Backward Crossovers

macy · Jul 18, 2018

I noticed some skaters do them differently. Some lift their crossing foot off the ice while it's moving in front of the other, and most (to my perception) keep it on the ice. I always did them with my crossing foot down.

I think Julia Lipnitskaya did them this way with her crossing foot lifting. I've seen a younger Japanese skater do it this way as well, but i don't know her name, just to give a couple examples.

Does one way generate power more than the other? Is one more effective at gaining speed?

Is there actually a "correct" way to do them?

charlotte14 · Jul 18, 2018

How about your knees? Do you keep your knees even?

Ladskater · Jul 18, 2018

macy said:
I noticed some skaters do them differently. Some lift their crossing foot off the ice while it's moving in front of the other, and most (to my perception) keep it on the ice. I always did them with my crossing foot down.

I think Julia Lipnitskaya did them this way with her crossing foot lifting. I've seen a younger Japanese skater do it this way as well, but i don't know her name, just to give a couple examples.

Does one way generate power more than the other? Is one more effective at gaining speed?

Is there actually a "correct" way to do them?

Actually lifting the opposite foot off the ice is pretty much the way everyone learns to do crosscuts - backwards and forwards. As the skater improves and becomes better at stroking the better and more powerful the crosscuts become. It's always smoother to keep the skating knee bent and just "draw" the other (crossing) foot across.

Vanshilar · Jul 19, 2018

For back crossovers, keeping the forward leg on the ice gives a better, smoother feel to it. However, in my experience it's better to start off by lifting the forward foot over. The reason is that if you start off by trying to keep the forward foot on the ice, there's a tendency to keep your weight more forward rather than to transfer your weight to the back foot, thus it ends up being scratchy. If you start off by lifting the forward foot while you're learning them, then it gets the body used to having all of the weight on the back foot during the cross. Then, once that's established, keeping the forward foot on the ice makes it smoother and less "steppy".

I'm not sure if there's a difference in power between the two though.

acapenci · Jul 19, 2018

I actually had a debate about this exact topic with a friend at the rink a while ago lol. She had learned from her coach the "proper" way of doing backwards crossovers was to lift the foot and that keeping the forward leg on the ice was cheating. In my experience, i have always been taught/i have observed the right way to do backwards crossovers is to keep the forward leg on the ice.

I agree that it can be beneficial for beginners to lift up the foot when learning backwards crossover for the first time but i can easily see it developing into a crutch because that beginning skater could become scared of keeping their foot on the ice. I think the smooth glide of the forward foot staying down is aesthetically pleasing and it feels more natural then lifting up the foot

macy · Jul 19, 2018

acapenci said:
I actually had a debate about this exact topic with a friend at the rink a while ago lol. She had learned from her coach the "proper" way of doing backwards crossovers was to lift the foot and that keeping the forward leg on the ice was cheating. In my experience, i have always been taught/i have observed the right way to do backwards crossovers is to keep the forward leg on the ice.

I agree that it can be beneficial for beginners to lift up the foot when learning backwards crossover for the first time but i can easily see it developing into a crutch because that beginning skater could become scared of keeping their foot on the ice. I think the smooth glide of the forward foot staying down is aesthetically pleasing and it feels more natural then lifting up the foot

i don't understand how it could be considered cheating lol. i remember way back when i was first starting out in learn to skate i was taught that way. it was difficult at first but i eventually got the hang of it.

i can see where it could become a crutch down the road, and i would think that lifting the foot would create less pull and power than keeping it down. when you keep it down you not only have the pull of the edge of your non crossing foot, but also the crossing foot too. not to mention i think it looks a little messy when you lift your foot.

silver.blades · Jul 19, 2018

This is not scientific by any means, but I always feel like I get more power when I keep my outside foot on the ice. With that leg on the ice, the inside leg can reach farther into the circle then the outside leg can stretch outside the circle which gives a longer push and therefore more speed/power. I could be totally wrong, but that's my impression. My backwards crosscuts are always faster if I keep the outside leg on the ice, but that might just be a result of the fact that that's how I've trained it for years.

Tavi... · Jul 19, 2018

I believe in ISI (one US skating system) the “lift and cross” method is used to teach beginners proper weight transfer when learning backwards crossovers.

Backward Crossovers

macy

charlotte14

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~

Vanshilar

acapenci

macy

silver.blades

Tavi...

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