Practice Time: What is enough?

Practice Time: What is enough?

<span style="color:green;font-family:georgia;font-size:small;">When we read bios of skaters, it seems that many skaters practice 1 1/2-2 hours per day on ice with a few hours of off ice training per week, whereas skaters such as Sarah Hughes skate for hours each day. What is appropriate if one hopes to be a world class medal contender?</span>

Re: Practice Time: What is enough?

I think it would depend on the skater, but I assume at least 1 to 2 hours or more per day. Just a guess.

Re: Practice Time: What is enough?

I skate an hour a day, and I'm nowhere near elite :lol:

I would think that the elite skaters spend a lot more time on their training, on ice and off ice, then we would imagine.

training hours

Im no where near elite level, but when I go to colorado in the summer for a training camp, it amazes me the amount of time we are at the rink each day. There is a big emphazise(sp?) up there to take ballet, pilates, stretch, strength and conditioning, and plyometrics classes. These are all off ice classes and usually last about 1 hour. many of the skaters take at about 2 during the day. in addition, there are on-ice classes that include spins, jumps, power, cheorography, etc. Again, skaters take these classes too. But, these are only speciality classes. Aside from all this, we all spend time on the ice for regular freestyle sessions. I take 2 forty-five minute sessions a day, and my coach usually works w/ me for about an hour during these sessions. However, i know a lot of skaters, like AP mcdonough, ryan bradley, etc, skate many more than 2 ice sessions a day. and...if your an elite skater, some go over to the oylmpic training complex and work-out there throughout the week. But this is just during summer, when most skaters are out of school. but i would guess that some skaters who are home-schooled have this type of training schedule all year. when im in colorado, i find myself at the rink a good 4 to 5 hours a day. and im not even an elite skater!! so yeah, elite skaters really do spend a ton of time the rink. i was joking w/ a friend once, who is a national silver medalist, and she was telling me she drives an hour each way to get to her rink and is there for many hours to skate, and i told her 'geez, you might as well live there' and she laughed and said 'i do'. and this is so true, many skaters trying to make it into the big league spend the majority of their day at the rink.
Sk8Bunny

Re: training hours

I just stumbled onto the skater's bios on the ISU website. It says how many hours they train - most seem to be around 20-25 hours a week.