Activities Sports & Athletics How to Do Back Crossovers On Ice Skates Share PINTEREST Email Print Sports & Athletics Skating Lessons Basics History Gear Famous Skaters Inline Skating Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Jo Ann Schneider Farris Jo Ann Schneider Farris was a silver medalist in junior ice dancing at the 1975 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships and is the author of two books on skating our editorial process Jo Ann Schneider Farris Updated May 15, 2018 New ice skaters can't wait to try back crossovers. This step-by-step tutorial gives some back crossover basics. Note: The back crossovers done by advanced figure skaters are sometimes called "cutbacks." Both blades are left on the ice in order to gain speed. Beginners are sometimes first taught to lift the foot up and over to make the back crossover. This tutorial teaches the more advanced "cutback" method. 01 of 07 Begin Back Half Swizzle Pump Westend61 / Getty Images Start by doing a back half swizzle pump on an imaginary circle. The foot on the inside of the circle should be on a back outside edge and the foot that does the pumping should be on a back inside edge. 02 of 07 Continue Back Half Swizzle Heleen Zeegers / Getty Images Continue to do the back half swizzle. The foot that will cross over should be slightly ahead of the other foot and should remain on the ice. The feet should be pointing in the same direction. 03 of 07 Slide Front Foot Over YinYang / E+ Collection / Getty Images Next, slide the front foot over the other foot and begin the actual crossover. The foot that crosses over should be on the back inside edge. The other skate should stay on the back outside edge. 04 of 07 Use Front Skate to Create a Complete Cross An Ice Skaters Does Back Crossovers. YinYang / E+ Collection / Getty Images Begin to complete the crossover by using the front ice skate to create a complete cross. Some power should be gained as this occurs. 05 of 07 Completely Cross Over Westend61 / Getty Images As power is gained, the feet will be completely crossed as skater glides backward. 06 of 07 Repeat Back Half Swizzle Pump mediaphotos / Getty Images Take the foot that was under out from under the crossed feet and do the back half swizzle pump again to begin another back crossover. 07 of 07 Repeat Back Crossovers by John Carleton / Getty Images Repeat the back crossovers again and again.