Skate skills:

SKATE TIP OF THE WEEK
Inline secrets from the world's top skaters and coaches

This week's tip:
Staying in Shape During the Off-season
By Greg Major
(Nov. 3, 2006)

Keeping in shape during the off-season can be a challenge. Us outdoor skaters love our summer workouts. But when the days get cooler and shorter, we're less enthusiastic about getting out.

One solution is to join an indoor speed skating team. Even if you don't plan to compete, it's a great way to stay in shape.

Another option is to enroll in a "boot camp"-style fitness program, like the one I run in Chicago. These programs work your whole body, not just your legs. They usually include cardio training and strengthening exercises, such as plyometrics.

If you'd rather go it alone, try some off-skate exercises.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Stair Running

Find the longest set of stairs you can. Run up and down them at a steady pace. Do this for a fixed amount of time. You might want to start with 10 minutes and build to 30. To add variety, take two steps at a time at 2-minute intervals.

Stair Sprints

Sprint to the top of the stairs, using the trip down to recover. The idea is to do each sprint as hard as possible. For variety, lift your knees as high as possible (while moving them up and down as fast as you can).

Crossovers

Find a short steep hill or embankment. Run up it using a crossover step. (Right foot landing in front and to the left of your left foot, and left foot landing in front and to the right of the right foot.) Start slow. Then gradually add more power to each push. This will not only give you a good cardio workout but improve your crossover and double push technique on skates.

Whatever you do, stay active and have fun. Get outside and beat the winter blues. Something as simple as sledding can provide a great workout because at the end of each run, you have to climb back up the hill. On the other hand, you're not likely to stick with an exercise routine if you don't enjoy it.

And be sure not to wait too long to get started with your off-season training. The outdoor racing season will be here before you know it.

See you at the races!

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Greg Major is a veteran inline racer, a certified personal trainer and the president of Bulldog Bootcamp Co. A lifelong athlete, he played semi-pro football in the 1980s and won the Chicagoland Natural Bodybuilding title in 1992. He started skating in the 1980s on a pair of $19 Rollerblade knockoffs. Today, he is a member of Team Rainbo and Tru-Rev's masters racing team. He holds the course record for his age division at the Northshore Inline Marathon (1 hour, 6 minutes and 24 seconds). One of the highlights of his 2006 skating season was finishing second in the pro-veterans division (45 and over) at the Saint Paul Inline Marathon. He and his wife, Michelle, founded Bulldog Bootcamp in 1999.

Related links:

• Bulldog web site
• Team Rainbo
• Skate Tip of the Week Archive.