Lessons from working with figure skaters

This week was an interesting week as we had the opportunity to be the sports science support team of a skating camp headed by Russian coaches. These are great opportunities for us to learn more about the human body and what it can do, and to learn more about a different sport. Because of the demands of figure skating on the aesthetics and the physiology of the body, there is a ton to learn that can be applied in our fitness journey:

Physical activity should start at a young age with an emphasis on different activities.

We had the chance to talk to an Australian track coach who happened to have her child a part of the event. Her daughter, who’s 11, does gymnastics, track, ballet and figure skating. Not surprisingly, her daughter had very good control over her jumps and turns. Clearly her motor skills were well-developed because of the variety of activities she was participating in. I’ve written about this before. Kids benefit from participating in different activities.

Proper supervised strength training is one of the best things you can do to prevent injuries.

Since we were the sports science team involved with managing injuries, we saw firsthand how much time and effort is put in to make sure kids remain healthy and pain-free on the ice. That’s why strength training is so important. Stronger people are more resilient and could absorb forces better, thus sparing their ligaments, joints and tendons. If you don’t want to get injured, consider proper strength training as part of your fitness journey.

What you do out of training is just as important as training itself.

What are you doing that’s taking away from your fitness? If you want to maximize your results, consider making sure you get enough sleep, hydration and proper nutrition. Sleeping early, recovering well, making sure you’re in bed before 10 p.m. are some of the things to consider.

Food is fuel.

After a good talk on nutrition, the kids seemed to clean up their eating habits (who can blame them). Decreasing junk, eating more of the right stuff, fueling for training and eating to recover were part of the discussion. Thinking of food as fuel keeps you accountable to what you put in to your body. A simple intervention was having chocolate milk after workouts to aid in the recovery process. After that, kids started to have more energy for the next workout the next day. Simple things like that can make you optimize your time training for best results.

You can watch these kids compete at the SM Seaside Rink today! See you there!