After 4 months of doing nothing but exercises, much sweat & tears (no blood, much much sweat & tears) poured out on the practice ice, we decided 2 1/2 weeks ago to try to test my Blues (my first pre-gold dance) today, in an effort to get it passed before the 1/15 cutoff for adult nationals. So started working on it 2 weeks ago Wed.

Tested today, standard track. Passed w/ all 3 judges, one gave me .1 over, one gave me .2 over! I'm in such a state of shock I still can't even believe it.

And having done all that work over the summer on knee bend, knee action, edges, extension---what were the judges' comments? "great knee action, great extension, very solid edges, great expression through knees." Love, love, LOVE my coach who knows what he is doing & is giving me the tools I need to get through these levels & make me into the skater I so desperately want to be.

** almost went so far as to tell him I'll never complain about my exercises again, but of course we all know that's not true......

That is great!

What are your exercises?

Oy, too many to list! But they're mostly pretty basic--forward stroking w/ double knee bend, forward inside & outside edges, also backward, fwd & bkwd chasses, double threes, power pulls, progressives in a circle. Then there are some more difficult things, w/ choctaws, rockers, counters, brackets. The point of it all is to be able to focus on extension, knee bend, balance, edge depth, correct stroking, power/speed on the basic stuff -- so once you're so rock solid on all that, then the more difficult stuff becomes much easier. As my dance can testify.

**oh, forgot to mention--then do it all w/ arms over your head (like 5th position in ballet). THEN, do it all w/ arms behind your back. (coach is Russian, btw. Seems to be a common training technique w/ them.)

Sounds like a good set of exercises for any skating; not just dance.

Congratulations on passing your Blues! I love that dance although I cannot do it so I live vicariously through anyone who can do it. Good job!

I got arm exercises yesterday btw, swing rolls arms in 5th, swing rolls bringing arms overhead and following arms with your eyes/head, and then swing rolls with arms behind back. Gaaak! Very simple, very hard.

Phoenix, congratulations!

Like Slusher, I can't begin to do the Blues, either (so, okay, I can stumble and kick my way through it at dance club, grinding to a halt to do the choctaw, but I don't count that!), so I am envious.

And I can see loads of extension/kneebend/arm exercises in my future, too!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

thank you very much Joan, Slusher & Mrs. Redboots!

Aside from being very pleased w/ the result (obviously!!) I'm also very pleased that I seem to have finally learned how to handle my nerves for the most part. The secret (also handed down from my wise coach) is a massive off-ice warmup, with the goal of breaking a hard sweat & getting the legs a little tired. Then a good stretching session, then when I get the short little on-ice warm-up, I start w/ power pulls fwd & bkwd to get my knees loosened up.

I've done this the last 2 times I've tested & also for my competition this summer, & had none of the shaky legs & weak knees typical for me when I get nervous.

I'm going to have to try this the next time I test (or compete) - I get so nervous!

Thanks for sharing!

One thing I would like to stress to all of us is that stretching requires your muscles to be warmed up PRIOR to stretching. As Phoenix just mentioned...

I can't count the number of times I've seen skaters hit the ice and in a matter of a couple minutes are up against the boards, stretching. Folks, it works MUCH better if you spend at least half an hour warming up BEFORE you start to stretch. Thank you Phoenix!

ABSOLUTELY true! If you stretch before getting your muscles warmed up, you risk pulling a muscle. I make sure I skate for awhile before "stretching" and the stretching I do is spirals, which are active stretching rather than passive stretching. Only after warming up for awhile and then doing a spiral or two will I do a camel spin or split jump. Then after skating, I stretch for 20 minutes, starting with active stretching (swinging my legs forward and back) and then doing passive stretching (calf stretch, split, quad stretch, etc.) It helps SO much, and keeps you from getting sore, too.