The phrase “easy come, easy go” comes to mind, and although it was originally applied to acquiring, and then losing money, it also loosely relates to fitness. It is EASY to train during the season, when competing is frequent and the weather suited to keeping fit, but as a season ends and the weather becomes that little bit more unpredictable it is also EASY to put off training, which makes it EASY to lose fitness so in that sense, it really is easy come and easy go.
Of course, in reality we know that training is not easy, well at an elite standard anyway! So maybe easy come, easy go still isn’t the best way to describe why in-season and off-season should be so important. Perhaps another “well known” phrase is even better suited, a phrase known as “Use it, or Lose it”. In sport, this phrase can refer mainly to a little thing called “detraining” which is the process of the bodies muscles, bones, heart & lungs, basically ALL the bodies systems “resetting” to a state at which they were before they were trained, so if you don’t USE your muscles – you will LOSE them (or at least the strength anyway!)
The rate in which our fitness declines after stopping training links in to how often we trained before, elite athletes will have a much slower and less dramatic decline than beginners because their bodies have been conditioned for exercise for a greater amount of time (which is one more reason to maintain our fitness!) A rough time comparison between elite and beginners would be if they both stopped training for two months, the elite athlete would probably lose around half of their previous fitness levels, whereas beginners would lose near enough all of what they had gained through training (based on the beginner doing at least 8 weeks of training before hand).
I myself have experienced this, I tested my body fat as part of my monitoring, and was unlucky enough to then catch a bad cold 7 days later – I then took 5 days off training, and then re-tested my body fat and found that I had lost 1.5% lean muscle in that short period of time. This means that even just 5 days between sessions, my body started to decline.
So – we know it’s important, but “what can we do?” you ask?
Well, for starters ANYTHING is better than nothing – you should always try to maintain your competition sport for as long as you can, but there are alternatives, that in my opinion (and I’ll explain why!) should be chosen ahead of others.
For Skaters:
1. Skating – Obviously the top choice, it will help build sport specific fitness and make sure technique is maintained and can be worked on.
2. Cycling – Biomechanically similar, great for muscular endurance (a big part of skating) and you can do it anywhere, in any weather! (plus they wear lycra too!)
3. Running – Possibly THE best thing for improving lung functioning during sport, be careful with overuse injuries and joint damage due to the high impact nature of running, good quality running shoes are a must!
4. Rowing – Fantastic for a complete body workout, will ensure every muscle is working which leads to a great winter training session!
5. Swimming – Also another activity that targets lots of muscles, however it also has been shown to reduce leg speed, and for sprints this might not be a great thing, every now and again is ok but I would chose one of the others as your regular cardio activity.
Apart from the equipment, Skating, Cycling and running are all FREE which means you can train without gym membership! Cycling and Running can be done anywhere as well – so if you can’t skate, cycling and running would be my top choice because of their fantastic fitness benefits, the fact they are free and you can pretty much do them anywhere!
Alongside the cardio, these other training elements should also be included to compliment the gains in aerobic fitness:
1. Weight training – Helps build raw strength, develops bone density and helps the body to work against a resistance.
2. Plyometrics – Exercises that turn that raw strength from weight training, into explosive power, exercises will mimic skating positions and skating muscles, great training for every type of skater.
3. Slideboard – if you’re lucky to have one, this is a great tool for developing and maintaining skating technique - essential if you are off skates for a while. Weight training can also be applied to the board, to make a good double session!
That’s the “why” of why winter training is important! Without it, all the hard work over the season is lost – this can lead to athletes peaking late or sometimes not at all! A good winter session keeps the fitness to build on in the next season! Don’t give yourself a disadvantage by being lazy this winter!
Coming soon – What training exercises to do during the winter!
Thank you for reading!
Jon Morrison BSc
Sports Lecturer & Inline Speed Skater
Sports Lecturer & Inline Speed Skater
