Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 5/1/2015

Welcome to my first Blog post of 2015 and a  Happy New Year to you all!
Although the festive season now feels as if it was more than just a month ago!
We are now deep into the winter/off season training and it is going well overall. An injury and school exams have had an impact on attendance for some whilst there have been some good personal best lifts for my senior skaters and some very good progress with my junior, advanced and basic novice level skaters.

We have covered the back squat in a previous blog http://getcoached1.blogspot and as such I am only going to discuss it's variations and benefits.

It is common knowledge that a squat done well along with it's appropriate warm up exercises can improve hip, knee and ankle range of movement as well as strength and this has certainly been the case for some of the skaters I work with. This includes body weight squats, BB front and back squats, overhead and overhead split squats, kettlebell goblet squats and single leg or pistol squats.
This is in no way all the squats covered as there are many more variations to be found. However, the above squats are ones that I regularly use for my skaters and clients. These exercises will also build a foundation of whole body strength that will transfer well into the competitive arena as well as improving functional movement for everyday life.
Any and every athlete competing at any and every level will benefit from good coaching of these exercises in their training regime.
Once again thank you for reading this far, all relevant suggestions and comments are welcome here and on my Get Coached FB page.

Get Coached S&C for Figure Skating - w/c 8/12/2014

Well that's the season over with for most of my skaters and that can only mean one thing; winter training or off season training depending on your terminology! This means different things to different skaters within the training group.
The senior skaters will be looking to increase strength and stamina with a shift to power development later in this cycle whilst the younger athletes will be consolidating existing exercise techniques and learning new exercises, improving coordination and increasing stamina.

For one of my seniors the first half of this cycle is about regeneration and hypertrophy followed by a strength phase then power and competition preparation. The key lifts for the first 3 cycles will revolve around squats: back, front, overhead and split whilst continuing to develop the clean from both the hang and floor positions.
Right now I'm not too popular due to the high reps and sets but the targets are in place and the goals to aim for!

Other seniors are looking to improve their overall conditioning levels and as such are currently following more of a HIIT style programme that varies between higher load and lower load workouts aimed at improving strength and stamina.

The younger skaters will be working on improving their strength and stamina too but with an emphasis on correct movement patterns, exercise technique and coordination. We will also be developing strength in key muscle to reduce injury risk in the coming season, in particular core, gluts and hamstrings.

Physical development is not possible all year round for most athletes due to competitions and training specific to their sport, in this instance Figure Skating which also requires the skater to pass skill based technical tests to move up the levels. Therefore all windows of opportunity must be used for maximum gains. This means it is vital to understand what key elements of physical development should be focused on for each athlete specific to their chronological age, training age, stage of physical development/maturation and where they are at with regards to their peak height velocity.
So lets get the hard work done now and look forward to the new season with confidence.

Thanks for reading this far, I hope you have found this blog informative and thought provoking. All relevant comments and suggestions welcome here on Blogger or on the Get Coached FB page.

Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 17/11/2014

It's the final week of preparation for the NISA British Figure Skating Championships 2014 and the excitement is growing! The coaches and athletes I am working with are each beginning to go into their own special places to focus and motivate themselves for the competition.
This got me thinking about how we each plan and prepare for competition, what our thought processes are and how we each motivate ourselves or respond to motivation and advice from others.

Having been a sprinter and a rugby player at a reasonable standard for both sports I can say that my approach to each sport was quite different, and also that the approach by my rugby team mates and other sprinters was also very individual. We are all individuals with different life experiences, opinions and thought processes and this can lead to very different pre-competition plans.

Positive mental attitude, self belief, high intrinsic motivation and a love of competition are all qualities that can be associated with a confident and successful athlete. However, anyone who has worked in high performance sport knows that athletes come with a whole host of different mind sets and baggage which can lead to all manner of issues come competition time!

Even with any negative thoughts put aside we as coaches still need to accept and understand that some athletes will either want company and communication or will want to be alone and undisturbed. The headphones will go on and the whole world ignored, or maybe the opposite in that they will talk and be sociable. Either way we as coaches need to respect this while at the same time ensuring that the athlete is best prepared mentally and physically. 

As a parent this can be particularly challenging as we naturally want to protect our children and make sure they are OK. However, this can sometimes come across as fussing and irritate or upset the athlete, the emotional connection being too close. As hard as it may seem we parents sometimes just need to back off and trust the athlete and the coach.

Thanks again for reading this far and I hope you found it informative? All relevant feedback or comments are appreciated. If you have any suggestions for future blog topics then please let me know here or on my Get Coached Facebook page. 

Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 10/11/2014

Over the last few weeks the tension has been building and the detail has been scrutinised as the build up for the NISA British Championships in Sheffield gets closer. It is only a week and a bit away now, starting on Wednesday 26th November.
I am currently working with thirteen skaters from four different coaching groups/clubs and I can't wait to see how they all do. Quite a few are skating against each other but have been training very well on and off the ice together, there is a real sense of camaraderie here which is great to see.
Yes there have been some challenges and upsets but this is competitive sport and feelings will get a little out of control at times.

A coach has a lot of contact time with their athletes and as an S&C coach supporting the Lead Coaches I also get a lot of contact time as well, especially in a sport where strength, power, coordination and flexibility all play a major role in performance.
With this in mind it is vitally important that we coaches communicate regularly and send out the same messages to the athletes. As I have said before I am very lucky to be working with a great group of coaches. We are all learning from each other, respect each others opinions and experiences and are able to have open and honest discussions about the athletes, our ideas for athlete development and they even put up with some of my daft questions that really show my lack of Figure Skating terminology but highlight their patience and understanding!

Off-ice training (S&C) has been going well over the last few weeks across the groups. One senior skater had their taper start early to reduce fatigue and enable higher quality sessions on ice in terms of programme practice, this is going well and whilst the volume of the S&C programme has dropped the overall intensity remains quite high.

High intensity interval training has been programmed in for a few of the skaters over the last few weeks to get them to know what it feels like to push themselves and keep going as much as improving their fitness; a mental gain as much as physical. It is great to see such a mature, committed and dedicated approach to their S&C training from a young group of mostly female athletes, one of which is only twelve years old! I am excited to see what this bunch of enthusiastic skaters can achieve over the years!

As always, thanks for reading if you have got this far! All relevant comments welcome here and on my Get Coached FB page.

S&C for Figure Skating Oct 2014

The NISA British Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield are fast approaching and the Get Coached skaters are gearing up for the competition!

This is interesting times indeed, not only do we (that is Get Coached and the Gain the Edge and Olympia skating coaches) have more athletes attending this year than previously but I believe they are in better shape both mentally and physically this year too.

The training group has grown in number and this has both added a degree of internal competition as well as a sense of confidence and excitement throughout the squad. They have been attending more group training sessions together both on and off of the ice and it is this that I feel is building a team spirit for what is an individual sport, pairs aside!

Training this week has been focused on continuing to build strength in what is still quite a young training group both in training experience and chronological age. They have all been well focussed and motivated throughout the sessions while still bringing an element of fun and enjoyment. Each athlete has specific developmental needs with regards to their S&C programmes as well as the overarching goal of Get Coached in providing athletes capable of withstanding the demands of and achieving the performance levels required for Figure Skating.

Overhead lifts are the mainstay moves for the programme along with various single leg exercises and movement combinations. The younger athletes are tasked with improving their coordination, balance and control of movement, whilst those with a greater training age follow a more traditional S&C programme. With just under 5 weeks until competition and an increased demand for time on the ice the S&C programmes have to be well balanced and periodised so as not to impact too heavily on programme run throughs on the ice. Good communication with the coaches is key for this to be effective, and I must say I am very lucky to be working and communicating well with the coaches for this training group. We are all keen to learn and progress in our chosen disciplines whilst learning about each others area of speciality as well.

As always thank you for reading this far. I hope you have found this blog interesting, any relevant feedback or comments are always welcome here and on the Get Coached FaceBook and Google+ pages

Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 15/9/2014 to 6/10/2014

Again it has been a few weeks since the last post, and a lot has happened in a relatively short time.
Two of my skaters, one junior one senior, were both at the Lombardi Cup in Italy with another 6 novice and junior competing at the Southern IJS in Lee Valley, London, and a further 12 skaters competing at the Deeside IJS, Wales. This included Basic and Advanced Novice, Junior and senior skaters.
It was a mixed bag of performances across the board but overall good, moving in the right direction.
Training has been about competition preparation and individual development.
For example, one coach has asked that their athlete work on developing their triple extension for jump take off. The athlete jumps on dry land without extending at the ankle, this same athlete has also struggled to decelerate the downward momentum on landing. Thus we worked on various repeated hops, jumps and landing exercises both single and double leg.
Another athlete needed to improve their explosive speed of movement with regards to take off and landing in combination jumps, this is a more experienced athlete and as such we introduced drop jumps and rebound jumps into their programme. This was already a very individualised programme and we did not want to add any significant volume at this point, but we did need to answer the needs as highlighted above.

The overhead lifts are seen by many S&C coaches as essential for athletic development and key in improving core strength and stability in performance. In my opinion and experience these lifts are key for take offs, landings and spins in their various forms for Figure Skating.

I have included two short video clips showing an overhead squat and an overhead split squat performed by one of my athletes. He has been performing these lifts for about a year now and is competent but we did need to work on shoulder mobility for the overhead squat.
This is not a coaching article but rather a call to notice the benefit of these exercises for Figure Skating.

As always any relevant comments or feedback is welcome.

Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating w/c 1/9/2014 & 8/9/2014

Welcome to the latest blog from Get Coached, apologies for missing a week. That means that I will cover the two weeks here and bring all things Get Coached - S&C for Figure Skating up to date!
The week commencing 1st of September saw some of the Get Coached skaters in final preparation mode for the Ayr Open starting Friday the 5th.
The Olympia and Gain the Edge groups both had skaters competing across all levels in Ayr many of whom had great skates and performed really well.
My final sessions with them looked to include mobilisation and muscle activation using exercise bands for clamshell, monster walk and hamstring curl exercises and finishing this set with the bands around the knees for resisted squats. This was followed by split squat with a rotation over the forward knee and single arm overhead split squats for core activation and hip stabilisation work. We also completed progressive sets of arabesque with squat variations for hip strength and coordination.
A big part of figure skating performance are the jumps, and for every up there is a down so landing practice in the form of a hop with a held landing focusing on technique and body position was a central part of the programme. Controlling the deceleration from jumps where the landing forces can be up to 10 to 15 times body weight for doubles and triples needs high levels of strength and coordination to ensure success.
To put this into perspective; a 50kg skater landing a double or a triple jump will have to withstand momentary landing forces in excess of 500kg, on one leg!
Having seen the Ayr Open through it was onwards to focus on the next competition which for some is the Lombardi Cup, and others the Southern Open at Lee Valley, London.
Similar focus and programme adjustments being made to accommodate the various competition schedules and individual needs.
With regards to the ongoing development of Get Coached I am now starting to push out the seminars I delivered at the NISA Coaches Conference and the Performance Camp to the clubs across Scotland, and if they continue to be well received then across the rest of the UK. If successful, this will be a big step forward for Get Coached and a move towards it's aim of being a platform for quality coaching and education for skating.
As always, thanks for following me this far and any comments and feedback regarding all things S&C for skating are appreciated.