1. Put your thumbs on your belly button, with your palms facing down towards the ice
2. Without moving your hands up or down, stretch out your arms in front of you and to the side
3. It should feel like you have your hands on a table that is just as high as your belly button
4. You should be able to see your hands and wrists without moving your head, but if you see too much of your arms, then they are too far in front of you

Another way to find the right place for your arms is to find a table just about at high as your belly button. Stand right in front of it, with your belly touching it and put your hands on the table. Then move them as far to the side as you can without taking them off the table. That is the safest way for beginners to hold their arms. You can imagine your hands are on the table as you skate.

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So,I'm kindda using my belly botton as a guide to were my hands should go,right? Then just bring my arms out at that level with my thumbs still pointing at my belly botton? Then spread my arms appart? Should I do that with the lifting of the leg? BTW. I am left handed. Does anything make a diffeence?

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FSWer

Right. Don't worry about where your thumbs point after you bring your arms out, just keep your palms facing the ice. This is where your arms should be all the time that you are skating. If you can do the two foot glide with your arms like that, then you will soon be able to pick up one foot and continue gliding on that one foot. Being left handed does not make any difference for this skill.

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Do I keep them that way to balance?

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FSWer

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbny:
"Right. Don't worry about where your thumbs point after you bring your arms out, just keep your palms facing the ice.
This is where your arms should be all the time that you are skating. If you can do the two foot glide with your arms like that, then you will soon be able to pick up one foot and continue gliding on that one foot. Being left handed does not make any difference for this skill."

When you first start gliding on one foot, keep your arms as dbny said, to find your balance in this position. - And too,
how? do birds fly... they keep their wings spread-out, as they each learned too. - Also do notice that even the Elite-skaters continue performing with their arms out.

Soon, after you have learned to consistently balance on one foot, you will be able to skate with your hands, at your side and in any other positions you want. - It's fun learning how you can change! - Start like others here have taught you, and remember always Iceskating is fun, only fun...
.

you can see all the pages a visitor looks at when browsing the visitors and clicking the look for the last page and thats the last page they browsed, is that what you mean?

So my arms are not spread out like I would normally have them for balance......like an airplane,right?

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FSWer

Right - NOT like an airplane. Airplane arms are for skaters who already have very good balance and control. Beginners should keep their arms lower and more in front. Some coaches teach airplane arms right away - but those are usually the very talented ones who do not remember learning to skate themselves .

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Thanks. BTW. can someone please explain why,and how it's possible for skaters to stay balanced with arms in front? When people have always been taught as kids to spread their arms out like a scale?

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FSWer

Just in case you are a bit confused Your arms should not be shoulder level out in front of you like this ||, they should be mid-torso level like this \/ - and they should be wider than your shoulders.

The reason this is better for balance is that it lowers your center of gravity. If your arms are by your side, your center of gravity is about at the middle of your body- but it's really hard to skate with your arms flat by your side, which is why you have to hold your arms out. Holding the out like an airplane raises your center of gravity, because now more of your body weight is above the middle of your body. By holding them slightly in front of you and a little bit lower (like resting on a table top, or pushing a shopping cart) the center of gravity is more where your natural one is.

It's a physics thing- my explanation may not even be totally correct. Why it works is very complicated, but it does work.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

COOL!!!!! Thanks Jessi. Your one of the best!!!!! So put my hands down to like...knee hight?

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FSWer

No, not quite that low. More like waist height. Like Jessi said, pretend you're pushing a shopping cart - that should do the trick.

Well people!!! Just went for another afternoon at the Rink. I got there a little before 12:30.Knocked on the Main Office window to get help to get someone at the Desk so I could register myself into Public Skate.Then went in and put on my skates. We started out with just me and one other girl (Christine,) on the ice,and wound up with 7 skaters. I once again went over to try my hand at putting on music. I had to ask for help again. But unfortunatly there were no CD's to use. Only some that Christine believed were left over from competitions. Or at least Freestyle Practice (the ones with maybe just one sonng on the whole Disk). BTW. for the future,does anyone know if you can use those for a Public Skate if the're just lying there? So we had to settle for just skating to the Radio..."yeah I know. LOL,it's awful hard to skate to the Radio. Unless you can find the right station,LOL. I practiced trying a 2-foot Glide,and also tried putting my leg up at the same time with my thumbs near my belly-botton like we talked about. But could get the speed or figure out how you keep Gliding on the switch-over from 2 feet to 1 without stopping. As I find myself always stopping between moves. So I know I'm doing something wrong. I asked this girl Christine (actually,I'm not really sure how she spells her name),and she showed me her Spiral.I asked her how you keep Gliding,etc. and the advice she gave me too was that it really isn't best to try anything like that until you can get your feet off the ground,and to pratice first holding the wall. Maybe what I SHOULD have asked her too was what is the best way to START yourself leaving the wall when doing that once you yourself feel confedent. So you don't get used to hanging onto a wall from just praticing. After Public Skate I went to check about Skate sharpening. It's $5.00 to sharpen. Which isn't bad. Also just to let my fellow Skaters know...Newington Arena Pro-Shop to reopen soon!!! Date still to come. Next report next week. But for now..this is FSWer signing off!!!!! LOL.

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FSWer

Well people!!! Here I'm back from the Rink again with todays report!!! So here we go!! I got to the Rink a little after 12:30pm.Registered at the Desk,and went in to put on my skates. We had about (from what I can remember)..8 skaters. One of them had her I-pod on. So we were skating to that. I was skating a lot faster today on my marching steps. After of course getting my speed. I also practiced trying to do a glide with 1 skate in front of the other (whatever that kind of glide is called. Were you put the back of 1 skate in front of the toe of the other,and keep gliding like that).Somebody please let me know what I'm doing wrong. As I just at this time end up turning whenever trying to do it. Because I always wind up with 1 skate along side the other near the toe. So I'm guessing I have found the correct way to do a turn. But I'm not sure. But anyway, even a Novice Learn to Skate skater should be able to do it easily,right? I also tryed skating backward,and I CAN move backward. But somebody please tell me how to put the speed on it. Though,I COULD just be walking backward real easy. LOL. I also found out from Newington Arena that they do hold Competitions/Shows. So if anyone can possibly please track down the direct link to their on-line Competion/Show schedule. Any help would be appreciated. Also any other aditional info. about them would be great too.Also does anyone know if Heather or any other sites like Skateweb have access to Newington's schedule? Thanks. Next Report next week.

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FSWer

Well my fellow On Ice Skaters!!! Here I am...once again with my report...and I must say that I truely look forward to posting my Reports for you all,every time I get back from the Rink...and I surely have a lot of fun doing it. So without further adue..here is todays Report. I got dropped off at the Rink at about 12:35. A little after Public Skate started. I went in to register at the Desk with my passes,and went in to put on my skates. They also had a bunch of people watching a video of some skaters on a TV. on the wall in the Lobby. Come to find out from one of the other skaters in Public Skate,that the 1964 Olypic Gold Medalist in Pairs (I am not really sure who they were. As it was too long ago,for me. Being born in 67) were there to coach a Freestyle session. So if anyone can please identify to me who the Pair was I might have seen,I would really appreciate it. Anyway,we had about 6-7 skaters in Public Skate today. Including a little 4 year old Girl taking lessons,with it being her first time skating and I myself report to have done very well indeed. I am getting better at putting speed on my skating,as well as keeping myself from falling. I only fell once today. With only falling on the pams of my hands before that. I must also say that I give myself credit for how well I did at trying something new.Today fokes,I actually...for the first time...if I'm not mistaken to how I did it....skated on an Outside Edge!!!!Though, I'm not sure if I did it right...But,LOL,I think I got the RIGHT idea. LOL. One thing I notice though... is that I can't really figure out what MAKES the difference in the Outside or Inside Edge. I always thought it had just something to do with weather or not you lean left or right. With the OUTER part of the Blade going out for an Outside Edge. For ex. today I leaned to my LEFT. With the OUTER part of my left blade facing the ice,and the INNER part of my right Blade facing me. But if you lean RIGHT with the inner part of the LEFT blade facing YOU,and the outer part of the RIGHT Blade facing the ice, then all I would think your really doing is doing an Outside Edge on your RIGHT Blade. So I'm LOL,a little confused on what makes the difference between the Inside and Outside Edge. I tried to asked a skater,and have her confurm it. But she herself doesn't know them yet. As she herself is still taking lesons. So if anyone can please help me understand better,I would really appreciate it.I am also getting way better at my gliding in to the Boards off ice. So that's my Report for today. Please check back next week, as well as often for my updated Reports.Thanks.

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FSWer

The 1964 Olympic gold medalists in pairs were Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov. They are a very famous team, and were especially known for their death spirals. They are quite old now, but still perform on occasion. If you saw them, you were quite privileged indeed!

As far as your edges go, it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of how they work. The inside edges are the ones "facing you", as you put it, and the outside ones are the ones "facing the ice". On my right foot, the outside edge is on the right side of my foot, and the inside edge is on the left side. On my left foot, the outside edge is on the left side of my foot and the inside edge is on the right. If I stand with my feet together, the two inside edges are next to each other.

You're right, in that the way you get on one edge or the other is by leaning. If you're gliding on two feet and you lean to the right, so your glide curves to the right, your right foot will be on an outside edge and your left foot will be on an inside edge. If you glide on two feet and lean to the left, so you curve to the left, your left foot is now on an outside edge and your right foot is on an inside edge. Does that make sense?

So,how can I tell if I'm doing an Outside or Inside Edge? BTW. YEAH!!!!! It is even COOLER that Newington was PICKED by them to do their work. If they had not been in the Red Rink already after I got off the ice. I could have gotten an autograth,and it finally would have happened. That I at least met Retired skaters.

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FSWer

cool report , i hope that be better recongnizing the edges , are very important as important as know how to fall

If you're gliding on flats, you'll go in a straight line. If you're gliding on an edge, you'll go on a curve.

If the left foot curves to the left, it's a left outside edge.
If the left foot curves to the right, it's a left inside edge.
If the right foot curves to the left, it's a right inside edge.
If the right foot curves to the right, it's a right outside edge.

You still do most of your gliding on two feet, so you're using two edges at the same time, one on each foot.

If you curve to the left, you're using your left outside and right inside edges.
If you curve to the right, you're using your right outside and left inside edges.

You get the different edges by leaning one way or the other. Make sense?

FSWer, lots of skaters get confused about inside and outside edges.

Think about which side of your foot is leaning. Stand on the inside (insole) part of your feet - those are your inside edges. Stand on the outside part of your feet and those are your outside edges.

If you're skating on your left foot, and you're leaning towards your pinky toe, you're on the Left Outside (LO) edge. The blade's curve makes you skate to the left.

Skating on your right foot, leaning towards the big toe, you're on an Right Inside (RI) edge. The blade's curve makes you skate to the left.

If you're going straight, you're on both edges. The other term for this is "skating on flats."


Sounds like you had a great skate! Thanks for keeping us posted - we like to hear your rink reports.

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I like the way Isk8NYC explained this using your big toe and your pinky toe. There's a mistake in one of her directions though - when she says you're skating on your left foot and leaning towards your pinky toe, and you're on a Left Outside edge, the blade's curve will make you skate to the LEFT, not the right.

On either foot: If you're leaning towards your pinky toe, it will make an outside edge and you'll skate in the same direction as that foot. A Left Outside edge goes to the Left, and a Right Outside edge goes to the Right. If you're leaning towards your big toe, it will make an inside edge and you'll skate in the opposite direction of that foot. A Left Inside edge goes to the Right, and a Right Inside edge goes to the Left.

I know it gets a little confusing! Try it out on the ice and see if you can figure it out.

Fixed it! thanks. (Copy and paste always catches me)

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One of the ways I explain edges to really little kids: Put one blade on the hockey circle and push and slide around the circle. If most of your body is outside the hockey circle, you're on an outside edge. If most of your body is inside the circle, then you're on an inside edge.

Yeah, I use something like this, too. When the kids are learning their edges by doing one foot glides around the circle, I have them pay attention to where their free foot is. If the free foot is outside the circle, they're on an outside edge; if the free foot is inside the circle, they're on an inside edge.

Ok,what are my Flatts? Is that just another word for standing right up on my Blades?

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FSWer