- Joined
- Nov 1, 2016
What are some great stroking/edge exercises to improve general skating skills, comfort on the ice, and edge control/depth?
Stroking/Edge Exercises
- Thread starter JumpinJava
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2018
- Country
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This is more off-ice advice, but I think it’s been helpful for me to work on my turnouts - it helps me with utilizing the blade correctly during stroking and with balancing my body over an edge. Ballet floor exercises like degages and yoga poses like tree and warrior pose, specifically.
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2016
I’ve been skating for 4 years, but I’m competing Intermediate WB and solo dance. Since I moved up quickly, I missed some of the instruction on basic skills and I just haven’t had a lot of mileage on the ice!
I'm about the same level as you, and I like to do some of the same basic exercises you already know, but make sure I'm using edge pressure and not momentum to make them happen. For example, people start off doing power pulls with their free leg in front of their skating leg, but if you do them with your free leg toe-heel position, or even your free leg toepick on a hockey puck dragging behind you, you can be sure that it's your edges doing the work. Similarly, I like to warm up doing simple outside edge swing rolls, but I do not let my swinging leg pass my skating leg, and keep my arms touching my sides the whole time, and finish on a locked straight leg. These seem simple but kind of harder than it looks - like can you make edge ripping sounds without swinging through your arms and legs to deepen the edge?
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2008
Yes, I do the one-foot changes of edge for about 2/3 of the rink length on each foot, with my free foot in front of my shin and both arms above my head. My former coach got me doing them this way so that I would do the work with my edges and my core.
I also still like to do the power circles from the old Intermediate MIF test (now moved to Juvenile test), even though I passed it years ago. Never neglect crossovers!
