Speed begins long before a player reaches a full sprint; it starts with how cleanly the blade loads, rolls, and glides through the ice.

In this feature of our Skating Drill Series with The Coaches Site, San Jose Sharks Skating Consultant and owner of Power Hour Hockey, Cathy Andrade, breaks down a foundational sequence: Warm Up Drills for Edge Control and Posture.

The Drill Breakdown: Warm Up Drills

Inside Push to Outside Roll: Players execute double inside edge pushes to shift weight over the support leg, rolling smoothly onto the outside edge while holding the trailing leg back to feel the glide.

The Single Foot Balance Test: Progressing the sequence from two feet to one foot, challenging the skater to maintain true single leg stability and edge depth without cheating posture.

Rotational Outside Edge Cuts: Working down the rink with synchronized body control, using the head as the steering wheel and the hips as the engine to guide the cut.

Cathy’s Key Coaching Cues:

Open the Knees: Maintain deep knee flexion and ankle mobility to allow the blade to roll from inside to outside edges naturally.

Head Leads, Hips Follow: Initiate rotational transitions with your eyes and shoulders first so your core and lower body follow in sequence.

Ride the Glide: Avoid rushing the next step; let the blade work through the ice and maximize glide distance after every push.

How Sensor Telemetry Elevates Warm Ups Technical warm ups are designed to groove proper habits, yet subtle mechanical compensations often go undetected.

With Scorched Ice Smart Skates Sensors attached directly to the blade chassis, coaches can evaluate the true physics behind every repetition:

Edge Load Symmetry: Measuring whether an athlete loads equal pressure and maintains equal balance on their left versus right foot.

Glide Retention: Quantifying how much speed is preserved through the coasting phase versus lost to blade drag.

Propulsion Output: Tracking the exact power generated when pushing off a single inside edge.

Mastering edges is not a matter of luck; it is a measurable discipline.

When you replace visual assumptions with blade level telemetry, every warm up rep translates directly into game performance.

Guessing is over.

Your stride. Your data. Your edge.

🔗 Watch Cathy Andrade break down the complete progression and visit scorchedice.ca .