It has been almost two months since our home rink shut down, but it feels like it has been an eternity! To keep our skaters engaged, here are some rotation drills that you can do at home to keep your jumps consistent!
Make sure you do a proper warmup before attempting any of these exercises! If you live in an apartment building, you may want to relocate to the outdoors to prevent any angry neighbors!
Landing Exercises: perform on both feet.
Backwards hops in a landing position. Make sure that the extended free-leg does not wobble or bend!
Backwards landing tap-hops. Hop on one foot and quickly try to tap the toe of your free-leg to the heel of your landing foot before extending into the landing position. Your landing foot will stay on the ground for the duration of this exercise.
3-hops backwards in a landing position with a 5-second hold on the last hop.
Mix the above exercises by hopping backwards in a landing position, doing a heel-to-toe tap, and then jumping up on two feet into a landing position with a 5-second hold.
2 Foot Rotations: perform in both directions.
1/4 rotation turns with correct check-out arms for each side (left arm checks in front for counter-clockwise rotations, right arm in front for clockwise rotations).
1/2 rotation turns.
Consecutive 1/2 rotation turns. Rebound quickly off the floor in between each rotation, but make sure you are still checking out so that you do not over-rotate!
Single rotations with landing position.
1/2 turn + 1/2 turn + single rotations.
3 single rotations with a hop in place in between. Perform a single rotation, followed by a hop in place before going into the next single rotation.
3 consecutive single rotations
Consecutive single rotations alternating both directions. Do one single jump counter-clockwise, followed by a clockwise rotation. Repeat 6 times per set.
1 1/2 rotations.
3 consecutive 1 1/2 turn rotations.
Double rotation with two-foot landing.
Double rotation with landing position and 3 second hold.
Single rotation + Double rotation consecutive with two foot landing.
Single + Single + Double consecutive with landing position and 3 second hold.
Double + Single + Double consecutive with landing position and 3 second hold.
Double + Double with two foot landing
Double + Double with landing position and 3 second hold.
Max Rotation with 2-foot landing.
Loop Rotations: Work mostly on your dominant jumping direction. If you get bored, you can try the other side - but be safe!
Hop around on one foot while holding the proper loop position. When you feel comfortable, jump and pull in to rotate a single loop.
Repeat the above rotation exercises but in a loop position, with a landing in a loop position (like you're doing loop-loop).
Single-loop with landing position and 3 second hold.
Double-loop with landing position and 3 second hold.
Mix the "speed-skater" exercise with a single rotational turn to each direction to help strengthen your quick-twitch core muscles!
Balance Rotations: Perform both directions, but make sure you have someone supervising if possible and be sure to have plenty of open space to avoid injuries!
Do 1/4, 1/2, and single rotations both directions with your eyes closed! Land on two feet until you are more confident.
Rotation Strength: Extra workouts to strengthen rotations! If you are unfamiliar with a workout term, you can easily Google them to see examples! Be sure to rotate both directions.
Hip-twist jumps. Jump straight up and twist your hips completely to either side.
Upper-body rotations with elastic bands. You can attach one end of an elastic band to a stable post and then rotate your body the way you would for a jump. Face towards your elastic band for this exercise.
Skater jumps with 1-foot single rotation.
Landing position stationary leg lifts.
Elastic band + side leg lifts.
Elastic band take-off lifts. Swing your free-leg open in the same way that you would when doing each of your jumps on the ice. (salchow swing, axel swing, loop swing)
Shoulder counter-rotations. Attach elastic band to a stationary object, and pull the elastic in with your arm to your shoulder while twisting to either side.
Upper-body rotations with elastic bands. Repeat the same set-up as before, but facing away from the elastic band this time.
Make sure to do a cool-down exercise like walking and stretching to end your workout!
Stay safe everyone, hope to see you soon!