What does training in the off-season look like? | Golden Skate

What does training in the off-season look like?

pepperskeleton

Spectator
Joined
Mar 2, 2021
Hi there, I'm new to watching Figure Skating, and I got curious about what training is like. You can find sample schedules for in-season training pretty readily on the internet, but the off-season stuff is a little more confusing for a novice like me who has never done sports before. I found a sample one year periodization schedule that divides activities by Active Rest/Early Off-Season/Late Off-Season/Pre-Season/In-Season, but there aren't any time estimates attached to the activities on it. Like what does "Strength training 2 times a week" mean? 2 hours a week?

How many hours do skaters train during the off-season (off & on ice total)? Is a skater training for less hours at the start of this cycle and ramping up as they get closer to the season, or are they relatively training the same amount of time but focusing on different things to give their knees a rest? I was looking at the ISU bios website but I can't tell how reputable the information is on that. Some of the skaters there have the same hours listed for high and low season which makes me wonder if the training time is consistent year round. Do elite skaters ever get a break? ('d assume so, so that they don't go crazy, but I'm curious as what that actually looks like in practice.
 

gliese

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Country
United-States
Personally, I back off a little bit. I do less program run throughs and focus more on technique than doing jump after jump. Basically the point of the off season to me is to let my body heal from the demands of competition training while also improving for the next season. It's a delicate balance, but most of the ice time that's shaven off is replaced by more physical therapy hours.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
This is too long and complicated for me to explain here for someone at the elite or pro level, so I'll just leave it at that lol. :devil:
 
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