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How
To Stride 2
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Static Balancing
Drill
While standing in one place, practice balancing on one
skate. Alternate skates,
holding each for two to four seconds. Concentrate on
your non-dominant
side until it is at the same level as your dominant
side.
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Getting
Your Motion Down
If you feel unsure of your balance or you are moving in
an s-shaped path, eliminate
arm motion & keep your hands in front of you at
waist level as you doing the ready
position. Add arm motion back when you are fully
comfortable with stride 2.
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Dynamic
Balancing Drill
Now put it in motion: While rolling forward on a flat
surface, practice
balancing on one skate. Alternate skates, holding each
for two to four
seconds before changing. |
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Build
Strength & Balance
To build strength & balance, practice pushing off
& retrieving one skate
along a straight path (as if you were pushing a
skateboard).
Repeat this drill with the other skate. |
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Copyright 1997 -
1998 Eddy Matzger Workshop. All rights reserved
worldwide.
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Terrain
Pick a spot that is long & wide enough for stride 2.
Narrow spaces cause you to
change your motion, creating balance & stability
problems.
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Keep
a forward lean
If your stride 2 is choppy, make sure your forward lean
is deep enough. It lets you
apply the inside skate pressure needed to extend your
action leg & glide.
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Avoid striding too wide in stride 2. This throws off
your balance & limits
your efficiency & speed.
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First
off, keep learning how to slow down! Learn new techniques,
refine the ones you already know. Until you master slowing
down, your mind will limit how fast it will let you go on
skates.
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Watch
good skaters. Notice that they rarely have both skates on
the ground at the same time. This independent leg action is
something you will master over time, you can practice by
seeing how long you can glide on a single skate. When you
can glide on a single skate for more than 30 seconds (both
left & right legs!), you are well on the way.
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Notice
that almost all of the side to side motion is happening
below the waist. Eliminate any twisting motion in your
shoulders, keep your shoulders square to your direction of
travel. If you want to move your arms, move them forward
& back, crossing patterns may have you twist your
shoulders. Relax the muscles in your lower back to allow
your upper body to remain quiet.
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Watch
your stride. Are you pushing more to the side or to the
back? Shift your stride to be pushing almost exclusively to
the side.
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Where do
you set your skate down at the start of your stride?
Shoulder width? Start setting your skate down on the centre
line of your body. After you are comfortable with that,
start setting your skate further in beyond your centre line.
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Do you
flick your toe at the end of your stride? If so, stop.
Instead, flick your heel, drive your heel out at the end of
the stroke. This will feel very strange for the first 10,000
times or so!
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