In yesterday's post Jessim commented about her experience with the step behind, and how difficult she found it. I was only using the step-behinds* as an example of how Point. The. Toe helped keep me centered and balanced, but it's not the only thing I do when I'm doing the step behind. Since I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that Pointing. The. Toe alone was my answer, Below is a list of all the things I needed to do:
1. Keep my center of mass over the blade
For me, this requires the following:
a. Bend. The. Ankle
b. Bend. The. Knee
c. Don't. Look. Down
d. Don't. Hunch
2. I also want to keep the moving parts of my body from pulling my center of mass away from over my blade. This requires:
a. Move. Smooth
b. Point. The. Toe
c. Keep. Your. Legs. Close
d. Independence of Movement
3. Do the step behind without hitting the blade.
That's a lot of stuff going on, but they all apply to just about every area of my beginner level skating. If you look at the list you'll probably see phrases your coach has said to you.
Starting in a couple of days, I'll begin a string of posts over the next few weeks that cover all of these. The first post in the series will be "Center of Mass--It's the center of everything".
*And, just a note, I have not tested the Rhythm Blues.
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