I'm curious... Experience / opinion with slide boards as off ice
strength training?

Reason:
Well 1, they always looked like fun... Reminding me of sliding across the kitchen in my footy pj's when I was a kid.

2, I'm not in my prime shape, I've been dealing with an illness and have gained weight because of medical treatments and so on. Before illness I was a lean mean muscle machine and worked out daily; even had begun to skate again 3-4 x's a week.
I need to lose the weight before really working on my skating again [I had skated seriously from age 12-18], because of a connective tissue disorder, the weight will cause joint problems. When I was 15 I had both knees operated on and they still tend to stick, creek and swell at times.
I'm also in the midst of a skate boot problem and will need to order new customs when the $$$ is more available, besides if I lose some weight it may change my foot a bit as well anyway.

So what do you think yay or nay on slide boards?

We used on in an off-ice conditioning class....they get very boring very quickly....

The ones I've seen are very expensive. If you can, try one out at a gym first. They can be tricky to use! Many a person has taken a spill on them! (yup, including me)

But still boring...you might be better off on the treadmill or just walking.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I used them in physical therapy. It's fun at first, but after a while, it gets pretty old. And I kept sliding off them. I don't know how much weight you would lose using a slide board for exercise, b/c I used it in PT, but after a while, your balance should definitly improve.

Thanks for you input... I'm still thinking of getting one, probably second hand. I have a stepper and a cardio-glide. I got the cardio-glide years ago after a couple of car accidents made my rowing machine too painful. I was thinking the slide board might be something to add to the rotation that is low impact and may put some focus on those skating muscles and the thought of improving balace sounds good too. Hmmmm... I guess I'll get some practice falling as well...
Thanks agian!
Any others out there want to share their experiences?

If you get one, be sure to pay good attention to your posture-it's so easy to use poor posture with them! There are various techniques to use to change up the workout. And on the one we used in our class, you could move the "stoppers" in or out to widen or narrow the sliding width. I suppose if you had a tv to watch or some music it would help, or maybe slide, then hop on your stepper, then cardio-glide, etc. That would change it up. We had to slide for 15 minutes at a whack which got old......and if it hadn't been sprayed with the silicon in a while it was just plain HARD!!!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

My husband built one very inexpensively with materials from Home Depot. He found instructions on the internet, although I don't have a url to give you. You could search and find instructions without much trouble.

Lenny2,
This was the only 'do it yourself' slide board website I found:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1317126

Does that look familiar? What did your hubby use for the slick surface? The instructions mentions a product called Marlite, what is that? I'm at Home Depot or Lowes a lot these days since we're in the process of a remodel, where would I look for this? Would linolem [sp] tiles work as well?

It was hyped at AN a number of years ago. So eventually I got one. I followed the directions and took it veeery slowly. One day I was watching myself in the wall mirror and in a blink of an eye I lost my balance, my left knee pitched inward and I heard my medial meniscus tear. Oh the pain. Ten days later I was in the OR having an arthoscopic menisectomy. I held onto the slide board for years thinking I might try it again - finally tossed it in the trash. There are safer ways to work on balance, etc. And I agree that it was quickly boring which may have contributed to my loss of focus.....IMHO.

That looks pretty much like it. He used something called "hard board" (which is pretty smooth and slick to start with) and sprayed it with silicone spray. You have to buy "booties" to use with it, which you can get from www.fitterfirst.com.

I recently saw a product in Home Depot to spray on ceiling fans and other surfaces that is supposed to repel dust and the can warns that you should be very careful with it because it makes a very slippery surface. This would probably work well, too. You could probably find this in the fan area or the cleaning supply area.