Skating exercise

A serpentine of backward inside 3-turns and open mohawks, two lobes on each foot, joined entirely by crossovers.

BIS Skills 5exercise 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.

Everything in this is from an earlier test and the exercise is still the hardest thing in Skills 5 to make look unhurried. It runs as a serpentine across the ice with crossovers doing all the joining, so the skater is never travelling in a straight line and never gets a plain push to reset the speed.

The backward inside 3-turn does the work. It is entered from a crossover, which is the least settled place to start a turn from, and it has to produce a forward edge tidy enough for the next crossover to be taken immediately. The learning objective asks for extended entry and exit edges, and that is what separates this from the Skills 3 version: the turn is no longer allowed to be a quick pivot between two steps.

Flow, glide and freedom of movement are what the outcome names, in that order. It is worth reading that as a warning about the second lobe: most skaters can produce one clean serpentine and then start rushing, and this exercise asks for two on each foot.

Elements

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 outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left forward outside crossoverLFO to RFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Right forward outside crossoverRFO to LFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
Left backward inside three turnLBI to LFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Right backward inside three turnRBI to RFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward inside mohawkLFI to RBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Right forward inside mohawkRFI to LBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.

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.