Skating exercise

A full circuit of the rink built from an open mohawk into backward edges, a step wide and a crossover, on both sides.

BIS Skills 2exercise 5In the syllabus both before and after 01/10/2026

Not checked yet. The requirements on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

The first exercise anywhere in Skills that asks for a circuit of the rink; the ones before it run in a pattern down the ice. That changes what is being tested: nothing here is difficult in isolation, and the difficulty is that it has to keep going for a lap without a push to rescue it.

The mohawk is the new element. It changes foot from a forward inside edge to a backward inside edge with the curve continuing, which is the part skaters get wrong: a mohawk that breaks the lobe has become a step with a turn in it. Open or closed is where the free foot comes in, in front of the skating foot or behind it, and this guide treats the two as one element because the ice cannot tell them apart. The document asks for the open one.

After the mohawk comes the half that goes wrong. Staying on the foot, stepping wide, and transferring the weight back all happen backwards with speed already on, and the exercise gives you no moment to set up for them.

Elements

Left forward outside edgeLFO: the left foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Right forward outside edgeRFO: the right foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
Right forward inside mohawkRFI to LBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Left forward inside mohawkLFI to RBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Left backward inside edgeLBI: the left foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Right backward inside edgeRBI: the right foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left backward outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Right backward outside crossoverRBO to LBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left backward inside step wideLBI to RBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
Right backward inside push backRBI to LBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
Right backward inside step wideRBI to LBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
Left backward inside push backLBI to RBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.

This page lists which elements the exercise calls for and what it is working on. It does not reproduce British Ice Skating's sequence, pattern or wording. For the exercise as published, go to their own document.