Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 25/8/2014

This will be a post of two blogs as it were!
I am going to update the week as well as a little piece on the Back Squat.
The week commencing 25th August saw the Sheffield IJS competition take place with some great skates and dazzling performances, I am always amazed at what these guys and girls can do on the ice!
As previously mentioned I was able to update on my daughters performance due to the late post last week. I can add to that and congratulate several more of the Get Coached skaters on some solid performances. Whilst some of the skaters felt their performances and scores were below par there were good lessons to be learned and lots of positives to be taken home from Sheffield and worked on before the next competition, always onwards and upwards!
I have had some good S&C sessions with the Get Coached skaters in preparation for Ayr and beyond with the highlight of my week being my involvement in the NISA Performance Camp in Sheffield.
It was fantastic to meet such celebrates as Robin Cousins and Kevin Adams as well as the International Judges and Coaches. The athletes were all great and hopefully enjoyed the presentation and workshop. It was also good to catch with/meet for the first time the support staff on the programme and discuss how best to work together to deliver our best to the athletes.

The Back Squat 

Much has been written and demonstrated on video about the back squat and how to perform it correctly, how much you should lift and what the benefits are. It truly is a foundation exercise that anyone who walks, runs or jumps in one form or another either competitively or recreationally should do! In other words, everyone should squat if they are safe and able to do so.

I am going to briefly discuss two key points regarding the back squat, at this point I will not be discussing key coaching points, loading or otherwise.

The back squat is primarily a knee extensor (quadriceps) and hip extensor (gluteus maximus and medius, hamstrings and adductors) exercise, with the latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, oblique and anterior abdominal muscles all involved in stabilisation of the trunk, spine and pelvis.

There are two key debates that are still ongoing with regards to the squat; squat depth, and should the knees go beyond the toes? 

Dynamic hip extension is vital for explosive movement, particularly in a sporting environment. It has been shown that a greater squat depth will result in a greater activation of the major hip extensors i.e. gluteus maximus. Therefore, a squat to parallel (hips level with knees) will result in the specific adaptation required to improve performance. 

With regards to the knees moving beyond the toes ask yourself this "Does this happen in sport?" Yes most definitely, this can be seen in most sports at some point or another. We then need to ask if we should train it? A correct squat technique will distribute forces evenly between knees and hips thus reducing the risk of injury, as such there will be some forward trunk lean and some knee movement  forward over the toes. 

Now this is where good coaching skills come in as everyone is built differently. A squat will look very different for someone with a long thigh bone (femur) and less flexible ankles than for someone with a shorter femur and greater dorsiflexion at the ankle. Both can squat safely and effectively with appropriate input and direction. 

Thanks again for reading my blog and I hope you have found this informative. Once again please feel free to comment appropriately or get in touch either here on Blogger, on my Facebook Page Get Coached or my G+ Page Get Coached.