Bad posture when skating

This has been bothering me for a while now, but I have no idea how to fix it. I have a horrible posture problem when I skate. My butt sticks out and my body hangs over a bit. Even when I try straightening up or pushing my shoulders back, my butt is still way out there, and it looks really bad. I've only been skating since January, so that is a possible problem. I'm also overweight, so my stomach may be pulling me over somewhat (it does that a bit off ice too, so I'm quite sure this is the problem, but wanted to make sure). Regardless, I've seen even overweight skaters with fairly nice posture, so I have no idea what is wrong with mine. I don't look down at my skates or the ice, so that isn't really the problem.

I'll give a tip which I've seen help out quite a few people. This won't solve your problems and it isn't aimed at correcting your technique necessarily. I suggest focusing on your posture off of the ice in everyday life and do it frequently. Frequently is the absolute key here. Keep your chin up and lead with the the upper half of your torso when walking or even standing. If you feel weird at first it's likely your posture off of the ice is bad too. Now I'm not saying you need to walk around and stand next to your friends and colleagues like you're about to fight. But the more frequently you focus on your posture off of the ice and build up some muscle memory the easier it will be on the ice.

Once this feels more natural and you begin to feel comfortable/normal doing it I highly recommend doing movement excersise like walking in side to side movements and circular patterns or even jogging while focusing soley on your posture. If you begin to feel comfortable in everyday life and during basic movement throughout the day holding better posture ...it just might help you. I've seen it help other skaters...why not you? Good luck

Another thing that may help on the ice is always try to bend your knees more.

That should help you to balance without as much leaning forward or other upper body adjustments.

One thing coaches perennially remind us is Bend Your Knees. "But I am bending them." "Bend them more."

With very few exceptions in skating, there's almost no such thing as too much knee bend.

Sam-Skwanch is sooo right about working on your posture off ice. It took me 6 weeks of focusing on my posture every minute of every day to make it natural. I adopted every technique even at my desk that I could find so that I even sat up straight. The first 6 weeks were absolutely miserable, but I stuck with it, then one day I was pain free. People hardly ever comment on my skating, but wow do I get compliments on my posture (possibly because so many skaters don't work on it much).
A nice side effect is that the pain from compression fractures in my L1-L4 vertebrae (horseback riding injury) went away, never to return.

It's possible that you're sticking your butt out to compensate for lack of ankle bend. Notice I said "ankle bend" which is more specific than "knee bend". Get in front of a full length mirror and face sideways. If possible, wear shoes with a 2" heel or so, to better simulate ice skates. Now get into the position you skate in when you are trying to bend your knees correctly and look in the mirror. Are your knees right over your toes or are they farther back? Try bending your ankles so that your knees go farther forward--over your toes--as you bend deeper. When you do this in skates, you will feel yourself pressing your lower shins (the front of your ankles) into the laces of your boots. Try to focus on that feeling while skating and wear protective ankle sleeves so you don't get lacebite from doing it.
You can see a perfect example of the knee-over-toes and lower shin pressing against the boot laces in Meryl Davis' position here: http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/GTY_meryl_davis_charlie_white_jtm_140204_16x9_608.jpg
Notice how she is perfectly aligned: chest over knee over toes. This is completely different from the knee bend you have when sitting in a chair, where you have no ankle bend and the knees are over the heels, not over the toes: http://www.posture-chair.co.uk/images/becca088plain If you have this kind of knee bend--not ankle bend--while skating, you will end up falling badkwards unless you do something else to compensate. . . like sticking your butt out and pitching the upper body forward (also called "breaking at the waist" by skating coaches).