#off ice training

There are three primary types of off-ice exercises: warm-up, stretches, and jumping exercises.

Warm-up varies from skater to skater, but here’s a possible routine to go with:

1) Light jog of one or two laps around the rink.

2) Neck rolls (up, down, left, right, circles clockwise and counterclockwise), forward and backward shoulder circles, forward and backward arm circles (small at first, then make them steadily larger so you’re swinging your arms in a windmill), torso twists, outside and inside ankle circles (move your ankles in a circular motion, CW and CCW)

3) Jumping jacks

4) Squat jumps. This will help warm up your muscles for jumping.

5) Lunges

6) Side to side running

Stretches can be included in a warm-up, but these can also be done separately or on non-skating days. As this is a masterlist of off-ice exercises, there will be a lot of stretches listed. That does not mean you have to do all of them at once. You can choose to do a few from each category, or do all of the stretches in one category to target a certain body part. I’ll also be explaining the purpose of each of these stretches.

Shoulder stretches:

1) Cross body arm stretch: hold one arm straight and pull it across your chest with your other arm. Hold for 5-10 seconds.

2) Standing wall stretch: pushing your hands against a wall or an object that is hip level or higher, bend over to a 90 degree angle with your legs. Hold for 10-20 seconds.

3) Straight arm back shoulder stretch: lace your fingers together behind your back and raise your arms, keeping them straight. You can also bend over forwards at the same time, to get both a shoulder and hamstring stretch.

Most people will think of Biellmann spins when shoulder stretches are brought up, but having flexible shoulders is useful for everyday skating as well. Straight arms and relaxed shoulders helps improve a skater’s lines.

Back stretches:

1) Cobra stretch: lie flat on your stomach on the floor. Put your arms by your shoulders and push upwards, keeping your hips and legs on the floor. Keep your shoulders pushed down (don’t let your shoulders do this). If it is difficult to extend your arms, move them further apart from each other, or forwards from your body. This appears to be a simple stretch, but done right, you should feel a stretch in your back and abs regardless of flexibility.

2) Standing backwards bend: with your legs straight, bend backwards as far as possible by curving your upper and lower back. Use a wall or table for support to make sure you don’t fall backwards if you want, and don’t break at the knees.

3) Bridge: lie flat on your back with your legs bent, feet planted on the floor. Bend your elbows and place your palms on the floor above your head. Lift yourself off the floor by raising your hips to the air and straightening your arms and legs. Try to make as symmetric of an arch shape with your body as possible. It doesn’t have to be high. This is also called the wheel pose in yoga.

4) Scorpion/Biellmann: BEFORE I BEGIN, THIS IS NOT A INTRODUCTORY LEVEL STRETCH. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WHEN YOU ARE FIRST BEGINNING OR YOU RISK THE POSSIBILITY OF INJURY. I’m including this stretch only because many skaters do this as an off ice exercise. It’s also rather hard to explain, so here is a video. I essentially lift my leg into a side attitude and twist my arm to the outside to grab my foot and pull my leg up behind my head, bringing my other arm around to grab it as well.

Back stretches are mostly for spirals, and certain spins, such as the layback, Biellmann, donut, and catchfoot. Back flexibility isn’t a requirement for ice skating.

Hip Stretches:

1) Butterfly stretch: sit on the floor and place your feet together, soles touching. Push your knees as close to the ground as possible.

2) Frog stretch: lie flat on your stomach and bend your legs to the side of your hips, so that your thighs are as close to perpendicular to your hips as possible. Try to get your feet to touch the ground while keeping your hips and thighs flat on the floor.

3) Middle splits leaning over: essentially the same as a normal middle split, but instead of keeping your torso up, lay your torso flat on the group for a deeper stretch in the hips.

4) 4 stretch: laying on your back, bend one leg towards the body. Bend the other leg (stretching leg) and rest it on the first bent leg’s knee and try to open the hip of the stretching leg by pressing the knee downwards.

5) Hip flexor lunge: bend one leg in a lunge position and let the other one rest on the floor. Push your hips forwards towards the standing leg.

Leg Flexibility Stretches:

1) Lunge: bend your front leg and straighten your back leg while holding as deep of a lunge as possible. Push your hips forward to maximize stretch in your back hip flexor.

2) Jazz split: get to as close to a full split as possible, but with your front leg straight and your back leg bent. This should help you get accustomed to the feeling of a split but without the full stretch.

3) Split: slide your legs in parallel away from each other until your pelvis either rests on the floor or you can’t go any further. Support your weight partially with your arms if you must. Keep your hips squared, making sure your front knee points upwards towards the ceiling and your back knee points straight into the floor.

Calf Stretches:

1) Standing calf stretch: stand with your feet parallel to each other and approximately one foot apart. Bend your front leg while keeping the heel of your back leg flat on the ground and your back leg straight. Lean forwards or move your legs further apart for a deeper stretch.

2) Stair stretch: stand on the bottom step of a stair with only your toes on the step. Let your heels dip towards the ground.

3) One leg toe touch: sit on the ground with one leg extended and the other bent inwards so that the foot is against the extended leg. Reach forwards to grab the toe, and pull your foot towards you.

4) Toe touch: sit on the ground and extend both legs outwards. Reach forwards and grab both feet, and pull them towards you. Alternatively, lean forwards towards your legs while keeping your back as straight as possible. You can also do this stretch while standing.

Jumping exercises help you get a feel for the jumps off ice and can help with getting rotations.

1) Repeatedly jump in place, starting with small hops, then steadily making the jumps larger and larger, until you’re pushing off the ground into a air from a deep knee bend, trying to get as much height as possible.

2) Practice rotations. Jump in place a few times, then jump half a rotation, then another half, then a full rotation, then a double. It doesn’t have to be half-half-single-double, however. Some people start with quarter rotations, doing 4 quarter rotations before starting on half rotations; some people start with full rotations. It’s also hard to do a double rotation at first, so it might be better to start with quarter-quarter-quarter-quarter-half-half-single-single and then attempt as much as possible.

3) Walking through jumps. Make sure you hit the right movements in the jump and hold those movements.