I've tried cycling to the rink; a nice idea during spring and fall if one can afford the time--I'm usually hard pressed to just get away from work and on to the rink when public or more expensive free style sessions are scheduled at a time vaguely doable within a work day. We won't talk about cycling to the rink in the depths of winter or during the baking heat of high summer. Arriving a tad early (by car) and then walking around the pond next to the rink is a bit better but still not ideal. But neither is going out on the ice without warming up the legs. That wastes the first fifteen to twenty minutes of valuable ice time. What's a working skater to do?
I've been eying the better young skaters at my rink skipping rope for five or ten minutes and thought to myself "This would be perfect if you weren't such a klutz." It's something that can be done indoors, out of the heat or cold and it definitely would warm me up. The operative word of course is klutz. Over the weekend I bought a jump rope at a local sporting goods store and gave it a whirl (first time I've tried to jump rope in over 60 years) and discovered that I couldn't do it! Rather than give up on this idea (hey, I've got $9.95 plus tax tied up in a fancy jump rope here) I decided to seek advice from the youtube oracle and this is what she's offered up:
I can do steps 1, 2 & 3. Even if I never get to step 4 (stop laughing!), step 1 would actually suffice as a warm up. Just indicate to the curious that you're miming someone skipping a rope. If that doesn't get 'em off your back just wrap the rope around their neck. As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans might have said: "Happy rope jumping (and warming up) to you until we meet again."
This is a tough one...I will say a good jump rope makes a big difference, something that has a little snap to it like these guys: http://www.amazon.com/CrossFit-Speed-Jump-Rope-Cardiovascular/dp/B00QSY3RFW/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1430109170&sr=8-12&keywords=speed+jump+rope+crossfit
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have tried to teach people to jump rope who can't, and it's one of the hardest things I've attempted as a trainer ;) But agreed, it is a great and simple way to warm up, although maybe a bit high impact in light of your newfound disc issues? Your chiro probably has an opinion on that...