Michael Weiss: Hi! I am Michael Weiss, three-time US National Figure Skating champion, and we're discussing the six basic figure skating jumps.

We are now focusing on the toe pick jumps, we've talked about the toe loop, the flip jump, and now it's very close cousin the Lutz jump.

The difference between the flip and the lutz, they both take off on the left foot, but the difference is, one is on the inside edge the flip jump, this one the lutz is on the outside edge. They both toeing with the right foot and they both rotate in this direction, so they're often confused.

One of the other differences that you can see when you are watching it on television is the flip jump is often an entrance with the left outside three turn, which is a half rotation on the ice before the take off and then vaulting into the air.

A Lutz jump on the other hand has a long back outside edge, which means the skater skates backwards on one foot for a long time then reaching the other one back in the right foot toeing in and vaulting them up into the air.

Now remember, I am a skater that rotates to the left which the majority of skaters do, some skaters rotate to the right, so it's the exact opposite, when I toe in with my right foot standing on my left outside edge, a right jumping skater will stand on their right outside edge toeing with their left foot. So, be aware of that difference because some skaters do rotate in the opposite direction.

Let's take a look at the single lutz, the double lutz and the triple Lutz.

A common mistake on the lutz jump is to rush the take off, what you want to do on the long back outside edge is take your time. This ice skating jump is all about rhythm and timing. So, in order to get across the rotation of this hip which is blocking the rotation like the flip jump. Flip jump you have the half-turn beforehand the three turn to assist you in that momentum in the direction of the jump. In the Lutz jump you don't have that, so what you have to do is you have to free rotate in the opposite direction and then release all the way across the other direction, it's like a rubber band, the further you pull it back the farther it's going to go. So, the further you cross over in the opposite direction the more spring you're going to get coming back in the opposite direction.

Now, the Lutz jump is obviously a very difficult ice skating jump but it can be spectacular when performed properly.

Safety is the number one issue when trying this jump, and all of these ice skating jumps; you need to have professional supervision with good solid equipment, good skates with nice support, a blade that is sharp and a toe pick can withstand the toe pick and the vault up into the air. So, make sure you're safe and have proper supervision.

Now we've learned all these ice skating jumps, the six basic figure skating jumps, the Edge jumps being the Salchow, the Loop jump and the Axel and the Toe jumps, the Toe loop, the Flip jump and the Lutz.

I hope this simplifies the complicated figure skating jumps for you.