The Myth of the Burn!

"Wow! That was an EPIC practice! Judging by my sweat soaked shirt, we must have burned like a million calories!! Lets look on Ichange.com and see how many calories we burned! Ok I will enter in 2 hours of aerobic exercise. Wow look at that, it says we burned 2500 calories! We are so awesome! We TOTALLY deserve some pizza and beer now because clearly we burned at least that much during our practice!"

We all do this, either weekly or at least every once in a while. We assume that 1) the internet knows everything 2) a sweaty shirt = massive calorie burn. As a result, we decide to reward our awesome athletic workout with a bunch of trash that does nothing good for an athlete's body. Two things to watch out for as you work on building your endurance, getting lean, and increasing strength:

1. You do not burn as many calories as you think you do.
2. Crap food as a reward for a job well done.


Ok, lets talk calories out vs calories in. We do not BURN a cheese burger on the track. Our body burns carbs, fats, and proteins at different rates and I promise you, you did NOT burn enough fat during your workout to make that cheese burger and fries at the bar justifiable. Be conscious of using online calorie burning trackers. While we at Derbalife do recommend you track your calorie/food intake as part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and nutrition program (get me as your FREE online coach and log your food by using this link www.ichange.com/user/krissykrash to track food and progress, mobile site is available to!), we want to caution you that online calorie burning programs are NOT accurate. Calories burned varies based on height, weight, exertion, rest times, # of jams skated, BMI, body fat percentage, and amount of lean body mass you carry.

According to Runners Magazine this month, running a 12 minute mile pace for an HOUR burns 470 calories if you are 130 lbs, 582 calories if you are 160 lbs, and 690 calories if you are 190 lbs.  So you can imagine that if you are stop-go-stop-go-stop-go on the track or doing drills with rest in between that you are not going to burn quite as much as you anticipated. Plus if you are actually trying to lose fat/get lean, you would want to consider that these calories are like an extra credit burn! Why eat back the calories you just worked so hard to burn off?


Did you REALLY earn THAT?!?!? We all do it. Practice is over, you head home or to the bar and you convince yourself that you totally earned that burrito, pitcher of beer, pint of ice cream, ____insert crap food here___.

But here is the deal. You are an athlete. Your body is getting beat to crap and dumping junk in after practice doesn't help your recovery time, nor does it make those lift and separates look any better in that next bout photo. So that being said, food is awesome and yummy and yes we do deserve a treat for a job well done but keep it in check. Life and health are about balance. Find things you love but that wont do too much damage if you have them from time to time. Skinny Cow is my go to treat if I want to indulge. Most times though, after practice I will mix up a Formula 1 shake with added protein, or I will have a Rebuild Strength shake because it satisfies my sweet tooth and helps my body to recover faster or if I want salty I will roll up spinach inside of Turkey Deli slices for a perfect recovery treat. YUM!

If I do end up out with my team, I order a salad with chicken if they have it or if all else fails a few protein packed chicken wings and celery are waaaay better than high fat high carb pizza or nachos.

What is all boils down to is that you are an athlete. You practice hard, you focus, and you want to stay strong and injury free. A key piece of that is keeping your self nourished. Making sure you hit your Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy on a cellular level, getting the right balance of carbs/protein/fat, watching those calories. If you take care of your body and treat it well, you will have an amazing successful, ass kicking life in roller derby for many years to come! 




Want me as your FREE online coach with a great food log/progress tracker program? www.ichange.com/user/krissykrash to track food and progress - mobile site is available to!

Its like facebook meets food log! Great for anyone who wants to track their food, lose/gain/maintain weight, or to stay accountable.

Register for free, connect with me for a free nutrition profile, and join the All Derby Drills group on ichange to connect with other skaters around the world!

This is Krissy Krash, signing off! You can always hit me up with questions, for advice, to give feed back, or for a free nutrition and performance profile at krissykrash.derbalife@gmail.com


Ready to get your ass in gear? Get 10% off www.goherbalife.com/krissykrash by using the coupon code  AllDerbyDrills 

Pants Off Dance Off On Skates Work-Out

The following drill is a guest post by Smarty Pants of the Texas Rollergirls; she is the creator of this drill.

Alternative names: Pants Off Dance Off

Objective: Getting a great workout while having fun; improving your blocking skills

Typical length of drill: 30-60 minutes

Materials needed: 

• You will need a way to play music at a pretty good volume- think dance party.
• You will need a pretty good, upbeat dance mix. I prefer sometime from the 80s think Pretty and Pink or 90s hip-hop.
• You will need your skates and your pads if you want to skate. If you do not have access to a rink, you can do this off skates, which can be just as rewarding, simply different.
• Basically you will dance- practicing booty blocking and you will do other exercises for a set amount of time.
• I recommend at least 30 minutes if you are short on time and up to an hour if you’re also going to do something else that is active later that day.
• Be creative! Try to come up with some cool work-outs. Just imagine what would happen if you combined going out with your friends dancing with body circuits.
  

Skill level required: None

Description: I like to lead on-skates workouts that encourage skaters to sweat and exercise while having a good time and challenging their skater skills.

60 minute Pants Off Dance Off

Start with dancing for a 10-minute warm-up- pretend you are attempting to impersonate the ladies in music videos- you know the ones in short shorts and bras… I recommend the music mix start mild and build up over a 10-minute period.

Follow this warm-up with a 5-minute dynamic stretch and quick water.

Next go into hip blocking and sprinting for 10 minutes- have skaters hit hard and furious, attempting to get as many hip checks in as possible during a 60 second period, then have them sprint as many laps as possible during a 60 second period.

Throw in another 5-minute dynamic stretch and quick water.

For the next 15 minutes you will spend 60 seconds blocking on your knees (see description below), 60 seconds dancing, and 60 seconds sprinting.

• Hip blocking while kneeling is something I like to do with fresh meat who have yet to feel stable on their skates but who need to practice blocking- they can simulate many of the same movements while kneeling not having to worry about loosing their balance, but getting to hit hard.  For ladies with injured knees (hopefully not everyone…) have them stand and do regular hip blocking.

Throw in another 5-minute dynamic stretch and grab more water.
 
Finish your workout with 10-minute body circuits, 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off of the following:

• Kayak crunches
• Jack-knives
• Squats
• Right side plank
• Front to side crunches
• Left side plank
• Sculling sit-ups
• Push-ups
• Scissor kicks
• Plank

Quick 30 Pants Off Dance Off
 

Salt-n-Pepa in 1987

• 10 minute- warm-up dancing to your favorite hip-hop mix. Pretend that you are practicing to try out for a Salt n Pepper music video; you know what I’m talking about…
• 5 minutes- dynamic stretching with 2 sets of crunches for 60 seconds
• 10 minutes- 60 seconds dancing 60 seconds squatting x 5
• 5 minutes- dynamic stretching with 2 sets of crunches for 60 seconds
  

Additional notes: To see more of Smarty Pants' guest posts, click here.

Quick Feet Drill

Tigre Force's guest blogging series: 5 drills from the Skater Progression Diagram.

DRILL ONE
Basic Skills and Endurance: SumMo Payne’s Quick Feet Drill

Alternative names: I bet this drill has got a real name too, I learned it from SumMo Payne when I joined the Kornstalkers practice so I named it after her.
Objective: To learn how to skate forward, to the sides, backwards by moving your feet quickly without turning around
Typical length of drill: 15 mins
Materials needed: 4-8 cones (or more if you have a lot of skaters)
Skill level required: Basic skills (skaters need to be cleared for contact to participate in step 2)
Description: Four cones are set up in a square formation, as shown in the illustration that follows.  Depending on how many skaters you have, you may want to put two or more sets of cones around the track/ floor so that as many skaters as possible can practice at the same time.  The distance between the cones does not have to be too big, the idea is to keep on moving your feet all the time, not to Sunday skate.

There are two steps in this drill:

Step 1
For one minute each skater moves around the set of four cones at a rapid pace.  The purpose is to keep your eyes in one direction, to not look at your feet, and to always go through the middle in order to maximize the agility practice (as shown through the blue line in the illustration).  Skaters are to use their hips to move around but should always keep their torsos and eyes facing forward.  Skaters should use their feet while moving around the cones in a random order (back to front to left to front to right to left to back to front etc.).  They should make sure that they pass the cones from all sides and not always from the same side, and to switch direction and choose randomly which cone they are about to pass next.

Illustration of SumMo Payne's Quick Feet Drill

Step 2
Another skater stands in the middle of the four cones, in a proper derby stance.  As the first skater is moving around the cones s/he gives a hit to the person standing in the middle every time s/he passes her/him.  Skaters should make sure not to hit this person while skating backwards (that's a direction of gameplay penalty).  Also, skaters should do their best with the hits in a tight space.  Try to make the person in the middle fall.  If there are many new skaters doing the drill, the hits don’t have to be that hard.  Switch the person standing and the person skating around the cones every 1 minute.

Additional notes: The drill probably has got an official name. I didn’t catch it while skating with the Kornstalkers in August, 2011.

SumMo Payne is a derby skater and a derby coach. She skates for Sioux City Roller Dames and coaches the Merby -team Kornstalkers.

Skater Progression Diagram

Tigre Force’s guest blogging series for All Derby Drills starts with introducing the Skater Progression Diagram -- followed by 5 drills picked from different diagram section themes. Stay tuned!

Skater Progression Diagram

Estrogeena Davis and I went for an outside skate last summer and we discussed coaching new skaters. We were planning on having a Coaching Workshop for New Finnish Derby Coaches, and we wanted to create a tool to make it easier for us to explain the skater progression from a Fresh Meat Skater into a Bouting Skater. We got the vision of a derby track divided into different sections of development and practice. We got the first Diagram made in a pretty short time, and I think it still looks pretty good.

Especially in countries like Finland, where roller skating is not a part of the history, the skater progression starts from level zero, and we wish that none of the new skaters in Finland would take the risk of jumping into the game before they are physically and mentally ready for it. Of course every league has their own rules, but this Skater Progression Diagram -tool was created for those coaches who care for their newbies and share our thoughts.

Click image to view it larger or to download it.

What is it about?

As mentioned, the diagram was created to help coaches explain to new skaters why they can’t start playing roller derby immediately after deciding to start the sport. It’s sometimes frustrating and difficult for the skaters to keep themselves motivated if they don’t get to play. Sharing the diagram with the new skaters gives them a visual break-down of what they have to look forward to; from the diagram they can see where they are in their training, where they should be in their progress, and it helps them set personal goals.  If you further go over with the new skaters the positive effects that goal-setting can have on their performance, sharing this diagram and the fresh meat training schedule with them can combined have a really strong influence on them.

The diagram says: Start out as a blocker and as you have completed all your skills tests, scrimmaged a bit, and maybe even bouted a few times, you start the process all over again, and this time really consider the position you want to play. Yes, some skaters were born to be jammers, and in some leagues select skaters are coached as jammers from the very beginning, but in our experience the skills might change during the progression. We’ve seen jammers turn out to be the best blockers, and the best blockers slowly develop into star jammers.  Geena has been known to say "A jammer is just a blocker who is trying to get to the front of the pack, over and over again" so with this theory in mind it would be in a skater's best interest to start by learning all the blocker skill sets on the first lap around the track, and then on the second lap around either learn all about jamming, or really focus on another specific position that you have learned a little bit about on your first lap (i.e. pivot).

It takes a lot of work to become a good roller derby player. Many leagues have got skaters as trainers -- they are just skaters doing their best in teaching the others what they can do best. I think that the diagram helps these trainers and newer leagues in planning their practices, even seasons or practice schedules. It gives perspective to the hard work and long-term practice plan before bouting definitely worth it.

Remember -- learning doesn’t end at the jammer line. Learning is a never-ending process. I bet skaters who’ve played derby for more than 10 years still learn new stuff as the sport is developing while it’s played all around the world by a huge variation of skaters, skating skills, personalities, styles of gameplay etc.

Long story short, I will introduce 5 different drills to this guest blogging series for All Derby Drills, picked from some of the topics from the Skater Progression Diagram. So if you like the diagram, you can use the drills as an example to plan the practice schedule for new skaters.

Hope you enjoy the drills, and don’t hesitate to comment & ask any questions about the diagram. It is the first version of it and like the sport, it’s supposed to develop :)

Guest blogging: Tigre Force

Today I have the pleasure of introducing a guest blogger who is not only one of my favorite derby personalities, but also a close friend and terrific coaching partner: Tigre Force.  When we met for the first time in 2009 she was rolling around outdoors on the most god-awful fleamarket roller skates I have ever seen (I still remember duct taping her bearings into place) and she came off as a shy kind of girl.  Boy did I get the wrong impression.  "Shy" is definitely NOT a word that describes her and I can't think of a more appropriate name for this woman than Tigre Force because she is definitely an animal force to be reckoned with, both on and off the track.

Tigre Force, #142. By Marko Niemelä.

Before getting hooked on derby when the sport made its first appearance in Finland in 2009, Tigre had been playing various eclectic sports for many years (ie. "rock soccer").  But like the story goes for so many of us, when derby entered her life, all other hobbies were slowly consumed by the derby monster.  Tigre has now been a coach with Helsinki Roller Derby since the summer of 2010 and she loves to travel the world of derby for both skating and coaching.  You can follow her on her trips at her blog Traveling in the Name of Derby.  In 2011 she was my right-hand woman as the assistant coach for Team Finland and I truly hope I get to partner with her again for coaching opportunities in the future!

Let it be known that skates can be deceiving.  The most ferocious derby player you'll ever meet might not be wearing high-end, polished black leather skates with $400 wheels and ceramic bearings.  She might very well be hiding in beige and orange fleamarket roller skates that don red plastic wheels and lots of duct tape.

Nutrient Timing!

Tip #4 of Rowdy and Krissy's Top Ten Tips.....

You are WHEN you eat!

As an athlete nutrient timing is an important aspect of performance. When you eat certain types of foods is often just as important as paying attention to what you are putting in your body.


PRE-WORKOUT

Protein:
Working your muscles breaks them down and consuming protein pre-workout helps prevent muscle breakdown during and support muscle synthesis after your workouts. This being said, going into a workout with a full stomach is not the solution! When you have a full stomach your body actually sends blood flow to support in digesting food. That means less blood flow to carry oxygen to your muscle for your workout. Proteins to go for pre-practice are whey and casein proteins combined with a soy protein. The reason why is that each has a different absorption rate so you get immediate fuel and longer-burning fuel.

Carbs:
Eating something super carb-y right before practice can sometimes result in a spike and crash in blood sugar which results in your energy dropping half way through practice. This is why powering down a cliff bar right before you skate isn't always the best option **its called a CLIF bar cuz its for the cliffs and long hikes where your body requires more carbs...its not called a track bar for a reason :-) ** Carbs to go for about an hour before practice are whole grains, fruits and veggies. These have fiber which slows the absorption process and should be paired up with a lean protein.


POST-WORKOUT

Protein:
15-20 grams of protein to support in rebuilding muscle is key! Liquid nutrients are best because they are most readily absorbed into the system. Again, varying the types of proteins means different absorption rates which allows the protein to be used more efficiently.

Carbs:
Post workout carbs help replenish glycogen stores so you have energy for practice the next day and actually also helps your body to get the protein to your muscles more quickly.


MY NUTRIENT TIMING SCHEDULE:

PreWorkout (1 hour before practice)
2 scoops Formula 1 sport (varied proteins, carbs, and glutamine) mixed with protein drink mix and 8-10 oz water, plus a piece of fruit or veggie.

Directly before practice at the track
2 scoops Prepare in 4oz water (stand by for a blog about the importance of NitericOxide for athletes!)

During practice:
Prolong (fast and slow carbs plus a little protein)

Directly following practice (within 15 minutes)
Rebuild Strength (varied proteins, carbs, glutamine, and BCAAs)


While I am sure there are other whole food ways of meeting these same needs, I like to sandwich my workouts with shakes because its a simple way for me to get what I need without running around like a crazy person between running my own business and trying to get to practice. Plus, the research and development at UCLA that went into this nutrition program is second to none.

Here is the basics on the whole program I use.... John Heiss says it way better than I do :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ7ME_mDW0w

If you have questions or want more info about what to eat, when to eat it, why to eat it, how to eat it...or you need someone to make sure you eat it, hit me up! Supporting skaters with their performance and health goals is my favorite thing to do! KrissyKrash.Derbalife@gmail.com

Ready to get your ass in gear? Get 10% off www.goherbalife.com/krissykrash by using the coupon code  AllDerbyDrills  plus a free nutrition profile and weekly coaching/support to make sure you get where you want to go!

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.