I have a bunch of fitness DVDS. I loan these out to friends, and get comments back, and I have my favorites too. Here's some that are popular. I think each of these is good for off-ice exercise.
Cathe' Friedrich's Travel Fit
This has been a consistent favorite of all the advanced exercisers who borrow it. Uses a stretchy band, and you'll need gloves too as the holds on the bands can be demanding. Lots of innovative use of the band to get to muscles you hardly seem to use. Works the entire body. Designed to be used in a confined space like a hotel room, but that doesn't matter, it's efficient and challenging.
Heart of Pilates: Pilaites with an Exercise Band by Kj Luker
This DVD is another band video. Uniquely it has exercises for the ankles and feet. The first time I did it, I was surprised by how stiff my ankles were. The second time, I could see how I'd improved. Now it's a regular video in rotation. I just do the first section, the second one's a waste. You will have trouble finding this video. Once you've done it a couple of times and learned the moves, just turn off the audio and put on some music of your choice. Kj Luker saying "Yummy"gets old. (BTW it appears to be out of print)
Strong Knees by Chantal Donnelly
This may be a little old lady for some of you, but it has some wonderful exercises to rehabilitate and strengthen your knees. The only trick is to not hit "Play" to run the video. Instead in the Main Menu select the Extras section. There you'll be able to set the exercises in the order you want. This video has a nice leg stretch at the end. It is the best leg stretch I've ever done.
Showing posts with label off ice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label off ice. Show all posts
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
Check, please!
One of the things I found the most confusing when I first started learn to skate was the term 'check'. It became an issue for me when I started 3 turns. "Check your turn." the coach would say. Or "Turn your shoulders opposite to your hips." Oh, yes, that works when you've been skating since you were six.When I started in my fifties and balanced on on foot swiveling my hips and my shoulders in opposite directions, it was just terrifying.
Since I rode horses for a long time before I skated, I had only heard the term 'check' in a horse related discussion. In a simplified description, in riding it means get your seat down in the saddle, and close your fingers on the reins. This 'checks' the horse without bringing to a stop, it causes the horse to shorten its stride as it approaches a jump so it takes off at the right point. The whole 'checking the turn' was a foreign language to me.
To this day I think that 'checking the turn' is harder for adults to learn than it looks. At least it was for this particular adult. I don't know how various coaches introduce turn checking. I've had the swivel hips and shoulders lesson, the many demonstrations, none of them worked for me intuitively.
What I needed was practice. And there's just so much time you can spend on ice practicing 3 turns if they give you trouble. But I've found a way.
Let me introduce my 3 turn checking training device, for sale nationwide. Ladies and gentlemen, the paper plate.
There's only 3 things I needed for this exercise: the plate, a wood floor, and a pair of over ankle lace up boots with a solid heel.
Step 1: Put feet in boots, lace them up like they're your skates. I used a pair of old jodhpur boots with a slight heel. I wanted something that gave me a feel of skates, with a similar heel.
Step 2: Put plate on floor.
Step 3: Put boot on plate.
Step 4: Do a 3 turn.
It's that simple. I would just leave the plate on the kitchen floor and do 3 turns every time I went through the kitchen. At first I could get the turn but would wobble and not be able to hold it coming out of the turn. Being at home I could try various arm positions and timing. I could look at 3 turn videos and follow the instructions. I could remember my coach's instructions and practice them. Eventually, I got everything to come together and my 3 turns on ice improved. But because I had off-ice practice at home, I really got comfortable with the moves in an environment where a fall was not going to happen. When I was at skate camp last summer, coaches would ask me to demonstrate my three turns and say "Those are good." So, how much of this was due to off-ice practice, I don't know. I do feel it made me more comfortable with the timing of the check, and my upper body position.
I've read of other people using a spinner for practicing 3 turns. It's probably harder to do them on a spinner, and if you have one it's worth a try. If I had access to one, I might give it a turn myself. Right now, I don't use the plate anymore as I'm happy with my 3 turns. The paper plate exercise, I feel, got me over the hump and cost me pennies.
N.B. If you have larger feet, you may need the paper platter. I have Tinkerbelle feet. I could do a 3 turn on a paper plate, easy peasy.
Since I rode horses for a long time before I skated, I had only heard the term 'check' in a horse related discussion. In a simplified description, in riding it means get your seat down in the saddle, and close your fingers on the reins. This 'checks' the horse without bringing to a stop, it causes the horse to shorten its stride as it approaches a jump so it takes off at the right point. The whole 'checking the turn' was a foreign language to me.
To this day I think that 'checking the turn' is harder for adults to learn than it looks. At least it was for this particular adult. I don't know how various coaches introduce turn checking. I've had the swivel hips and shoulders lesson, the many demonstrations, none of them worked for me intuitively.
What I needed was practice. And there's just so much time you can spend on ice practicing 3 turns if they give you trouble. But I've found a way.
Let me introduce my 3 turn checking training device, for sale nationwide. Ladies and gentlemen, the paper plate.
I used the ones that are paper with the waxy finish
Step 1: Put feet in boots, lace them up like they're your skates. I used a pair of old jodhpur boots with a slight heel. I wanted something that gave me a feel of skates, with a similar heel.
Step 2: Put plate on floor.
Step 3: Put boot on plate.
Step 4: Do a 3 turn.
It's that simple. I would just leave the plate on the kitchen floor and do 3 turns every time I went through the kitchen. At first I could get the turn but would wobble and not be able to hold it coming out of the turn. Being at home I could try various arm positions and timing. I could look at 3 turn videos and follow the instructions. I could remember my coach's instructions and practice them. Eventually, I got everything to come together and my 3 turns on ice improved. But because I had off-ice practice at home, I really got comfortable with the moves in an environment where a fall was not going to happen. When I was at skate camp last summer, coaches would ask me to demonstrate my three turns and say "Those are good." So, how much of this was due to off-ice practice, I don't know. I do feel it made me more comfortable with the timing of the check, and my upper body position.
I've read of other people using a spinner for practicing 3 turns. It's probably harder to do them on a spinner, and if you have one it's worth a try. If I had access to one, I might give it a turn myself. Right now, I don't use the plate anymore as I'm happy with my 3 turns. The paper plate exercise, I feel, got me over the hump and cost me pennies.
N.B. If you have larger feet, you may need the paper platter. I have Tinkerbelle feet. I could do a 3 turn on a paper plate, easy peasy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)