The Functional & Athletic Aspects of Training Figure Skaters
By Brian Grasso
As a given sport evolves and the participants within that sport
begin to break records and perform what was once considered
impossible, you can be sure that advancements in training and
conditioning regimes have occurred within that sport. Very few
athletes ever become great sport technicians without the inclusion
of a comprehensive athletic development and conditioning program
as part of their training package. Over the past decade, the type
of training and conditioning performed by young, developing and
elite athletes has gone from basic fitness to more functionally-
based and developmental activities. Figure skating and all of the
disciplines under that umbrella are such examples.
Within the sport of figure skating there seems to be a dichotomy
in terms of the conditioning efforts prescribed by training
experts or professionals. On one side, there exists
the 'traditionalists' who tend to offer up basic exercises such as
bench press, squats and lat pull down supplemented with off-ice
versions of on-ice skills. For example, many training coaches
prescribe that their skaters practice landing jumps and performing
balance based skills (such as spirals) off the ice. On the other
side of the spectrum, there are the 'athletic developers' who tend
not to concern themselves with producing specified strength gains
but instead work more directly at improving the complete athletic
profile of the skater. The general conception among these
professionals is that the greater degree of athleticism the skater
has, the more likely he or she will be able to carry out athletic
skills. While traditionalists often incorporate basic and
conventional exercises into their training programs, the athletic
developers come from a more movement based perspective. This
style of conditioning is often referred to as 'functional'
training, which is in fact a misnomer. Let's examine that.
'Functional training' right now is a concept without a real
definition; Many people believe that if an exercise is being
performed on a Swiss Ball, Wobble Board or some other unstabling
device then that constitutes it as functional. I believe more in
the true dictionary definition of the word and how that applies to
training and conditioning. Functional is defined as 'used to
contribute to development'. In keeping with that definition,
virtually any style of training can be considered functional if it
has application to a particular task. For instance, I would
strongly agree with a bodybuilder performing bench press in order
to produce a hypertrophic response in his/her upper body (which is
the desired result of bodybuilding training), but I would not
advocate that a figure skater perform bench press as a training
activity because it serves no functional purpose to figure
skating. In its simplest terms, the word functional can be
defined as practical, purposeful and efficient. PRACTICAL
movement. PURPOSEFUL movement. EFFICIENT movement.
Equally important as 'how' to train figure skaters is 'how not' to
train them. There is a strong side of the youth sport training
world (I call them traditionalists) that encourages the use of
fitness based machines and free weight lifting equipment. In fact
it has been concluded without doubt that young athletes can and
should in fact engage in resistance styles of
conditioning. 'Contrary to the traditional belief that strength
training is dangerous for children or that it could lead to bone
plate disturbances, the American College of Sports Medicine
contends that strength training can be a safe and effective for
this age group provided that the program is properly designed and
competently supervised.' This is a statement made by Avery
Faigenbaum , Ed. D, in a paper he co-authored for the American
College of Sports Medicine on Youth Strength Training in March of
1998. To most of us in the sport training community, this is a no-
brain issue. Of course children can perform resistance training;
kids run, jump, wrestle, go on hikes, play hop-scotch - all of
these activities have strength components to them and one would
never restrict a child from performing them. Where the issue
becomes convoluted and contentious however, is when one promotes
stabilized machines as a means of conditioning for young
athletes. While I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Faigenbaum and
all of the research proven data which illustrates that children
CAN safely perform strength training in conventional settings
(i.e. lifting weights) what I contend is WHY they need to. This
is a paramount concern in-so-far as figure skaters.
The following are some guidelines for training and developing
figure skaters from an athletic and functional perspective:
Promote concepts of multilateral development. This is a hard pill
to swallow within the world of figure skating due to the fact that
many coaches, parents and trainers are interested in pushing the
limits with young kids in the hopes of national and international
success. Your job as a parent or coach with young skaters is to
introduce them to as much athletic stimulus as possible. The
nervous system of a young athlete is malleable and requires input
to develop optimally. If you are prescribing little more than
basic fitness and on-ice type movements, you are robbing the child
of potential athletic growth and limiting his or her prospective
success. Look at Kurt Browning and Elvis Stoiko respectively -
one played hockey the other took martial arts. Diversity
contributes to athletic success not hinders it.
Don't engage kids in exercises that promote external stability or
useless force production. The key to working with young athletes
in any sport is to promote mobility, stability and balance in
conjunction with force. Especially with the demands of figure
skating, young athletes need to have a virtual warehouse of
athletic based skills in order to reach optimal levels. This is
achieved by moving and stabilizing the body through various planes
and producing force through various vectors. Alwyn Cosgrove, a
conditioning expert who is recognized as a Master of Sport Science
with sport organizations throughout the world, is the off-ice
coach to Beebe Lang, who just recently finished sixth at this past
Junior World Championships. He defines the sequence as such:
flexibility before stability - stability before strength -
strength before power.
Potential exercises to use with figure skaters of all levels -
Single Leg Squats
On-ice force production occurs unilaterally and functional
training should reflect this. Single leg squats should be
performed with the 'free' leg in varied positions (which reflects
sagittal, frontal and even transverse strength/stability).
Jump rope with movement (locomotion)
Develops a great deal of leg strength and coordination.
Locomotion should be multidirectional and jumps should be on one,
two and alternating feet.
Somersault to Jump
This exercise promotes leg power in conjunction with spatial
awareness.
Single Leg Balance Touch
Tremendous unilateral strength exercise as well as high inputs of
balance and stability. Involve transverse stability as well by
touching points on the ground that are to the side and behind the
skater.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
How much could your young athletes benefit from a proven system that gives you a complete roadmap for developing speed, strength and athletic ability no matter what sport, age or level of athlete?
Click Here to find out now.
|
