Why Weight Train?

Hey Everyone,

The last six-eight weeks I’ve developed a real love for lifting weights. And naturally because I’ve been so excited about it, I thought I’d talk a little about it. Why? What’s the benefit? Are you hungry all the time?  These are the questions I get from my friends or team mates who see me daily.

I’ll be honest, when I first hit the gym, it was because I wanted to look better and I wanted to feel stronger.  I quickly became addicted to what I was doing. But the reality is that by lifting weights, you gain more power and explosion on the track, it helps your form, and who would have thought my endurance would get better from lifting some steel?

One of the most important benefits with woman and strength  training is bone health.  Strengthening your muscles also strengthens your bones. Bones are living tissue, just like muscle.  And, just like muscle, bones will respond to exercise by getting stronger.

I recently read an article about the average woman being afraid to lift weights because we don't want to be big like a man. I laughed because how true is that? How many of think that way? GOOD NEWS LADIES, we don't have the hormone makeup that a man does, therefore we will never get as big as them. So don't be afraid to lift.

It also said, women who train inappropriately or who avoid weight room training won't increase the strength of their muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. In contrast, female athletes who build more muscle with proper strength training will run faster, jump higher, be more flexible and fight off injuries better than their weaker counterparts.  So when you’re thinking about how to get MVP in that next game or practice, you might think of the benefit from weight training.

Bus Ride

Alternative names: Finnish Bus Ride

Objective: Conditioning, staying focused, speed control, skating in a low derby stance

Typical length of drill: 10-15 mins

Materials needed: A full track or just a few cones to mark the inside track line, + four cones to use as bus stops

Skill level required: None

Description: Start by setting up your four bus stops on the outside of the track – one cone at each apex and one cone at the very middle of every straightaway.  The skaters split into four equal groups and each group stands at a bus stop when the drill begins.  The coach begins as the bus driver (and it's up to you if you want to stick to one bus driver the whole time or switch it up and have a few of the skaters act as bus drivers too) and the drill starts when the bus driver begins skating around the track.  Naturally, s/he is “sitting” in her/his “chair” as s/he is driving the bus around the track.  The skaters at the bus stops can now start hailing the bus by sticking their arm out.  When the bus driver stops the bus in front of a bus stop the skaters who are at that bus stop can choose to get on the bus or to wait a little bit longer (in this drill the skaters themselves get to decide for how long they will be sitting on the bus).  When the skaters get on the bus they “take a seat” (meaning, they get into the 90° angle squat position, as if actually sitting in a chair) behind the bus driver, two people always next to each other so that there is a double line behind the driver.  Once the passengers are on the bus the bus begins driving.  Everyone on the bus follows the bus driver, whatever she does.  If she comes to another bus stop where other passengers want to get on, the whole bus has to slow down and come to a stop.  If the bus driver speeds up, the whole bus has to speed up.  If the bus driver has to navigate through multiple lanes of traffic, the whole bus has to do so.  The bus driver is in charge and gets to decide what obstacles the bus encounters and at what times, her/his job is to call them out to the rest of the passengers so that they know what to do.  Here are suggestions for the many different things that the bus can do during the bus ride:

• Driving through a tunnel – Everyone squats really really super low so as not to hit the ceiling of the tunnel
• Debris in the road – Everyone jumps over the debris
• Pedestrians or road kill – The bus has to weave around the pedestrians or the road kill
• Local roads – The bus goes really slowly
• Highway – The bus speeds up and goes really fast
• A tree in the middle of the road – Everyone splits up so as to make room for the tree to go through the middle of the bus and then everyone immediately comes together again
• A group of children crossing the street – Everyone weaves around like mad making sure not to hit any of the children in the middle of the road
• Red light / Green light – When the light turns red the bus comes to a halt.  When the light goes green again the bus takes off.

If passengers wish to get off the bus because they feel they can't “stay seated” any longer, they say the word “Pling!” nice and loud so that the bus driver hears them, and then the bus pulls over at the next stop.  At this point anyone who wishes to exit the bus may do so.  I like to tell skaters before doing this drill that when they start feeling like they want to get off the bus because they can't squat any longer, they should try to push themselves to one more bus stop and THEN press the button so that they get that extra benefit of pushing themselves just a little bit further.



An illustrated example of the Bus Ride -drill.  Click the image to view it larger.


I usually end with 5 laps of highway at which time no one is allowed to get on or off the bus (I mean really, how often do you see bus stops on the highway?) so I warn the skaters that it's about to come up in case they want to get back on the bus before it's too late.

If you are lucky and have an off-skates assistant, you can ask this person to throw or place cones (or other things) onto the track in the path of the bus so that all the skaters have concrete obstacles to weave around.  If you have multiple off-skates people at practice you can ask them to be physical pedestrians or road kill or school children for the bus to navigate around.

Additional notes:  I came up with this drill in the spring when I wanted to have a fun drill that felt like a game but also gave our thigh muscles a good workout while at the same time forcing us to practice skating nice and low.  I've done this a few times with a few different groups and it has always been well received.  Because it's a short-ish drill (very effective even if you do it for only 10 minutes) it's also a really great filler – you can plug it in to any small spaces that you may have leftover in your practice schedule.  I like to do this at the end of practice because it's a fun way to end the day, but I've also been known to start practice with this (after regular warm-ups) to get everyone to squat low from the very beginning.  This is a good drill to help skaters who skate too upright.

Feel free to suggest your own fun bus obstacles in the comments -section below!  I know you've got some :)

Six Stride Hell

Alternative names: --

Objective: Work on acceleration from pack speed

Typical length of drill: 5-10 minutes

Materials needed: a skating surface

Skill level required: cross overs and the ability to skate on one leg in corners and straight aways (to be effective)

Description: Have all skaters on "the track" skating at their own "pack speed" spaced out randomly around the track.

On the whistle, all skaters take six hard, fast sprint steps from wherever they are then return to normal skating. Repeat whistle randomly for drill length. 

Additional notes: Generally at Pioneer Valley we use this as an ending drill, something to bring the heart rate back up, before skating a few laps to cool down and stretch.

This could be used as a pack drill to get teams of people used to speeding up and slowing down together.

While everyone is on the track, this is a drill about individual performance. Skaters should have a sense of urgency to skate the hardest and fastest six strides they can on that whistle. If it's 5 or 7 it's not a failure. The point is to begin the sprint from wherever you are and handle it through people also on the track.

One full off-skates workout session

Alternative names: --

Objective: This post is written to help you hold an entire hour's off-skates workout -session, and to give you ideas for new exercises to use at off-skates practice

Typical length of drill: N/A

Materials needed: None necessarily, though for a couple of the exercises in the videos below you need a step platform (noted next to the links), and for some it might be nice to have a yoga mat to lay on

Skill level required: None

Description: I was futzing around on YouTube one night, gleaning drill ideas and speed-skating technique tips from inline speed-skating videos, when I stumbled onto one of Ottawa Inline Skating Club's channels, chok-full of great skating-related plyometrics exercise demonstrations!  I know many leagues out there include off-skates hours into their weekly/monthly training regimes, and that it can sometimes be a little bit daunting to think of new, fun, useful exercises to do at each off-skates session (and particularly for those coaches who have no background in sports), so below is inspiration for a full off-skates workout session.  I have not embedded all 33 of the plyometrics videos below, just a couple of my favorites, but I have provided links to all of them so that you can easily click and check out on the ones that you wish to see/use!

Baby hops
Bicycle (the classic bicycle crunch; your skaters may want a yoga mat for this one)

Crossover steps



Crossover bounding
Depth jump (step platforms needed)

Dryland skating



Jump to box (step platforms needed)
Lateral jump to box (step platform needed)
Lateral hop (cones or other small items to jump over needed)
Leg lift (your skaters may want a yoga mat for this one)
Leg switch
Low walk

Ballerina low walk



Low walk elbow to heel
Lunge low walk
Rocket jump
Side lunge
Single leg leap
Single leg squat

Single leg squat with hold



Single leg vertical hop
Sit up + advanced version (your skaters may want a yoga mat for this one)
Squat (yes, the good ol' squat!)
Squat split jump
Star jump
Static squat (this one should be familiar!)
Tuck jump
Wall sit
Basic 45-degree skate leap
Single leg squat (position 2)
Skate leap with touch back (notice the back foot) 
Skate leap with hop

Skate leap with forward travel

Additional notes: For those leagues out there who don't currently have any off-skates sessions built into their training schedules, let this serve as your inspiration for your first off-skates workout day!  The benefits of cross-training are myriad.  If you're interested in the topic of cross-training, read the following interesting Runner's World article: "Eight Benefits of Cross-Training".  It's about cross-training for runners, but the list can certainly also be applied to roller derby!  And here is an additional article specifically about cross-training for skaters, from Skating to Better Health.  It includes descriptions of multiple different cross-training exercises and sports that you can do!  I for instance never thought about the fact that "basketball and racquet sports also develop agility."  Excellent.

The Scarecrow

Please note that this is an OFF-SKATES exercise and it is definitely NOT recommended that you do it on skates! 

Alternative names: --

Objective: To get a good and interesting muscle workout while getting up-close and personal with some of your teammates; to practice balance

Typical length of drill: 2-10 minutes depending entirely on how capable your skaters are and for how long you want them to keep trying

Materials needed: None

Skill level required: None, though it does help to be nimble and strong

Description: To begin, all the skaters should pair up with someone of their own size and weight.  All the pairs should make sure that they have plenty of space around them when doing this exercise.  Partner #1's job is to be "the scarecrow" while partner #2 acts as "the climber."  The scarecrow starts by putting their hands behind their head and taking a wide, somewhat low stance.  The scarecrow's job is to stand still during this whole exercise and act as a climbing pole.  Once the scarecrow is in place the climber begins.  The climber's job is to get up on the scarecrow and try make their way all the way around the scarecrow without touching the ground.  The climber should try to do as many revolutions around the scarecrow as possible and once s/he feels that s/he can't do any more (or once s/he touches the ground), the partners switch tasks.

Alternatively, you can pair up your smallest skaters with the largest skaters and have the large skaters act solely as the scarecrows while the smaller skaters act as the climbers.  No matter which position you hold during this exercise you will still get a workout.

Video: The Ultimate Fighter Championship Scarecrow Challenge



Additional notes: This is something that I learned in my muay thai course a little while ago and it's pretty awesome.  The exercise can be made to look so simple when done by some (i.e. the UFC competitors in the video or my muay thai instructors), but it's actually a really tough workout and it isn't easy to complete even one revolution.  Why should you do this? Because it's fun and it brings teammates closer to each other as they struggle to climb all over each other's bodies.  You shouldn't be surprised though if you have many who are unable to complete even one revolution.  If you run this drill at every practice for an extended period of time those people will have the chance to practice it over and over again and they will finally get to the point where they are able to complete at least one full revolution, and that will definitely make them feel good about themselves.  So I guess you can also file this under self-esteem boosters :)

Why off-skates strength training and fitness?

Alternative names: --

Objective: Learn about the importance of off-skates strength training for roller derby.

Typical length of drill: --

Materials needed: --

Skill level required: None

Description:
First of all I want to welcome you all to my guest blog on Estro's All Derby Drills. My part is obviously to show you all how important off-skates strength training and fitness is for roller derby.

Roller Derby is a really intense and multifaceted team sport. We all know that besides a great understanding of rules and tactics, passion for the sport, motivation and team spirtit we need agility, endurance, speed and strength to play roller derby. Tactic, passion, team spirit and motivation are kind of psychological elements of a player. But beside that, we need the ability to move and react very fast. Within a jam or a bout we have a repetition of very fast movements, stops, lateral movements, we need to be able to sprint out and react quickly and repeat those fast and quick movements in the short amount of time during a jam over and over again PLUS we maybe have to recover sometimes within 30 sec until the next jam is on. But to develop THAT - which is agility, endurance, speed and strength - we NEED our muscles to be trained. The following abilities are the base of a good muscle work:

a.) the connection between muscules, muscle parts, nervous system and brain:
- intramuscular coordination
- intermuscular coordination

b.) the different types of strengths:
- strength endurance
- maximal strength
- fast strength
- explosive strength

Here are some examples which make it easier to understand... You will see that all parts and facts of strength and muscles relate to each other and/or are part of each other.

1.) If we try to sprint out as fast as we can from the jammer start position, all parts of our hamstring muscle have to react as soon as we hear the whistle blow. We not only want to start as quickly as possible we also want to be faster than the opposing jammer and we want to maximize our speed in an adequate amount of time. What we here need is a fast connection between our brain, nervous system and muscle - we want to have control over our legs and tell them to start with max power, a high stride frequency and gain speed as quickly as possible. Therefore we need a good intra/intermuscular coordination, which is the ability of coordinating all parts within the front part of our hamstring muscle at the same time AND also be able to relaxe the back part at the same time. If you are good in coordinating your muscles your getting better with explosive strength and fast strenght which is also of importance for a fast jammer start.

2.) As a jammer we need to have a good endurance and be fast. So the link between endurance and speed are fast strenght and strength endurance plus speed endurance. A jammer doesn't have the same speed during one jam. That would be easy to train. But she mostly switches beetwin stopping, falling, sprinting out, moving around quickly - sometimes up to 2 mins. Also, if she's done, she needs to recover sometimes within 30 secs to get on the track again. Without the ability of the muscle to repeat movements a lot you can't go fast over 2 mins and recover quickly.

The two examples have been random. Basically, it doesn't matter if you're a jammer or a blocker, you need to move your feet all the time and be in control of your body and muscles whenever you are on the track PLUS recover quickly between jams.

As you all know, you can train endurance, speed, agility and strength on skates. But hey, to be honest... who has the time to work out 5 times a week or the halls/ venues to have an additional on-skates practice for endurance and strength? Who hast the money for that? And, most of the roller girls never played a sport before. So it is hard enough to skate and train agility. But practice speed and strength at the same time? Not possible. Also, as soon as we start with roller derby we have start practicing strength and fitness - so we need to give our newbies the possibility to practice that, too.

I think, it's better to break it down into an extra session of off-skates strength and endurance training. There are many more arguments for off-skates training and after all you can see that at the end we need to develop our ability "strenght and fitness" fo becoming the roller girl we want to be. Within the next weeks I'll prioritize my posts and give you drills so you can all start to practice your strenght and fitness level.

Additional notes: My idea is teach you easy ways of strenght and fitness training and clincic as well as drills. I really want to prioritize the topic off-skates strength and fitness and break it down on simple drills step by step with each new post.