I like calling it my "off-ice" routine because it makes me sound legit.
I hate getting on ice and not being able to hold an edge because I have no core strength whatsoever. I also hate feeling like "wow, my free foot must be lifted pretty high up there" only to look back and see that it is only at best a foot and a half off the ground. A passable, C-quality spiral is at least hip level.
Inspiration. ;)
Hence I decided to investigate the free (well, almost free--it's $10 to join as a student) group class offerings at UCB's Recreational Sports Facility. I lived a mere three minute walk from the RSF for an entire year and a half and yet I never once set foot in it. I know, I know. I was a born couch potato, okay?
I tried out the mat pilates class about a month ago, but I was completely lost, arching my back too much, and did not feel as if I worked out much of anything. I had a deluge of midterms and projects the week after so it was more than convenient for me to give up on the whole "off-ice" routine (before it even started, smh) and I did not pick up on it again until I went to a low-key Yoga Stretch class this Monday. I don't know anything about yoga, but we did an interesting position that kind of resembled a spiral from the "downward dog" position. More importantly, I began to understand what they meant by "forming a spoon with your stomach" and "stacking your spine".
The Tuesday-Thursday mat pilates classes fit well in my schedule, and they had regular yoga after that at the same place, so I decided to try both out this Tuesday after my last class. I felt like I was at least doing 30% of the things right in the mat class, though I can never really know for sure, but still, it is a vast improvement from 0%. I knew I was doing something right because I actually felt tired and strained in places in my body I can't even directly identify.
The yoga class was right afterwards in the same room, so I stayed just to check it out. I don't think I could handle two straight hours of being in the gym, but I just wanted to see what the class format was. We spent the first 15 minutes doing breathing exercises and meditation, but it actually got rather demanding (at least for my old, brittle self) even though this class was one of the "intro" yoga sessions. The last ten minutes were just breathing also, but I actually enjoy setting aside time to just breathe, literally and figuratively. Deep breathing felt amazing.
I went to the mat class again today, and we did some really intense (at least to me--you must keep in mind, throughout this whole entry, how out of shape I am) upper leg and glute work, which is definitely good for skating. It dismays me how horrible I am at balance exercises. Whenever I do them off-ice, I think I should at least have a measure of competence on them because of skating, and when I'm skating, I think "well, I should be better at this!" because of pilates. Nope. I am stiff, brittle, and I definitely lack balance--all highly beneficial qualities for figure skating!
Strangely enough, I thoroughly relish the sore and achy feeling in my legs and "core" the next day. I mildly felt this way about running too, except I hated every second of it when I was actually running, but enjoyed the pain afterwards. I am starting to suspect that I am just a masochist. But I actually enjoyed pilates. Definitely not every second of it, sure, but it's actually very calming to me to attempt to focus my whole body into achieving something--exactly the kind of mindset one needs for skating as well.
It is going to be a while before I gain competence in any of this, and to be honest, I'm considering doing one private session at least just to get me on the right track with proper form. Ever since I got into figure skating I've been a stickler for proper form, which, of course, Lyosha just laughs at. But of course, I don't have any money for this. If I had oodles of money, I'd be taking private FS lessons and private sessions with a pilates reformer. I'd have a Jeremy Abbott Zuca bag and a Sochi warmup jacket. I'd upgrade my blades to MK Pros or Wilson Coronation Aces.
I need to remind myself, again, that I am doing this for fun. I think I'm just channeling all of the overzealousness I normally would've had for academia if it didn't treat me like the USFSA has been treating Johnny or the FFKKR has been treating Plushy for the past three years--in other words, with barely concealed hatred. I speak of it like I was some snubbed future Nobel Laureate, hahaha. No. I'm actually really quite stupid. But in any case...
I'm sticking with mat pilates. Surprising what kinds of things I commit myself to for figure skating. Let's see if I could actually defy my couch potato tendencies and see this through.
Inspiration. ;)
Hence I decided to investigate the free (well, almost free--it's $10 to join as a student) group class offerings at UCB's Recreational Sports Facility. I lived a mere three minute walk from the RSF for an entire year and a half and yet I never once set foot in it. I know, I know. I was a born couch potato, okay?
I tried out the mat pilates class about a month ago, but I was completely lost, arching my back too much, and did not feel as if I worked out much of anything. I had a deluge of midterms and projects the week after so it was more than convenient for me to give up on the whole "off-ice" routine (before it even started, smh) and I did not pick up on it again until I went to a low-key Yoga Stretch class this Monday. I don't know anything about yoga, but we did an interesting position that kind of resembled a spiral from the "downward dog" position. More importantly, I began to understand what they meant by "forming a spoon with your stomach" and "stacking your spine".
The Tuesday-Thursday mat pilates classes fit well in my schedule, and they had regular yoga after that at the same place, so I decided to try both out this Tuesday after my last class. I felt like I was at least doing 30% of the things right in the mat class, though I can never really know for sure, but still, it is a vast improvement from 0%. I knew I was doing something right because I actually felt tired and strained in places in my body I can't even directly identify.
The yoga class was right afterwards in the same room, so I stayed just to check it out. I don't think I could handle two straight hours of being in the gym, but I just wanted to see what the class format was. We spent the first 15 minutes doing breathing exercises and meditation, but it actually got rather demanding (at least for my old, brittle self) even though this class was one of the "intro" yoga sessions. The last ten minutes were just breathing also, but I actually enjoy setting aside time to just breathe, literally and figuratively. Deep breathing felt amazing.
I went to the mat class again today, and we did some really intense (at least to me--you must keep in mind, throughout this whole entry, how out of shape I am) upper leg and glute work, which is definitely good for skating. It dismays me how horrible I am at balance exercises. Whenever I do them off-ice, I think I should at least have a measure of competence on them because of skating, and when I'm skating, I think "well, I should be better at this!" because of pilates. Nope. I am stiff, brittle, and I definitely lack balance--all highly beneficial qualities for figure skating!
Strangely enough, I thoroughly relish the sore and achy feeling in my legs and "core" the next day. I mildly felt this way about running too, except I hated every second of it when I was actually running, but enjoyed the pain afterwards. I am starting to suspect that I am just a masochist. But I actually enjoyed pilates. Definitely not every second of it, sure, but it's actually very calming to me to attempt to focus my whole body into achieving something--exactly the kind of mindset one needs for skating as well.
It is going to be a while before I gain competence in any of this, and to be honest, I'm considering doing one private session at least just to get me on the right track with proper form. Ever since I got into figure skating I've been a stickler for proper form, which, of course, Lyosha just laughs at. But of course, I don't have any money for this. If I had oodles of money, I'd be taking private FS lessons and private sessions with a pilates reformer. I'd have a Jeremy Abbott Zuca bag and a Sochi warmup jacket. I'd upgrade my blades to MK Pros or Wilson Coronation Aces.
I need to remind myself, again, that I am doing this for fun. I think I'm just channeling all of the overzealousness I normally would've had for academia if it didn't treat me like the USFSA has been treating Johnny or the FFKKR has been treating Plushy for the past three years--in other words, with barely concealed hatred. I speak of it like I was some snubbed future Nobel Laureate, hahaha. No. I'm actually really quite stupid. But in any case...
I'm sticking with mat pilates. Surprising what kinds of things I commit myself to for figure skating. Let's see if I could actually defy my couch potato tendencies and see this through.