Sk8Strong is happy to announce the beginning of its affiliate marketing program!  This program is a way for vendors, skating clubs, and website owners to share in the profits of Sk8Strong sales, without having to lift a finger.  How does it work?  You sign up for our affiliate program (it's completely free), and you are given your own tracking code/link.  You can place a Sk8Strong banner or text link on your website, or even send out a simple email to your friends and colleagues, and each time a customer makes a purchase at http://www.sk8strong.com/ from that link, you earn a commission.  Simple and easy!  To read more details, go to www.sk8strong.com/becomeanaffiliate.html.  We'd love you to join!

In celebration of Adult Nationals week, today's topic is off-ice training for the adult skater. Adult figure skating has taken off in the US and many countries in the last ten years, and will only continue to grow. For those of you who haven't seen the high levels of adult competition, you would be in for a surprise. In the highest level, championship masters, the men have completed triple jumps, and the women double axels in the past few years. And the competition should only get better in the years to come.

Adult skaters have a greater need for off-ice training because, as a skater gets older, he or she is more susceptible to injury. Muscles get tighter, joints break down, bones get weaker, and the body requires more strengthening and stretching to keep it healthy. The problem for adult skaters is the lack of time to skate, balance a family, work, and do off-ice training! I have met some amazing adult skaters over the years who have managed to fit it all in. Completing an off-ice program, whether it be 30 or 60 minutes, one to three days per week, will help to keep an adult skater injury free and risk losing precious training time. Appropriate functional exercises will increase stability of the lower extremities and help to prevent osteoporosis, increase joint nutrition, and best of all- improve your balance, strength, and stability to better your skating! A good training program will create a balance of flexibility and strength in a skater's body, to avoid imbalances that can occur by skating too much. (For example, the ITB muscle and hip flexors can become tight, leading to knee or hip problems).

Sk8Strong created "Adult Training" because many adults complained of products or seminars not being targeted towards adults. I follow the Adult exercise program 2-3 times per week, and I assure you it is not easy if you challenge yourself with the exercise progressions. When most people hear the word 'Adult', they think the exercise program is simplified, but that is not the case. The main difference between "Adult Training" and "The Competitive Skater" is the reduced number of plyometric exercises for adults, as adults don't need to pound on their lower extremities with plyos. The difficulty of the majority of the exercises is the same, just catered to adults to prevent injury.

Good luck to all adult competitors this week, and congrats for all of your accomplishments, whether you are a bronze, silver, gold, or masters skater!

Due to popular demand, Sk8Strong has created Ipod compatible MP4 videos so you can have your Sk8Strong workouts with you at the gym, the rink, or wherever you please! They have the same content as Sk8Strong DVDs, and can be purchased alone for $29.95 each, or added to your DVD purchase for only an extra $5. As the world becomes more mobile, we thought we would too! Don't miss out on this great addition to your Sk8Strong off-ice training program....

Susan Wessling, the editor of International Figure Skating Magazine, was nice enough to feature Sk8Strong and I in an article for the Boston Globe. Thank you Susan, for giving people greater insight into my philosophies. To read the article, please click on this link: http://www.boston.com/jobs/healthcare/oncall/articles/2009/01/16/feature/

Sk8Strong is sharing some of its profits in the form of a scholarship for a graduating high school senior who is a figure skater. The criteria for applying for the scholarship include: 1) Graduating high school in the spring of 2009 2) Entering a four year college 3) Planning on majoring in a health field-related degree. Sk8Strong is very excited to support a deserving skater who will be working in the health field. Application can be downloaded at www.sk8strong.com/scholarship.html . Good luck!!  Deadline May 31st!!

Are you a competitive figure skater training for regionals in the fall? Do you have a 'battle plan' for your training until regionals? If not, then you should start now! The key to creating a successful season begins after LAST YEAR'S regionals. After the last big competition, and a few much needed weeks off, you should sit down with your parents and coaches and develop a year-long training program. And yes, that includes off-ice training, as it is a very important key to a figure skater's success. And that training involves periodization, which is a training plan that involves highs and lows of cardiovascular workouts, strength training, plyometrics, program run throughs, and more, at different times of the year.To peak at the appropriate time, it is important to scale you training at the right times to be in your best shape. Over training can tire you out, but under training will leave you tired and breathing heavy at the end of your program. Figure skating and that 'perfect program' takes work, and that work is a combination of strength training, core stability work, dynamic warmups, on-ice repetition, and technique refinement. If you haven't ever investigated periodization, visit the USFS website for some sample schedules. Sk8Strong periodization recommedations are also included in the Sk8Strong "Off-Ice Training For Figure Skaters" Manual. Find out what you've been missing in your training program. The correct off-ice workout program will take you a long way, and it's never too late to start!