Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 14/7/2014

Here is my first full post for week commencing 14th July 2014.
Coaching wise it was a good week for those not on camp in Canada or on holiday.
I introduced 3 of my higher level skaters to the Bulgarian Split Squat which was picked up well. They have done a lot of overhead split squats so adding a raised rear leg is a challenging but good progression, challenging their balance, increasing the load on the front leg and reducing it on the rear. 

These 3 have a relatively young S&C training age and as such the emphasis is still on developing techniques and increasing their repertoire of exercises.
I also had a great session with the Gain the Edge kids last Thursday evening. We trained outside as it was warm and everyone worked well.
The aim of these sessions is to develop good movement and coordination skills as well as develop strength and conditioning levels. 

There are a wide range of age and abilities so I need to be on my toes and giving constant input and feedback. Looking to challenge those more capable and correct those needing input.

The session included squats, split squats, lunges, arabesques and various balance exercises all at body weight. Press-ups, various core exercises and shuttle runs finished up the session.
The weekend was spent at Chesford Grange near Coventry at the annual UKSCA Strength and Conditioning Conference. This was a great event with some fantastic speakers. I particularly enjoyed and got a lot from Duncan French on concurrent training, Craig Ransom on intergrated injury prevention and athlete preparation and John Cronin on youth development.
Jean-Benoit Morin also gave a detailed and absorbing presentation on sprint mechanics that was very well received too. 

It was good to catch up with some old work colleagues and friends and to network and build some potential business opportunities. One such opportunity with a friend and old work colleague Jonny Stevenson who now owns Resilience which provides sports science testing and physical preparation for athletes. 

If you've got this far, thank you for reading and I hope you will continue to follow Get Coached.

Get Coached - First blog on Figure Skating

This is my first blog as Get Coached and to get things started I am going to outline my aims for the blogs. Having never blogged before I am sure I will make a host of mistakes and basic errors but here goes! These blogs are my own thoughts, opinions and views.

The main focus of Get Coached is to provide Strength & Conditioning (S&C) for Figure Skating and Ice Dance athletes. The plan is to post each week on the key training sessions held; how they went, key aims and objectives of the session and athlete feedback.

I will also post an "Exercise of the Month" with a descriptor and key coaching points and an article S&C in general that will aim to open discussion and feedback.

I will also look to answer questions on S&C for Figure Skating as best I can and again hope to generate opinion, discussion and feedback. 

For more information on Get Coached "like" my Facebook and "follow" my Google+ pages. 

This is all new for me and as such this site and my website are still developing and evolving so please bare with me. Thank you for reading this and I hope you will read and enjoy more of my ramblings in future.