Hi everybody!
I was just wondering if anyboady had any off ice stuff they do before a lesson or when they practice.ever since I started school and started skating in the afternoon its like the minute I get on the ice I'm all of the sudden sooo tired.I just thought maybe If i did some sort of warm up or stretch it might help
~Cutie

__________________
Skating is suppose to be fun , no PRESSURE at all

~*Courage*~*Confidence*~*Consistance*~

It is a good idea to warm-up before skating (ahem, why don't I do it more often????), and even if you don't do it every session, you need to know how so you can at competitions/tests, when there's very little time on the ice before you must start.

Most exercise videos/DVDs have a warm-up routine at the start - as these are designed to be done at home, they are done more or less "on the spot" and don't take up much room. If anybody at home has one, or perhaps one of your friends might have some at home, have a look at it, and see if you can learn the warm-up part of the routine.

If all else fails, the idea is to move and warm up all the muscles you are about to use - so run on the spot (or round the ice pad), swing your arms around, shrug your shoulders, twist and turn your waist in all directions, and so on. Wiggle every joint!

And after skating, they say you should stretch every muscle you've just used.....

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

What I do for a Warm up is I run around my rinks car park for 2 laps, do Leg stretches, hip twists (rotating the spine thing), then neck stretches, side stretches, here is a link for what I also do when I get off Ice to keep my flexibility up http://www.sk8rland.com/users/ray/pi...hive=stretches

Off ice I usually warm up with a jump rope or just by doing some ankle bounces. I make sure my ankles and calves are stretched - lunges work great for this, but I always do a bunch of plies in 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th position. Then I do some sitting pikes to warm up my hamstrings. I make sure I stretch my arms and shoulders, and I do some neck rolls to get everything feeling good

Then if I have time I'll do more advanced stretches - splits up the wall, supported leg spirals, penchees (a ballet term for a kind of spiral), bridges and side bends.

When I'm on the ice I warm up with some light stroking, then I stretch at the boards some more, then some more advanced stroking and viola! Usually I'm sweating already at this point so I cool down with some nice smooth edges.

I'm really bad about warming up before I first get on the ice (almost never do), but what I always end up doing is getting on the ice, running through everything a couple times and realizing that my spins are wobbly, or my legs are a bit shakey, or my jumps aren't working quite right...then I get off the ice for 5 minutes and stretch. Boy does it help when I get back on the ice!

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

I never ever warm up, I should really, but I always feel embarrased! I sometimes run to the rink from the train station, but it's sometimes hard when I'm carrying my skate bag!

__________________
http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

Ah, I never really warm up before I hit the ice (too lazy and impatient) but wait until I'm on the ice; several laps of swizzles and stroking usually get me started, then some stretches at the boards....

I should get into the habit of doing something off-ice; got a competition planned this fall and I hear you don't get much time before-hand...

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

It depends, if I'm at a public session, I will do a few light stretches. I feel a little embarassed going for a full warm up

If I'm at a training session, I will do more. To start, I usually have a walk from bus or train to rink, so that helps. Then I do a little light jogging, then 5 mins of exercises, then some jumping practice.

On ice, I start with figure 8s, and to cool down I do the same.

The book, Conditioning for Figure Skating has lots of useful information about warmups, and competition warmups.

For competing (which I haven't done in 10 years, oh my!) I would do the full warmup as above, put on my skates, do the 6 minute group on ice warmup, then what I did next would depend on my skating order. If I was skating early in the group, I would just do bends and light stretches, if late, I would do a few upper body stretches and go somewhere away from the ice.

You're lucky to get six minutes - here, the rule is that you get one minute longer than the length of your programme, so often only 2.5 minutes. So you absolutely _have_ to be warm before you go on.

Mind you, in France last year, in one of the Interpretive classes, nobody used the full six-minute warm-up - by the time the "one-minute warning" was given, everybody had had enough and got off! So the request to "Please clear the ice" was given to empty ice....

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