You know when you're skating backwards you kind of stick your backside out a bit and sort of lean forwards a bit, what is the reason for this when skating backwards?

Do you know if you have to adopt this sort of position also when you are skating backwards on roller skates?

You shouldn't be adopting that position at all, if you can possibly avoid it! Your body should be upright, with your hips, if anything, slightly forwards.

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Mrs Redboots
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Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

You have to skate backwards with bent knees and keep your weight to the rear. By bending forward (also called "breaking at the waist") over your knees, you're creating that lovely position.

Think about
∙ Knees bent over your toes;
∙ Keep your chin and shoulders over your hips; and
∙ Tuck your tush under so it's not sticking out.

One really good exercise is to skate backwards and glide on two feet in this position. It helps break in the skates, too. Once you've mastered that, start working on having your feet UNEVEN during the glide; that is, slide one foot forward of the other, keeping your weight on the back foot.

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And you don't want to do that on roller skates either .

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Ideally you are certainly not supposed to adopt this position, however after many years I am still guilty of it and quite frankly so are a lot of seasoned skaters including some elite skaters, which goes to prove that there is always room for improvement.

Wow, I must be doing something wrong because I have been doing it this way for all of these years with little or no criticism! I guess it depends just how much your butt is sticking out... and maybe just how far forward your upper body is (not too far forward) - but as you bend your knees and ankles, doesn't your butt (hips) start to stick out?

And isn't the reason for this posture to gain more power? I know in the description for the Moves on the Intermediate test Power crosses, we are looking for increased angularity in the skater's body which helps to get power...

Wow, maybe we need a little youtube lesson going on here!

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Miki Ando is currently World Champion and I think she pitches her upper body forward alot more than all of the other skaters. She does this skating both forward and backward. That may be why she's criticized for her spiral so much because she is so used to breaking at the waist. It is a common problem. I know I pitch forward slightly because I'm afraid of being on the back of my blade. But my coach hasn't said anything about it yet. I'll ask about this. A youtube lesson sounds like an awesome idea.


BlackManSkating

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The worst of the posterior protrusion posture comes from lack of bend in the ankles. If you bend your knees, but your ankles are stiff, your rear has no where to go but further rearwards, and you have to bend the rest of your body forwards to compensate. I found tai-chi helped a lot with ankle flexibility and I was finally able to start combating this problem. Still do it if I don't think about it though, it's a really bad habit now.

You also get more power with your butt tucked in i because you can push from the glut muscles in addition to the leg muscles. If your butt is sticking far out the back you don't have the leverage.

Yep, ankle bend is important! You'll know you're bending your ankles if you have your knees lined up right over your toes. Of course your upper body needs to be slightly angled forward whenever you bend your knees and ankles deeply, whether you're skating forward or backward. Otherwise you won't have your chest over your knees and your weight will be too far back on your heels.

Perhaps the illusion of the butt sticking out is actually the back being arched? An arched back is a good thing; a rounded back with hunched shoulders is bad. If you feel like your back is strongly arched, it is probably straight. If you feel like it's straight but not really arched, then it is probably too rounded.

Watch some videos of Mao Asada on YouTube for an example of good posture (I agree that Kimmie Meissner and Miki Ando are not the best examples).

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Brian Boitano, Caryn Kadavy, Oksana Baiul - even Sasha Cohen has been guilty of this.

You want to see a lovely back position in crossovers - or anything - look at Dorothy Hamill.

j

Ha! In Boitano's defense, his rear is big enough that it would stick out regardless of where his waist was! He has 'skater's butt' to the max!

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