At our rink, the weather really highlighted the dedication of some of our skaters, who made the most of two days forced absence from school and work by getting in some ice skating practise.

They diligently worked hard, some for many hours working on their new routines and elements. But all of them forgot to do one very important thing….

and its something I’m sure some of you reading this probably have forgotten to do before as well….

no one remembered to do stretching AFTER they finished training.

Why is it so important?

Stretching after you skate is the best time to work on increasing your flexibility because your muscles are already warm, you can do passive stretching safely (because you are not about to do dynamic activity afterwards), and you are pretty much unhurried.

Promise me now that….

“I will remember to WARM DOWN every time I train ^_^ “

Did you land that jump?

Did you pass the test?

Did you finish as high as you’d like to?

I’m not singling you out.  I faced the same tough questions… and found some answers that gave me the breakthroughs I’d always been missing.

The first step to meeting your goals is setting the right ones.

See, resolutions should be challenging, but also realistic and achievable.

“Skate more artistically” or “win my next skating competition” may be things you want, but they aren’t good goals.

You’d get better results faster with a goal that isn’t tied to results.

Such as “practise on ice 4 times a week for at least 1.5 hours, consistently practising my basics as well as technique specific component drills”.

Once I learned how to set the right goal I found a number of “Jedi mind tricks” that you, too, can use to psych yourself up to “stick with the programme”.

Four “Jedi Mind Tricks” I discovered…

• Small chunking.  Take your larger goal and break it down into smaller more manageable pieces.
• A reward system.  When you achieve something noteworthy, give yourself a reward to celebrate the moment.  If you’re slacking, withhold all rewards until you’re back on track.
• Have a game-plan.  Write down a strategy for accomplishing each of your “small chunk” goals.  Include checkpoints for your reward system.
• Accountability tactics.  The more people who know about and support you in achieving your goals the better.Tell your resolutions to everyone you can trust and request they keep you accountable!

In summary try to make your goals process oriented rather than outcome dependant - stick to your strategy and watch the improvement.

When the mean is in good order the end is inevitable

 
Lets make 2009 the best skating year yet!
 

Here at skateGREAT it’s been an amazing year - we launched our site, and our first ever product - the skateGREAT Spinner.  2009 will see the launch of many other products either  hand selected or developed by us to help you acheive your ice skating goals for 2009.

Thanks for all the support, comments and encouragement along the way

After much tinkering the new skateGREAT  blog and shop are finally up!   Watch this space as 2009 will see the introduction of many great new products and features to help you all bring your skating to the next level.

Everyone on our mailing list will be getting a little present on January 1st so if you haven’t already done so don’t forget to sign up!

All the best from the skateGREAT team!

As body-weight leg exercises go, the teapot is without doubt king. Doing a clean one foot teapot off ice, holding the bottom position (to avoid bouncing) and pushing back up is an awesome feat of muscular tension and balance - two attributes that are vital for skating success. When done for repetitions you will quickly discover just how much this simple exercise has to offer us. The best thing being that repition one foot teapots can be done anywhere any time, as they require no equipment and little space.

But what if you can’t do a full teapot?

Start by using a box or chair for support

Stand on one leg with your free leg extended in front… now gradually lower yourself on to the box. Pause and then push back up. (Note: when pushing up the first thing that needs to move is your head going forwards). The box should be at the point where you can’t go any lower. Now gradually over time lower the height of your support until you are doing a full one leg teapot. Remember that as you go down you need to reach forwards so that your weight stays over your foot the whole time.

If you practise this as often as possible you will be pleased with how quickly you progress. Remember when developing your strength SKILL. Doing as much as possible while staying as fresh as possible gives the best results. You are better off doing 3 repetitions every hour throughout the day than doing 10 in one go. As the fatigue factor will inhibit your training volume and skill acquisition.

For that reason keep all exercise sets to a maximum of 5 repetitions and then come back and do more later on. This method also helps to minimise muscle growth, while maximising strength gains.

Let me know if this prgression helps,

skateGREAT!

One of our favourites is the two foot twist. A simple exercise that will improve your core stability and control, and give specific training for a multitude of on ice techniques.  This beautiful little exercise will teach you how to “check” to help you get the feeling of controlling your centre as you twist-perfect for 3 turns and slaloms.  It will strengthen your core and trim that waistline - lets get going! 

Step onto your spinner - both feet side by side.  Keeping your shoulders and arms facing a wall twist from the waist so that your feet point to the right, while maintaining your shoulder alignment.  Now twist the feet all the way over to the left side (using your waist muscles) again doing your best to keep your arms and shoulders parallel to the wall.  Repeat!

Simple huh?  When you start out you may find it difficult to check the rotation and keep balanced.  Although it will get easier with time, we have found that it can be quicker to get the feeling of the movemnet if you hold ont the back of a chair or similar.  Still focus on initiating the rotation from the waist.

Enjoy!
If you still need to get hold of a spinner you can buy one here

This drill will increase your body position awareness and help develop the strength endurance of your muscles in the area around your calf and ankle. Lets get to it!

Start by standing on the left foot and extending the right leg out in front of you foot pointed. Hold this position for 10 seconds.

Now keeping the leg straight and in the air, slowly circle it around until it is extended to your right side. Again hold this position for 10 seconds.

Still keeping your right leg in the air slowly circle it around behind you and hold it for another 10 seconds.

From this position slowly circle the leg all the way to the front and hold it for 10 more seconds.

Finally bring your foot in to your left thigh, turning the knee out from the hip, making a shape similar to a P and hold for 10 seconds.

Slowly lower the foot and repeat on the other side

Enjoy!

So what makes you unable to do splits?  The answer is there are two factors - fear and tension.  The muscles tighten up and resist lengthening.

The human body is a wonderfully adaptive organism.  Based on our habitual movements the nervous system has set a favourite length for every one of our muscles.  Whenever you reach too far compared to this default the STRETCH REFLEX is activated and it stops your muscles going further in order to protect us from over extending and injuring ourselves.

So its not short muscles and connective tissues that make you tight, its your nervous system.  Our muscle fibres can be compared to telescopic tubes, with tension restricting the ease that they can be extended.  Master the muscular tension and you can be as flexible as you want to be, no matter what your age!

3 simple steps to super flexibility

1 - Trick your muscles into relaxation using natural reflexes

All reflexes including the stretch reflex are automatic.  However some reflexes are higher up the food chain than others.  By utilizing these overriding reflexes we can inhibit the stretch reflex response allowing us to move further.

2 - Convince your nervous system that the new range of motion is safe

Once you have tricked your muscles into relaxing against their will stage 2 kicks in.  Your stretch reflex will think “Hey, the muscle is longer but it hasn’t ripped in half!  This isn’t as bad as I thought.”

This is where progressing at a conservative pace is crucial.  Keep a sense of safety in your training so your nervous system stays relaxed and calm.  If you don’t feel safe your muscles will not relax fully.  Also building strength in the extended position will help your system to stay happy.

3 - Create the new habitual muscle length

New habits can be formed in two ways EXTENSIVE and INTENSIVE.  Extensive learning is like memorizing your office phone number by dialling it a hundred times.  Intensive learning is the instant number  memorization of the cute girl/guy you just met at the party.

When applied to stretching extensive means holding the final stretched out position for as long as you can stand it.  Regular repetition of this will reset the default length of the muscle.  Intensive requires short but intense stimulation, utilizing strong muscular contraction and specific breathing patterns.  For the most effective development of flexibility both extensive and intensive methods should be used.

Next article we’ll look at relaxed stretching methods in detail - until then,

skateGREAT!