Lesson length

AgnesNitt · April 01, 2012, 09:37:48 PM

When I restarted skating after the broken ankle, I had a lot to recoup. I asked my coach if we could do hour lessons. At first it was really nice, I would do a half hour, then he would take another student, then I'd come back for another half hour. Then the other student disappeared to freestyle and my lesson got compressed into a solid hour.

A couple of weeks ago, I told my coach I'd like to scale back to a half hour. While I've gained stamina over the last year, the lessons have also got more intense faster than I've built stamina, and now I don't feel really perky at the end of the hour. At the end of the three quarter hour, I'm still okay, but 46 minutes....I'm dead.

Anyone have any comments on stamina vs lesson length? I'm interested if anyone else has done an hour lesson. At my rink reunion a few weeks ago some of the other skaters said "an Hour lesson?" in shock, so it must be unusual. I don't regret it as it's really built my stamina but I'm walking wounded at the end.

icedancer · April 01, 2012, 09:41:53 PM

I found that I had a 25 minute attention span so in a 30 minute lesson I would just space out for the last 5 minutes. An hour would never work for me.

I did have a coach that seemed to have no sense of time. I would pay her for a half-hour because that's all I could afford but she would just keep going... love her.

sarahspins · April 01, 2012, 09:48:06 PM

I don't have them often, but I enjoy hour long lessons - I feel like I can accomplish more without feeling rushed. I am usually dead tired at the end, so I wouldn't want to do it all the time.

Normally I only do 30 minutes... it's hard to budget for more (time and money both problems there), but sometimes I get to sneak in an extra 15 minutes here and there if my coach has the time for it. There are some people I skate with that only do 15 minutes at a time but they tend to have multiple lessons in a week - I normally just have the one.

My coach doesn't charge me extra if we go longer than our normal 30 minutes (unless we've already agreed to a longer lesson ahead of time) - she says if she goes over, it's on her.

Kim to the Max · April 01, 2012, 10:11:45 PM

I used to do 45 minutes with my coach - in theory we did a 1/2 hour of either moves or freestyle and then 15 minutes or the other. If we did moves, we usually ended up just doing 45 minutes of those (moves has been my primary focus...gotta get that senior test!).

When she condensed her schedule this year, I ended up with a 30 minute lesson every week and then another 30 minute lesson every other week. I feel, for me, 30 minutes is slightly too short -- we will just get on a roll with something and it's time to stop, whereas a full hour might be too much (maybe not though). For me the 45 minutes tended to be just enough since we could get on a roll and then we would also have time for some new skills too.

jjane45 · April 01, 2012, 10:13:27 PM

Thirty minutes for freestyle. I run out of gas very fast for dance, so no idea there...

Clarice · April 01, 2012, 10:43:08 PM

I do dance only at this point. I have 30 minute lessons with the coach who does my solo dance, but hour lessons with the one who works on partnering with me. I have to travel a couple of hours to get to him, so it doesn't make sense to take shorter lessons.

AgnesNitt · April 01, 2012, 11:02:10 PM

Quote from: Clarice on April 01, 2012, 10:43:08 PM
I do dance only at this point. I have 30 minute lessons with the coach who does my solo dance, but hour lessons with the one who works on partnering with me. I have to travel a couple of hours to get to him, so it doesn't make sense to take shorter lessons.

That's a good point about the partnering. My dance coach and I have discussed going up to a 45 minute lesson if the 30 min one is too short and I do have to travel an hour to get there. I'll need to look at that carefully.

JHarer · April 01, 2012, 11:07:51 PM

My lessons are a half hour, but I have group lesson right before my private lesson, so I'm on the ice for an hour 15 minutes. It works fine for me, but I am usually tired driving home afterward.

irenar5 · April 01, 2012, 11:22:28 PM

I used to have a 45 min lesson once a week, then we switched to 30 min lessons twice a week. I may add on 15 min to one of the lessons as I like 45 min best (for freestyle and moves). After 45 min I want to go practice and absorb the info, so an hour would definitely be too long.

fsk8r · April 02, 2012, 03:28:49 AM

I tend to do 30 min lessons. If there's something important coming up and the coach has time, sometimes I'll ask for 45min.
In really unusual circumstances I'll end up with my dance and free lessons being back to back and then I'll do an hour straight. If that happens, both coaches will know that it's happening and I'll give instructions as to which one is allowed to kill me as one of the lessons needs to be at a slightly slower pace.
But I skate synchro for 2hours straight so I really shouldn't have a problem with stamina.

Skittl1321 · April 02, 2012, 08:36:42 AM

30 minutes is the max for me. I am usually dead by the end of the lesson. I used to only practice after my lessons (so I wouldn't be too tired FOR the lesson), but now I've reached the point where I need to practice before my lesson or else I can't get anything done. I usually stay and skate another half hour after my lesson (so a 90 minute session), but it is light practice. When I was more of a beginner, I could easily do an hour lesson.

I've started taking an extra lesson before LTS on Saturday, and it shows me just how much a waste of money an hour lesson would be. I am barely coherent for the LTS class. We do a jump only lesson on Saturday, so it is just killer.

I prefer adding MORE days, rather than adding more time each day. 1 hour to 90 minutes is all I can skate in a day on my knees.

Twizzler · April 02, 2012, 11:10:36 AM

Quote from: Skittl1321 on April 02, 2012, 08:36:42 AM
I prefer adding MORE days, rather than adding more time each day.

I'd love to have more skating days/lesson days, but the rink is over an hour away, and with my work schedule I can't get there more.

I usually do 30 minute lessons, with 15 minutes warm up before and 15-30 minutes practice after. I feel it's really important to be well warmed up before the lesson and to have time to independently practice. usually we'll work on a particular element every other lesson, so I can practice that element before my coach looks at it again. I've got plenty of stuff to work on, so this works out fine.

Right now I'm under the gun to get a program together for our show, so we've been doing a full hour of lesson. It's helping me get the program/choreography down, but it's also exhausting.

taka · April 02, 2012, 12:56:09 PM

I have 2 x 30 mins one-to one lessons on different days - a mix of dance, free and field moves (more dance though!)

I also do a group dance lesson on another day which is 30 mins (which is a free part of our club session so is not every week) but it is working on small parts of a dance behind a tiny coned off section of rink so not usually very tiring.

I find 30 mins of lesson a time is plenty. By the time I have a warm up, a 30 mins lesson & practice time (before and/ or after my lesson), I've often reached my "safe" skating limit of ~1.5hrs on the ice. Much longer than this and I get so tired I start making silly mistakes and need to get off the ice for my own and others safety!

At the moment I feel like I barely have time to keep up with all the elements/ jumps / spins/ dances etc I'm learning and am mearly treading water and not really improving due to lack of time to practice! New things like my back 3 turns aren't going to improve unless I spend a lot of time on them, and there is no point in paying my coach to supervise me practicing! Corrections yes... practice no...

After my rink reopens I need to make sure I get a full 1.5hr on the ice each time I skate before work (ie make sure I get up earlier and not be 20+ mins later than planned everytime!

). I possibly need to add another skating session too, purely for practice as I think this would improve my skating more that more/longer lessons. Cheaper than more lessons too!

Sierra · April 02, 2012, 02:58:50 PM

For me it isn't the lesson length so much as the percentage of the ice time it takes up. I don't like to have a lesson that takes more than a quarter of my ice time that day because then it becomes hard to practice all of my elements. So a 45 min lesson is okay on a day that I skate 2.5 hours, but not okay on a day that I skate only 2 hours.

I've never done an hour lesson, I wouldn't survive a full hour of my coach standing over me..

I usually have a mixture of 30m and 15m lessons.

JSM · April 02, 2012, 03:27:35 PM

My preferred lesson time is 45 minutes. Many times half an hour goes way too fast, though hour lessons are grueling. I rarely get 45 minutes - its only if someone else doesn't show.

Regardless of lesson time I save program run throughs until the end. 2:40 is a LOT for me to handle most days and I'm generally useless afterwards. I'm working on my stamina...

Sk8Dreams · April 02, 2012, 05:45:52 PM

I've almost always had 30 minute lessons, mostly because that's what I could afford. I find it depends a lot on what we do in the lesson. If it's moves and we are really working on technique, then it's less tiring. Half an hour of dance was definitely enough for me, and after chemo, 15 minutes with a couple of breaks to catch my breath was all I could manage for several months. I think if you can do 45 minutes, then you should be able to work up to an hour given time.

VAsk8r · April 02, 2012, 06:19:33 PM

I've done an hour lesson before. I've also done two 30-minute lessons in a week, which I much prefer to a solid hour.

My biggest issue is getting thirsty; I tend to drink from my water bottle every 10 minutes or so, and if I'm doing the same jump again and again I'll get thirsty even faster. My mind does start to wander after awhile, too. Physically, I do OK, but I think that's because my hour-long lessons are a mix of freestyle and moves, and my coach and I tend to get caught up in chatting probably more than we really should.

There are some kids at my rink who do hour-long lessons, and I don't know how they or their coaches get through it.

ETA: I usually do one half-hour a week, but if there's a competition or test coming up we sometimes do an hour.

Live2Sk8 · April 02, 2012, 08:22:00 PM

I've only had 30-minute lessons because of money and time. Also, I try to write down all of my coach's corrections and suggestions as soon after my lesson as I can. I find it very hard to remember everything from just a 30-minute lesson. If I had an hour lesson, no way would I remember. I also think an hour lesson would become supervised practice for me (even more than it already is sometimes. How many times can my poor coach watch my miserable sit spin? And repeat the same corrections year after year?) If we moved from element to element continuously, maybe that would be ok but even so, I don't think my progress and ability warrant an hour lesson. That's just what works for me, though! If I could do two 20-minute lessons a week rather than one 30-minute lesson, I think that would be ideal for me.

techskater · April 02, 2012, 08:55:08 PM

I have an hour lesson with my guy coach (partially because our schedules don't mesh otherwise) and I love it! We get so much accomplished in an hour - we've choreographed whole programs, work on technical and presentation related issues, and work on three different program. Yeah, I am dead afterwards, but the next day is my off day from the ice...

jjane45 · April 02, 2012, 09:25:06 PM

Quote from: jjane45 on April 01, 2012, 10:13:27 PM
Thirty minutes for freestyle. I run out of gas very fast for dance, so no idea there...

Ops I haven't really answered the question. For private lessons, stamina is not an issue unless I work on program run through with Coach. It's more of a "how much I could absorb" type of thing, because our focus is rarely power but freestyle technique. My favorite group lesson used to be 90 minutes long. (and it's coming back this summer, wheee!!)

PinkLaces · April 03, 2012, 12:16:15 AM

I wish I could get a 30 minute lesson. My coach is so booked that I can only get 2 - 20 minute lessons/week. Even if I wanted a 3rd lesson (60 mins/week), she doesn't have time. Any skater of hers that wants more than 2 lessons/week she has work with another coach (in addition to her).

She did give me 2 - 30 minute lessons/week this summer. That seemed like the perfect amount of time for me. We could do 10 mins of jumps, 10 of spins, and 10 of moves. Right now, we can only do 1 or 2 moves patterns and then either jumps or spins. That said, I do prefer my 2 - 20 min. session over 1 - 40 min. session.

karne · April 03, 2012, 09:05:33 AM

I have half-hour lessons, which I feel is great. We get a lot of work done and I'm just at the right level of tired at the end of it to drop the intensity slightly, practice on my own and do my stamina laps.

I did have a 45-minute session once because coach owed me 15 minutes from the week before (she got to the rink late because her car broke down), and that was also good. I didn't feel like I was tapering off too badly and we got masses of work done. Ideally I would like a 45 minute lesson, and I know if I asked coach could probably find it, but I can't afford it.

One thing I know I don't like though is breaking lessons into parts. 15 minutes is a waste of time for me. It's just not long enough. We've done lessons before where we break them into two 15-minute lessons in one session. It didn't work well, because I would feel like I was just getting momentum and then we'd stop. But that's just me - I'm a workaholic on the ice!

Bunny Hop · April 06, 2012, 02:43:28 AM

Quote from: icedancer2 on April 01, 2012, 09:41:53 PMI did have a coach that seemed to have no sense of time. I would pay her for a half-hour because that's all I could afford but she would just keep going... love her.

Our coach often gives us an extra quarter hour if there isn't a lesson booked after ours. Usually I don't notice until the lesson is over and realise it's gone for 45 minutes. Don't think I could make it to an hour though, just in terms of concentration rather than stamina, as the lessons aren't that intense.

With previous coach, we crammed a lot more work in, and 30 minutes was plenty. I always needed a rest afterwards.

So it all depends on coaching styles, pace of lessons.

AgnesNitt · April 06, 2012, 08:44:18 AM

Well, summer saturday freestyle started, and the freestyle sessions are 30 min, 30min, 30 min, 20 min (for the ice cut). So I'm doing 50 minute freestyle cause it's close enough to 45 that I think I can tolerate it.

turnip · April 06, 2012, 03:51:48 PM

I do a half hour private lesson and an hour group lesson a week. Occassionally have an extra half hour private if I can when I have a competition or test coming up, or when we started working on my program, so I could still have time for field moves. I used to have private, 15 min break, group, but then my coach changed my time so I had group first then straight into private (I would go sit down and catch my breath for a couple of minutes in between), but I found i was too tired to skate my best in my private lesson, so I asked to change to a different day.

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Lesson length