As the school year comes to a close, many skaters are enrolling in intense summer skating camps. But not all training is done on the rink. To supplement on-ice workouts, athletes and coaches have found out-of-the-box exercises to add an element of fun and creativity into their regime. These fitness classes divert from common go-tos like ballet, yoga, pilates and jump roping. At surface level, trampoline and puppetry may appear unrelated to figure skating, but you'll be surprised to learn just how applicable they are to the sport. Here is the final edition of unique off-ice workouts for you to try!
Lateral Trainer
Lateral trainer sliding boards make "ice" available outside the arena. UltraSlide is a rectangular board that replicates the slipperiness of ice when users wear special booties while standing on it. Skaters can stroke in a squatted position from side-to-side to challenge legs, glutes and core muscles, and practice balance. For an added challenge, users can hold weights in their hands or throw and catch a ball to a partner or trainer to develop hand-eye coordination. Olympian Maia Shibutani has incorporated this into her off-ice conditioning routine.
Various stroking, lunging and crunching exercises are possible on the sliding board. One is actually called "the figure skater." With feet hip-width distance apart and holding a weight in each hand at your sides, you lunge backwards with the right leg, crossing it behind the left leg. It is like taking a curtsy at the end of a skating routine. Return to standing and repeat with the opposite leg. This targets the inner and outer thighs, shoulders, glutes and quads. UltraSlide also offers an octagon-shaped board, which is great for figure skaters to have a 360-degree range of motion to change direction and angles.
Enjoy playing videos games in your spare time? Embedded Fitness developed Smartskate, a virtual reality sliding board, that incorporates video game technology into off-ice training. While stroking side-to-side on the board, movements are linked to sensors. The signal is transmitted to the video screen in front of the skater that depicts their virtual persona skating a course in nature or in the rink. Two of these boards can be set up next to one another to race against an opponent.
Power Plate
Used by Japan's national figure skating team, as well as professional and collegiate athletes in the United States, Jon Krueger, director of elite performance sales, tells FanZone that Power Plate helps athletes "prepare faster, perform better and recover quicker" by using the power of vibration. By stimulating natural reflexes, increasing muscle activation and improving circulation, it helps athletes hit the ice again without the muscle fatigue and soreness.
"Power Plate enhances any movement, simple or complex, typically performed on the ground," says Krueger. [It] directly affects your neurological, proprioceptive/balance, cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal systems."
Skaters can practice a wide range of movements using Power Plate, such as squatting, hinging, lunging, pushing, pulling and carrying. Athletes can expect to see improved strength, speed, power, flexibility, mobility, stability and endurance. It is an efficient way to achieve a full-body workout in a relatively short amount of time. Krueger recommends 30-minute sessions three to four days per week, but elite athletes can use it even more frequently. It can even be used daily to warm-up quicker or as a post-workout tool for faster recovery.
Power Plate is used by figure skaters at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, collegiate teams at many Division 1 schools, select gyms, specialized fitness studios, and various ice rinks nationwide, especially those affiliated with a NHL team.
