Do you stretch? Do you warm up?

[FallDownGoBoom]

What's your routine just prior to skating?

Do you stretch at home? At the rink? What do you do when you first hit the ice: Just fool around and ease into it, do some Indy 500 laps, grab a hockey circle, stretch at the boards ...?

[Debbie S]

I do a lot of stretches in the rink lobby before putting on my skates. I try to stretch legs, arms, neck, back, shoulders - basically anything that moves during skating, which is just about everything. :) I do spiral stretches too, on both feet. I also do point-and-flex exercises with each foot, to try to prevent shin splints, which I seem to be prone to.

When I get on the ice, I stroke for a lap or two, then do forward and back crossovers in each direction (I try to grab a circle, but depending on the crowds, sometimes I just have to find a spot wherever). Depending on how I'm feeling, I may start warming up my jumps first, or I may start with spins, or maybe with field moves (esp if I'm close to testing).

[rf3ray]

This is what I do to warm up

1.Do neck rolls, twisting my head up and down.
2.Ham string stretches
3.Hip twists for upperbody
4.Anlke rolls
5.Then do jumps into landing position
6.Skipping rope for 2:30
7.Do 5 double rotations on land, and then do 5 single axel jumps on land then I go on the ice


What's your routine just prior to skating?

Do you stretch at home? At the rink? What do you do when you first hit the ice: Just fool around and ease into it, do some Indy 500 laps, grab a hockey circle, stretch at the boards ...?

[Debbie S]

1.Do neck rolls, twisting my head up and down.
Actually, I have heard rolling your neck is bad. What I've been told, and what I do, is simply move the neck up and down, and then side to side, hold each for a few seconds, but not roll the neck around.

[sue123]

I have a bit of a drive to get to my rink, usually roll out of bed and go to the car, so I definitly need to warm up and stretch before I go out on the ice. I usually do a couple laps around the parking lot to get my blood flowing, then jump rope, then stretch. Once I'm on the ice, I also do some stroking and transition crossovers and swing rolls and such.

[froggy]

..especially if its an am session in the morning I do a full warm up this is my routine:

1. jog in place 20 sec
2. 10 jumping jacks
3. arm circles 5 in each direction
and upper body rotation with correct arm position 10x (think upper body and arm position for crossovers)
4. stretch quad & hamstrings for a count of 10
5. "head shoulders toes" (no bending knees) 10x
6. wall push ups 10x
7. overhead stretch to right and left each for a count of 10
8. grand plie in first position with a full releve 5x
9. swing legs forward and back 5x and then hold in spiral for a count of 10
10. cross crawl-jog bringing opposite knee and elbow to tap eachother 10x

usually I'll also do an off ice waltz and a couple of landing position holds for 5 seconds

On ice when its pretty empty:
slaloms around rink with deep knee bend and edges
back crossovers and hold (not sure what this is called) around rink
consecutive edges and MITF
forward crossovers on hockey circle
jumps
spins

[TashaKat]

My warm up was a chat and a hot chocolate. I couldn't see any point in warming up off ice (never have even when I was dancing) even though pretty much everyone else did.

Even on tests and competitions I HATED the warm up. I'd much rather just get on and do it, I was famous for trying to get off the warm up ice as soon as possible doing as little as possible! The one time that I WAS made to warm up I skated appallingly in my test!

I appreciate that I'm not the best example in the world but I think that you need to do whatever works for you :)

[jazzpants]

I've made the mistake actually of stretching before warming up (i.e. stretching on cold muscles.) Trust me! I won't do that again!!!

My routine is to walk to the rink. (No parking lot. I have to park on the streets and walk there and well, it's downtown SF so it's not just a few feet walk...) :P Then up the stairs (if the elevator is out of service...) Then I put on my skates, go a few laps around the rink and THEN I stretch my calfs and my hip flexors, etc. before going on to other things. (I don't like jogging or jump rope off ice b/c it aggravates my lower back.)

Besides the laps, my warmup is the prelim crossovers (both forward and backwards) and then the Bronze Moves, starting with forward perimeter crossovers, five step mohawks, and then everything else on that moves test in no particular order.

Someday I'm gonna have to see if I could do power circles, just to see if I could do them. (Of course, this is also a pre-emptive strike for the next time that primary coach throws the power circle at me, which he has done on occasion. EVIL!!! :twisted: )

[tidesong]

I usually just jog around on the spot and do some off ice axel and doubles for warm up. If its competition I'll dry-run through my program a few times... I may stretch a little if I'm feeling stiff in certain areas, but I dont do those until after the jog at least. I usually do ankle rotation on the way to the rink in the train.

I do my full stretches after skating when muscles are nice and warm to improve my flexibility... but not before.

[taffy12]

Someday I'm gonna have to see if I could do power circles, just to see if I could do them. (Of course, this is also a pre-emptive strike for the next time that primary coach throws the power circle at me, which he has done on occasion. EVIL!!! :twisted: )

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm just curious: what are power circles?

[jazzpants]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm just curious: what are power circles?Okay, let's see if I can describe it w/o my making a fool of myself.

Essentially it's doing crossovers (both forward and backwards, both directions) around the center of hockey circle. The idea is that you're supposed to do those crossover slowly and then gradually build up your crossovers and how big of a circle you're doing crossovers on 'til you're going very VERY fast and your circle is a little bit bigger than the hockey circles itself! You should be doing like 3 or 4 slow crossovers and then gradually build up your speed within 7 to 8 crossovers and then glide out at full speed. You are supposed to cross over completely and you better be REALLY FAST by the last crossovers.

I wish I had a video to show this. It would demonstrate what I'm talking about. (Or trying to anyway...)

(Did I get the description right? I know I'm missing a few things, but I just want to give a general description for now.)

[Thin-Ice]

That's a good description Jazzpants! Power Circles are on the US Intermediate Moves test. You're supposed to prove you can go from a dead standstill to full-out power in just a few crossovers. The idea is you build up speed incrementally... not just s-l-o-w, s-l-o-w, FAST, FAST, FAST. As the speed builds, the tempo of your feet also increases and the size of the circle gets larger. And in theory there are 2-3 crossovers that are called "slower" but by the 4th or so, you should be going at (your) medium speed, and to the point they could be called fast by the 6th or 7th. On the test, you also have to hold the final crossover and go out of the circle on a diagonal to the one corner of the rink. (That's supposed to show you have control AND speed.) And as JP said, they are done R/L forward, L/R forward, R/L backward and L/R backward. And you're right.. they are EVIL!!!

[AndreaUK]

Hi

I have never actually been shown how to warm up or cool down properly, hence I often suffer from cramps and stiff muscles after skating. I am relatively new to the sport, only been skating 8 weeks so I think now would be a good time to learn how to warm up and cool down properly.

Basically all I have been doing is getting on the ice and just skating around, taking my time, not doing anything strenuous or taxing until I feel that my legs and muscles are free. When its time to come off the ice, i tend to just slow down a little, skate around as during the warm up and then exist.

Andrea

[Rusty Blades]

At my age I should be doing warm-up and cool-down but NONE of the adults do that around here and I am not that good a skater yet so it would feel pretentious.

I usually start out on-ice with some moderate stroking, slalom, etc. to loosen up and then do some stretches at the boards (hopefully before my coach catches me for lessons).

I think soon I will break from convention and start doing the warm-ups like the young girls.

[vesperholly]

I don't do any off-ice warm up. On ice, I do Russian stroking first - once around the rink forward and once backward. I do held extensions afterwards each - LFO, RFI with foot crossed under, RFO, LFI with foot crossed under, same backward.

Then I stretch on the boards. Hamstring, quads, calves, hips. Before I do laybacks, I also do side and backwards upper-body stretches. I always spin first, and I always warm up every single jump alone and with a loop before going on to axels/doubles.

At the end of the session, I stroke twice around the rink then do a held edge from blue line to blue line - first forward then backward. I'm working on Junior moves and I'm trying to make that edge after the crossover patterns really strong.

[jenlyon60]

Generally this is what I do off-ice first:

1. Quick hops down and back 1 length of lobby (called "ankling" by my off-ice trainer)... focus is to use the ankles more than the knees.

2. Knee Grabs. Walk the length of the lobby alternating bending the knee and grabbing it towards your tummy. Should also be on the toe/forefoot of the supporting leg. This stretches the hamstrings a bit and seems to help the hip flexors also.

3. Jog in place about 30 seconds or so.

4. Leg swings... each leg forward and back 10-15 times, side to side 10-15 times.

5. Stretch calves/achilles tendon. 30 seconds each leg

6. Stretch hip flexors, 30 seconds each side.

7. Stretch hamstrings, 30 seconds each side.

8. While in hamstring stretch, turn upper body and supporting leg 90 degrees outward and bend supporting leg. This gives a nice gentle groin stretch.

9. Finally, after I sit down but before I put my skates on, I do ankle rotations, 6-8 times CW and CCW, and same thing, only rotating the lower leg from the knee.

After I get on the ice, I usually skate around to get the feel of the ice and get my feet comfortable in my boots. This time of year I'm checking for the dreaded ice zits (condensation bumps) since we've had some killers lately. Then I will start with some nice big alternating inside edges down the length of the rink, focusing on using my ankles/knee action rather than quality of edge, and then either perimeter stroking, Russian stroking or a big circle of crossovers/progressives (depending on what I feel like doing and who I have to dodge).

[SkatingOnClouds]

I've made the mistake actually of stretching before warming up (i.e. stretching on cold muscles.) Trust me! I won't do that again!!!

Oh my goodness, I have just realised that is exactly what I and a few others do. We stretch before going on the ice, instead of warming up then stretching. Duh!! Thanks for that jazzpants, you may have saved me from some future injuries.

I never used to do stretches and things, but then figured I should because my coach said to and everyone else did. I always just wanted to get straight out on the ice.

My preference is to skate a couple of laps to get the feel for it, then the opposite direction, before doing back crossovers both ways, some slaloms. Then I do edges - mainly because years ago we had to do an hour of figures because we were allowed to free skate. I don't feel ready to skate until I do some semi circles at least, and a few 3 turns etc.

My coach then says we should work on all spins, then all jumps, She likes us to work on footwork and end with ballet moves like spirals and so on.

[samba]

My work colleagues think I'm mad - it has been known for me to do stretch excercises in the ladies loo there, just to keep the old frame supple, not sure if it works but it raises a laugh.:lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

Hey, I just typed a long screed and it vanished!!!!

I don't do much off-ice warm-up unless either (a) my personal trainer is watching (and I am usually on the ice long before she arrives at the rink!) or (b) I am about to compete. Usually just check that nothing is stiff, and maybe just loosen up a bit. Pre-competition, I do a full aerobic-style warm-up.

Husband and I do a fast lap of forward stroking in Open Kilian hold, the second side of which is usually 4 pushes down the rink. We usually follow this up with one lap of chasses and one of swing rolls in waltz hold, changing position half-way round each lap. I'm seriously thinking of changing this to plain vanilla stroking, though, and perhaps adding in a lap of backwards stroking in Kilian hold.

Husband likes to do a lap of back cross-rolls and back outside edges, if he's warming up alone, after the first fast lap. I tend to do a fast lap, followed by some twizzles (well, the elites warm-up with twizzles, and if it's good enough for them.....), and maybe a few 3-turns and mohawks, and several mouthfuls of coffee!

Afterwards, I'm a bit naughty about stretching, and don't do as much as I should. When I can afford it, I have a session with the personal trainer, but that's not very often! Husband stretches at the station, so he tells me, assuming he doesn't have to leap straight on to the train.

[samba]

Hey, I just typed a long screed and it vanished!!!!

That happens to me a lot recently when I do PM's, so much so that I now highlight and copy in case it goes again.

[Maineskate]

No one should stretch before they are warmed up--even if it's just jogging in place for a few seconds. My doctor gave me a great analogy--your muscles are like dried out shoe leather when cold, and like taffy when warm. If you try to bend dry shoe leather, it will crack and break. If you bend taffy, well--you know, it just bends nice and easy.

So, sometimes I warmup and stretch off ice. Sometimes I warmup on ice and then stretch. It all depends on how early I get to the rink.

Julie

[TimDavidSkate]

I used to, these days I don't. I have learned how to stretch (not lifting my leg up on the boards while Im on the ice-thats a waste!) while I skate :halo: {I just do a lot of edging exercises that incorporate extension and choreography} ~ I save my off ice stretching/off-ice jumping during competition. It just tires me out too quickly :giveup:

But my exercices will go as such:
slowly stretching my calves, legs, arms, fingers; light ballet exercices, then go into some light off-ice jumping-{waltz, axel, axel/2toe} [when I was a teen I use to go throughout the whole arsenal of double jumps up to 2Axel]
That would last me about 10 to 15 minutes. Then I rest my energy for warmup or practice

[Rusty Blades]

My work colleagues think I'm mad - it has been known for me to do stretch excercises in the ladies loo there, just to keep the old frame supple, not sure if it works but it raises a laugh.:lol:

In the loo? I do either stretches or one-foot balance exercises everytime I have to wait for the coffee maker, photocopier, or FAX machine. My co-workers no longer even bat an eyelash if the come around the corner and see me standing on one foot with the free leg somehow contorted into a figure 4 or or stretched out into a spiral :roll: .

[TreSk8sAZ]

Unless I'm just being lazy, I always warm-up off-ice first. Generally this includes small ankle jumps and grapevines, then stretching. Being a dancer for so many years, I run through those stretches mostly, making sure to stretch hamstrings, quads, calves, achilles, hip flexors, and upper body. After stretching I run through all of my single jumps, then doubles.

On-ice can vary. Generally, I always do two laps of stroking (usually sloppy stroking, but stroking nonetheless 8O), followed by slaloms and power pulls. Depending on what lessons I have that day and which coaches I have that day, I either run through my Juv MITF test, or run Juv and Intermediate MITF. If I didn't stretch well enough off-ice, after the slaloms I'll stretch a little more.

Keep in mind, I generally skate for 2 hours or more at a time. I shorten the on-ice warm-up if I have less time.

[Evelina]

Hey,

I have an on ice warm up, including some stretches. It's basically just skating around the drink, slaloms, 3turns up and down the rink with crossovers inbetween then stretches. I don't stretch after skating, I know I should but I am usually rushing!

Evelina

[Mel On Ice]

thanks for bringing this up. I skated both yesterday and Wednesday. I felt great on Wed and couldn't get going yesterday and wondered why. Wednesday I stretched, skipped rope, got a little aerobic exercise going. Yesterday because I was running late, I stretched at the boards only.

Since a plantar fascii injury this May, I should know better and have doctor's orders to stretch before and after. It's more than just injury prevention; it's for peak performance.

[doubletoe]

I get on the ice at 6:30am so I never have time to warmup and stretch before skating. I do my major stretching (20 minutes of it) right after I skate, while my muscles are still warm.
However, I spend the first 10-15 minutes on the ice warming up and doing active stretching. Here's what I do as soon as I get on the ice:
1. Power circles.
2. 1-2 spread eagles to stretch out/open up my hips
3. Skate the connecting moves in my program, just "marking" the elements, not doing them.
4. A few upright backspins or change foot spins (no camel positions)
5. 2-3 spirals on each foot, until my hamstrings and glutes no longer feel stiff.

I never do spirals until my muscles have warmed up, and I never do a camel spin until after I have done some spirals. Otherwise, I risk pulling my left glute/top of hamstring a little as I go into it.

[BlueIcePlaza]

What's your routine just prior to skating?

Do you stretch at home? At the rink? What do you do when you first hit the ice: Just fool around and ease into it, do some Indy 500 laps, grab a hockey circle, stretch at the boards ...?

I sometimes cycle the 10 miles to the rink. :halo:

..and back. :P

[NCSkater02]

I do either stretches or one-foot balance exercises everytime I have to wait for the coffee maker, photocopier, or FAX machine. My co-workers no longer even bat an eyelash if the come around the corner and see me standing on one foot with the free leg somehow contorted into a figure 4 or or stretched out into a spiral :roll: .

Mine give me funny looks, but they are used to me stretching all over the place, and even laugh at my thinking through and working on jumps in the hall. Heck, I've even got one guy trying to do a waltz jump (he's really bad)

[Skate@Delaware]

I have an on-ice warm-up that I use but I don't really do an off-ice unless I'm competing. Then it's walk around, jumping jacks, stretching, jog in place, etc. to stay warm. And, if I'm competing, I have a "special" on-ice warm-up to use: 1/2 lap of forward stroking, 1/2 lap of forward crossovers, 1/2 lap back crossovers, 3-turns, spiral (short), each jump in my routine, each spin in my routine, exit the ice.

[mikawendy]

I jog a little bit around the rink lobby to get my heart rate up.
Then I do leg swings front to back and side to side, aiming for gentle movement to warm up rather than for height.
If I have time, I do some Pilates mat exercises.
Then some jogging in place, regular and with high knees.
Then some walking lunges, with arms extended, then with arms in an "I Dream of Genie" position or by my sides.
Gentle Achilles stretch, then a standing piriformis stretch.
If I have time, also shoulder rolls and push ups.
Ankle rolls and flex/point with a Theraband (to avoid foot cramps).

On ice, I do 1 lap of stroking in each direction, then 1/2 lap (at least) of forward Russian stroking, then 1/2 lap of power perimeter back crossovers. Sometimes I'll put power pulls next. Then onto either moves practice (especially the 3s in the field if it's not crowded) or jumps/spins or program practice.

[sexyskates]

I always stretch out my back, hips, calves, quads and hamstrings when I get up in the morning - starting with a yoga sun salutation. Then I do some leg swings followed by some plies and walk throughs of jump entrances (this makes me very straight in my jumps on the ice), and then some splits. This whole routine takes about 15 minutes. I also do a couple spirals and camel positions in the bathroom while I get ready. At the rink I do some jump exercises (on 2 feet - springing straight up, rotations and partial rotations both directions), leg swings, and a quick calf stretch before I put on my skates. On the ice I do cross overs in the middle, one scratch spin, and then start jumping. I put on my freestyle program within 5 minutes so it will be like competition. After the session I always stretch on my yoga mat before I get in the car. I find that if I stretch right away I do not get sore. I also do a good stretch and ab crunches before I go to bed (on the floor in front of the TV is very relaxing).

[Mrs Redboots]

The Husband swears he does press-ups in the front room every morning, but I have to admit I've never actually seen him do any.... but if he says he does, I expect he is right.

[SDFanatic]

Oooo, I'm bad, I do some mild stretches before I put my skates on, I've been thinking of getting a jump rope and using that for warmups.

I warmup more when I'm on the ice, I almost always start on my bad side first, after a couple laps I switch o my good side. I usally don't use the boards to stretch, instead I just do some side lunges.

For the last five minutes of the session I do tight back crossovers in both directions (either inside hockey circles or goal circle size) for a vigorous end of session workout.

I usually stretch much more after skating and may even head over to the rec center to do some swimming or other activities.

Steven (who should be doing more then just taking a shower in the morning)

[flo]

With pairs, yes. We go through lifts and walk through a couple things. On my own, very gently do some streatches. One of my worst skating injuries was from the warm up. Or as Scott Hamilton says - "I don't warm up, then I'm too tired to skate!" Heard that while he was being interviewed on some AM show. I was in Lake Placid for nats at the time.