Technique
Wheels used in speed skating are usually round or elliptical in profile, and do not literally have edges. The terminology is carried over from ice skate blades, which have edges. In inline skating, being "on an inside edge" refers to skating with the wheel of the skate leaning inwards (right skate leaning left, and vice versa). An outside edge is the opposite, and a center edge implies that the wheel is vertical.
The classic speedskating technique is an alternating cycle of inside-edge pushes and outer-edge glides. The cycle starts as the skater is gliding on one (let us suppose the right) leg with his knee bent. He then straightens the knee to push outwards (rightwards) away from him. When the pushing leg reaches full extension he sets down the left (support) leg and glides on it while picking up the right leg and bringing it back behind and underneath him (recovery) ready to be placed on the ground (set down) and become the new support leg. Once the pushing leg has been recovered, the support leg pushes out in the other direction and the cycle repeats. Note that the left leg pushes exclusively left, and the right leg right. This will naturally result in a push that starts on the center edge or on a slight outside edge and "rolls over" onto the inside edge as the foot moves away from the skater's center of mass. Neither wheel's outside-edge ever contacts the ground.
The double-push eliminates the "glide" phase from the above cycle, replacing it with an "underpush" on the outside-edge. The recovery skate is placed on an outside edge and pushed underneath the body (right leg pushes left, and vice versa) while maintaining that outside edge, before being steered or pulled back across the centerline for the regular inside-edge push that follows. By its nature the double-push is less stable than classic technique, making it difficult to learn. If the skater should lose traction during an underpush there is no support leg to fall back on. The double-push also allows for the very brief application of force through both legs simultaneously. The skater does this by transferring his weight from the inside-edge foot to the outside-edge foot gradually, rather than transferring all of his weight to the outside-edge foot instantly. Some hold that this is essential to the DP, but this opinion is not universal.
Read more about this topic: Double Push
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