I'd Rather Be Skating workout

This week, I had a lot of energy when I got home from work but not enough time to go skating.  So I decided to try something a little different.  Instead of a video workout, I decided to practice my jumps and created my own 10 minute, off-ice workout.

I'd Rather Be Skating Workout

 

Warm-up 
Your choice.  (I decided to kill two birds with one stone and warm up by walking the dog.)

Jumps

Since you can't work on those pesky MIF, you can get right to the fun stuff without any guilt.

• 10 frog jumps with a balance ball.    This gets you warmed up with a simple, two-legged jump.  My goal is to hit the ball on the ceiling.  (This one is from Fitness Magazine.) 
• 5 - 10 waltz jumps
• 5 - 10 Salchows
• 5-10 toe loops
• 5-10 flips
• 5-10 loops

 Wall squats with the balance ball
I find that using the balance ball for wall squats makes it much easier to get up out of the squat since it rolls on the wall, whereas my shirt sticks to the sheet rock.

• Hold 10 seconds on both legs.
• Lift your left leg into a sit spin position.  Hold 10 seconds.
• Switch legs and hold for another 10 seconds.

Standing Side Splits with a ball - Left

Another exercise I found at Fitness Magazine. 

The reason I included this is because it's similar to spirals.  (And because this is a yoga pose I've always wanted to try but never could figure out how to make it work with my limited flexibility until now.)  

The stability ball makes it more challenging than it looks. 

 Spiral - left leg

• Use a chair or the wall if you need support, or if you are strong enough, do it without support.
• Think about Michelle Kwan and try to get that foot above your head (in my case, above the hip) and the hold the position for at least 30 seconds. 

Do another set of wall squats

Standing splits - right leg

Spiral - right leg

That's it - 10 minutes and you are done.  If you still want to skate, put on your socks and practice your spins on the kitchen floor.  Be sure to clear the counters if you are going to work on your camels. 

Social media death spiral: U.S. Figure Skating deletes comments and disables fans’ updates on its Facebook page as 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships approach

Social media death spiral: U.S. Figure Skating deletes comments and disables fans’ updates on its Facebook page as 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships approach

Does anyone know anything about this?

Julie Benz credits figure skating to her success

One of my favorite actresses is Julie Benz.  Currently, she plays Rita on Showtime's Dexter.  Before that, she played Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

She's one of Carl's favorite actresses, too.  As he puts it, she's "Nummy-nummy-nummy."  I have to admit, I would love to have her figure just to hear him say that about me.

Turns out, Benz is a former figure skater who, with her partner, placed 13th in pairs at the junior level in 1988.  In an article in American Fitness, she credits her former ice rink days in giving her the discipline to take on her acting roles.  "I actually love exercise. I can't go for more than three days without working out or being physical," she admits. "That's the way I clear my head."

Her workout routine includes a lot of work on her legs and her bahookie.  "I do a lot of squats, lunges, walking lunges, jumps and sprints."

Seigler, Bonnie.  "Benz:  fitness with finesse."  American Fitness.  November/December 2008.

Top 10 Goals

As you know, this I don't make my New Year's Resolutions quite the way the time management gurus tell you to because I don't care if they are achievable.

That's right.  They don't have to be achievable.

Rather, I ask, "What are my top 10 goals for the year IF I AM GUARANTEED TO SUCCEED?"  It frees me up to work on things I might not otherwise do, like finding a pair skating partner.  Then I commit to taking one step toward one of those goals each week.

Generally, I take a lot of little steps towards several of the goals, especially since several of them revolve around skating.

So, here's what I did last week . . .

• Pass my Silver moves   (yes, this means passing bronze moves first).  I skated TWICE.  Andrew was there and gave me some extra help and by golly, it really felt like I was figure skating again. 

• Take a vacation with Carl. I forgot our anniversary.  It's not 'til next Saturday, so technically, I didn't forget it, but I did forget to take time off.  To make it up to him, we have planned a getaway for Valentine's Day.  It's not a full vacation, but it is one night by ourselves. 

• Have a baby.  When you screw up as badly as I did this week, working on this goal helps a lot to smooth things over.

•  Lose 30 pounds.  I committed to doing at least 10 minutes of exercise every day.  This week I added The Gift of Yoga, a gift given to me by our roommate.   

What are you doing to reach your Top 10 Goals? 

New Sk8Strong DVD available

Monday, January 10, 2011

NEW Sk8Strong DVDs: "The Skater Evaluation" and "Advanced Competitive Training"

Sk8Strong is very excited to announce the arrival of two new products: "The Skater Evaluation DVD and Manual Package", and "Advanced Competitive Training"! Find both in our DVD catalog here.

"The Skater Evaluation":  Per request of many customers: coaches, fitness professionals, and skaters, we have created an assessment tool that will give the skating world a comprehensive catalog of simple evaluative tests to determine a skater's strengths and weaknesses.  What's even better?  You can then refer to a collection of corrective exercises to instantly improve upon your findings and apply them to improve your skating skills.

"Advanced Competitive Training" is for the skater who has completed the highest progression levels of "The Competitive Skater" or "Adult Training" DVDs and is looking for the most challengind and skating specific functional workout today!

Posted by Lauren at 6:25 PM

You go!

One of my friends on Facebook said,: 

Stretching. Done. Abs. Done. All before 5am.

Maybe he'll share his secrets   What stretches do you do?  What do you do to strengthen your core? 

And how on earth do you do it before 5 am? 

 

Motivation . . . waning

Ahh!  Only 12 days into the new year and my motivation is waning.  I decided to research what would burn more calories:  yoga or a cardio workout.  My conclusion:  either one burns more calories than sitting at the computer!  

Basic Skills Coach?

One of my co-workers asked me why I don't try to make a living ice skating.  Obviously, she has me confused with the skaters she sees on TV. 

But, it's a good question.  One of my skating friends came to the rink today with new skates.  He taught basic skills classes in the fall.  Is this a coincidence? 

A better question is:  could I do that to help me save for the new pair of skates I need? 

My excuses are myriad. 

Excuse:  I don't have enough experience skating.
Reality:  You don't need a triple Axel to teach snowplow stops

Excuse:  My schedule changes too much. 
Reality:  It's relatively simple to update my availability at work

Excuse:  It would interfere with judging
Reality:  There aren't that many test sessions in Houston for it to be a problem

Excuse:  I don't know how to teach skating
Reality:  I don't know how to make skating fun new skaters. 

My husband tried to explain to me a few weeks ago that not everyone wants to go to the Olympics.  Heresy!  I know it's unlikely I'll go to the Olympics, but it could happen.  If the opportunity arises, I want to be ready.  (You can stop laughing now. )  This makes it very difficult for me to put myself in the mindset of a recreational skater. 

So, what does it take to be a basic skills coach?  What kind of experience do you need?  What sort of training do you get before you get your own class? 

Playground workouts

When my nephew, Xander, is here, I like to spend time with him. He's 8 and of course, he's a boy.  I don't have a clue how to play with boys.  He like to play Mario-anything.  I hate video games with a purple passion.  You see the problem?

But this time, he decided he wanted to go to the park.  There is so much to do at the park to help you with figure skating and staying in shape.  He's a great personal trainer.  And it's a lot more fun than just following along with an exercise video. 

There's a lot of things you can do at a park.  My favorites are the slides: you have to go up to come down.  And coming down is so much fun!  The Renegade Health Show has a fun playground workout.

From a skating perspective, look for . . .

• Activities that involve balance - balance beams, curbs, log rolls, etc
• Climbing - any climbing will help increase strength in your legs
• Exercises that involve twisting to help with those jumps and spins
• Use the jungle gyms and ladders for stretching

But, mostly just look for things that are fun to do.  That way it won't seem like a workout.

How will you keep your New Year's Resolutions?

Lots of people start the new year with the best of intentions to change something:  stop smoking, lose weight, etc.  But 45% will fail by the end of January. 

So skaters, what are you doing to make sure you keep your resolutions?  Did you make your top 10 goals for the year, without limitations?  What step are you taking this week to make sure you reach one of those goals?   Share it here!

10 Minute Solution Carb Burner

I decided to commit to doing 10 minutes of cardio exercise every day (except Friday) to help me lose weight this year.  To keep things cheap and easy, I found 10 Minute Solution Carb Burner at Netflix in the instant downloads and have been using it this week.

Here's what's great about it:

• It's only 10 minutes long 
• It doesn't cost anything extra since it's Netflix, and I can use it any time since it's an instant download
• It has 4 different workouts to keep things from getting boring
• It's easy to follow.  The host teaches you the steps and then combines them into a circuit

Each workout is a little different.  The "slow-burn" is a low impact workout that's great for your "I'm too tired to workout days".

The kickboxing segment is great figure skating training.  It develops core strength, balance, and flexibility.  Add a figure skating twist to it and change some of those kicks into spirals or spins.

A beginners plyometric session will help you increase height on your jumps.  This was the workout that convinced me to try the video.

The intervals workout will help you increase your endurance for programs.

One session includes handweights to increase intensity and calorie burn.

My only real complaint is that by limiting the workouts to 10 minutes, the warm-ups and cool-downs leave a lot to be desired.  You will probably want to add your own exercises to do this well.

Happy New Year

I decided to start the year off by stopping my pouting about not being able to skate as much as I want.  I can still go to club ice, and I can still practice off-ice.  Prospero, the greyhound/jump training aid, was not nearly as pleased about this and rolled on his side after my third waltz jump over him.

In addition to my skating goals, I want to loose another 30 pounds this year, which is about what I lost last year.I accepted that the reason the reason I don't do my favorite workout, Tony Horton's Power 90, is because it's too long.  I don't want to do a 30 minute workout after being on my feet, climbing ladders, and lifting boxes of merchandise for 7 hours.

Instead, I've decided to do a minimum of 10 minutes of cardio a day.  Money is still an issue, so it has to be cheap.  Netflix Instant Downloads is GOLD!  10 Minute Solution Carb Burner was my choice this week.  There are 4 10 minute cardio workouts.  It's just enough to get the heart rate up and burn a few calories.

Top Ten Goals if I Was Guaranteed to Succeed

Several years ago, I attended a time management seminar by Frank Sanitate.  The most valuable tool I took home from that was setting my Top Ten Goals If I Was Guaranteed to Succeed.  Then you commit to taking one step towards one goal each week. 

Why the condition, "if I was guaranteed to succeed"?  It keeps you from limiting yourself.  So, for instance, I want to attend Dorothy Hamill's Fantasy Figure Skating Camp.  Conventional wisdom says I shouldn't make that a goal because I know I won't have the funds to go this year.  But, by removing that limitation, I free myself up to dream and work towards it anyway.

My goals-without-limits for 2011 are . . .

1.  Pass my Silver moves (yes, this means passing bronze moves first)
2.  Compete in 3 competitions
3.  Get my bronze test judging appointment
4.  Find a skating partner
5.  Start my own business
6.  Go back to school for training to start my own business
7.  Have a baby
8.  Go on one date a week with Carl
9.  Take a vacation with Carl
10.  Lose 30 pounds
11.  Go to Dorothy Hamill's Fantasy Figure Skating Camp

Here's my challenge to you.  Share your top 10 goals, without limitations, then each week, share what steps you took towards achieving those goals.  Remember, the commitment is to take one step towards achieving one goal each week, not one step towards each goal.