Skating Question

[FatAndSlow 0]

First of all turning and stopping to my left is my weak side. Recently I've noticed that when I do crossovers to my left, the heel of my right foot does not cross above the toecap of my left foot (hope this makes sense). Instead, as I lift my right foot to crossover, the heal "outlines" the toecap (hope THIS makes sense). I don't have such problem when I'm turning to my right. I'm trying to consciously force myself to crossover over the toecap. But I'm beginning to wonder if this is caused from something else, like body position. Or is it just a bad habit?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

FatAndSlow

[HattrickSwayze 3]

So if I'm reading this right, you're having a problem actually crossing over? You can't get your outside leg to extend and "cross over" your inside leg? If that's the case, it sounds like you're A) not comfortable enough on your outside edge, and B ) not bending your knees deep enough. Since you have a weak side to turning and stopping, I'm assuming you're still a bit new to skating? A problem I see newer skaters do with crossovers is they don't really get a push with their inside leg because they're shakey on their edges. As soon as they pick up their outside foot, it's like they're about to fall over, so they end up just kind of running across the ice.

If that's what happening, focus on your edges. Get more comfortable on that outside edge, and bend your knees deeply. You want to be able to balance and turn on that outside edge so you can get a strong push with it. This picture of Datsyuk shows what I mean (link below). Also, make sure as you're extending your inside leg, you're snapping your toe. Start slowly and focus on good technique, then work your way up to going faster. A lot of people will try to skate as fast as possible because it FEELS fast, but they completely throw proper technique out the window. With proper technique, you can skate as fast as someone with bad technique, with half as much effort.

http://www.datsyuk13.com/07_08_playoff/po_35_08.jpg

If this isn't the problem at all, well then disregard everything I said.

[farhanshak 1]

ive been doing the drills in the above video about once or twice a week. and they have helped tons.

everything i do is at a slow pace and its helped alot.

alot of the outside edge stuff that Hattrick mentioned is in this vid.

best of luck and i hope it helps.

[ktang 34]

I've seen different theories about crossovers, and one theory is that you don't need to lift your skate over the toecap. I think this is from Huron. According to this theory, keeping the skate of the leg crossing over close to the ice and in front of the crossunder leg's skate is faster.

This isn't the same as crossover starts.

[gxc999 7]

I've seen different theories about crossovers, and one theory is that you don't need to lift your skate over the toecap. I think this is from Huron. According to this theory, keeping the skate of the leg crossing over close to the ice and in front of the crossunder leg's skate is faster.

This isn't the same as crossover starts.

Yeh, crossing under, basically bring the other foot in front of instead of over. It's more efficient but not for starting like you said.

[Darkbyte 0]

+1 on knee bend, you get more clearance out front when extending the leg from a deeper knee bend, than you do a shallower one.

One of the things I notice most about people crossing over, stopping, turning, pivoting etc on their week side is their shoulder rotation, they dont rotate their shoulders as much as they do on their favourite side and in some cases try to subconsciously fight the turn.

One of the exercises I give people who are first learning cross overs, is to cross over down the straights - one to the left, then one to the right. The reason for this being that they dont have to worry so much about shoulder rotation and can concentrate on crossing out infront of their skates (this is especially important on rollerblades which still have the heel brake attached)

When they are happy with that, I get them to cross over without bringing their skates back to the parallel starting position i.e. left over right, then right over left. It helps to warm the hips up and improve their confidence. (Edit, If you are watching the edge control video, its the forwards sissor skate small)

One thing that really helped me was to hold each position for the count of three i.e. push outside, 1, 2, 3 (holding leg at full extension in the air), cross, push inside 1, 2, 3 (holding leg in the air after finishing the push), return to parallel, 1, 2, 3 and repeat. This is a great exercise to do around the face off circles. It gives you time to concentrate on edges and body position (I also find this annoys some of the local rink rats, they dont like being overtaken through the corner doing 1/2 as many strides)

These exercises also work well for backwards cross overs.

Hopefully there is something in here that will help, I find myself returning to these exercises as a warmup, especially when Im switching between different surfaces and skates.

Edit: watched the above edge control vid

[SouthpawTRK 1]

ive been doing the drills in the above video about once or twice a week. and they have helped tons.

everything i do is at a slow pace and its helped alot.

alot of the outside edge stuff that Hattrick mentioned is in this vid.

best of luck and i hope it helps.

Thanks for the youtube link! These videos will be extremely helpful on getting me to work on my skating when I'm at stick/puck sessions.

[gxc999 7]

Darkbyte is really right on the money, it's all about kneebend. And the first time you really bend your knees and hit the full edge, you'll be going "holy shit, man!"

[flyers10 57]

I've been attending some skills sessions and the instructor(former NHLer) keeps emphasing the deep knee bend in every drill we do. It burns like hell but the more you do it the better you become on your edges and you become a much stronger and faster skater. Doing wall sits is a great way to build up the endurance of the thigh muscles.

[gxc999 7]

I've been attending some skills sessions and the instructor(former NHLer) keeps emphasing the deep knee bend in every drill we do. It burns like hell but the more you do it the better you become on your edges and you become a much stronger and faster skater. Doing wall sits is a great way to build up the endurance of the thigh muscles.

Pretty much every pro from every level will smack you over the head with that if you ask them how to improve but it is true. It also results in less stress on the back and less hip injuries.

[87vert 0]

Darkbyte is really right on the money, it's all about kneebend. And the first time you really bend your knees and hit the full edge, you'll be going "holy shit, man!"

tell me about it. I was having trouble doing crossovers like the op. just bending my knees more got me to be more stable on my edges.