Cardiovascular Cross-training

[penguin girl]

I'm an adult skater looking to improve my stamina on the ice. I work-out doing aerobic-type activities and strengthening exercises several times a week but I don't feel like my skating stamina is improving. What else can I do besides skate more (which I'd love to do but can't).

 

[Tinymavy15]

I'm an adult skater looking to improve my stamina on the ice. I work-out doing aerobic-type activities and strengthening exercises several times a week but I don't feel like my skating stamina is improving. What else can I do besides skate more (which I'd love to do but can't).

if you can swim, that is great for building upper body strength, stamina and lung power. I know some people only have the chance to swim in the summer, but you should at least try and take advantage of it then.

 

[mskater93]

I started running on the track at my healthclub and it's made oodles of difference in my ability to get through my program

 

[dlkksk8fan]

What aerobic type of of activities do you do? How many days do you skate? I found the only way to improve my stamina on the ice is to do actual skating. I know after practicing my skate routine over and over again each day I skated, I built up a lot of endurance. I say keep up what your doing and maybe increase the aerobic part.

 

[penguin girl]

What aerobic type of of activities do you do? How many days do you skate? I found the only way to improve my stamina on the ice is to do actual skating. I know after practicing my skate routine over and over again each day I skated, I built up a lot of endurance. I say keep up what your doing and maybe increase the aerobic part.

I skate 3-4 days a week, usually an hour or more at a time. I'm not working on my program yet but soon will. But I worry I won't be able to get through a program--after a jump or spin I usually feel like I need to recover for a minute. :sheesh:

 

[passion]

How about running on a treadmill doing 3 minute intervals or however long your program will be? You have to get your heart rate up by 80% in order to train your cardio. I was really amazed at the improvements of my heart in a short amount of time. Personally, I found spins to really pucker me out. So, I've decided to do spin after spin after spin to build up my endurance.

 

[mskater93]

Yep - that's what running on the track at my healthclub did at 80% aerobic. Get a heart rate monitor and good running shoes.

When I started running, I would run 1 minute, walk 1 minute and then increased the split between run/walk to 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1 and am currently able to run 11/12 of a mile before needing to walk. Even the 1/1 split (the one minute walking should be an active recovery, so like the transitions in your program) helped and I noticed a difference as far back as last summer when I started on the easiest split.

Don't worry about not being able to get through your program immediately. You have to figure out where to actively breathe in programs in order to recover between elements.

Also, for spins, you need to breathe in on the entry and exhale during the revs, inhale on the change, etc. which will improve your strength in spins.

 

[dlkksk8fan]

But I worry I won't be able to get through a program--after a jump or spin I usually feel like I need to recover for a minute.

That's how I felt when I started to learn my bronze program. I would run out of steam somewhere in the middle. Then I started to practice my program 3- 6 times in a row to get my endurance up. That really helped a lot.

 

[silver.blades]

If you have a bike path or another opne space near where you live, rollerblading is a really good way to train for figure skating as it uses the same muscles as you do on the ice so your muscular endurance increases in the right muscles. The only problem is you need space and rollerblading in the winter isn't normally possible, especially with snow.
Going from the ice to rollerblades isn't that difficult, only 3 differences: no picks, slightly different posture and stopping is kind of difficult, but you get used to that fast and it's a way to skae without ice

 

[studek]

Also work on on-ice drills, integrading cardio and stamina into those - create your own little program (mainly MIF elements) and keep it going at a constant pace. This doesn't mean it has to be insanely fast, just keep a beat going. Work on holding some positions 2 - 3 beats, etc to get muscle strength and control in there too. good luck!