What Should You Write in a Figure Skating Practice Log?

A useful figure skating practice log records when you skated, roughly how long you were on the ice, which skills you worked on and what you want to try next. Add one specific observation about what improved or felt difficult. Keep it brief enough that you can complete it after an ordinary session, not just on your most motivated days.

What information is worth recording every time?

Start with a small set of facts and observations rather than a detailed diary you will stop using.

• Date and session length: Record the day and minutes you actually practised, not just the rink's advertised session duration if you arrived late.
• Main focus: Name the two or three movements you intended to work on.
• What you practised: List the skills or relevant exercises you actually attempted.
• One useful observation: Write what changed—such as more controlled exits from a turn—rather than simply "good session".
• Next time: Note one thing you want to repeat, change or ask about.

U.S. Figure Skating's goal-setting worksheet connects monthly goals to daily practice plans. Its Aspire resources similarly provide a practice planner. Neither requires a single universal format for every skater.

A simple example entry

Here is an illustrative entry, not an account of a real skating session or a measured performance result:

A forward outside edge uses the outside side of the blade while travelling forwards on a curve. The word edge is important: a curved path produced by twisting the upper body is not necessarily a controlled skating edge.

A table is useful when you want to compare entries, but a handful of short lines works just as well. The best format is one you will actually revisit.

Should you track every jump, spin and repetition?

Usually not in the same detail. What you record depends on what you want to understand.

For a beginner, noting that one-foot glides felt more stable may be enough. For someone practising technical elements, it can help to distinguish an attempt, a completed movement and a consistent exit. Resist giving yourself a pass percentage based on a tiny, unrepresentative set of attempts.

Recording first achieved and became reliable as separate milestones can be useful. It respects a first success without pretending that it is guaranteed every time. Our guide to knowing when a skating skill is mastered explains why personal tracking is different from an official test.

The CanSkate award-tracking tool records named skating fundamentals across balance, agility and control, demonstrating a structured alternative to one broad progress score. Its details belong to the Canadian programme, not an automatically transferable Australian testing level.

How do you record advice without writing an essay?

Write down the cue, the movement it relates to and whether it made a difference. A cue is a short reminder of what to concentrate on, such as "look through the turn" or "stay balanced over the skating foot".

You do not need to transcribe a whole lesson. A compact note could read:

• Movement: forward three-turn.
• Cue: steady shoulders before the turn.
• Observation: entry felt calmer; exit still rushed.
• Next question: how can I control the exit edge?

A three-turn is a one-foot change of direction that traces a three-shaped pattern on the ice. Your note should describe the part of the movement you can meaningfully practise, rather than a vague instruction to "get better".

If you work with an instructor, record their wording accurately when possible and clarify anything you did not understand. Do not present your own guess as a professional diagnosis of a technical problem.

Should you include videos in the log?

A short video can help you compare attempts or recall an exercise, particularly if you record the same movement from a similar safe vantage point. Give the video a useful label and date so that you can find it.

Video is not always decisive. Camera angle, distance and motion blur can make blade positions difficult to judge. You may also feel a balance change that the video does not show. Use the video with your written observation rather than replacing it.

Ask permission before filming others, follow rink rules and keep the camera away from traffic on the ice. A log does not need public sharing to be useful.

What about sharpening, equipment and rink conditions?

Blade maintenance is worth tracking separately from the skill itself. Jackson Ultima recommends recording skating time between sharpenings to help avoid both letting blades become too dull and removing metal more often than necessary.

Useful equipment notes include the last sharpening date, approximate hours since that visit and whether the blades felt unusually slippery or grabby. Ice hardness and condition can also affect your perception of an edge, so record unusual conditions as context rather than treating every difficult session as evidence of lost skill.

If you need help distinguishing wear from a technique issue, see how to tell whether figure skates need sharpening.

How often should you review old entries?

A brief look at recent notes before your next session is often more helpful than analysing months of data at once. Search for repeated observations: perhaps you consistently avoid practising anticlockwise crossovers, or your confidence on a particular entry has improved over several sessions.

U.S. Figure Skating's goal-setting worksheet explicitly links daily plans to broader goals. If your records repeatedly show the same difficulty, you can make that a focused question rather than simply adding more unfocused attempts.

Every so often, update the next goal. A goal that made sense a month ago may be too easy, too difficult or no longer important to your skating.

How do you keep logging from becoming a chore?

Avoid perfectionism. Use a reusable template, leave optional fields blank and keep the log short enough to finish while the session is fresh in your mind.

Do not guess exact repetitions you did not count, turn subjective confidence into false precision or compare your record with someone else's training volume without context. A practice log is an aid to noticing patterns, not a competition.

For a simple session sequence, read how to structure a figure skating practice session. Browse the training and session logging hub or the figure-skating practice log overview for more ways to organise your routine.

Key takeaways

• Record date, time on ice, focus skills and one clear observation.
• Finish each entry with a practical next step.
• Separate first successes from repeatable skills and formal test results.
• Use notes and optional video together, without inventing precision.
• Track blade care and ice conditions as context for how a session felt.