Purpose: The cat cow is a great exercise for skaters to improve their pelvic floor mobility and awareness. Skaters can have either a posterior or anterior pelvic tilt, and this exercise helps skaters learn how to move from tipping the pelvis backward in the cat pose to tipping forward in the cow ...

Purpose: This exercise challenges a skater to maintain good posture and engagement through their core and pelvic floor during hip flexion.

Focus: Posture, pelvic floor engagement, neutral spine, back injury prevention, hollow body position

Purpose: This exercise is a progression of a side plank and and a side lying leg lift.

Focus: Hip abductors, obliques, transversus abdominus, TFL, glutes, back injury prevention

Purpose: This exercise helps skaters learn how to engage their deep core muscles and pelvic floor so that they are not compensating form or using their lower back.

Focus: Deep core strength, pelvic floor, back injury prevention, hip stability, external rotation

Purpose: This variation of bird dog is more advanced and helps skaters continue to build and improve cross-body awarenes and anti-extension

Focus: Core strength, core stability, back injury prevention, Injury prevention, bird dog variation, anti-extension, cross-body awareness

Purpose: This exercise helps skaters work on strengthening their core muscles in the front and back of the body, and is also a great exercise to promote back flexibility.

Focus: Back strength, back injury prevention, back flexibility, Biellmann spin, air position

Purpose: This advanced version of a bird dog challenges a skaters' stability and ability to keep a neutral spine while moving in a cross body pattern.

Focus: Coordination, stability, back injury prevention, core strength, advanced progression

Overview:
0:00 Importance of pelvic floor and deep core strengthening
1:05 Overview of the 3 exercises and workout structure
2:15 First exercise
4:01 Second exercise
5:21 Third exercise
6:24 Round 2 of the workout
9:20 Round 3 of the workout
12:00 Closing remarks

Focus: Deep core strength, pel...

Level: Advanced
Exercise: Side plank reach under with weight
Purpose: Side planks are great for building oblique strength and stability. The reach under movement increases the demand placed on the shoulders and triceps, making it an upper body exercise as well
Focus: Obliques, triceps, shoulders,...

Purpose: This side plank helps build hip strength and stability, but is slightly easier with the knees bent rather than straight

Focus: hip strength, hip stability, hip flexors, obliques

Purpose: This video tutorial introduces skaters to the Russian twist exercise, what it is, why it's helpful, proper form, and beginner to advanced progressions of this exercise.

Focus: Obliques, twist, spinal rotation, injury prevention, rotation, core strength

Level: Advanced
Base exercise: Sit-up
Variation: Sprinter sit-up
Purpose: Sprinter sit-ups can help improve speed and drive, so it is a good variation for skaters to use in their workouts
Focus: Hip flexors, abs
Direction: N/A
Equipment: None

Purpose: This video introduces the hollow body hold exercise, what it is and its benefits, and key technique aspects to remember when doing this exercise. The trainer also shows some progressions and variations to do with this exercise.

Focus: Basic technique, deep abdominal muscles, lower back...

Purpose: This variation of a superman is great for skaters who need a harder version. They also challenge a skater's coordination and rhythm!

Focus: Back strength, core strength, timing, rhythm, coordination, posterior chain.

Purpose: This side plank variation also allows skaters to strengthen their upper body while working their core.
Focus: Obliques, rhomboids, rotator cuffs, rear deltoids, trapezius

Level: Advanced
Exercise: Back raises with a twist
Purpose: Back raises are great exercises to work the lower back support muscles, which help improve posture and air position strength. The twist adds an additional challenge for the obliques.
Focus: Abs, glutes, erector spinae, obliques

Purpose: This challenging variation of bird dog allows skaters to strengthen their obliques while working on their stability alignment.
Focus: Stability, posture, core strength, obliques, abs, injury prevention

Purpose: This forward plank with leg extension drill helps challenge and build core strength while also working on stability and toning the muscle. The pulses also help develop explosiveness in the leg muscles

Focus: Core, quads, leg extension, explosiveness, toning

Purpose: These two exercises are great functional and skater specific ones to build into a core workout. The skater planks with a twist work on a skaters core while adding an element of spinal rotation and working on tight ankles for air position. Leg drop downs are a great exercise for the core ...

Purpose: This advanced version of superman helps you build a strong and stable back which can help with posture and injury prevention. Adding in the twist adds an element of spinal rotation that is helpful because figure skaters experience a lot of spinal rotation

Focus: Injury prevention, stabi...

Purpose: These advanced plank variations can help you mix up your workout and add a skating specific element into your plank exercises.

Focus: Plank variation, abdominal strength, core strength, obliques, hip flexor strength, glute strength, tight air position

Purpose: Add in some explosive quick twitch muscle fiber development and oblique work into your normal forward plank..
Focus: Core strength, quick twitch, plyometric, obliques

Purpose: Skaters get additional benefits from this bird dog variation: increased difficulty with the balance element and upper body strengthening with the lat pull
Focus: Neutral spine, lats, stability, posture, core strength, injury prevention

This situp variation starts in a hollow body position and comes up into a situp while the feet remain off the floor.