How to pick in softer?

Curlygirly81 said:

I feel like I'm very aggressive in my approach on my toe jumps... Is there a secret to picking in softer? I feel like when I try to soften it up, the jump just doesn't launch as much...

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Curlygirly81 said:

To pick softer lol hahaha
My form is great.. I just use to much force.

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Ic3Rabbit said:

Can they tell you how to fix it?

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Curlygirly81 said:

Just to pick in softer, it's hard to change a habit after so many years... I'll keep trying
I tend to do a lot of things heavy, like typing and walking etc... It's just me maybe lol

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cl2 said:

I used to slam my pick like a jackhammer, and my coach suggested this imagery: as you reach back and then draw in to pick, imagine your toe pick is on a hockey puck and you're sliding the hockey puck on the ice as you reach back and draw in.

I wonder if this will work for your case?

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cl2 said:

I used to slam my pick like a jackhammer, and my coach suggested this imagery: as you reach back and then draw in to pick, imagine your toe pick is on a hockey puck and you're sliding the hockey puck on the ice as you reach back and draw in.

I wonder if this will work for your case?

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hanyuufan5 said:

It sounds like you might be relying too much on your toe picks. I do that, too, only I prerotate instead of picking too hard. What helps me is to do a few good edge jumps first, then try to carry that over to my toe jumps: pick less, jump more.

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vlaurend said:

Have you watched your pick jumps on video? The correct way to pick is to keep your back pulled back (it helps to squeeze your shoulder blades together), bend your skating knee deeply, point your picking foot with a straight picking leg with toepick just above the ice, then dig it into the ice without lifting it first, and pull yourself back and up. If you are banging your toepick in the ice, you are probably not doing those things. You are probably lifting the picking foot before picking, then banging it down into the ice. I have to consciously keep myself from doing that, since the correct technique requires a lot of hip flexor and lower back strength and I think my body compensates for those weaknesses by lifting the foot and banging instead. My body will swear to me I'm not lifting the picking foot just before picking, but I look at the video and. . . I'm lifting it and banging!

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