Weight & Power Training for Skating - the #1 Rule

Strength & Conditioning is not just called 'weightlifting' or 'weight training' because strength & conditioning is more than that. Strength & conditioning encompasses the entire development of the athlete and what is needed to improve physical performance. This can include strength training, plyometrics, speed and agility training, endurance and core stability. Strength training is only one part of the full picture.

Exposure and adaptation

Your body is geared for survival. It's primary motivating force for change is its progressive adaptation to whatever it is exposed to. Your body defends itself through conditioning, and conditions itself through exposure. If you want to strengthen your seated ability to pick up something heavy and place it under your chin - then work hard on your seated bicep curls. There are a lot of 'athletes' in the gym who stack up, sit down, strap in and move mountains of plates every other day. Those same people could well put their back out getting back in their car: after all, that is a 1-leg lateral dipping twist often performed with a gym-bag in your leading hand.

If you want to use strength training to get more out of your on-skate performance, forget about isolated lifts and machine-stabilised exercises. The machines that fill your gym were developed so you would seek out the newest and best, and isolated lifts and exercises are the food of bodybuilders looking to maximise the size and 'standout' potential of each individual muscle. You don't get to brace yourself against a bench seat as you push hard on your skates, nor can you hold on to the handgrips - you don't even rest your bodyweight on a bike seat. As a skater you have to stand (in a very specific position), and deliver - high power, for long durations of high-frequency repetitions, while preventing postural instability and any counter-movements that dissipate the force you could otherwise be applying to the ground. You need the recruitment of a lot of muscles, often simultaneously, in a complex movement pattern with a high duty cycle.

Get specific

Your body will adapt to what it is exposed to - and every transitional step or complementary exercise designed to 'transfer' the benefits of a primary exercise over to your skating is another outlet where potential gains can be lost. You can choose to continually try to come up with ways to transfer any strength gained through bodybuilding exercises over to your skating, or, use your head and get creative with the exercises you do in the first place.

Spend your valuable time in the gym or weight-room performing skate-specific exercises - both bodyweight-resisted and weighted. Look for compound exercises that require multi-joint movement and so more muscle recruitment, in similar firing-patterns to those required by your skating, and involve a complex core stability component (hours spent crunching and -upping are one thing, but core stability that works together with your force generation and application is exactly what your skating needs).