Kate Brown
Ice skating is an exhilarating sport that combines balance, agility, speed, and grace. Whether you’re a beginner just starting or a seasoned skater pushing for more advanced moves, strength plays a crucial role in preventing injuries and enhancing performance. Many injuries in ice skating, such as sprains, strains, and falls, occur when skaters lack proper muscle strength or stability. Strengthening key muscle groups can reduce the risk of injury, improve your skating technique, and allow for a more enjoyable experience on the ice.
In this article, we’ll look at the best strengthening exercises that skaters can incorporate into their training routine to help prevent injuries and keep skating safely.
1. Core Workouts for Stability
A strong core is essential for all skaters, as it helps with balance, control, and stability on the ice. A weak core can lead to falls and loss of control, which is why it’s important to strengthen the muscles in your abdomen, lower back, and pelvis.
Best Core Exercises:
- Planks: One of the best exercises for building overall core strength. Start in a push-up position and hold your body in a straight line from head to heels, engaging your core. Hold for 30-60 seconds and repeat for 3-4 sets.
- Russian Twists: Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet slightly off the ground. Hold a weight or medicine ball with both hands, and rotate your torso to each side. This helps with rotational strength and balance, both crucial for skating.
- Superman Hold: Lie on your stomach and simultaneously lift your arms and legs off the ground while keeping your chest and pelvis grounded. This strengthens the lower back and glutes, supporting your posture and stability.
- Leg Raises: Lying on your back, lift your legs straight up, keeping them together. This targets the lower abdominal muscles and helps with the control needed during skating maneuvers.
2. Lower Body Strengthening
Skating involves a lot of lower body movement, from gliding to jumping and landing. Having strong legs helps skaters maintain control, stay balanced, and avoid overuse injuries, such as knee and ankle problems.
Best Lower Body Exercises:
- Squats: The squat is a foundational exercise for building strength in your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Try bodyweight squats or use dumbbells or a barbell for added resistance. Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
- Lunges: Lunges target the glutes, quads, and hamstrings while improving stability and balance. Step forward with one leg and lower your hips until both knees are at 90-degree angles, then return to standing. Repeat for 3 sets of 10-12 reps per leg.
- Step-Ups: Use a bench or elevated surface and step up with one foot, driving through the heel. Step back down and repeat. This works the glutes, hamstrings, and quads, all crucial muscles for powerful strides on the ice.
- Leg Press: If you have access to a leg press machine, this is a great way to strengthen your legs. Start with a low weight and gradually increase the load as you build strength. Perform 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
3. Hip Strengthening Exercises
The hips play a vital role in ice skating, especially when it comes to turning, jumping, and gliding. Weak hip muscles can lead to instability and improper form, resulting in potential injury.
Best Hip Exercises:
- Hip Bridges: Lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, lift your hips toward the ceiling by squeezing your glutes and engaging your core. This strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back, which are essential for stability on the ice.
- Clamshells: Lie on your side with your knees bent at 90 degrees. Keeping your feet together, lift your top knee toward the ceiling while keeping your pelvis stable. This targets the gluteus medius, a muscle essential for maintaining balance while skating.
- Standing Leg Abductions: Stand tall and lift one leg out to the side, keeping it straight. This exercise targets the hip abductors, which help with lateral movement and stability during skating.
- Resistance Band Lateral Walks: Place a resistance band around your legs just above the knees and squat down slightly. Step side to side, keeping your knees bent. This strengthens the hip abductors and improves lateral movement, a key element in skating.
4. Ankle and Foot Strengthening
Strong ankles and feet are essential for maintaining control and stability on the ice. Weak ankles can lead to instability, making it difficult to glide, turn, and stop. Skating demands excellent ankle flexibility and strength to avoid injuries such as sprains.
Best Ankle and Foot Exercises:
- Calf Raises: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and slowly rise up onto the balls of your feet, then lower back down. You can perform this exercise on flat ground or on a step to increase the range of motion. Calf raises strengthen the calves and improve ankle stability.
- Ankle Circles: While seated, lift one foot off the ground and rotate your ankle in circles, both clockwise and counterclockwise. This exercise helps improve ankle mobility and strengthens the muscles around the ankle joint.
- Toe and Heel Walks: Walk around the room on your tiptoes for 30 seconds, then switch to walking on your heels for the same amount of time. This strengthens the muscles in the feet, calves, and shins, promoting better balance and control on the ice.
- Resistance Band Ankle Exercises: Use a resistance band to perform ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion exercises. Sit with your legs extended and loop the band around the top of your foot. Flex and point your toes against the resistance to strengthen your ankles.
5. Plyometric and Jumping Exercises
Plyometric exercises are high-intensity movements that focus on explosive strength, which is vital for ice skating. These exercises help with jumping, landing, and rapid movements on the ice.
Best Plyometric Exercises:
- Box Jumps: Stand in front of a sturdy box or elevated surface, squat down slightly, and then jump explosively onto the box. This helps with explosive power and coordination, which are essential for jumps and quick moves on the ice.
- Jump Squats: Perform a regular squat and then jump explosively upward as you rise. Land softly and go straight into another squat. This exercise builds lower-body strength and improves agility, allowing skaters to perform quick directional changes.
- Lateral Bounds: Start in a squat position and leap to the side, landing on one foot. Push off with the same foot and jump laterally to the opposite side. This works on lateral power and balance, both essential for sharp turns and quick stops on the ice.
- Tuck Jumps: Jump up and bring your knees toward your chest in the air, then land softly. This explosive movement strengthens the legs and core, helping skaters with jump height and landing stability.
6. Flexibility and Mobility Training
While strength is critical for injury prevention, flexibility and mobility are equally important. Skaters need a good range of motion in their joints and muscles to avoid stiffness and prevent overuse injuries.
Best Flexibility Exercises:
- Hamstring Stretch: Standing up, extend one leg in front of you and hinge forward at the hips, reaching toward your toes. Hold for 20-30 seconds and repeat on the other leg. This helps to increase hamstring flexibility, which is essential for skating stride length.
- Hip Flexor Stretch: Kneel on one knee with the other foot forward in a 90-degree angle. Push your hips forward to stretch the hip flexors. This is crucial for improving mobility during skating strides.
- Quadriceps Stretch: Standing, pull one foot behind you toward your glutes, holding it with your hand. This stretch helps maintain flexibility in the quadriceps and hip flexors, which are important for maintaining posture and stability on the ice.
- Shoulder and Back Stretch: Stretching the upper body can also aid in injury prevention. Perform overhead stretches to improve shoulder flexibility, and reach for your toes to stretch the lower back.
Conclusion
Injury prevention is a key factor for long-term success in skating. By incorporating strength-building exercises that target the core, lower body, hips, ankles, and feet, you can improve your skating technique and avoid unnecessary injuries. Additionally, plyometric exercises, flexibility training, and mobility work help skaters stay agile, quick, and resilient on the ice. A consistent off-ice workout routine that combines these exercises will help you build the strength, control, and endurance needed to excel at ice skating while keeping you safe and injury-free.