Today I was experimenting with my inside and outside edges. I had no problem with my inside edges of my blades, but when I tried gliding on my outside edges the blade did not glide smoothly. Was this because my weight was not centered in the correct spot, or is there something wrong with my blades? I tried a couple of different times to glide on one foot with both of my outside edges, and then wondered if it was possible to do this and remembered that it was.. unless it isn't.. but it is, right? Yeah, it is. Okay, so I'm going to assume that I'm not putting my weight on the right part of my foot, right?

try this, on a hockey circle (going CW) to practice the outside edgeof the right foot, your right knee should be bent and leaning towards the circle and your blade on the outside edge, think of pressing down on your pinky side, push off with your left foot and extend the left leg, position your right arm back and your left arm in front of you, do these pushes and try to hold the position for as long as you can, thendo the other side (start of with left knee bent and push off from the right foot. I hope I exlained that clear, this was the way i began to learn the concept of forward outside edges. you can also look at the ice to see if you truly were on the edge, it will be a single line, a double line means you were on the flat.

oh and of course be sure your blades have a decent edge to them andhave been sharpened.

If you're not TOTALLY over your outside edge you might be on a flat, and this could be the problem. I noticed I had this problem in my stroking but never knew what the problem was until my coach pointed it out at our first lesson. My problem was for inside edges, but I'd imagine the same could apply for outside too.

It could be either or both. If you normally glide without trouble in your outside edge, then maybe something has changed on the blade. So check if all parts of the blade are sharp.

. . . and if all else fails, have a knowledgeable skate shop pro look at how you stand/glide on your blades to see if they need to be mounted differently. It's possible that they were mounted too far to the outside or that you pronate.

Be sure to keep your free leg behind you-not out to the side (small detail but important).

So, if you are on the hockey circle, and you are going counter-clockwise, you should be gliding on your Left outside edge (another small detail). To glide on the hockey circle on your Right outside edge, you will go clock-wise.

When I help "coach" my hubby, I tell him to be sure that the free leg stays behind the skating leg, to park it against the heel of the skating foot. Keeps your weight really centered over the skating leg, and you can also plant the free foot down in a hurry if you need to (for security's sake).

Good luck!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!