Advanced Skating Q's

[wondeROY]

So one of the things I always hear about skating, hockey skating in particular is to always keep your knees bent. However at my local ice rink there is an instructor who is a world class figure skater, he is a russian who was an olympic hopeful. Needless to say he is an amazing skater and by far the best i've seen at my local rink. He also plays a bit of hockey too and has a pretty good shot, anyways...

He gives private lessons to hockey players every day, one of the drills he does involves them doing a U-turn around cones at a pretty high rate of speed. When he demonstrates this i notice his knees are almost locked and his legs are straight, but he cuts the corner harder or faster then anyone i've ever seen. Its pretty remarkable actually.

My question is, why is the way he does it with no knee bend but so incredibly fast and hard. Yet anytime i work with any sort of hockey coach they always stress knees bent. Is there any reason why figure skaters would be different then hockey skating techniques? Is there a time when its correct not to bend your knees?

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[Caeldan]

So one of the things I always hear about skating, hockey skating in particular is to always keep your knees bent. However at my local ice rink there is an instructor who is a world class figure skater, he is a russian who was an olympic hopeful. Needless to say he is an amazing skater and by far the best i've seen at my local rink. He also plays a bit of hockey too and has a pretty good shot, anyways...

He gives private lessons to hockey players every day, one of the drills he does involves them doing a U-turn around cones at a pretty high rate of speed. When he demonstrates this i notice his knees are almost locked and his legs are straight, but he cuts the corner harder or faster then anyone i've ever seen. Its pretty remarkable actually.

My question is, why is the way he does it with no knee bend but so incredibly fast and hard. Yet anytime i work with any sort of hockey coach they always stress knees bent. Is there any reason why figure skaters would be different then hockey skating techniques? Is there a time when its correct not to bend your knees?

I skated for about 15 years, and always it was about the knee bend and rise... not sure what exercise he's doing exactly... but if it's say, going around just on one leg and you're needing to get power - then you'd straighten out on an edge before dipping and changing weight... and I guess technically you would cut a U-turn hard if you went from a bent to a straight leg.

But the point of the exercise likely is more for a strength/balance/muscle training thing than something to actually use in practice.

 

[rinkrat22]

my guess is that there isnt some guy trying to knock you on your ass while figure skating. you can do alot of "skating " with straight legs. just remember hockey (even beer league) is a contact sport. bent legs give you a good athletic base. every sport starts with an decent knee bend. football players, baseball players, basketball, tennis and golf. all are played better with a solid base.

 

[HowToHockey]

Speedskaters are also much faster than hockey players, but we don't put one hand behind our back and use the other one like a pendulum

For a tight turn you want to get low, lean into the turn (like you are on a street bike) and keep one foot about a foot or two in front of the other. I uploaded this pic for you to see. Most of your weight will be pushing on your furthest leg out because of the centrifical force, you need a good edge and to dig in with your blade to keep your feet from going out from under you.

In the picture my friend is crossing his hands over, because he is a lefty, so it is good to practice doing this for added puck control with tight turns

 

[sherwood sniper]

If its a one foot turn, you do straighten your leg. Come in with your knee bent then straighten as you radius the turn. Thus faster acceleration coming off. It it teaches edge control and balance but I do it quite often in game situations.

If using both feet, the inside leg should straighten (on the middle to exit of the turn) as you push off to the point that your toe is the last part leaving the ice. Then attempt to land on your toe of the outside foot for maximum power and acceleration.......