Backward Crossovers - Learn to Ice Skate!

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In this video, I teach you how to do backward crossovers! This is a key fundamental figure skating move to learn on the ice whether you are interested in figure skating, ice hockey, freestyle skating, or just simply impressing your friends!
To do so, you will need to first learn how to do the backward pump, then the backward chasse, then finally you can progress on to the backward crossover.
Don't be surprised if you don't get the hang of this at first, backward crossovers take time to learn. If you follow these tips and keep practising, you'll get there.
Is there something you would like to learn on the ice? Let us know in our community area or leave a comment below.
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[@lilasmith6600]

This coach is so good at explaining movements. I truly appreciate it. He’s entertaining too.

[@skippythealien9627]

he is also so good at making it look easy! but man, i'm literally sweating raindrops when i try to just do backward pumps lmao

[@_Rohan]

I have been struggling with my weight distribution trying backward crossovers and your final tip, putting the weight on both legs confidently for each movement, has been the key to my problem! Thanks so much for another fun and helpful video! :D

[@IceCoachOnline]

Fantastic! I'm happy to hear the video was helpful for you :)

[@jmoore5437]

Weight transfer and timing has been my issue too. This is helpful

[@sel-]

🗼there is no skyscraper haha! I still watch these vids as an advanced skater just to brush up if someone asks me for help as they usually think I can explain being skilled, but I learned on my own early on and developed different habits which I feel aren't great to explain to someone.

[@effendytham8946]

just in time for me to learn backward crossovers, always loved how you do the explanation

[@_empty_4945]

You make it look so effortless, I hope I can have my basics look like this one day, more practice!!

[@TheAnxietyAttic]

This is the best video I have seen on backwards crossovers. You described everything Im doing wrong and showed all the steps to fix them. Thank you.

[@sncnjcsmom6451]

Thank you so much for a thorough beginner back cross-overs tutorial. So helpful! 🏩🌋🗽🎢🌇⛸

[@IceCoachOnline]

You're welcome. Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the emojiis too :D

[@nagasakiremi3848]

Your videos always make me want to rush to the closest Ice Rink. Can't wait to try this move during my next visit! 🤩

[@truthtalkswithjudy6148]

So helpful… now I know what I was doing wrong! Love backcrossovers… they are gorgeous!

[@katesmith8005]

Can't wait for the opening of the ice-rink in my town. A useful video to refresh my skating skills (no matter how small they are) :)

[@Prince_Charming_1]

Thank you so much for your hard work putting together this amazing and useful backward crossover training video! Love it! I'm not an ice figured skater, but an inline skater. I enjoy watching and learning from the ice skating training videos because the skating techniques and skills are pretty much the same. I'm going to start practicing my backward crossover with your video. Thanks!

[@jamesgreer9748]

The really the big difference between iceskating and roller blading is that iceskating is a taught sport where rolling is not. You are very wise to have watch this. It is a great tutorial.

[@OksanaSean]

This is awesome! Love the level of detail. Thank you so much!!

[@axelcapriccioso]

Thank you so much for making these tutorial videos! It really helps greatly. I've learned so much from you.

[@mariaandronache7015]

Thank you so much! I learned backwards crossovers a long time ago, by myself, I was little and now I want to improve my technique. This was a very good tutorial! Helped me a lot! Thanks again!🙏🏻🙏🏻😇

[@flwr_nz]

Such a great explanation! Thank you! Keen to practice now.

[@DD-ez1ho]

Excellent tutorial. It helped me fix every issue my coach pointed out with my back xovers

[@KirariandMikan]

Thank you so much for this breakdown!! Still struggling to orient my body and pull inner leg back near the end but this was really helpful!!!

[@seapeachy]

thank you for making these tutorials so entertaining! I find myself laughing as much as I am learning, keep up the great work!

[@clarence5211]

yess a new video on the exact move i was seriously struggling with on my last lesson, like you read my mind!

[@IceCoachOnline]

Perfect! I'm glad my timing of posting the video was useful :D

[@TormodSteinsholt]

I like the format. I really like your emphasis on form on intermittent steps. I don't have any need to rush the process. I was reasonably sure that I could do the backwards pump, but then you showed some details on weight and foot position and now I am no longer sure. I will have to check if that is where I'm stuck.

[@DSu-gi2co]

appreciated that u also demo the errors and reasons

[@JodyKriss]

Thanks for the advice!

[@johngoble4307]

Excellent. As always

[@Stelsss_]

OMG I NEED THIS ! I’m learning this on my 2nd month of skating. I’m 26 and I’m taking private lesson 2 times a week

[@nakedstatue8517]

I am just so stunned with you doing all this in jeans :O I have trouble with most backwards skating... so I will def try your tip!

[@chrissutter]

🗼I’ll try it again tomorrow.

[@maikolosav]

🛕🗼 Thanks for the tips, I'm gonna work on my backwards crossovers. I'm not confident at all with balancing on my outside edge! I guess I'm afraid of falling because if I lose my balance, there's no leg to support me on the outside! Haha! So I tend to favour the inside edge...

[@skatr123]

Another Kurt Browning!! love it!

[@EastCentralEurope35]

Thank you!!

[@janiceszabo8029]

🛕great video as always!

[@ebri.]

This helps so much!

[@nicoboingeanu]

Enjoying your teachings you are very good , it’s easy to learn from you Thank you Blade sharpening is a fundamental element in ice skating and essential in skill progression. Have you considered giving a session on the subject ?

[@DuncanRitchie]

🗼 awesome stuff 🗼

[@goldzia82]

🏫🏩🏦🏬🏭⛪🕌 So helpful! Thx!

[@JodyKriss]

No sky scraper but I watched the whole vid 🎉

[@peachmint6377]

Thank you so much! ☺️

[@IceCoachOnline]

You are so welcome!

[@BWT599]

Learn 'em young because it's super hard as an adult in my 40s playing beer league hockey. Even though I'm a good skater, grew up playing hockey, for some reason I never learned backward crossovers. In now trying to learn with my young kids.

[@deesterdee6650]

Yay, thsnks!

[@kaoutharnajim567]

🏙Thank you! 🏙

[@StarkRyan-zm9ep]

🏙 Thanks for your videos! They have helped so much while I look for a new in-person coach!

[@mariofegaly3334]

Hello, I am a beginner skater! I have a coach but I love your videos a lot they help a bunch, I was wondering if you could make a video on teaching us how to do loads of different spins? It would be very helpful, btw there is no skyscraper 😅

[@honyakupjp]

This is perfect timing for me as I'm just trying to figure out backwards crossovers. I'm having trouble connecting them at the moment - for some reason I seem to make a really big meal out of moving from the first crossover to the second pump and end up losing all momentum. Probably a weight shifting thing right?

[@stellareventdesigns196]

🏙️ I like your videos. Especially the common mistakes part. Question: what are some beginner exercises to master the 2nd push of the backward crossover please?

[@UndineAlmani]

I'd love if you could refer to some test requirements. Because often coaches don't really tell me what I have to look out for and I don't want a bad surprise when taking my test eventually... It'd be cool to get that in addition to the technique.

[@IceCoachOnline]

Do you mean for the specific move I am teaching in the video? Test requirements and standards can vary wildly from different locations. However, I could explain in videos that what sort of standard you would be looking at to pass the move at different levels.

[@UndineAlmani]

@@IceCoachOnline Yeah, I understand. Like we don't have a "moves in the field" test like in the US and and I have no idea what kind of things are required in UK etc. But what I meant was like what to look out for especially for tests and competition? Because e.g. for tests (we have 8 classes, 8 is the lowest with toe loop, waltz, loop and some edges, 1 is the best with double or more jumps) judges want to see super perfect and high spirals. I didn't know how important that was and it's good to know. But it's in general something you don't see in yt video. Like if course it's shown correctly (and I'll also ask my coach here), but just emphasis here and there on what to look out for, common mistakes judges hate or what is considered clean and what is sloppy and might cost you the test... Does that make sense?

[@avici0182]

Props to the cameraman for not getting dizzy

[@kitt3797]

3:55 you’ve got sense of humour😂🎉 Although this is a skating tutorial but I think you sounds like a chef dunno why 😅😂

[@facundocabral5533]

Thanks for the tutorial! Do you think I have to practice my backward balance in one foot before start with backwards crossovers?

[@eweli]

Thanks very much, that's very helpful! I remember on one session, the coach (not my usual one) went over backward crossovers when I wasn't ready. I fell backwards so badly that I didn't want to attempt them again. But I spent so much time learning how to do backward chasses properly and I've tried the backward crossover today! Wow, It was so much easier!!! I can't find the skyscraper on my android, so have a crane instead 🏗️ 😂

[@ifitgoesright]

🌃Thank you for the video, it’s very helpful! I tend to twist my hips towards the circle when I do the pump before crossing to generate power, but my circle/curve then becomes small. (I do backward crossover without lifting a foot) Do you have a tip to fix this?. Thanks!

[@Tofu-xx2sk]

3:54 was gold

[@Tofu-xx2sk]

Love your vids!!! Better than any teacher I’ve had IRL 😢

[@tracywalker1621]

🏰 The lemon crossovers ..🤣

[@erylleg9541]

Hello! Can you please make another forward stroking video? Thank you very much!

[@IceCoachOnline]

Hey! Yes I can look at doing an updated forward stroking video. Have you watched the one on the channel?

[@erylleg9541]

@@IceCoachOnline Yes! I have already watched it :)) I'm thinking if you could do an updated version so that I can learn more tips on how to improve my forward stroking😊

[@traceywilson06]

🏢(closest I could find)I still have some issues with my underpush, my weight is a bit to far forward and when I skate CW I scrape my toepick, it drives me nuts and my coach is determined to stop me doing it lol

[@Peter-zx7ub]

I seem to have watched a coach that put the right leg to the back of left leg to do the backward crossover. Your way of doing this is different, put the left leg to the front of right leg. In this step, is there a push on the left leg? Also, which one is better: the two ways of backward crossover?

[@samfromuk]

(Tall Building Emoji) Great advice. Can you do a video talking about the American vs EU way of entering a spin? Apparently the American way is when you enter the spin with the shoulders pre-rotated into the circle before you hook the 3 turn into the spin.

[@IceCoachOnline]

Nice description of an emojii that doesn't exist (i realised after filming the video that I couldn't find it on my phone). Interesting question, it really depends on which technique the coaches teach in. I have a lot of American students who had coaches that taught them not to pre rotate their shoulders as described. Then I see a fair amount of kids pre rotating their shoulders in the UK. Good idea for a video though, exploring different techniques for the spin.

[@aatsw]

How about the scoop of inside leg, from stepping into the circle with a slight inside edge, then scooping to the outside with outside edge into the under push?

[@rob23062007]

Boss level

[@ElessarIII]

🏢 Hello, thx for video. I learned how to do backward cross rolls, but now im struggling with their second version and i cant find any video of it. I don't know what they're called in English. It's basically backward cross rolls but on inside edges and i cross my legs in front of me and im really struggling with it. Do you know what I mean? Are you planning on making some video about it?

[@DuckSeason12]

🏯 👍

[@JoseMiranda-zu7xl]

HELOW I LIKE SO MUCH YOUR VIDEO , PLEASE WHERE IS THIS RINK AUSTRALIA ?

[@jds2620]

🏗️ as an adult skater who has lost hearing in one ear after medical issues I find it very difficult leaning as it feels like I am falling as my equilibrium is now pretty much non existent. Can I do the crossovers with the feet staying on the ice to cross but not rotating or leaning the upper body into the circle as long as I am on the outside edge. I can do continuous backwards crossovers going straight backwards Ie. One left crossover, shift weight one right crossover etc ... Just wondered if it would be possible to get them on a circle and build up some speed without risking that horrendous vertigo spin feeling I experience when leaning even if I keep my head straight.

[@lilyc2820]

🕍 Great video, thank you. I've been struggling to master these for a while, I was wondering how to "circle" the leg from the side to the front and over 🤔, so the pumps are already on the front, it makes sense now! I have a question though, if the crossing leg stays on the ice, how do you pull it in without stopping (as in pulling the brakes), on the rocker or do you lift it just an inch over the ice? What I've managed to do until now is to slide the foot inwards almost perpendicular (kind of half a lemon) 🙈.

[@TheLarryBrown]

No you don't lift it off the ice, but as it crosses inward you have to use the outside edge.

[@lilyc2820]

@@TheLarryBrown Ok, thanks a lot!

[@blodiaaa6990]

🗽

[@marthaeastwood5761]

🗽should the back arm be higher than the front arm or does that not matter as much

[@IceCoachOnline]

I would recommend trying to keep it level with the other arm when learning this. Otherwise, you will be tempted to lean off your centre.

[@eyeonthepanda]

🏢 🏙 🏙 🌃 🗼 🌇 🗽 🏬 🏦🗺 🏨 love the consistent vids! it looks like you're reviewing the basics, maybe a backspin tutorial sometime? :D

[@Prizzlesticks]

I find backwards crossovers easier than forward. Kind of. Actually, my crossovers aren't great in general post COVID, but. I can't lift my leg and crossover going backwards, but I can easily do them with one leg staying on the ice. Meanwhile, the reverse is true for forward crossovers. I lift but can't glide. I don't even know why.

[@nekuju]

Hi.I have a question.Before starting jump lessons, what does a coach expect from an athlete? which movements ,skills? for example backward crossover? and you can say "yes you are ready to start to learn jumps" thanks

[@IceCoachOnline]

Generally you should be able to hold both your forward inside and outside edges on a circle forwards and backwards. After that, you should be able to do backwards crossovers, then step to forwards on a circle. Finally, you should try to first learn a 3 turn and a Mohawk. If you can do all of the above, then you could practice a bunny hop to get to grips with hitting the toe pick when doing a jump on the ice. Then start working on your 3 jump. I joke this helps :)

[@nekuju]

@@IceCoachOnline thanks for answer😊

[@marthaeastwood5761]

Do you have a video on learning spirals

[@IceCoachOnline]

There is a video covering improving the spiral off ice. I think there is a forward spiral video up on the channel too (if not it's on the website too). I want to look at doing a more up to date spiral video too.

[@slater4cc]

🌇

[@Ma0xMa0]

🗼😺

[@oliviagermanium7934]

🗼

[@laracarbonara]

i have no problem pushing with my right leg but i can’t do it with my left 😭

[@katyaaralina9500]

Same here

[@MsToadrus]

Tall skyscrapers 🏙

[@___i3ambi126]

I recommend trying to do the hydroblade position as soon as possible. You try it. Fall. Realize lowering yourself down with a leg doesnt hurt at all. Then you get way more comfortable on a back outside edge because you can always catch yourself woth the other leg and fall into the hydroblade position.

[@IceCoachOnline]

Nice tip, thanks for sharing. It could be very helpful for people with good mobility.

[@lukemarleau5701]

Great video! 🏙️. I'm still trying to find balance going backwards, I have to force myself not to lean forwards. The pump drill looks good for that!

[@Music_is_MyBestFriend]

🗼🗽🏰 🙂👍🏻

[@GBots3]

🌆

[@tipopony4395]

🌃🌃🌃🌃🌃

[@deesterdee6650]

🏦

[@lyamorian767]

ooooh, that's gonna be a lot of work..

[@omarbrocelango4794]

ap hhh

[@andreahall1612]

🏙️

[@ceceliafreeman4486]

🏢

[@TheLarryBrown]

1:28 "Keep our weight on the outside foot," that's wrong, or at best misleading to a student. If you keep your weight on your outside foot you won't be able to lift it off the ice as shown a moment later in the "chasse." I think coach misspoke there. He should have said you keep your weight on the outside edge of the inside foot. 3:06 Contrary to his earlier advice, coach clarifies that we need our weight on our inside foot. At that same time, coach glosses over a critical point: as you complete your pump, you have all your weight on your inside foot (let's say that's your right). That allows you to lift your outside (left) foot off the ice and do the cross over. You then need to shift your weight to that left foot. With your weight on that foot, you can now lift your right foot off the ice and bring it back to its natural position. Coach fails to mention that critical weight shift until the last tip at the end of the video.

[@IceCoachOnline]

Emphasis on weight over the pushing foot is key for a beginner and getting the good push is key to doing the correct pump action and then a correct crossover. It's very common for this to be missed. So at 1:28 I recommend it should be performed as I am doing so. I don't contradict myself in the video, and as you said, I explain more things later on in the video. The video is structured this way because if I explain a backward pump in a lot of detail, followed by the backward Chasses in great detail, then the backward crossover, then the run time of the video can be 30 to 40 minutes. For an 8 minute video, based on the stats of average watch time, it's better to give a few key details early on, and then add the missing information later for the people that want to stick around for more information.

[@cocolauyin]

⛸love it

[@IceCoachOnline]

Thanks!

[@BrigitteLaskowski]

🗼🛕🏙️🌁 Gee, I never realized how many steps there are in crosscuts (crossovers). I am an adult skater who hasn't skated in the last 2½ yrs because of mandates & higher costs. I use to Program Assist on CanSkate (learn to skate) more than I skated myself. I'd say, you've covered all the mistakes I use to do when I began and the mistakes that CanSkaters make all the time from stage 2 to stage 6 CanSkate. Some of them when you did them made me laugh. One thing I was doing when I would get tired was to rise in my knees. It made my crosscuts slower and not as proficient. Working on knee and leg strength should help that, right? I like doing the back crosscuts where my front blade stays on the ice. I like to take the CanSkaters to the boards to show them how to lean on their edges. I over exaggerate the edges and bending the knees because by the time they get to doing the pumping around the circle the knees straighten out and they loose quit a bit of the edge lean. Instead of talking about where the hands go, I tell the CanSkaters to look at the center of the circle to get them to push their outer shoulder forward and the inner shoulder back, which works for both forward and backward crosscuts. Then when they get to level four, we talk about hand placement and to look where you are going especially when going backwards. At level one, we in Canada already have the CanSkaters getting ready to do walking crossovers by doing sideways walking. Walking crossovers are started in level 2 CanSkate. Anyway your video made me laugh and smile.

[@lizwhalley8949]

🌆🏢🏛️🏬 There's a little city for you ☺️. Thanks for laying out the progression of skills to work on here. I'm trying to learn backward crossovers and really struggling and I think it's because I'm trying to get it all right at once. Will be easier to do it stepwise.

[@IceCoachOnline]

Thanks for the little city :D I'm happy to hear the video helped you out! Let me know if you're finding the crossovers easier now.

[@jmoore5437]

🏙 Are there any off-ice exercises you recommend to help with this, in terms of strength building, posture and proper positioning? I find I struggle to keep my positioning, specifically my arms towards the circle

[@oinkoink3669]

🏛️ somehow I love crossovers and they were very easy for me to learn unlike some of my fellow students.

[@naturelover1284]

I am afraid to go faster because of a fall, is there a good way to fall?📬

[@MezBlade]

I'm skating on rollerblades but all tips are helpful nevertheless. Every day I'm improving my crossovers bit by bit, they're quite good now 🗼

[@reyhoonabedi9928]

🗼

[@Lorij24]

🌆

[@amariongamingtv9531]

🏙️

[@eugwong]

🏢

[@anamedeeapopa9718]

🗼

[@sharoofa9867]

🏢🏛

[@selpasos7386]

🏙