Ice Dynamics training program for skaters

[Query]

Many people on this forum are familiar with Lauren Downes' Sk8strong.com training materials.

I've started to look at another set of materials in the Ice Dynamics manual

Strength, Conditioning & Injury Prevention
A Training Manual for Skaters - Beginner to Elite
by
Kat Arbour

(You might also look at the video and slideshow on the site.)

Like Lauren, Kat is a figure skating coach and PT, and uses on and off ice exercises to help figure skaters.

Despite the subtitle, much of her book is aimed at elite level skaters and their coaches, but it still looks useful for someone looking to create a physical training program.

Kat's book is a systematic manual which discusses some anatomy, exercise physiology,  training frequency and intensity, periodicity, a variety of training methods, and who should use the various techniques, how often and when.

It would be difficult for young athletes and some adults to understand - hence my claim that it is partly for coaches. It is more to be studied then read.

I haven't completed reading it, or tried most of the exercises. But it looks very useful to someone like me who came to athletics later in life, and doesn't know how to train.

As an example, yesterdayI kept getting exhausted and short of breath, and couldn't skate as much as usual.

Reading Kat's manual, I understand this is because I didn't warm up off-ice, and because I often breath in through my mouth instead of my nose*. She explained that in a cold weather sport like skating, a significant number of athletes (if I can call myself that) have this problem.

So now I know better.

Must warm up. Breath in through the nose.

I think some explanations could be improved or expanded, but it is a great book. She sells it for $35.

---

*Mouth breathing has other health problems, especially for asthmatics, to say nothing of underwater swimmers and skiers in weather cold enough to freeze lungs. But I used to play the sax. Singers and wind instrumentalists are taught that it is faster, quieter and produces a more resonant tone.

[rsk8d]

Kat's book is a great reference!

[Query]

Of course, if I took her training program literally, it would probably kill me. Because her main interest (and that of the University of Delaware lab she works at) is elite athletes, she assumes a very high level of initial fitness, as well as a lot of time dedicated to training.

I hope no one tries the "ladder drills" around a real ladder,  They'd probably trip and hurt themselves.

[CrossStroke]

I hope no one tries the "ladder drills" around a real ladder,  They'd probably trip and hurt themselves.

Rope ladder?

[Skittl1321]

Ladder drills with a real ladder provide incentive to do it right!

However, you can use masking tape to tape out a ladder on the floor if you want.  Or just mimic the motion without boxes to step in.