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On the Ice => Off-Ice Training for Skaters => Topic started by: skategeek on February 09, 2016, 08:10:09 PM

Title: Fitness web sites?
Post by: skategeek on February 09, 2016, 08:10:09 PM
Does anyone out there have any favorite go-to web sites for fitness information?  I'm looking for things like stretching/strengthening exercises, evaluating minor problems, etc.  Every time I have some issue I want to know more about I turn to Google.  Seems everybody in the world has a web site with their favorite exercises and so on, but it's sometimes hard to evaluate quality, other than looking for a general consensus across sites.  I end up drowning in information and taking more time to sort through it than I'd like.  (In contrast, for medical/health information I have a couple of authoritative sites that I know I can use as a starting point, and then dive in deeper if necessary.)

As an example, my current search is related to my recent observation that my right knee turns inward, which could be (a) causing my slight pronation and (b) caused by my complete lack of hip flexibility.  So right now I'm looking for good hip flexibility/strengthening exercises.  I know there's a ton of info out there, but I'm hoping to come up with one or two resources I could reliably use to get started.  Any thoughts?
Title: Re: Fitness web sites?
Post by: Isk8NYC on April 30, 2016, 09:39:57 AM
This user has videos of the US Figure Skating S.T.A.R.S. fitness exercises:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGUDndCWeKpppdU8syI0lqg

Title: Re: Fitness web sites?
Post by: Query on May 01, 2016, 07:12:47 PM
I'm not sure there is much authoritative medical consensus on details concerning exercise. Such different information from so many different sources, including people with appropriate credentials. Everybody time a new study comes out, contradicting previous studies, many medical people change their minds about many things. Plus everyone's body is different.

The closest thing to a medical consensus on sports exercise might be the most recent editions of the most popular medical textbooks, used by certified physical trainers (APTs), Physical Therapists (PTs) and Orthopedic surgeons. Not easy to read.

I suppose you might try the same kind of medical sources you have tried before - e.g.,

  http://www.webmd.com
  http://www.mayoclinic.com

Most doctors tend towards advising people to play it safe, which doesn't always lead to optimal sports performance. I think many serious athletes and would be serious athletes push that a bit, and try to figure out what they can get away with. :)

my current search is related to my recent observation that my right knee turns inward

Were this my issue, I would first try to figure out whether my right knee HAS to turn inwards, or whether it is simply a habit I could learn to change, and whether it was within the range of what I could alter by stretching and strengthening.

A good Yoga instructor, or a good sports PT, might help.

Most skating coaches, exercise instructors, and dance teachers teach people that almost all rotation should occur at the hip, instead of the knee and ankle. So perhaps that is close to consensus on healthy technique within those domains. However, ice dances coaches have told me that a bit of rotation at the knee and ankle may be desirable for ice dance, to create a greater rotation, if your hip isn't flexible enough - perhaps the major health issues have to do with jumps, which ice dancers don't do much.