So are you saying that I should feel my heel pressure first on every stride? And then it rockers to the front of the foot? I’m very interested in the biomechanics of this. What should I be feeling in my stride or what should I be thinking about when I’m skating to get this feel?
Amazing video. Broken down and explained comprehensively. The on ice example really supports what you’re teaching. Great move into doing the videos this way. I’m going to focus more on heel pressure!
great stuff as usual. Definitely debunking some bad habits i had from power skating/speed skating habits that focused too much on efficiency (because they skate multi-minutes shifts in circles!)
Jason. I think another way to explain his wide stance is that it helps him to place his weight outside his support leg and fall, as you talk about in your lectures.
In the membership area we go deep into the profiles and optimization for players individual needs. Sorry but other coaches can really help with that, I haven't experimented with it as much.
I'm not a good skater but I do like to keep my weight on hills as well , now my question is what profile I should use to match my style and what I like ? . Great videos btw
I'm not saying this is wrong... I agree that he stance is wide however, I don't agree with the whole not pushing off with your toes. I believe the weight should always be in top half of the foot. Faster reaction time and quicker explosion. I find it hard to see how power can be generated from the heel? Ex try jumping that way off ice... Maybe I missed something?
Think about it this way - Ice is not ground, ice is slippery. If you pushed off your toes like you would on ground, it wouldn't work on any slippery surface, including ice. Biomechanically, you have to use heel pressure to move on a slippery surface; biomechanically in hockey, you need heel pressure to skate. Hope this helps! -Coach Mason
@@Train2point0 Thanks for the info! I get your point. You have a higher surface contact aspect. Therefore you'll be getting more traction. However, what I don't understand is how does pushing off your toes not work? I can still get that traction from just my foot angle when skating vertically (approx 45*). In fact I should be even faster because I'm including a follow through with my toes at the end of my stride.
@@XxCurlyManxX from my small experience and experimentation, if you push with your toe, your calf is engaged more which takes more energy. but if you rock your heel to toe, you put your calf muscle in tension while not push with until the end of the tride. most of the power is then driven straight from the heel like a c-cut and then finish in a smooth motion with a natural toe "extension" rather than to flick. so from my understanding, mcdavid is still pushing with the ball of his foot, but not till the end of the stride, and it comes from a rocking motion - heal, middle of the foot, ball of the foot, and then toe extension. let me know what you think. ive been studying this stuff pretty intently, but haven't been playing the sport for long.
@@Train2point0 Agree, I think of the cork screw using heel pressure almost like skating backwards using the toe pressure.....and its amazing how fast we can go backwards when you think about it. My speed and control has really improved just thinking about driving with my heels and collapsing my blade to get the angle.
@@Train2point0 it might just be a bad description, but that doesn't make sense - you can push with any part of the blade so long as it has the right thrust angle as it pushes and leaves the surface/ice. When people get it wrong, they have the skate do that 'backslide' sort of motion where their skate blade doesn't just carry in the same straight line as they're pushing, but 'slides' back towards the midline. A really easy drill to see this is using a heavy resistance like using the rubber bands or flipping the goals over and pushing them (maybe with a couple of kids sitting on the netting to increase resistance). I think what you're meaning is that the pressure isn't just at the toes, the ankle forcefully goes thriough it's own range of motion - my own 'bad analogy' would be a little like frog kick for divers, it isn't just fluttering the toes, you're pushing back with the whole foot and as the movement 'closes out' the toes are coming through at the final moments. short track speed skating (as in ice racing) coaches talked about heel pressure, but the blade are so different and flat, with rocker and a lengthwise bend so they sit flat to match the racing curve when you're leaned all the way over in a turn. You can somewhat use that rocker in a hockey blade to whip through the turn cleanly, like you said, it's best around the heels because they can't 'dig in' like using the toe rocker - also the toe rocker is much more aggressive than heel rocker on most blade profiles. What is McDavid's stroke rate and stride length compared to others?
Hi Jason! Nice research. But have you check this idea: McDavid uses this skating style because of his own anthropometrics? Should it transfered on average ice skater then?
What we shared is generalizable across many body types. But you’re correct that not all of his skating cues should be adopted by all players. Notably knee flexion and hip flexion while skating - and that’s why they weren’t mentioned in the video. Does that make sense?
To be just a bit more transparent, McDavid with his quick twitch crossovers youd think he has to practice straightforward power skating coming out of his crossovers, but if you study his 18year old prospects practice he's covering alot of techniques during there practice, prob more than any other player. So he may have like 3 different blade placements to create relaxed rigidity with that inside leg outside edge, doesn't even ever roll it on those continuous crossovers. His highlight goal against Muzzin when he covered blue to blue in 4 crossovers, he scared us we thought he rolllled it! He didn't though, he has the mindless awareness to get his ground contact patch shorter so he could plant quick enough to bait for his puck placement to beat the defenseman off what seemed like a rollout
Ironic enough, the only other skater who can skate like Mcdavid but bc he’s 5’10 not 6’1, like Mcdavid, Jeff Skinner isn’t as noticed in his stride. If you give Skinner 2 steps on a turn, he’s gone..you won’t catch him. He also skates a lot like Mcdavid bc he was a figure skater and they train wide in the hips and feet so they can spin without losing balance. Great video.
Maybe in countries like Russia if you look at how many good old time Russian skaters there has been like Fedorov, Bure and Mogoliny from back in the day. Growing up in Canada I can tell you I never heard those instructions and same goes for hundreds of our members.
What McDavid skating mechanic do you want to start incorporating into your game? Let us know in the comment section below!
So are you saying that I should feel my heel pressure first on every stride? And then it rockers to the front of the foot? I’m very interested in the biomechanics of this. What should I be feeling in my stride or what should I be thinking about when I’m skating to get this feel?
Great video! This channel is underrated You deserve more subscribers
Appreciate that, thanks for the comment.
Amazing video. Broken down and explained comprehensively. The on ice example really supports what you’re teaching. Great move into doing the videos this way. I’m going to focus more on heel pressure!
Glad it was helpful. That's awesome, let us know how it feels with your progress.
great stuff as usual. Definitely debunking some bad habits i had from power skating/speed skating habits that focused too much on efficiency (because they skate multi-minutes shifts in circles!)
Happy to be able to help, thanks for the comment.
Nice, time to teach my 6 year old about shin angle.
Haha, start em young!
Jason. I think another way to explain his wide stance is that it helps him to place his weight outside his support leg and fall, as you talk about in your lectures.
Good point Eugene! Thanks for the comment my friend.
I tried this and it really work I could skate faster, but also for a longer period of time.
Love to hear it. Thanks for letting everyone know 👍
You explained that so perfectly
👍 Thank you.
Is there a specific blade profile that is recommended for achieving a more effective use of the heel push?
In the membership area we go deep into the profiles and optimization for players individual needs. Sorry but other coaches can really help with that, I haven't experimented with it as much.
If I’m an absolute beginner would you recommend starting skating by trying this shin angle technique?
Absolutely, do you best to get your knee over your toe and try and keep your weight on your heels.
Nice. You just gained a new subscriber.
Appreciate that.
I'm not a good skater but I do like to keep my weight on hills as well , now my question is what profile I should use to match my style and what I like ? . Great videos btw
Have to see video of you skating to give you the best possible answer on this one. No one size fits all when it comes to profiles.
Wow thank you
No problem 👍
I'm not saying this is wrong... I agree that he stance is wide however, I don't agree with the whole not pushing off with your toes. I believe the weight should always be in top half of the foot. Faster reaction time and quicker explosion. I find it hard to see how power can be generated from the heel? Ex try jumping that way off ice... Maybe I missed something?
Think about it this way - Ice is not ground, ice is slippery. If you pushed off your toes like you would on ground, it wouldn't work on any slippery surface, including ice. Biomechanically, you have to use heel pressure to move on a slippery surface; biomechanically in hockey, you need heel pressure to skate. Hope this helps! -Coach Mason
@@Train2point0 Thanks for the info! I get your point. You have a higher surface contact aspect. Therefore you'll be getting more traction. However, what I don't understand is how does pushing off your toes not work? I can still get that traction from just my foot angle when skating vertically (approx 45*). In fact I should be even faster because I'm including a follow through with my toes at the end of my stride.
@@XxCurlyManxX from my small experience and experimentation, if you push with your toe, your calf is engaged more which takes more energy. but if you rock your heel to toe, you put your calf muscle in tension while not push with until the end of the tride. most of the power is then driven straight from the heel like a c-cut and then finish in a smooth motion with a natural toe "extension" rather than to flick.
so from my understanding, mcdavid is still pushing with the ball of his foot, but not till the end of the stride, and it comes from a rocking motion - heal, middle of the foot, ball of the foot, and then toe extension. let me know what you think. ive been studying this stuff pretty intently, but haven't been playing the sport for long.
@@Train2point0 Agree, I think of the cork screw using heel pressure almost like skating backwards using the toe pressure.....and its amazing how fast we can go backwards when you think about it. My speed and control has really improved just thinking about driving with my heels and collapsing my blade to get the angle.
@@Train2point0 it might just be a bad description, but that doesn't make sense - you can push with any part of the blade so long as it has the right thrust angle as it pushes and leaves the surface/ice. When people get it wrong, they have the skate do that 'backslide' sort of motion where their skate blade doesn't just carry in the same straight line as they're pushing, but 'slides' back towards the midline. A really easy drill to see this is using a heavy resistance like using the rubber bands or flipping the goals over and pushing them (maybe with a couple of kids sitting on the netting to increase resistance).
I think what you're meaning is that the pressure isn't just at the toes, the ankle forcefully goes thriough it's own range of motion - my own 'bad analogy' would be a little like frog kick for divers, it isn't just fluttering the toes, you're pushing back with the whole foot and as the movement 'closes out' the toes are coming through at the final moments.
short track speed skating (as in ice racing) coaches talked about heel pressure, but the blade are so different and flat, with rocker and a lengthwise bend so they sit flat to match the racing curve when you're leaned all the way over in a turn. You can somewhat use that rocker in a hockey blade to whip through the turn cleanly, like you said, it's best around the heels because they can't 'dig in' like using the toe rocker - also the toe rocker is much more aggressive than heel rocker on most blade profiles.
What is McDavid's stroke rate and stride length compared to others?
Hi Jason! Nice research. But have you check this idea: McDavid uses this skating style because of his own anthropometrics? Should it transfered on average ice skater then?
What we shared is generalizable across many body types. But you’re correct that not all of his skating cues should be adopted by all players. Notably knee flexion and hip flexion while skating - and that’s why they weren’t mentioned in the video. Does that make sense?
To be just a bit more transparent, McDavid with his quick twitch crossovers youd think he has to practice straightforward power skating coming out of his crossovers, but if you study his 18year old prospects practice he's covering alot of techniques during there practice, prob more than any other player. So he may have like 3 different blade placements to create relaxed rigidity with that inside leg outside edge, doesn't even ever roll it on those continuous crossovers. His highlight goal against Muzzin when he covered blue to blue in 4 crossovers, he scared us we thought he rolllled it! He didn't though, he has the mindless awareness to get his ground contact patch shorter so he could plant quick enough to bait for his puck placement to beat the defenseman off what seemed like a rollout
Is there any way of practicing movements like these off-ice, or any workouts to try out to better practice these skating technique.
Yes we give lots of movements inside the Downhill Skating System and our off-ice section 👍
Ironic enough, the only other skater who can skate like Mcdavid but bc he’s 5’10 not 6’1, like Mcdavid, Jeff Skinner isn’t as noticed in his stride. If you give Skinner 2 steps on a turn, he’s gone..you won’t catch him. He also skates a lot like Mcdavid bc he was a figure skater and they train wide in the hips and feet so they can spin without losing balance.
Great video.
Agreed one of the best skaters. Thank you.
Aren’t you supposed to push your toe back at the end of your stride. I feel like heel pressure would take that away.
Happens naturally, just emphasize feeling the heel pressure.
Heh, "sit on the heels" in tight turns told by (probably) all skating coaches :-)
Maybe in countries like Russia if you look at how many good old time Russian skaters there has been like Fedorov, Bure and Mogoliny from back in the day. Growing up in Canada I can tell you I never heard those instructions and same goes for hundreds of our members.
I love how I’m watching this and I don’t even skate 💀 (McDavid is so cool though)
Haha thanks for the comment.
Это не правильно! Он переносит массу за счет голеностопа! У вас на rocker масса стоит на месте!
Wow, i did not know u were located in vancouver
Beautiful BC.