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. 

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.