What is the difference between a catchfoot and a one-handed biellmann?

The difference between a catch foot and a biellmann is the arm. In a beillmann you need to be much more flexible. In a beillmann your elbow is bent and pointed up and your shoulder rotates as you lift your foot. A catch foot is any spiral where you grab your blade. A biellmann is classified a catch foot but it is only a biellmann if the elbow is bent up and your shoulder rotates. You are doing a plain catch foot spiral if your arm is straight with your elbow facing down.

Here is a picture of a biellmann:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jap...

Here is a picture of a plain catch foot spiral:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.s...

If you ever watch Joannie Rochette skate, she isn't flexible enough(or she doesn't like beillmanns or something, she just doesn't do them), so she does catch foot spirals. They look pretty high and she makes it look really pretty though. The plain catch foot spiral really doesn't have a name like others have, i.e. cross catch foot, Y spiral, cross beillmann, ect. This one doesn't have a name besides catch foot spiral.

But that's the difference.

I have seem skaters doing their sit spins with their free leg bent. It is BETTER if your freeleg is straight but not necessary. If your free leg is straight it shows you are stronger and if it is bend then you are not as strong as some skaters are. But it is OKAY if your free leg is bent. You should try to get it as straight as you can without straining a muscle or something like that.

Edit: Biellmanns can be done as either spins or spirals, the person below me obviously doesn't know much. Look it up and you'll see that any spin/spiral where you grab the blade is a catch foot, not just the layback spin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating_spiral...

A lot of people think it's whether or not the foot is over the head. Lots of catchfoots get scored as biellmanns this way. But a true Biellmann is when the arm grabs the blade, then the elbow folds out and up, ending in an overhead reach, elbow facing up. Catchfoots don't fold the elbow around, the arm just goes straight up, elbow facing down or to the side (it could face up, but uncomfortably.)

Hold your arm straight out in front of you, palm up. Then keeping it in the same position, lift it straight up till it's next to your head, then bend the elbow so the hand is in a position to hold an imaginary blade, palm facing down. This it the overhead reach I described. Now hold the arm at your side, elbow twisted so the palm is facing away from your side. Then lift straight back. This is the position a catchfoot is in.

Biellmanns require more leg and back flexibility, even when compared to an overhead catchfoot.

Biellmann hold, note the overhead reach with elbow pointing up.

http://www.treeoffitness.com/About/Biellmann.JPG

Catchfoot. Note how the arm simply reaches back, with no shoulder twist and elbow to the side.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20...

Yes, it's fine for the leg to be bent, in fact it would look pretty strange if it was perfectly straight in locked knee. It should not be excessively bent either, but have a very slight, soft bend, with foot turned out.

A catchfoot is held higher than the skating hip, but lower than the top of the skater's head.

A biellman is held above the skater's head, a full biellman is held OVER the skater's head.

It's "okay" to have a bent knee as a beginner. Tall skaters find the straight knee difficult to control. Flexibility and strength training can help overcome that issue.

I prefer a straight, turned-out free knee on a sit spin, with the free foot also turned out nicely. Legs closed at the top, please. No one wants to see your undies. The free leg has to be held at or below the skating knee and the skating knee has to be at or below the skating hip.

That position looks much better and it is much easier to hold the position since it invokes muscles that can fight the physics forces that pull the skater's legs apart and end the spin prematurely. This is also a great muscle builder that helps with flying spins later on.

For it to count as a biellmann, the heel of your skate needs to go higher than your head, ideally, it should be right over your head.

A CATCHFOOT spin is where the skater grabs her foot during a layback. Her upperbody remains the same, as she grabs her skate and brings it close to her head.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mirai_Nagasu_Spi...

A BIELLMANN spin is where the skater's body is in an upright position while grabbing her leg above her head.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Becky_Bereswill_...

Notice the difference in the upper body position.

Personally, I think a sit spin looks nicer if the free leg is as straight as possible. Of course, a slightly bent leg is okay, but the straighter the better! =)

I hope this helped you! Good luck to you and your skating. Haha =)