I've been reading the "Fitness for Dummies" book. Seems to have reasonably sane advice on exercise and training, though it is not specific to figure skaters. I found the latest edition in the library.
Of course, I'm sure that to some extent, everything relating to training is specific to your particular body. Not surprisingly, people who give training advice, and scientific studies, contradict each other a lot.
Many people say you must train to exhaustion to improve strength or endurance efficiently. And that you should be somewhat sore through part of the next day. I hope I'm not ruining the effect by soaking in a hot tub to reduce the soreness.
From recent experience, I have figured out that if I try to do a circuit of many, many exercises, I don't get enough exercise on any one body part to strength anything. Works better for me to work on 2 or 3 exercises, on different body parts. And do other exercises on different days.
Also, if I do sets of repetitions long enough to exhaust those muscles, I don't get many total reps in each body part, or much effect, before I get too tired to continue. Better to take shorter rep sets, and keep doing them (in a circuit with other body part exercises), until that sequence exhausts me.
For me, stretching is completely ineffective if I don't warm up by doing other exercises first. And I need to stretch at least 2 times / day, or lose all the effect.
But all that may be specific to my body.
A lot of trainers say that strength training won't do much good until after you are fairly far along on aerobic endurance training. (Perhaps partly because strength and endurance training tend to suppress each other's effectiveness, according to various studies - but maybe that is for elite athletes?) I'm not fit enough in either yet to be sure, though two months of training hard for both didn't do much good. (Or I overtrained? - the Dummies book says if you strength train more than every other day, your muscles don't rebuild, and it is counterproductive, unless you take dangerous drugs.) That's why I'm experimenting with changing stuff around now.
Despite that claim, I just joined the Planet Fitness (gym) $10/month plan, and plan to take a lot of their strength training classes, and talk to the trainer, to figure out how to train for strength more efficiently. Both are no extra charge. But I must quit fairly soon to avoid paying the extra $39 annual fee.
They have very complicated formulas and procedures for quitting, like a lot of gyms, and they insist on deducting costs from your checking account. The best deal is if you join on their billing date, and quit at least 10 days before 2 months have passed - and save your receipts and copies of your contract and cancellation forms, just in case. They have no aerobics or stretch classes, which is bad.
But $10/month is cheap as gyms and classes and trainers go. If you continue, that $39/year only brings it to $159 plus one-time $10 sign-up fee - fairly low, if it meets your needs. Most of their equipment is easy to use, fairly adjustable, and instructions on their use is available. (Once in a while they offer a special deal. Like, around January, 1, 2017, joining was free (I had to pay $10
). Then, until Feb 1, it was $1. Around Christmas and one other time, they offer $99/year prepaid plans. I think you can switch to prepaid from the month-to-month plan.) They have WiFi, and if you bring 3.5 mm jack headphones, you can also watch their TVs while using some of the machines. Policies vary somewhat location-to-location. (E.g., some ban cell phones, my club just says you can't talk while using the equipment.)
BTW, if you price shop gyms, count driving costs and times. E.g., the IRS estimates that the total costs of driving are about $0.51/mile (I think).
Many gyms have minimum age limits - not a problem for me, but is for some skaters.
Incidentally, the athletic trainers at most gyms have only gone through something like a 20 or 30 hour certification class. (What is more, there are a lot of different certification bodies, and they have different certifications for strength training, group exercise instruction, etc.) Not comparable to an ATC, who must take many college courses within the context of a related subject 4 year undergraduate education, or to a PT, which is a 2 year graduate level degree (usually). I think those both take thousands of hours to complete, if you count homework and possibly related clinical experience.