Last Updated on Friday, 03 June 2016 10:05
By Andy Ness
Understanding the physics of skating is very important. It’s important to understand how speed works while on skates. Very simply, if you are in shoes, you are moving your feet front to back. If you are on skates you need to push out on your edge. Speed is created by downward force. In a nutshell, the stronger you push against the ice, the faster you will go. There are other things like gliding and friction, but essentially if your blades stay in contact with the ice by pushing outwards, you will gain speed.
The loading phase comes from loading all of your power with a bent knee on one leg. Similar to a one-legged squat jump or using a Russian box, power must be stored on the leg that is ready to push. The more power loaded, the more power that will be transferred to the push.
In the top photo of Anders Lee, you will notice how all of his power is loaded onto one leg. His power is ready to provide downward force into the ice. The key is to make sure your legs/skates are underneath you so you can generate power.
After loading, the skater will then grip and push on an edge outwards, remembering that the leg will return around and through directly under the hips. This means that the more the skater pushes against the ice, the more powerful the stride will be.
Notice how in the below photos of Zach Parise the push goes out to the side, forcing the body to travel forward. This is sometimes commonly misunderstood because it looks like the skate is being pushed back, but is actually being pushed out. The skate will naturally go back on its own right before the return.
Another common mistake on the push is not fully extending the leg all the way out. Some skaters cheat themselves out of efficiency by picking the skate up too soon or getting a high leg-kick.
Please stay tuned for the next article as I will explain how the return works. This is such an essential piece, not only from an efficiency standpoint, but also for injury prevention. Keep working and good luck!
Andy Ness is the head skating and skill coach for the Minnesota Wild. He has also been an assistant skating instructor for the New Jersey Devils, the University of Minnesota men’s and women’s hockey teams and the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
