Learn To Do Forward Cross Steps (Cross Rolls) - In Figure Skates!

Hey skaters, welcome back. I'm so glad you're here. I am coach Julia and today we are going to be doing forward cross strokes. Now this is a deceptively difficult move. It looks very simple, but there's a lot of technique to it. There are both forward cross strokes and backward cross strokes. We'll be focusing on backward cross strokes very soon, so make sure you hit that subscribe button so you see that video when it comes up. Today we are focusing on forward cross strokes. You want to already have good forward stroking motion. You're going to want to have your forward edges and I would recommend you're really comfortable with getting those legs really crossed, so being good at your crossovers is helpful as well. I'll post links to that forward stroking, forward edges, and forward cross strokes in the description down below, but if you know how to do all those things, let's get started. We're going to be starting this tutorial with some very simple outside edges, crossing our feet at the end. So we're going to start on our left forward outside edge. I'm going to have my hands basically shaped going forward, so I'm not going to be passing them by my body the way I would with normal forward outside edges. So you're going to be facing forward. We're going to go onto our left outside edge, give myself a push, and now I'm going to bring my right foot across, so I'm in basically a crossover. When I'm placing my foot down though, instead of going onto my inside edge the way I would with a proper crossover, I'm going to try to put that foot down on its outside edge, so my feet are actually on opposite edges. They're outside, so they're actually like kinked in towards each other. You're going to find when you put that foot on the outside edge, your foot is going to want to curve, okay? So if you sit there very long, your feet are going to run into each other because they're both on that outside edge. So we're going to step on that outside edge. You're crossing your foot so that your right foot is also on its outside edge. If you kept going, your feet would just run right into each other, okay? So we've got to get ready to step right away. So we're crossed, and now it's time for the foot that's tucked underneath. Right now it's my left foot to do its job. So you're on both outside edges. This left foot is still on its outside edge, and you're going to push off of it like when you push off for a crossover. This is why having good crossovers is so important. So we don't want to push off of it with the toe pick, okay? We want to push off of it using our outside edge. So you want to think about using the adductor. That's that muscle on the inside of your thigh there. We're going to use that muscle to lift, okay? So just like practicing crossovers, if you can get your balance here and work on lifting that tucked under leg from me to my left, just lifting it off the ice with the whole blade coming off, lifting off the outside edge and not engaging that toe pick, that's going to really help you get stronger with both your crossovers and these cross steps. So you push onto the outside edge, cross that foot in front, step onto your outside edge, and then you're going to push off your back outside edge. That's very awkward feeling at first, and it's difficult to do slowly, so you'll get better at it as you're able to pick up speed. As you push off of that back foot, you want to think about pushing through the heel, okay? If you push through the toe, you're going to end up engaging that toe pick, so think about pushing through the heel, so your toe is almost coming off of the ice. So we go push, outside edge, outside edge, push through the heel, outside edge, outside edge, push through the heel, okay? So every time you're trying to keep that toe off of the ice so we don't go... Let's try to do this a little bit more smoothly, and we're going to step it up and really talk about the knee bend, how the legs should look, but we're just trying to get that foot to cross at first and get the right edges. So we're going to be stepping across, outside edge, stepping across, outside edge. Now I heard this said very well by actually my camera person, Dev, hiding back there, that it's like a catwalk, okay? So we're kind of rotating those hips, twisting the waist, stepping across. It's a little bit sassy, all right? So if you're having a hard time thinking about how this move works, you can think of it like a catwalk. All right, now that you've been practicing it like a catwalk, getting those feet crossed, we've got to add in some proper extensions and some proper knees, so a little bit less catwalk-y, all right? So when you push, you want to extend your pushing leg through your hip, through your knee, and point that toe. So that back leg is getting long and pointed, okay? Like a nice, proper forward stroking motion. You do not want to have it bent at the knee. You don't want to have a soft, flexed foot. You want that extension, okay? So that extension is coming all the way through that hip, and then it's going to cross, and your body is sort of low, okay? So we're somewhat tall on the extension. We drop down and cross, okay? So every time we want to have a little bit of lift and fall. Lift and fall. Lift on the extension, fall on the cross. So strong back leg, bend down, cross. Strong back leg, bend down, cross. Strong back leg, bend down, cross. You want a bit of that rise and fall. Now that gets extremely awkward with that back leg, because you're pushing with it. So right now, my right leg is tucked behind my back leg. I'm going to push off of that outside edge. Get a little momentum here. Push off of that outside edge, and it's tucked behind, and it has to circle all the way around to where you can get it into that nice, extended motion. That is awkward. I understand that. It means you're going to have to apply repetition, practice, practice, and really focus on those details so that this is a nice-looking move, not a slightly awkward-looking one, okay? So we have that push, riding your outside edge, cross in front, and this foot behind has to push, circle all the way around, open that toe up, and then cross in front. Push, circle that back leg all the way around, cross in front. So your foot is making a full circle as we push, extend, cross. Push, extend, and cross. All right, so let's put this all together into the nicest forward cross strokes we can. All right, so we're going to go push onto an outside edge, circle that leg around, bend down, step onto an outside edge, circle that leg around, bend down. Every time, we're trying to avoid pushing with the toe, okay? So we're sort of lifting that toe off and pushing with that heel. There should be a rise and fall, rise and fall. Okay, so practice that motion around the rink. You're going to use it for various different moves in the field test if you're here in the United States, and I'm sure it's applied in tests in other countries as well, and it's a great perimeter way of warming up. So you can use it at the beginning of your session, and you will find ways that it is used in programs as well. So it's a sneaky little move. It looks beautiful and graceful and simple, but focus on those details so it does not look awkward. All right, let's try this really skating. All right, skaters, I hope you enjoyed this cross stroke tutorial. Remember, there are both forward ones, which we worked on today, and backward ones, which I'll have up for you very soon. So you want to click that subscribe button so you don't miss out when that backward cross stroke tutorial comes up. All right, so if you enjoyed this, please do give us that thumbs up, and I always look forward to reading all your comments down in that section below. If you want more tutorials like this, head on over to my Patreon. There's a link in the description down below where I have new tutorials coming out every single week. Happy skating, and I'll see you next time.