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Ice Skating Home
Introduction
I. Equipment
II. First Strokes
1. First Time
2. Double Sculling
3. Pushing Off
4. Forward Stroking
5. Stopping
6. Forward Cross
7. Skating Backward
8. Backward Cross
III. Four Basic Edge Positions
9. Inside Spiral
10. Outside Spiral
11. Spread Eagle
12. Outside Spiral
13. Inside Spiral
14. Inside Mohawk
15. Outside Forward
16. Exercises
IV. The Four Rolls
17. Outside Roll
18. Inside Roll
19. Outside Backward
20. Inside Backward
21. Waltz Eight
22. Mans 10-Step
V. School Figures
23. Outside Eight
24. Inside Eight
25. Preliminary Test
26. Backward Eight
27. Forward Change
28. Threes-to-Center
29. U.S.F.S.A. First Test
VI. Completing
30. Inside Backward Eight31. Outside Threes
32. Backward Change
33. Inside Threes
34. Basic Theory
VII. Free Skating
35. Basic Spirals
36. Dance Steps
37. Basic Spins
38. Basic Jumps
39. Construction
VIII. Four Ice Dances
40. Dutch Waltz
41. Fiesta Tango
42. Fourteen Step
43. American Waltz
IX. Skater
Resourecs
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| 16. Some Exercises |
As you must realize by now, the same directions keep running through skating instruction. They concern certain body movements that require understanding the muscular action involved. Over my years of teaching I have found that pupils do not automatically know what I mean by what seem to me the simplest directions. For instance, "pressing a shoulder backward" means always to press that shoulder blade into the backbone, using the latissimus dorsi muscles. It does not mean to exert pressure on the top of the shoulder in any way; in fact, you must be careful not to raise or tighten those muscles, as it will give an unpleasant look of tension to your skating.
If you are finding it difficult to keep a strong forward bend on the skating knee and ankle with an erect body while you stretch the other leg straight, it may be because you have a shortened Achilles tendon. A good exercise to reduce the pull at the back of your heel is this: Stand at the barrier and hold on to it. Lift the toes of your skates against it, with your weight on the points of your heels. Allow your body to bend out back at first, then slowly pull yourself erect, keeping your knees rigidly straight. Gradually decrease the distance of your heels from the wall until the strain is intense. Daily stretching will help a lot. Another useful exercise is to face a barrier with both feet parallel a few inches from it, and then without moving your skates, bend forward until both knees are touching the wall. Make sure your pelvis stays over your feet. Gradually increase the distance of your toes from the barrier. Keep your skates flat on the ice; do not allow the heels to lift. The great Gillis Grafstom, whose footwork was the most sensitive of any skater I've seen, attributed a good deal of his suppleness to daily rotation exercises of the feet inward and outward from the ankle. A word to the wise should suffice.
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