In which order should you learn the figure skating basics?

Jumps, edges, turns – in which order should you learn the basics of figure skating as a beginner?

I have been skating since 01-2022, along with my kid, who now is a junior competitive athlete. You can learn more about our journey in the category Practice Diary and on our YouTube channel Figure Skating For Two.

Throughout these two-and-a-half seasons I have learned a lot about figure skating and the specific order that seems to exist when it comes to learning the basic drills. I believe a lot of it makes perfect sense, but of course the learning experience can be customized, especially if you are an adult beginner in figure skating.

However, this article focuses more on the order that is (more or less) standard. You can take away as much as you like from this. Also please note that skating clubs’ standards are different. We are from Germany and this is the standard here, but even within the country, there are differences from club to club and even from one coach to another.

The order in which we learn the figure skating basics

So this is my personal roadmap to figure skating, but it’s also how my kid was introduced to the different moves in her junior athletic program.

forward stroking, swizzles and two-legged slaloms
basic stop (snowplow stop, and as soon as possible hockey stop as well)
backward skating (and how to stop backwards)
Endurance, speed and resistance training (off-ice)
fw Chassés
fwo edges (in half, later in full circles)
fwi edges (same here)
bwo edges (…)
fun exercises like spirals, shoot-the-duck/pistol seat, crouches on two feet and lunges (all of these are relevant later as well, but they can be introduced early to make the boring basic lessons more fun)
fwo three-turn
fw crossovers on a circle (later in a figure 8)
bw crossovers on a circle (later in a figure 8)
on-legged slalom
fwi three-turns on a circle (later in a figure 8)
spins (first standing two-feet, then one-foot and two-foot sit spin)
bw one-legged slaloms

Order to learn the figure skating jumps

180° two-foot jump (take-off and landing on two feet)
bunny hop (forward) and/or side hop (in both directions!)
360° two-foot jump (again taking off and landing on both feet, the next step is to jump from skating, not from standing, on a circle)
waltz jump across an obstacle (e.g. over a glove or a line drawn on the ice)
waltz jump with entry from bw crossovers (or after turning from fw crossovers), then RBO to LFO (outside mohawk or) step on a circle
Salchow from fwo three-turn
waltz jump – side hop – waltz jump (combo) on a circle
waltz jump – side hop – Salchow (combo) on a circle
Toeloop (entered from fwi three-turn)
Flip (from fwo three-turn)
Loop entered from two consecutive FWI half-circles (“baby entry”)
waltz jump-loop combo
Lutz (on a circle: crossovers, entering a small outside circle, so that you can move to an outside edge for the take-off)
Loop from bw crossovers

Fancy drills you learn after you got the basics

bw spiral
circle
double fwi and fwo three-turns
twizzles (=traveling spin)
split jump or bell jump
sit spin (variations)
camel spin
layback spin

Why should you learn the figure skating basics in that order?

You should, but you don’t have to. You can do this differently and do whatever you want of course. This order is merely based on my experience and on watching my kid skate and see what works. Certain drills are just based on each other and so it makes sense to leran some drills before others.

Kids learn different from adults though. And this is why I believe that it makes sense to sometimes learn a more difficult skill before something basic, even though it’s “not standard”, but just because it motivates you and you find it enjoyable.

The only thing speaking against this would be that you might increase your risk of injury. The best example is learning jumps before having mastered proper edges. But “proper” does not mean “perfect”. If you wait until they’re perfect, you’ll never get to jump. Not even professional athletes do that. They learn skills parallel as well, just with less overlap, because they have more lessons and thus more time to work on their basics intensively.

Beginner “skate school”

In the very beginning of skating, you will have to finish learning the absolute basics. That means things like:

forward and backward gliding (and learning to look over your shoulder)
how to stop (in time!)
slalom on two legs and swizzles
sliding on one leg for a longer time (about 5-8s)
jumps on two legs
two-legged spins
crouching down deep while skating forwards
two-legged turns while skating (prep for three-turns)

With these basics, you can’t do anything yet that qualifies as figure skating, but you’ll be able to move on the ice more securely.

It can be quite frustrating to just “learn to skate” instead of already learning how to figure skate, but you will get the most out of your skating if you already know how to move and are less stiff overall. It’s important to just get used to bending the knees a lot, which most beginners just don’t do enough initially, and that’s a whole long adaptation process.

However, if you find yourself frustrated practicing only the boring basics, you might want to add some autodidactic training drills:

speed and coordination exercises: e.g.
- slaloms with arm swings to the opposite side of the knees
- same exercise but backwards
- edges: e.g. inside edges on half circles, with outer arm overhead and inner arm pointing to the center of the circle
Spiral and lunges (and you can do transitions between both! You can start working on spirals as soon as you feel you can skate safely on one leg)
three-turn with correct arm position, i.e. even if you can not turn on one leg yet because of a lack in strength and balance, you can already learn the correct form, from videos online even, or books
two-foot sit spin (Sit spins are considered to be quite difficult, and you need a lot of quad strength, so it absolutely makes sense to start learning them early. If you can do an okay two-foot spin, you can also do a sit-spin, no reason to wait.)

Additionaly, you can look into off-ice drills:

Off-ice training for beginner figure skaters

Great off-ice drills for beginners are:

Coordination exercises with a jump rope
Jump training
Flexibility exercises and skater ballet

Coordination off-ice exercises can be found on YouTube a lot, there are also books on it. But any jump rope training is fine, it will help you get more explosive force and jump higher and more securely.

Specific jump training exercises can be found on channels like Michelle Hong’s YouTube.

Flexibility is quite essential in figure skating. Again, you can find so much on YouTube alone, e.g. by Anna McNultey or Sofabar aka Sofie Barnova, who trains and teaches in Oberstdorf (where we also go for summer camps).

Stretching and strength training should not be underestimated. While somehow all self-taught TikTok ice skaters insist that you “don’t need to be flexible”, or they pair that message with the claim that “you can start figure skating at any age,” I have no intention to lie to you guys.

Both claims are unfortunately untrue. No, from a common sense and medical perspective, you should actually not start a sport with a high risk of falling at an older age. Or maybe at least after getting cleared through a bone density test.

A femoral neck fracture is absolutely no joke, and figure skating is predisposed to falls on the hips that can cause such, as well as on the knees, elbow, palm (caput radii fracture = the most common fracture in the world!), or the coccyx.

So, beyond the age of 60, one should seriously question whether it’s necessary to take such risks as a beginner. There is a reason why even once competitive athletes stop jumping eventually and revert to coaching. Because it is not that sustainable to still attempt jumps at a higher age.

And even at 50, many women already face hormone-related issues with bone density. There are undoubtedly more sensible sports, and at that age, you should make sure you’re in the clear first.

Moreover, there’s a huge difference between starting at 20, 30, or 40. Yes, at 20, you will generally make faster progress than at 40. On average. Exceptions are nice – and completely irrelevant.

The same goes for flexibility. Yes, it’s obvious that you have a much lower risk of pulling something if you slip and land in a split because your legs are flexible. It makes sense. Of course, it’s less dangerous and more enjoyable. Many figures are significantly easier when you’re not as stiff as a board. I absolutely don’t understand how people online can keep saying that you don’t need to be flexible for figure skating (not just ice skating!)… Sure, if you only want to skate straight ahead, it doesn’t matter. But for everything else, it does. I recommend everyone not to be as lazy as I am and start with yoga, Pilates, or ballet stretches right away. You’ll reduce your risk of injury and make practicing easier for yourself.

How fast can you learn the single jumps in figure skating?

Regarding the jumps, I’m not entirely sure, because this is very individual. How fast you can learn a jump depends on:

your physical fitness, strength and body weight as well as previous injuries
talent and motivation to learn this jump (some people just don’t like the Lutz… just saying)
how often you have time to practice (because jumps require regular training more than any other drill)
your flexibility
fear of falling
your overall energy levels
the quality of coaching you receive

The order mentioned above in which one should learn figure skating jumps is relatively well-known and doesn’t differ that much from club to club. It does, but not in a way like “Oh, we are learning the Axel before the Lutz at our club”. Both my child and I are learning the jumps following this scheme.

Conclusion

In summary, is there a sequence in which one should learn the basics of figure skating?

Yes, there is. Of course, it can be individualized. But the pattern looks quite similar all over the world. And many tricks are simply easier to understand when learned in a chronological order instead of randomly.

Nevertheless, there are exceptions, and yes, unfortunately, a coach doesn’t always help with that. They might have their specific goals and ideas for you in mind, or they might not even have the time to focus on what you want from skating, because it’s not a 1:1 lesson. Group classes are rarely tailored to the individual participants, because of limitations in capacity and time.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t and shouldn’t work with what you get. If nothing else, I find group lessonst to at least be motivating and it’s also about socializing for me. On many days I might not have even put my skates on, had it not been for a class. And that is already an advantage over doing it all by myself.