I was working on forward crossovers with my dance coach and he decided to tackle my lack of underpush on forward crossovers/progressives. I can fake it pretty decently from speed but when he broke it down slowly I truly do not have an underpush. Any suggestions? Primary coach has also beaten his head against the ice trying to get me to underpush.

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I think of crossovers as a controlled fall to the inside of the circle. And as you are falling, the underleg (still on the ice) is being pushed by the weight of your body outside of the circle and into the understroke. I also think of bending my knees about 18 times lower than I think they should/need to be, which usually means they are near to where they actually need to be.

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

I also think about relaxing into my ankles and letting them bend more. My dance coach said that each step of a progressive should feel like it's going progressively lower into the ice. The more you bend, the easier it is to push.

A good excersize to help with progressives and now I'm using to to learn cross strokes - grapevine swizzles. Do a swizzle but instead of bringing your feet together - cross them and then uncross them - and again, the trick to being able to do this is knee bend.

j

Gravevine swizzles are great - I'm starting to even out my weak/strong sides using them as a warmup and cooldown.

The very best drill is a modified gravevine. (caveat: it's hard to do)

On a hockey circle, skate forward keeping both blades on the ice. Deep, deep knee bends and try to keep your shoulders on the circle (outside shoulder leading.) Let the outside foot slip to the front, keeping your weight on that side. Now, draw the inside foot across, all the way to the outside of the circle, letting it cross behind your outside foot. BEND YOUR KNEES, I TELL YOU! Add a final push with the outside edge of the inside foot and lift the inside foot off the ice with a pointed toe.

Hold that one-foot position, count to three, then return the free foot to the inside of the circle, next to the other foot. Repeat until nauseated from the torso twist and terror of tripping.

It's an old ISI exercise that really lets you feel what the underpush should be without the distraction of moving other limbs.

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Then do it the other way!

Yep, my coach has been inflicting this one on me lately too. And it's working

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It's all about the dress!

A couple suggestions:
Think power and not speed, it really helps.
Count your strokes and make sure the 2 gets as much, or more time than the one.
Try to slow down, take only 4 crossovers to get down the ice.


http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/Orde...Q0B0156&po=156

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I work on this too with a coach - she has me cross over, then do three underpushes. So it's cross, push, but instead of bringing your foot back to the outside of the circle, put it back on the ice and sort of float it forward to be almost parallel with the other foot, then give a good strong push. It's awkward at first.

You can also think about dropping your inside hip as you do the underpush. And rock your underpushing ankle over outwards so that the outside of the foot is closer to the ice.

It also helps to toe point the underpushing foot as it leaves the ice after the push.

Too much rock-over and it will be very difficult to generate any "push"

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

To take that concept one step further, make sure you lean your head and shoulders slightly OUTSIDE of the circle, especially as you pick up speed. This will help counter the lean of your hips into the circle and make it easier for you to have a balance between your crossover and under-push (which will keep your crossovers level and smooth)

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I've been working on these for a long time and there's some really good advice here. What's helped me most is 1) being deliberate, having a slow tempo to your crossover and 2) cross and hold, i.e. skating in the crossed position and just feeling that. It's kinda scary.

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Gordon Zaft
http://sk8rboi.blogspot.com
School figures are skating's equivalent of the Latin Mass.

Try to work on power circles. They start from a stand still. You will not be able to get going w/o underpushing.

Also try to hold an underpush position as a forward glide. I had a student do this to improve her underpush power. You will have to bend down and push the inside foot under. Hold the position and bend as far down at the knees as possible. This can make some very pretty glides.

Do a xover and hold the underpush in a Jenkins spiral. You will have to push hard to get speed and hold an attractive position.

Kay

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I'm not getting the difference between these two moves you describe - is the Jenkins spiral just "more" of the first move?

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

1st one: both feet stay on the ice in a 2-foot glide.
2nd: The Jenkins spiral is a 1-foot glide w the understroking foot lifted and extended.

Kay

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I agree with Kay...if you look at the moves in the field for standard track Intermediate (and Junior...ugh! I had hoped once I finished Intermediate I would be done with those! They are also Adult Gold patterns 1 and 2) you will find a pattern that might help with this (patterns 1 and 2)...basically, you start at the center of the circle, and slowly build up speed and tempo...you REALLY need to push both out and under to get going...

Thanks guys....I will give these a try tomorrow. Who knew crossovers could be so difficult?

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal