Dance Lesson: Tweaks Are Evil

"You have good edges," Dance Coach said, "Why can't you do this?"

The compliment on my edges is first. Let me take a moment to celebrate.

What can I say, it's been a good week for basking

But Dance Coach now wants me to do my inside swingrolls the 'proper' way, by rising up on the swing, then not going back down, while swinging the leg even yet higher. Yes, that last part does feel a bit rushed. Plus he also wants, more curve - aim for the boards.

Sigh. Put hands over face. It's not happening.

Oh, yeah, and I booted out on the cross-and-hold step of the Rhythm Blues.  It was an exciting split second. 

Overall, I feel I've developed more power over the last couple of months, but the rest of my skills aren't keeping up with it. What with all the new proper posture and edging I'm getting from Coach Cruella, I'm in that awkward transition stage. My skills are all over the place, while I struggle to coordinate them. 

Maybe some practice will fix this. Or maybe A LOT OF PRACTICE will fix this. Sigh/Again.

Now let me end the post on a positive note. Here's a warm up exercise I like.

This week my off-ice trainer, Miss Fitt, has me working on my turn out. This hasn't't yet translated  into improved skating skills, but it's nice to have every muscle in my legs aching in the pleasant 'I've had a workout' way.

One of her exercises is my new favorite.

Balance on one foot. Bring the free leg forward and do a rond de jambe attitude , then with the free leg in the back, rather than go en pointe, bend the balance leg deeply.  I've started doing this at the rink before skating to warm up my legs after my very brisk walk. It stretches the hip flexors and the knees in the same exercise. I do it 30 times each side.

On Ice Warmup

Everyone has an on ice warmup. Those of you who are younger may just be able to step on the ice and do a few strokes, then do some jumps and spins. Not me. I have to actually do both an off ice and an on ice warmup. I've written about the off ice warmup elsewhere. This is about the on ice warmup.

I start out with stroking around the rink twice, doing double knee bend stroking. This is where you stroke onto the outside edge, with a deep kneebend, then rise upward, and as you drop down again, stroke into a deep kneebend onto the right outside edge. If my legs are still cold I do another round.

Next I do alternating crossovers. This is just crossovers down the rink the first set CW, then the next set  CCW,  The first couple of sets are clunky, but once they're smooth, I add a strong underpush complete with the toepick being the last part of the blade off the ice (The Twinkle Toes Maneuver) and a strong  free foot extension to the rear.

I'm now on exercise 3--outside swing rolls. I like to get  strong shoulder action here, and after one or two sets, I really start to work on getting the extension of the free leg as high as I  can both forward and back.

When I'm happy with that, I switch to inside swingrolls which I'm finally comfortable with.

One of the things I haven't mentioned is that I work on starting from a stop for all exercises without favoring either leg as a starting leg. My right leg is my power leg, and it's my prefered starting leg. However, I make myself alternate legs as the initiating legs for all exercises. I think favoring one leg is a real beginner skater habit, and I'm trying to break it.

After the exercises down the sides, I usually do inside and outside edges across the rink a few times, and then take a stab at both outside and inside figure 8's.

If I have time I do some chasse's down the rink and work on my power. Finally, some 3 turns and mohawks, aiming for smoothness and elegance,

In all these exercises I work on positioning of my upper body, and my extension. 

Nothing spectacular here. I'm a beginner skater and I spend time working on beginner things: edge control, power, finesse, and posture. I'd like to add alternating back crossovers and power 3's, but in midwinter, the rink is just to crowded to go backwards without a spotter.

This warmup is long because of my age. I know you youngsters don't have  to do long warmups, but I think everyone benefits by establishing a warm up program with set goals and objectives. Mine will change,  and as soon as the crowds go away, I'll make some adjustments to mine.

Warming up is more than keeping Warm

I wasted the first 3 years of my skating life by not warming up before I skated.

3 years of ice fees, 3 years of lessons, 3 years of time on the ice down the drain.

Then I was off ice for a year. This is about what happened when I restarted.

If you're a teenager or in your twenties you may not see the benefits of warming up. But once you hit your 30's the natural resilience of your body begins to fade. One day you say to yourself "I was a little 'off' today." and you wonder why. There's other little hints, the spiral that doesn't go as high as it used to, the sore knee that appears out of nowhere.  When you pass your peak of strength and speed in your twenties there is a gradual diminution of your skills; you can help deal with that with a proper warm up.

How did I get to be such a warm up hot shot?  I was taking a lesson with Coach Great Hair while Dance Coach was on his honeymoon. She flatly told me I needed to warm up, and that skating a half hour before a lesson wasn't enough. It was warm up tough love.

So before Dance Coach (aka Coach Frowny Face) got back from his honeymoon I had instituted a warm up boot camp. I stopped at a mall near the rink and did 45 minutes of fast walking including going up and down stairs as quick as I could without running. Then I got to the rink and did 10 minutes of stretching before I put on my boots.

After a month coach did his frowny face at the end of a lesson. "You're doing much better. Usually students get a little better a little at a time, but you just got better like an explosion. I've never seen it happen before."  Notice what he said: I had a SKILL EXPLOSION.  How many lessons is that worth? So even though it takes time, it's worth it.

Is there anything special about my warm up? Not particularly.  You want to get the large muscles of the legs warmed up and walking is excellent for this. Going up and down stairs warms up the knees. It's not rocket science. How long I take is due to my age. As I approach social security payment time, I find I need more time. It's a part of my life now. If I was younger I might jump rope or jog in place, but no one exercise is absolutely essential. What is essential is getting the blood moving into the legs.

What about stretching?

It's hard to do stretching at my rink because the party rooms are always booked, there's a hockey game in the rink area and no place in the boot changing area to do anything.  I've had to make do by finding a little corner off of the rink and doing 10 minutes of standing stretches. Holding each stretch for 30 seconds and repeating it 3 times does appear to be critical for me.  There's lots of books, articles and web pages out there about stretching. Pick the ones that work for you. I need stretches for my hips and I pick exercises for that.

Have I convinced you to warm up before skating? I hope so. I don't want anyone thinking as I do about the wasted money, time, and effort that I spent because I didn't think I needed to warm up before getting on the ice.