Just for fun, what nifty, and perhaps quirky, good things have you discovered you can do thanks to skating? Here's mine:

I was just about to replace my old boy's bike with a ladies frame because I was having trouble mounting it. Thanks to all the spiral stretches, I can just swing a leg over again like it is nothing.

I can sleep on my stomach, which I never could before, ever. Some combination of my back being more flexible and my knees and feet turning out makes it comfy.

Not sure of quirky or good things, but my colleagues at work are curious as to my fitness and lower body strength from skating. I wear steel toecapped boots at work for safety, which are heavy, but not as heavy as skates. I therefore demonstrated to my colleagues, raising one leg forward horizontally, then slowly lowering myself on my standing leg until in a sitspin posture. Sadly I have not yet perfected the balance of getting up again, but I will one day !

I am 52 by the way.

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

The fact that so much of skating requires an ability to hold it gracefully together in public - when practising, competing and testing - helped me enormously in developing increased confidence and focus in stressful situations. This has really helped me in work and life in general. And it was a totally unexpected benefit!!!

That and skaters butt ..... a mixed blessing ....

When I wiped out in the middle of downtown Tampa while wearing a skirt and heels I quickly got up, brushed myself off and walked away. forgetting that I was supposed to be embarrassed.

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

ROTFLOL!!! That just made my day! "Nothing here to see - keep movin'!"

Similarly, I slid a good three feet this winter on an ice patch outside my office building, but caught my balance and walked away without thinking.
The students nearby stared at me like I was some kind of wierdo for not falling, and repeatedly said "Are you okay?" At that point, I wasn't admitting that my knee hurt. Pride goeth before a fall.
(My own fault - use the walkways, not the lawn when it's snowy/icy!)

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sounds like what happened to me in Krakow, although I wasn't in heels or a skirt. But I got hit by a bike, fell, and then jsut got back up. Of course, my knee is very angry at me for that now, but oh well.

The skaters butt was a great thing. My jeans fit now! And also, the increased flexibility has proven to be very impressive to many of my friends. And it's definitly helped my posture. On the ice, my old coach would yell at me to suck everything in, so eventually, I started walking like that too. Good posture really does make it look like you lost weight. All my friends started telling me I looked thinner.

Quirks huh? Expansion of my friend base. I've become friends with folks that I wouldn't have met without our shared skating. Tight abs. I've discovered defined muscles in my tummy. The nicest thing is that I haven't had to do any dang situps. Pretty great.

teresa

+The ability to always stay on my feet no matter what I jump over, what hits me, or what I slide on.

+Riding any ride in the amusement park, regardless of how spinny it is and not get dizzy or sick.

+The ability to bend over backwards and touch the ground.

+ The ability to recognize almost any piece of classical music thanks to years of dance, skills, freeskates and trying to find that perfect music.

+Subconciously finding the beat of almost any song playing.

+Being able to tie up or take off any pair of boots in under 30 seconds.

+Increased athleticism in general, due to better coordination and body awareness.

I am more fit and flexible, and less awkward than I was before I returned to skating, but the biggest benefit to me has been the travel opportunities and the friends I have made all over the world.

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

Last time I fell over in public I leapt up despite my dd going "Oh Mummy, get up slowly!" I said I was too used to leaping up and carrying on.

Also can do crossovers going up or down narrow stairs....

But the best and most wonderful unanticipated benefit is all the wonderful friends I've made all over the world!

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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!

Posture has been a real benefit. I used to slouch a bit, and now, without even being conscious of it off the ice, I don't slouch anymore, and my folks have noticed that. Also, balance. I think that figure skaters can put on their socks while perfectly balanced on one foot hehehe

regular bowel movements.

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Keep Evolving. "From this moment forward, every voice that told you - You Can't - , has been silenced." - Freedom Writers

The veins in my legs aren't very strong. A lot of the internal little "doors" that are to keep the blood from streaming back into the legs, they're broken in my legs, because both my mother and father have very poor veins. So what happens is, the veins dilate and blood stays in your legs, causing pain and heavy legs - and because in my case the deep large veins dilate, it's also dangerous, not just cosmetical.

From skating, a) the blood pumps through, so it doesn't stand still and b) the muscles are pressuring the veins together!

Before figure skating, when I was just dancing, I was constantly having pains in my legs, and since I started jumping not anymore!


My damaged spine is also feeling a lot better because core muscles are helping it to stay up.


Also, that very spine was keeping me from doing situps - which, turns out, I didn't need to do! The opinion of a former regional champion weightlifting was that you can crack nuts on my tummy.
Skater's butt is... well I already had massive thigh and butt muscles from nature, and it's only gone worse, LOL! But as long as it's all tight, that's not a problem.

Skater's butt, finally being able to do the splits, a slightly more limber back, the ability to stay upright when I trip, and being the only one in my family who doesn't slouch!

P.S. Just thought of another one! Actually having a definitive answer when asked if I have any hobbies!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Thanks to skating in the past 12 months I have done more things that I've always dreamt of doing but never believed they gonna happen than I did in the last 30 years:
- I quit the job I hated;
- I did a press photo shooting at a major skating competition;
- I managed an ice rink;
- I learned how to drive Zamboni;
- I started my own company;
- I agreed to do a skating audition for a TV show (that's gonna hurt!);
- I'm interviewing for a project with London 2012 Organising Committee....
.... and who knows what else is coming.

I think this all is down to one major skating skill that so many others have mentioned: no matter how badly you embarass yourself in front of others, you just pick yourself up and try to do better next time.

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My other car is a Zamboni

I've always slept on my stomach as well, but I do it with my toes turned inward - prolly cuz I have no turnout what so ever, nature didn't grace me with that.

That made me realise that there is another side issue from my skating - putting aside the frustration involved in practice, I am far calmer now when demonstrating in front of people (unless the observer happens to be my coach )

Sceptique, re the TV show, will you be able to give details if successful? Definitely one to record onto DVD (if I knew how ...)!

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UK Passport (figure)
Bronze : PASSED 13-Oct-07 Woohoo
Silver: PASSED 08-Dec-07 Yippee
Gold: Backspin PASSED One Foot Spin ____ Toe Loop ____ Programme ____
The impossible is just a journey away ...

hee hee. Yep, have to add 'skater's butt' to my list. Because, what I had before was 'flat white-girl's butt'.

I still have a co-worker who insists that I'm the "toughest girl" he knows because, when I fell with a huge thud in a slippery lab, I just got right back up again. My response: "That was nothing. You should see me fall when I skate!"

Add me to the list of people who appreciates their new-found skater's butt!

My jumps in ballet improved tenfold-- I REALLY fly now.

I think a whole lot faster now, thanks to having to move on freestyle sessions

And, of course, the from muggles when they find out what I do for fun!

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?

hahahaha!! Is that a benefit?

Actually, come to think of it...what is skaters butt? hahaha

I slipped and fell once on slippery ground and was shocked that it didn't really hurt... no idea if skating made it better.

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Tidesong

You can take the subway without hanging onto anything.

That's so true! ROFL!! I was taking the tram at Newark airport on the way back from the Hackensack Ice House training camp when some lady--who clearly thought I was an idiot--told me I'd better hold onto something. I just smiled politely and went back to chatting with my friend, ignoring the suggestion. I'm sure she was disappointed when the train started up and lurched and I stayed calmly glued to the floor.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Yeah I do that on the bus, whenever it's so busy you can't comfortably get a place to hold on without smelling somebody's armpits...

And we had this presentation clinic at university where they explained about like... Grounding they called it: you were supposed to stand firmly, glued to the floor. Except that came afterwards, first they asked everybody to give a push to the person standing right of them. I was the only one that didn't move or smack into the person to my right... I was kinda surprised of that myself.

Oh and what about: CORRECT BREATHING!

Well, I wish that were the case with me back in NYC. Those Subway trains drivers can go scary fast and stop very short!!! I have enough trouble "as is" hanging on to a bar...

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!