Armswing how to's

[Natasha]

What armswing should I be working on? The correct armswing is left arm back and right arm bent and forwards when you're pushing to the right and vice-versa, isn't it? Does anything call for a side to side armswing?

[Mikey-two-Names]

Other way around. Left arm back and right arm forwards at the moment of set down of the left skate. Oh, OK I think you might have said the same thing, sorry I mis-interpreted that. Another way to think of it is to brush the inside of your left knee with your right hand swinging forwards and up. Side-side armswing is pretty much always wrong.

[Alastair]

Although popular when it first opened the Norman Wisdom school of skating soon failed when his pupils realised that they couldn't keep up with an electric milk float...

[Rick]

A bit like we were working on on Saturday morning, as a leg goes forward for set down the opposite arm can come forwards and the other arm goes back and out to the side. Straight back does two bad things, it causes shoulder rotation and can hit the person behind you.

Arm swinging is something to be avoided almost altogether in an endurance event, because it puts extra pressure on the lower back. Skating rhythm does come from the arms and you will want to use them to help you to accellerate but out on a marathon you should learn to skate with them behind your back. Takes a bit of practice when you first give it a go before you are comfy but it takes a lot of pressure off the back and will give you better endurance.

[Mikey-two-Names]

Two analogies that worked well for me were Eddy's pull yourself forwards using an imaginary rope along the bee-line, and Sebby's imagine you're plucking an apple off a tree in front of you and throw it straight behind you. Although body mechanics will force a small side-side element in your arm swing, you want to be moving your arms as forwards and backwards as absolutely possible. Try to loose all sideways movement from your armswing.

Gav mentioned the other day that he knew he'd done a decent sprints workout when his arms hurt the next day. LOL!

[Markus]

just had a look at a few vids, and found very different techniques. Most racers seem to move the left arm forwards when the right foot pushed, and vice versa (no shoulder movment), but with exceptions...

(that's Eddy, BTW)

[Gav]

Uhhh.... can I be obvious and say its just like walking! (except your leg isn't moving out backwards but to the side)

Please everyone go look at this clip again. That said, there is a different arm swing for different situations. As the gradient increases your arms tend to go more side to side. There's also a much more efficient arm swing for if you're in a pace line where you're not fully extending in both directions.

[Natasha]

Okay, so side to side is a no, no. Okay. Right. And to conserve energy, hands behind the back is good too. So, let's break it down to one arm, for arguments sake. My left hand is behind my back and my left skate is setting down and my right leg is pushing out to the side. My right arm is going forwards to pluck the apple, right? Please say that's right

[xsfred]

Not totally exactly.

Best thing really is to watch the pros ; many videos available on the Net, among which :
excellent videos of the FIC

The use of swinging arms is to maximize the action-reaction principle.

In short, direction of arm (when in use) should be perpendicular to your frames, hence :
- when you sprint from a standstill, your frames are nearly perpendicular to the direction if travel ; hence arms full forward
- when you cruise at high speed, your acceleration potential is small, your frames are nearly parallel to direction of travel, hence arms movement nearly side to side
- whenever possible, arms at rest behind back : that would include small accelerations and most corners
- when full acceleration, arms fully extended ; when just pushing it a bit, or climbing hills, arms folded at elbow.

All these movements are very natural and you only need to follow your instinct.

[Rick]

Additionally, on a track I have been told that I should swing only my outside arm when on a bend as it helps to turn my shoulders into the turn. This actually feels unnatural to me as I have developed a hips and shoulders facing out style from playing hockey. Still working on it.

[xsfred]

I also swing the outer arm spontaneously, but then I am fairly crap on a track. I did hear repatedly that shoulders should be in line with the radius of the corner.