Skating backward in stages: wiggles, swizzles, long glides. With a look over the shoulder, safe milestones and tips against tipping backward.
The honest answer first: you learn backward skating in four small stages: wiggles, swizzles, long two-foot gliding and then gliding with a look over the shoulder [1][2]. You do not need to twist anything. You simply learn a movement you already know in the other direction.
The curriculum places backward skating early: wiggles are part of the basic techniques [1], backward skating and backward swizzles are on the second of six adult levels, the long backward glide on the third and one-foot gliding on the fourth [2]. That is a feasible roadmap for adults.
The biggest risk of skating backward is obvious: you cannot see where you are going. In a video analysis of 216 ice-skating falls in children, the majority of falls were forward [3]. Still, a plan for the fall backward is worth having, and it is: stay low, lay yourself down sideways [1].
Set the feet parallel, bend the knees. Push out with each foot alternately and shift your weight; the balance stays on the balls of the feet, chest up [1]. If you wiggle but go nowhere, a trick helps: walk slowly backward with toes turned inward and feel the momentum [1]. Milestone: you roll five metres backward without holding on.
Stand in an inverted V (toes together), knees and ankles bent, pressure on the balls of the feet. On the inside edges push the heels apart until the feet are about one foot apart. Then straighten the knees and bring the heels back together [1]. This gives you a backward two-foot glide. Milestone: six to eight swizzles in a row [1][2].
From the swizzles you roll into a long glide. The curriculum asks for "backward skating to a long two-foot glide" [2]. Keep the knees bent, the upper body calm. The longer you roll, the better you notice where your weight sits.
Turn head and shoulders in the direction of travel, first only briefly, then longer. In the circle exercises shoulders and arms follow the circle, and the head looks inward and back so you have a clear view [1]. Milestone: you skate a length backward and look over your shoulder twice without stumbling.
Backward one-foot gliding and the backward snowplow stop are on the higher levels [2]. Practise them only when two-foot gliding is solid. The backward snowplow uses the same idea as the forward one: pressure on the inside edges.
You are ready for backward one-foot gliding when you manage six to eight backward swizzles in a row and then still roll three counts calmly. If you often tip backward while doing so, stay with the wiggles at the boards. A simple self-test: roll backward from standing at the boards, let go of the boards after two metres and stop in the snowplow. If that works three times in a row, you have the basis (experience, not a study). Progress here comes in small units, not in leaps.
Practise backward only in an area where you can keep the traffic in view, best at the edge or in a quiet zone. Look over your shoulder before starting. Do not lean back: whoever tips backward is more likely to hit the head (see the guide "Falling and Getting Up on the Ice"). Wear a helmet. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Practise with a partner or along the boards: keep one hand on the boards and roll backward slowly. You learn the balance without fear of collision distracting you. Then you release the hand step by step. Plan the repetitions in short blocks of five minutes instead of skating backward for half an hour straight.
Via backward wiggles, backward swizzles and a long two-foot glide [1][2]. Stay on the balls of the feet with bent knees and look over your shoulder. Start at the boards and let go step by step.
Usually because your weight is on the heels and the legs are straight. Shift the weight to the balls of the feet, bend the knees and keep the chest up [1]. If you do tip, let yourself fall sideways onto one hip.
That cannot be put in numbers reliably. The curriculum spreads the backward steps over several levels [2]. As a guide, use the milestones: six to eight swizzles in a row, then a long glide (experience, not a study).
Yes, as soon as you need speed and space. On a circle the curriculum turns the head inward and back so you have a clear view [1]. On a straight line you look briefly over your shoulder before you roll off.
Forward Crossovers: Speed Around the Curve