really hard on it to where I can now land a rotated axel. That said- my air position is still a work in progress. My goal is to have a reasonably 'pretty axel' in another 6 months-year.

So it basically feels like it's been 84 years.

Everyone is different though- I have adult friends who learned it relatively easy and those like me who struggled a lot. The key is perseverance. In my observation children learn the axel significantly faster than adult skaters. There are a lot of reasons for that. What happened to me is I was stuck for 6 months in almost the same place and then had a major breakthrough which resulted in finally rotating it.
 

Cobraswan79

Spectator
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Ok question for you guys.
I’ve been skating for 7 years.
I am up to the double toeloop in off-ice training, but because my backspin is weak, my coach won’t let me try any of these jumps on the ice yet. But my question is this: if I can land an axel, a double salchow, and a double toeloop OFF the ice without a solid backspin, don’t you think I should be allowed to attempt them on the ice? Even with the harness?
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Ok question for you guys.
I’ve been skating for 7 years.
I am up to the double toeloop in off-ice training, but because my backspin is weak, my coach won’t let me try any of these jumps on the ice yet. But my question is this: if I can land an axel, a double salchow, and a double toeloop OFF the ice without a solid backspin, don’t you think I should be allowed to attempt them on the ice? Even with the harness?

No. Not necessarily because safety is key and there has to be a reason your coach won't let you yet.

What is the highest jump you can actually successfully rotate and land on ice?
 

Cobraswan79

Spectator
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Hey there. I’m an adult skater too. Can I ask how many rotations you have in your backspin? My coach won’t let me try an axel due to my weak backspin, but I have the jump in the floor. I’m actually up to the double toe on the ground.

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Lutz

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No. Not necessarily because safety is key and there has to be a reason your coach won't let you yet.

What is the highest jump you can actually successfully rotate and land on ice?

Lutz
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Hey there. I’m an adult skater too. Can I ask how many rotations you have in your backspin? My coach won’t let me try an axel due to my weak backspin, but I have the jump in the floor. I’m actually up to the double toe on the ground.

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Lutz

First, you need to hit "reply with quote" and then type your answer because we have no way of knowing who you are talking to otherwise.

And No, I agree with your coach from the limited information I know.
 

jf12

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Ok question for you guys.
I’ve been skating for 7 years.
I am up to the double toeloop in off-ice training, but because my backspin is weak, my coach won’t let me try any of these jumps on the ice yet. But my question is this: if I can land an axel, a double salchow, and a double toeloop OFF the ice without a solid backspin, don’t you think I should be allowed to attempt them on the ice? Even with the harness?

Having a good backspin is important not just for air position, but to be able to safely check out and land a jump, especially when you're just beginning and getting used to it. My coach said 8 revolutions consistent before starting the axel. It sounds like you're a very motivated skater, why not just spend a month or two just doing backspins (regular entry, change entry, etc) for 30 minutes each time you skate? I used to hate spinning but I just needed to buckle down and take the time.
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
Ok question for you guys.
I’ve been skating for 7 years.
I am up to the double toeloop in off-ice training, but because my backspin is weak, my coach won’t let me try any of these jumps on the ice yet. But my question is this: if I can land an axel, a double salchow, and a double toeloop OFF the ice without a solid backspin, don’t you think I should be allowed to attempt them on the ice? Even with the harness?

Not necessarily. Never having even attempted a backspin on the ice and with my highest jump being a very bad single Salchow, I can land double toe loops and single Axels off-ice.
 

Cobraswan79

Spectator
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
First, you need to hit "reply with quote" and then type your answer because we have no way of knowing who you are talking to otherwise.

And No, I agree with your coach from the limited information I know.

Ok thank you for the posting tip but I don’t have option.

Lots of egos around this forum so thanks but jo thanks. You should learn to be a little more tactful in your replies.

Goodbye.
 

Nimyue

On the Ice
Joined
May 15, 2018
I can't backspin, but I have a non-consistent axel. It's always fully rotated, I'm just bad at standing up lol. I have a good backspin position in the jump, I just can't backspin well. I can get the required revolutions I guess, but it feels awful and is not anywhere near my forward spins.
 
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