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How often should a skater practice to progress from Pre-Preliminary to Preliminary?
TL;DR
Most skaters who progress from Pre-Preliminary to Preliminary at a healthy pace practice 3–5 sessions per week. The new jumps to add are Single Loop, Flip, and Lutz — not the Single Axel and not any doubles, both of which come at much later levels.
The right practice volume depends on your skater's age, goals, and other commitments — but here's the typical range:
- 3 sessions/week is the minimum for steady progress; less than this and skills regress between sessions
- 4–5 sessions/week is where most skaters who are passing tests on time tend to be
- 6+ sessions/week is for skaters competing at higher levels and isn't necessary at Pre-Preliminary/Preliminary
What you're working on at this stage:
- The Single Loop, Flip, and Lutz (the three new jumps for Preliminary)
- The first jump combination
- Cleaning up the Pre-Preliminary jumps so they're rock-solid
- Off-ice strength and flexibility (10–15 min daily helps a lot)
Important: the Single Axel is a Juvenile-level test element, not a Preliminary one. Double jumps don't appear in test requirements until Intermediate. If anyone is pushing your Pre-Preliminary or Preliminary skater to attempt Axels or Doubles, slow down — landing Lutz cleanly is far more important at this stage.
Quality of practice beats quantity. A skater who knows what they're working on each session improves faster than one who just skates more.
Want to know whether each practice session is actually fixing the issue your coach pointed out? Upload a video and SkateMarks gives you per-second feedback on the specific jump phase that needs work.