Can anyone describe how to do a backwards lunge? I have just recently gotten very good in my forward lunges (i can go down really low and hold the position, on both legs too! before i could only do a left lunge!), so now I would like to try it backwards. I tried doing it yesterday but do not understand how far back to extend my leg, and then when i go down, my blades just kind of gets caught in the ice and i stop. Thanks.

Most people here learn to turn from forwards to backwards lunges to get the feel of how low they need to be. Once they have that sorted out, then they progress to straight backwards lunges.

To do a turn to backwards during a lunge, my understanding is that it is a similar technique to an outside 3 turn, with a strong check after the turn.

One person I know adept at backward lunges said you have to get lower than you do for forward lunges.

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Katz

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I'm interested to know how to do a backwards lunge too! My blades get stuck if I try to do a backwards lunge. I tried to 3turn from a forward, but I can't seem to stay.

From what I observe, it is done by lifting up the free leg and just put it behind. No idea how.

Pst. How do you get your knee to touch the ice for lunges? Do you have to, even?

Two totally valid errors, which nearly every skater does in learning a back lunge. The good news is that it's very easy to fix.

Here's what I recommend. Start by facing the boards and pick up the leg you feel most comfortable extending in the lunge. You should be standing in a one-foot glide position.

Without moving backwards from the boards (so you're still holding on to the wall), bend your skating leg at the same time that you slam your free foot (the one that's lifted in the one-foot glide position) onto the ice. Your blade shouldn't be touching the ice but rather the entire inside of your boot. The key is to be quick and to just go for it--allow yourself to let your boot hit the ice. You cannot be timid or slow, which is often what causes the blade to catch in the ice and stop the lunge.

Also, watch your upper body. Dropping a shoulder or hunching over or reaching for the ice will only make things harder and will likely lead to a fall. The upper body is the same for the back lunge as it is for the forward lunge.

Practice this exercise several times at the boards until you comfortable to try it moving. You can do this moving two ways: first, you can start by getting a bit of speed backwards, gliding in a backward one-foot glide, and then slamming the free foot down behind. If you're not quite comfortable doing this on your own just yet, have your coach or another skater hold your hands while you skate backwards and attempt the lunge the same way (one-foot glide to slam). Having someone hold your hands may make you more aware of your upper body and give you that little confidence boost.

Start slowly then build your way up with speed. Focus on a strong core and upper body and making certain to hear your boot hit the ice. Chances are, if you can't hear the little slam noise, you're being too timid or allowing the blade to hit the ice first.

The key is to do the 3-turn sorta flat, like for a jump set up (like for a flip), not like for a spin. Else you get too carried away in the rotational direction.

We were taught these just for fun one lazy sunday afternoon with a guest coach who wasn't a coach but rather a 17 year old skater filling in. Anyway one of the things I found that had to be was reaching with the knee for the ice, not with the foot. When you reach with the knee, the side of the ankle automatically hits the ice, rather than the blade. If not, the blade hits first and you get the "chop chop chop stop" thing.

And also, just daring. Once I got past the point where I was hooking my blade in the ice, I still couldn't really do the lunge because before I had my boot properly on te ice and I was off the toepick of my gliding foot, I had lost all momentum. More speed and more daring gave me the extra second or so to get those details right and feel what they were supposed to be like. You're two feet from the ice, what's the worst possible thing that could happen? The first few times I bit the (ice)dust, after that it sorta started working out. I never learned them consistently cuz we never practiced them after that and I am very timid of trying backward things on public sessions so I didn't do them nearly often enough to get any sort of results, but they're not that difficult really. Just scary.

When I learned these as a kid, we did a backward spiral and then dropped down into the lunge.

I haven't done one in years, so I think I'll try one the next time I skate.

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Thanks everyone for the great tips! I will try them at my next practice.

I think my main problem was I was kinda expecting it to be sort of the same as the forward lunge, where you can go not too low and then as you move your skating foot forward your lunging leg goes down lower because you get "pulled" by the forward momentum. obviously i was wrong with this regard and it is not the same as backward. and I definitely have to be more daring because i'm just being wimpy about all my attempts.

I tried for ages to get this right but couldnt get my boot to hit the ice instead of the blade until I thought about trying to get the knee to the ice instead of the boot (you dont actually want to hit the ice with the knee but thinking about trying to do it helps you to get the leg in the right position to touch down with the boot) It can be quite gentle this way but takes confidence to go for it.

Think about trying to make the knee touch the ice first and invariably you will hit with the right part of the boot first. Thinking about hitting with the boot just made me hit with the blade, so by moving my focus up the leg to the knee it allowed the boot to hit and not the blade.

That's the thing I wanted to say! I notice that people who have very very nice lunges have their knees to the ice when doing those lunges. I can't understand how can you have your foot lying on its side to the ice but the knee bent to touch the ice. Does it mean you turn out the free leg from the knee?

Yes, interesting question. My coach asked me at one stage to do forward lunges with my knee actually on the ice, instead of straight back behind me. I could do it, as she said, it was easier (don't know why) but it really hurt my knee. I think there is a fair bit of hip turnout involved, but because the leg is bent, it is possible to get the knee & side of leg on the ice, whereas the straight back leg has to come totally from the hip.

Anyone?

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Katz

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If I'm doing a lunge with my knee on the ice, I put the toe part of my boot down rather than the inside. However, most of the time when I do lunges, my back leg is more or less straight and the inside of the boot drags on the ice.

One big tip that I've found helpful when teaching backwards lunges is to think about keeping the pinkie toe up. Use the outside part of your calf muscle to lift the outside of the foot up so that the blade doesn't hit the ice.

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I haven't tried back lunges yet (although I'm going to now!), but I don't have any problem putting my knee down on a forward lunge. The turnout is from the hip, and it's really the inside of your knee that's on the ice - the inside of your knee, the whole inside of your lower leg, and the inside of your boot. I guess if someone doesn't have good hip turnout it could be difficult to attain this position.

I can only do my forward lunges with my knee on the ice. (Old video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02JcymstTCQ) I've had various people (not my coach) tell me this is wrong, and your knee should not touch the ice.

Backwards lunge, IMO, is HARD. It is a completely different beast from the forward lunge. I have done it twice- once was just before I fell into splits... so it doesn't really count, as I was merely passing through the lunge position. The other was while turning from a front lunge to a back lunge, and that resulted in 3 days of painful walking due to pulling pretty much every muscle in my leg and hip.

But over and over all I heard about the backward lunge was to not think about putting your foot down, but about turning the bottom of the foot upward and thinking about laying the ankle down on the ice, so as to not catch the blade.

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I've seen kids have their torso forward and i've seen some kids do it with a straight back/posture. What is the correct way to hold the position?

I dont' touch the ice with my knee in either forward or back lunges. The back leg should be pretty straight but the forward(skating leg) should be bent at the knee as much as possible to get you as low to the ice as possible. That way it can look almost as if the knee is touching the ice because the body is so low. The turnout is still from the hip.

Thinking about touching the knee to the ice is just a psychological device to help get the right part of the boot down and not the blade. If I visualise getting the knee to the ice I automaticaly lift my free foot up so that the side of the boot hits the ice first. It's pretty impossible to actually make your knee touch first and anyway you don't want the knee on the ice unless you are doing a knee slide turny thing.

torso position is optional I think but personally I think it looks better to be as upright in the torso as possible while being as low to the ice as possible without the knee actually touching.

I have to work on these too b/c I will have to teach them at some pt. Never really did them for myself. What I have observed from another coach's lesson was that she swung her leg forward then back to open her hip and get her free leg high. She then dropped in one smooth motion to place her boot on the ice.

I plan to practice this motion at the gym on mats then take it to the ice when no one is looking.

Kay

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