Skating technique: Posture, Forward Stroking, T-position and Push

I plan to use the section "skating technique" as a journal. I'll start with what I know, but I will keep updating as I learn more. Disclaimer: this is my understanding of the technique, it may be or not the correct technique.

Stroking! Every single skill in Freestyle, MITF, Ice Dancing starts with a stroke on ice. I wish I understood sooner the implications of good posture with the core engaged all the time, the importance of  skating into the ice (pressing into the ice), that bending is not referring just to the knees but to the ankles too, and the concept of skating underneath you (keeping the weight over the skating foot), while stroking and while skating in general. You have to work on all these plus extension, pointing the toes, hands carriage until they become body memory and stroking is the perfect exercise for it. Stroking is practiced every day, by beginners, intermediate, advanced and even by experts skaters.

Forwards stroking is part of the Pre-Preliminary MITF Test and Adult Pre-Bronze MITF Test

Right handed people usually start stroking pushing with the right foot onto the left foot.
Start from a T-position, it loos good and also gives you good balance. The right foot is behind the left, perpendicular to the forward axis, the left foot is at the instep of the right foot,  pointing forward, so the feet are at 90 degress. The weight is mainly onto the right foot. The body is held in a ballet posture. Core engaged, pelvis pushed forward, chest lifted, shoulders down, arms held on the side a little lower then shoulder height with a little tension in them, and feet pressing into the ice. There is a T-position on the other leg.  Now, most of the times I don't use a perfect T but more of a more comfortable T toward V....

1. Bend/ Press/ Push: starting from a T-position bend the knees and ankles like a mini ballet plie pressing the blade into the ice. The knees are apart not together. With the weigh onto the right foot!!! important!, press and push quickly with the middle of the blade on an inside edge, not the toe pick, away from the ice, with the right foot at a 45 degree angle from the forward axis, onto the left foot while transferring the weight onto the left foot. The left leg has a bent knee and the direction of gliding is at a 30 degrees angle from the axis. The right leg got straight and the toes got pointed as it pushed, maintaining the tension from the moment of pressing into the ice. Keep a straight posture before and after the push, don't allow your upper body to reach forward. That will surely happen if your weight is transferred too quickly onto the new skating push, being refer to as dropping onto the skating foot.

2. Hold the extension: The weight is transferred onto the left foot and hip. The right leg will maintain the tension, straightness and the pointed toe and will hold this extension at the same 45 degrees at which was pushed, knee align over the ball of the foot. This refers at alignment as angle, it doesn't mean the knee cap cannot go over the toes, as I thought for the longest time. Actually, for a higher extension of the free leg you have to bend the skating knee more then over the toes. The left leg will remain bent at the knee. The posture is erect, core engaged and chest lifted, shoulders down, lower back curved to allow a higher extension of the foot extension towards back. The point on the blade where you feel your weight is at the back of the arch of the foot, or middle back (many call it the back of the blade).
3. Gather/ Rise/ Draw: You "rise" as you straighten the left leg pressing into the ice and "draw" the right leg near the left in using the inner thighs, keeping the core engaged. The weight stays onto the left foot and hip. This will "gather" your legs, hips, core into the starting position.

Repeat: 1. Re bend, form the V (more of on Y because you allow the the foot that's gonna become the skating foot to be a little forward, at the instep, as the T was, so the heels are not together) with your feet, flip skating foot on a slight inside edge and  push from a slightly pressed edge (back of arch of foot) 2. Hold the extension 3. Gather

The steps 3.Gather and 1. Bend/ Push melt into each other in a smooth and continuous movement. The energy from the "gather" is used to press into the ice and push. The knees act as a hydraulic pump and never lock into a position.

This Gather/Bend is what's bringing the weight over the skating foot. Than you hold the whole weight onto the skating foot until you push with it. Only then you transfer the weight onto the new foot (though it feels simultaneous). That will ensure that you will have a strong push. Also you won't fall out of balance onto the new foot. Update Aug 8, 2018 In other words you stroke sending energy onto skating side rib cage (align over hip and foot) and keep the weight there until you re bend for the next stroke, you go on neutral quickly and repeat on the other side.

Here is a video explaining the posture and forward stroking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC3fRRHC5ew

A stroking exercise I do by myself and with my ice dance coach as  a partner is called 4-2-4.
- start at the middle of one of the short boards with LF  stroke, RF stroke, LFO crossover
- do 4 strokes (LF, RF, LF, RF) along the long board to the end of the rink, then 3 LFO crossovers
- do 2 strokes (LF, RF) along the long board then 3 LFO crossovers
- do 4 strokes (LF, RF, LF, RF) along the boards then 3 LFO crosovers
- finish with one stroke

I think the most important think about stroking is to keep the weight onto the foot your are going to push with. Otherwise you get no power into the push so no power into the stroking.

Update July 17, 2018
Last week I met for a lesson one of my old coaches, as she was in town visiting. She happen to have had hip strain few years ago and she remembered how she didn't like to extend that leg. But she said that you can still work on pointing the toe...
I was avoiding  forward stroking, because I felt I cannot work on it. But pointing your toes it's something I could add safely.
I haven't have a chance to work on my regular coach's latest correction that was to allow the knees to go forward. As I mentioned in instruction 2nd point, I was trying to keep the knee over the ball of your foot. That made me struggle to find the right posture, it made me be stiff, not allowing the lower back to curve. Surprisingly I could add that to my stroking without feeling any strain.
Actually these 3 corrections (point the toes, allow knees forward and the lower back to curve) gave me a fluidity that I never felt before, and the height of the extension was good too, without any strain!!!