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REAL PROGRAMS Successful programs to consider adopting PHOTOS: COURTESY OF TRUMP RINK by CHANTELLE TRACZYK Class Breakdown 1. Dynamic Warm-up: Five minutes. Goal: To prepare the body for the following exercises and prevent injuries. The warm-up begins standing in a line on the ice, moves to the barre (rink boards), and progresses to exercises across the ice. Example Exercises: - High knees with side twist. - Side lunges. - Shoulder rolls forward and backward. - Ballet barre — leg swings/hip warm-up. - Swizzles with resistance band arm circles. 2. Cardio: Five minutes. Goal: To build skating endurance. In this section, we keep the skaters moving and minimize the instruction and transition time to get their heart rates up. Example Exercises: - Forward and backward swizzles. - Half swizzles on a circle (beginner) or crossovers (advanced). - Slalom (beginner) or power pulls (advanced). - Hockey suicide drill. 3. Balance & Strength: Five minutes. Goal: To strengthen stabilizer and core muscles while performing skating specific positions across the ice. Example Exercises: - Dips. - One-legged dip. - Spirals. - Modified crane exercises. - Two-foot turns, forward to backward and backward to forward, across the ice (beginner) or brackets (advanced). 4. Strengthening Circuit: Five minutes. Goal: To target specific muscle groups. Each exercise is done for 30 seconds and the sequence is repeated. Example Exercises: - Bicep curls with resistance bands. - Planks or pushups, on the boards (beginner) or on the ice (advanced). - Lunges/dips. - Jumping jacks. - Squats to high knees with twists. 5. Core: Five minutes. Goal: To strengthen core muscles key to skating. Example Exercises: - Side twists with cones. - Bicycles — alternating 10 slow, 10 fast. - Ab slides with tub treads. - Modified V-up. 6. Cool Down: Five minutes. Goal: Increase flexibility and lower heart rate. Example Exercises: - Quad stretch. - Figure-four stretch. - Arm, neck and board stretches. Equipment • Resistance bands: To help strengthen our shoulders, backs and biceps. • Yoga mats: The mats are cut into 1' x 2' areas and are used to protect our hands, knees and back. • Tub treads: Used to create an abdominal-slider movement. • Cones: We integrated small cones to take the place of a medicine ball during the side twists in our core section. To add an element of fun, we slide the cones to a partner between every 10 reps. Fit Skate at Your Rink Consider adding a fitness class at your rink. It can be done on half or full ice for 30, 45 or 60 minutes. A fitness class attracts skaters of all disciplines — ice dance, freestyle and hockey. You will create healthy, strong skaters. Let's get fit! J Chantelle Traczyk is the assistant skating director at Trump Rink in New York. Innovative fitness program hits the ice in New York 40 / MARCH.APRIL.2015 RINKMAGAZINE.COM T he busy adult skaters at our rink had a choice to make: come to the rink and skate before work or go to the gym to get in their core and strength training. After battling this choice myself, I decided to come up with a solution. And Fit Skate was born. Instead of the off-ice fitness classes I remember as a young skater, we decided to put this class where our adult skaters wanted to be — on the ice. Our goal is to get the skaters' blood pumping while increasing their flexibility and strengthening core muscles — both of which are key to skating technique. We break our 30-minute class into six five-minute sections: warm-up, cardio, balance and strength, strengthening circuit, core and cool down. If you are able to do a longer class, 45-60 minutes, I recommend simply lengthening the cardio and strength sections. Also consider adding music. We use a 30-minute soundtrack of fast, popular music that helps to keep our skaters motivated and moving. Not Your Typical Gym , Adding a fitness class can fill ice time and attract new clientele.