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"Supplement
your skating with off-skate workouts to become more balanced in every
sense of the word."
Few people realize how important flexibility and strength are to achieving the most powerful stroke possible. Flexible joints give you increased stroke length, while a regular stretching routine can help prevent joint injuries and reduce muscle soreness. Strong legs allow you to sprint away from a pack or climb a long hill without using up all of your resources. A solid core means better agility and balance. Proper breathing and a quiet mind keep you alert and composed in dicey situations. These aptitudes do not come from skate training alone: they result from specific and consistently-performed off-skate training activities.
Disclaimer: I am not a certified personal trainer. But I am a longtime "fitness nerd" and every week I do workouts very similar to these. If these progams seem alien to you, consider engaging your own personal trainer. And if you have a chronic illness or skeletal problems, do talk to your family doctor before stepping up your activity level.
Adding a consistent program of strength, flexibility and balance training into your lifestyle through both traditional and non-traditional methods offers the subtle benefits of the Eastern influenced disciplines: it really does lead to a more peaceful and aware mind for daily living. And who doesn’t need that?
Planning Your Program
Of course, you are already getting your aerobic workouts on skates, right?. If you don't own one of my books, see the Orbit article, Skate "With Purpose" for the Best Fitness Benefits for tips on inline training and performance nutrition.
Off-Skate Training for Fitness Skaters is a series of increasingly harder activities designed to gradually enhance your fitness and capabilities. Start with the Beginner level activities of each training component and stick with these for several weeks. After two or three months, try the next level.
- Overall Strength Do strength training workouts 2-4 times per week (alternate body parts).
- Flexibility At least 4 times per week while still hot from aerobics or skating
- Balance Stimulate your balance daily if possible
- Core Strength Use as a warmup or insert the activities between your strength training sets
- Mind-Body Connection Whenever you feel rushed: Stop. Breath. Notice your body.
- Yoga Practicing Yoga delivers on all of the above. Do it 4 times per week by swapping one (each) balance, stretch, mind-body, and endurance session.
Most
of these training sessions can be done at home. The Beginner level activities
are appropriate as an entry level for any skater or beginning exerciser.
Some of the Intermediate-and Advanced-level activities are optimal
with a gym membership and access to local Yoga
or
Pilates classes.
Sample Workout Weeks
Return to topSample Beginner-Level Week
Every day
- Balance - Make all standing around a one-footed balancing act
- Mind-Body Connection - Pay attention to how you breathe
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- Yoga - Sun Salutations as a warmup
- Overall Strength - Pushups, lunges and rows, as described
- Core Strength - Knee raises, bicycling swimmer kicks, and side crunches as a cool-down
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
- Aerobics - Skating (or any cardio you want)
- Flexibility - Stretching before you cool down
Sample Intermediate-Level Week
Every day
- Balance - Two challenging Yoga poses to develop concentration and skating agility
- Mind-Body Connection - Breathing tips to benefit your skate training, reduce fears, ease stress
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- Yoga - Poses that strengthen your hips and thighs for more powerful skating
- Overall Strength - Separate upper and lower body training days to maximize gains
- Core Strength - Pilates mat work tones hips and torso and also makes a great warm-up
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
- Aerobics - Skating (or any cardio you want)
- Flexibility - Try Active Isolated (AI) stretching to gently expand your range of motion
Sample Advanced-Level Week
Every day
- Balance - Continue the Beginning and Intermediate work, and seek more opportunities for a daily balance challenge
- Mind-Body Connection - Find serenity and grace through self knowledge and acceptance
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- Yoga - Loosen tight skate muscles and learn proper joint alignment
- Overall Strength - Lower body strength training builds a foundation for power
- Core Strength - Going beyond 6-pack abs to stabilize your skeleton
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
- Aerobics - Skating (or any cardio you want)
- Flexibility - Massage can shorten recovery time, reduce mental and physical tension and lower your risk of injury
Liz is not a Personal Trainer
While I am fully certified to teach skating, these off-skate programs were crafted from the perspective of my own personal experience and research over almost 25 years. Anybody who is interested in pursuing a strenuous fitness lifestyle as described here should engage a certified personal trainer on a regular basis to prevent injury or over training.
As for my fitness background, I started "pumping iron" in 1980 to get stronger for lugging around the heavy scuba gear I needed for diving in California's chilly Pacific ocean. As my ability to lift progressively heavier weights increased, so did a buff new look—I was hooked! In the early years, my focus on bodybuilding brought home three minor trophies and the eventual realization that competition was anything but holistic. In order to look and feel like an elite athlete every day, I modified my goal to building a foundation of power and lean mass I could rely on when skiing, backpacking and, in 1991, learning to inline skate.
After 20+ years of lifting heavy weights, I discovered Yoga in 2000. I was attracted to overall flexibility and more ways to reduce the chance of joint injuries caused by my active lifestyle. Before long, the physical and unexpected mind/body benefits had converted me. I have a steady home practice that incorporates traditional Hatha, Ashtanga and Iyengar poses.
When my strength began to decrease due to my passion for Yoga, I took up
Pilates.
This new work taught me how to engage core muscles while on the Pilates
and Yoga mats as well as when lifting light weights. The results were newfound
strength in my torso and upper body as well as better spinal, pelvis and
hip stability for my favorite sports.
I am very excited about this opportunity to share the fitness benefits of my multi-faceted fitness lifestyle with you!
Comments or Questions?