Hips and turnout
How far the legs rotate outward from the hip, for the free leg, mohawks and the spread eagle.
Not checked yet. The suggestions 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.
Turnout is how far the legs rotate outward from the hip. Skating asks for a lot of it: the free leg turned out behind on almost every edge, the heels together in a mohawk, and the spread eagle, which is turnout taken to both feet at once in opposite directions.
Most of a skater’s turnout comes from the hip, and forcing it from the knee or the ankle is the usual way to hurt either. The work off the ice is gradual mobility at the hip, done warm and never pushed into pain.
How far your hips turn out is partly how they are built. A coach or physiotherapist can tell you what is realistic, and a spread eagle with less turnout is still a spread eagle.
On the ice, this prepares
- Spread eagleGliding on two feet turned out in opposite directions, one blade travelling forwards and the other backwards along the same curve.
- Ina BauerGliding on two feet on parallel tracings, the front foot travelling forwards with the weight on it and the back foot travelling backwards, extended behind.
- Left forward outside mohawkLFO to RBO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
- SpiralA held glide with the free leg extended at or above hip height.
- Extended edgeA plain edge held for a third of a circle, long enough to be a position in its own right.
Written for the guide from what each element asks of the body. No governing body's material.