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Author Topic: At home exercises during pandemic?  (Read 2816 times)

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Offline Query

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At home exercises during pandemic?
« on: March 29, 2020, 03:17:11 PM »
To some extent different exercises use different muscles, or use the same muscles different ways.

So I assume we may benefit from a variety of at home exercises, if we are trying to avoid skating and gyms during the pandemic, for what may be many months.

Another thread
  http://skatingforums.com/index.php?topic=8517.0
discussed using roller and inline skating, which sounds great, but the places I could do that near me are too busy, or have too narrow trails, to retain proper "social distancing".

I've some ideas, but would appreciate any others:

1. I am mostly just jogging in uncrowded areas.

2. Skating involves deeper knee bends than jogging. Assuming your knees are fairly healthy, I think supporting your weight on deep knee bends helps keep the appropriate muscles strong, and retains their endurance. If you are up to it, do some of them on one leg.

3. Add some high intensity periods. I'm doing interval training, where you alternate jogging with running, as well some high stepping.

4. Do exercise more than once/day. I think my biggest problem, even on the ice, is endurance. So I am now trying to jog/run/high step, come home, take time to eat, and go out again.

5. High leg lifts. Skating positions like spiral, shoot the duck, sit spin, to some extent other spins, and even simple leg extensions require that you hold the leg in a lifted position, at various angles and locations around the body. So I am trying to practice these things to keep those muscles strong.

6. Torso rotation. While standing, hold a pole, broom or kayak paddle :) in both hands, with your arms out straight or almost straight, and alternately rotate left and right. Not so fast you injure yourself, and maybe not much or at all if you've had a spinal injury, but these helps keep oblique muscles strong. A paddling motion, where you also tilt your body left and right and rotate each end of the "paddle" down into what would be the water if you were in a boat, and pulling that "paddle" back, brings in a few different muscles. Also practice paddling backwards, in much the same way, reaching back a bit. (However, if you are very flexible, and are worried about dislocating a shoulder, reaching back may not be a good idea. A few "draw strokes", where you pull the "paddle" in sideways, uses a few different muscles.

7. Maybe some jumping. Remember that sliding on the ice helps absorb impact, so you may want to do this over a soft surface. Alas, I never learned to jump-rope, and trip when I try.

8. I guess now would be a good time to play more with the balance/board/spinner devices I've got. I may never learn to spin well, but it's a thought.

9. After exercise, stretch everything you safely can.

Any more ideas or opinions?

E.g., how important to skating are pure abdominal exercises like sit-ups, or exercises with dumbbells? I've mostly been avoiding them.

And I haven't figure out a good substitute for an assisted pull-up machine, and the assisted push-down exercises I previously tried to do with the same machines. (I'm not strong enough to safely do unassisted pull-ups, and don't have anything at home high and strong enough to use in any event.)

Thanks, guys.