What’s your typical skating day look like?

Hi! Just wondering what everyone’s typical skating day looks like and how they vary between skating levels and ages!
From off ice to what you practice when you skate! How long do you usually skate? How many days a week? Are there certain things you HAVE to work on every time you skate? What’s your warm up like? Do you stretch before and/or after? do you off ice before and/or after? Do you start with jumps or spins? Do you like you start with waltz jump then work your way up when practicing jumps or do you go for your good ones then bad or vice versa? Do you think your routine is more regimented than others?

I skate about 4-5 days a week. On good days, 2-3 1/2 hours, bad days about 1 hr- 1 1/2. My routine is pretty lax though because i’m quite lazy with mine truthfully. I prefer to stretch after skating but I walk to the rink so i usually count that as my body warm up, then i lace my skates and get on the rink then i usually do about 5-10 mins of on ice warm up. afterwards depending on my mood i’ll either start with jumps or spins (i’m not good at them so on days where i want to focus on improving them i’ll start with those). again depending on mood, i’ll either work my way up or go for my good jumps first (flips are my fav).
I don’t really do off ice conditioning as much as i should and i know it’s cause i use my youth and fast metabolism as a cop-out but my goal for 2020 is so incorporate it more into my skating routine because i’m essentially a wet noodle [emoji12] i know i don’t have the best routine and it’s probably not sufficient either but i’m working to improve so [emoji5]

As a pro, much of mine varies by where I am and what I'm doing.

I always stretch though beforehand and then gradual warm-up.

Off-Ice several days a week. Yoga, pilates, agility.

Skate 3-4 times a week. Usually 1.5-2.5 hours per session. My warm up is rotations and off ice jumps and stretching. I really like to warm up my spirals in particular off ice. Then 5-10 minutes stroking, power pulls, cross rolls etc to warm up on ice. After that I usually practice my footwork from my programme for a bit before doing jumps and spins. But it really all depends what I feel like doing on any given day.

Ic3Rabbit said:

As a pro, much of mine varies by where I am and what I'm doing.

I always stretch though beforehand and then gradual warm-up.

Off-Ice several days a week. Yoga, pilates, agility.

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I want to incorporate more off ice into mine! besides stretching and a quick warm up before getting on the ice, I don’t do much. But i’ve never had a strong exercise background besides skating so i’m even embarrassed to probably do crunches incorrectly. I may try yoga because it’s easy to do at home and no one can witness me do it incorrectly except my dog haha. I’m progressing in jumps quite quickly so my goal for 2020 is to strengthen my singles, start axel and grab a few doubles under my belt (my coach and I have already outlined goals)

Any tips on what i can do to meet these goals?

sk8chis said:

I want to incorporate more off ice into mine! besides stretching and a quick warm up before getting on the ice, I don’t do much. But i’ve never had a strong exercise background besides skating so i’m even embarrassed to probably do crunches incorrectly. I may try yoga because it’s easy to do at home and no one can witness me do it incorrectly except my dog haha. I’m progressing in jumps quite quickly so my goal for 2020 is to strengthen my singles, start axel and grab a few doubles under my belt (my coach and I have already outlined goals)

Any tips on what i can do to meet these goals?

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Strengthen your core bc without a strong one you'll not have the height and snap for that axel and doubles, you'll be a limp noodle. Always stretch before going on the ice.:thumbsup:

I skate 3-4 times per week. We have limited ice time here so I usually only get 1.5hrs per session. I am usually racing to the rink after work, so I don't normally have time for a warm up or stretching.

Typically I start with is the backward outside edges MITF, power pulls, cross rolls, then I usually do some sort of turn pattern, double 3s or brackets etc. I always warm up jumps first and start with waltz and go in order to dbl sal. Then I start my spins, scratch, sit, camel, back spin, combos. Then I usually either practice my program or work on specific elements from my program, jumps or spins. I usually end my session doing many run throughs of my footwork sequence over and over.

Nimyue said:

I am usually racing to the rink after work, so I don't normally have time for a warm up or stretching.

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Me too! I'm lucky if I get more than 5 minutes to put my skates on... If I do, I jog around a bit and stretch my quads/hip flexors/glutes which takes another 5 minutes. I keep a tennis ball and theraband in my backpack, so if I am even luckier to have yet another 5 minutes, I'll roll out sore chunks of muscle in my hips and plantar fascia and do some ankle exercises.

I try to compensate for the abbreviated warm-up by doing more thorough stretching/conditioning on other days, although I'm not sure if it works like that...

On ice usually I do Russian stroking, slaloms, crossrolls and some random turn exercises my ice dance coach gave me as a warmup. In my first couple of years (I started as a young adult) I used to run through all my Field Moves test content at the start but it got a bit impractical with busier sessions/limited time. So after the initial warmup I do jumps/spins and wait till the ice has cleared a bit before doing stuff that takes up lots of room/needs a set pattern (unless I'm in a lesson in which case that's less of an issue).

Off ice, I do ballet (~2 x 1.5 hours a week). That's more for its own sake than as conditioning though and for some reason I find it sometimes messes up my elements if I skate shortly afterwards (might be something to do with inappropriate turn-out). I used to go to Pilates classes too, but for budget reasons now I practice Pilates on my own in a mirrored studio in the varsity gym (which is free for me! But possibly less effective as there isn't somebody to check your form) and also try off-ice rotations/axel there. Also I use the elliptical/skipping rope for cardio as my ankles don't like running much. I still haven't figured out how to incorporate more plyometric exercises into my routine though, any suggestions would be much appreciated!

I scurry from the car to the rink, fight my tights and leggings, warm up with stroking, crossovers, edges, Russian stroking, turns and smile sweetly as I'm interrupted by the world and her husband wanting advice on their skating. I don't mind as I loved coaching but I'm now seriously contemplating doing my coaching qualifications again (20 years is a long time and I'd need to renew everything) as if I'm going to spend my time standing around saying, "Again" I might as well get paid for it rather than paying for the privilege...

It varies depending on the day. On Saturdays I'm on the ice from 7am til 9am, with a 30 minute group lesson at 8.30. So I get picked up by my friend, we get to the rink and I get an hour and a half practice and warm up time before my lesson. I'll usually do some 3 turns, edges and spirals before I start jumping and spinning. I skate with a few friends on the session, so we'll usually pick something to work on and help each other with. In my lesson, coach will usually have us do some crossovers first, before we start anything else, as some of the adults in the group don't get there early.

On Sundays, I walk 15 minutes to the train station, then 10 minutes to the rink once I'm there. I'll put my skates on in the lobby, as I'm the first lesson on the session. Coach will have me do a series of exercises to warm up, these vary depending on his mood, then we'll get into the lesson. I skate from 4.30 til 7.30 on a Sunday afternoon, so stay and practice after my lesson is done. Lesson is either a 30 minute private, then a 30 minute group edge, step and turn class every other week. On the weeks we don't have group, I have a 1 hour private lesson.

I skate 4-5 times per week.

On a weekday I skate 5 am- 7 am. My off ice warm up consists of stretching while drinking coffee and complaining about how early it is. Once on the ice I go through a few laps of warm up exercises and then warm up with the moves in the field test I’m working on.

I usually start with spins but once in a while will go through my jumps first. Usually I practice what is in my program first followed by other elements I am working on. I generally start with things I can do an end with what I will kindly refer to as “works in progress”.

Unfortunately I don’t have much time for cool down because I go straight to work from the rink. Thankfully my job is pretty active.

I am also a runner and do strength training for my hip and core on my own. The good thing about being a physical therapist is that I have a lot of access to exercise.

Seren said:

I skate 4-5 times per week.

On a weekday I skate 5 am- 7 am. My off ice warm up consists of stretching while drinking coffee and complaining about how early it is. Once on the ice I go through a few laps of warm up exercises and then warm up with the moves in the field test I’m working on.

I usually start with spins but once in a while will go through my jumps first. Usually I practice what is in my program first followed by other elements I am working on. I generally start with things I can do an end with what I will kindly refer to as “works in progress”.

Unfortunately I don’t have much time for cool down because I go straight to work from the rink. Thankfully my job is pretty active.

I am also a runner and do strength training for my hip and core on my own. The good thing about being a physical therapist is that I have a lot of access to exercise.

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That’s cool! As a physical therapist (off the clock of course) what are some beginner friendly off ice things i can do? I’m exercisely challenged, and probably do crunches in correctly. but really trying to build engaging my core (for skating obvi) and maybe legs? i have no idea what exercises to do for that except sit ups/ crunches and squats???

How often I skate varies by season, but typically in the winter I skate 4 days a week for 50mins, 80mins, or 100mins depending on the rink and sessions available. I try to do at least 4hrs/week. It takes me an hour to get to the rinks where I do lessons which can be annoying.

I usually do a quick off-ice warm up of jogging, high knees, butt kicks, grapevines, and side skips. I then may try to stretch my calves, quads, and hips.

On ice I do a warm up of stroking, swizzles, slaloms, edge pulls, and cross rolls. I'll then build off of the warm-up depending on what I'm going to be working on that day or what type of lesson I have. If I am focusing on ice dance I'll continue with swing rolls, progressives, chasses, etc. to warm up elements for the dances. If I'm going to be working on moves or freestyle I may do power stroking, back crossovers to outside edges, basic consecutive edges, etc. before starting on other exercises or jumps and spins.

I don't have things I HAVE to work on every time I skate, but if I'm struggling with an element or learning something new, I do try to work on it a bit every time I'm on the ice for repetition sake. For example, my new ice dance coach is fixing my cross roll technique so every time I've skated the last couple weeks I spend extra time working on cross rolls because I'm trying to apply the corrections and commit them to muscle memory.

Other off-ice I do is ballet class every other week (I can't fit it into my schedule more than that). I have a stretching routine that takes 25-30mins that I try to do 3x/week at home in the evening while watching TV. I then will do a mixture of some pilates, yoga, and or conditioning at home 1-2x week. It all depends on what my schedule that week looks like.

Usually skate for an hour. Start of with stroking, cross rolls, and then work on my adult silver moves patterns; then I work on spins for about 20 minutes, then jumps (combos, sequences, drills), and if there is time I finish off working on moves not on my test but I still want to master (different spirals, double three, etc.). Lessons lately have been more freestyle focused since I want to put a program together in the next year.
Twice a week I work out with an adult gymnastics class, mostly tumbling and I try to work on flexibility, which is hard for me.
Also do off ice and regular gym stuff at the office gym once or twice, time allowing.

Go to the rink 4 times a week, maybe more if I get time; practice for 45 min to 2 hour sessions and go to the gym if I can.

Typical skating day (on a weekend)
5:00 wake up, have breakfast etc
5:45 go to the rink
8:45 come off the ice
9:00 get home
9:30 - 1:00 school work
1:30 go to either the gym or my off-ice fitness club
2:30 go to my flute lesson
4:00 - 8:00 go to rehearsals for a show I'm doing
Then come home and go to bed
Very busy, I always go to bed pretty early because I have to wake up really early