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Cross-Training at Home: Tips for Effective Home Workouts

Pump Up Your Jam is just around the corner, and it's time to get ready! Cross-training is a fantastic way to enhance your roller derby performance and prevent injuries. Even if you don't have access to a gym, you can still achieve great results with eff…

Core Challenge FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions… Q. What’s the Challenge? What will we be doing? A. Core work is essential for everyone across the board, as a strong core is the foundation of a resilient kinetic chain. Walking, picking things up, and especially SKATIN…

Sleigh Those Habits

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with the one million “healthy habits” we all feel pressured to add into our schedules. Every year, especially in January, we are bombarded with commercials and ads and social media posts urging us …

Protected: Setting Goals for Your Fitness Journey

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Why Roller Derby Athletics?

At Roller Derby Athletics, we believe in empowering every roller derby athlete and skater to be safe, strong, and unstoppable. We strive to provide sport-specific training programs and resources that help skaters reach their full potential. Our core value…

How to Achieve Post-Workout Success

So, you’ve completed your workout. You’re probably at least a little sweaty, breathing hard, your heart is racing, and you are READY for that post-workout calm time. We don’t mean to burst your bubble or anything, but there’s still a liii…

Balanced Exercises Are Better Exercises

Let’s be honest: hearing the words “cardio AND strength training” make us want to run for the hills, and not just for the exercise. But, when looking at the combined health benefits to both kinds of training, we figure it’s at least worth a …

RDA All-Star: Diana

We have loads of dedicated athletes training with Roller Derby Athletics all the time. But every now and again, someone comes along and knocks our skates off with their dedication and determination. And we can't help sharing our #rdaallstars success with …

It’s Your Last Chance to Join The Pump Up Your Jam Boot Camp!

Self-love comes in many forms, and taking a step towards getting in shape off skates, to better your time on skates, is like writing a love note to your body. Well, we have good news for you - by joining our Pump Up Your Jam boot camp, you'll be doing…

Let’s pump, pump, pump it up!

Regardless of whatever type of skating you enjoy: jam, long-distance, street, etc., there are a lot of obstacles and factors that require you to be comfortable on your feet and in control of how you move. General practice and extra exercising ou…

Cross Training and Skating Go Together Like PB&J

Practice makes perfect, and, as they say, "you have to learn to crawl before you can walk." That idea applies to cross-training, or practical exercises, for sports and other physical activities. Roller skating (and roller derby specifically) requires mas…

RDA All-Star: Kristin

Moving Up The Ladder: Agility Training Is For You!

Agility training is not just for athletes or extreme competition, like one may assume. While agility movements conjure up ideas of speed and endurance, these exercises also go hand in hand with stability and coordination. Together, emphasis on these elem…

RDA All-Star: Ziggy Scardust

9 Tips To Break a Sweat While Gardening

Are you lucky enough to have a garden? If you are, you probably love spending time in it, using it to help relax and unwind after a tough day at work or school. Besides the obvious benefits of stress relief and good food or beautiful plants…

Are You Trailing Behind in Your Upper Body Workouts?

Everyone is different and has their own little quirks to how their bodies react to certain activities. One thing is for sure, and worth always remembering: the body works as a whole. One harmonious machine. So, in less fancy words, even if you’re engag…

Here’s Why Skate Parks & Upper Body Workouts Go Together

Sometimes when we sprain our wrists or put too much strain on the shoulders, we think, “But I only really need my legs to skate!” While, yes, your legs are what propel you when you skate, all areas of the body have to work together as one instrume…

RDA All-Star: Ginger N Tonic

Helpful exercises for skaters

No matter your style of skating, we can all agree being on wheels is such an amazing feeling. The muscles needed to maintain balance, to pick yourself up, or take longer/stronger strides all come into play once you strap your skates on. We have several a…

Let’s Talk About Sleep Hygiene!

What actually IS sleep hygiene? Sleep hygiene consists of the habits you build around your sleep schedule, including your habits throughout the day. Having good sleep hygiene can set you up for success both mentally and physically to improve your overall…

RDA All-Star: Tyranna Soreass

RDA All-Star: Slamuel L. Jackson

Planning Ahead for 2021

By Contajen As we approach this time of year, we often reflect on the past 12 months. This year is no exception. Your goals and ambitions may have been sidelined this season but you have persevered. Making New Years’ resolutions are as …

RDA All-Star: Kandi

RDA All-Star: Ghostgrace Killah

Junior Roller Derby Free Cross Training Session Monday July 6 5pm MT

Free Junior Roller Derby Cross-Training Session – and Team Training Announcement!

Free Junior Roller Derby Cross-Training Session BadBrand led a FREE super fun, super kick-ass workout session on Zoom just for junior roller derby players a few weeks ago and has been asking ever since when we can set up another session for her to do!…

Skater feature: Jams Bond

Today is Juneteenth and we wanted to take this opportunity to help share some info while getting to know a prominent Black derby skater in the community. June 19th is a big day for Black people across the country, since the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Cons…

Roller Derby Athletics stands with Black Lives Matter

To say this past week/month/year has been tough is an understatement. Our hearts are heavy, seeing our brothers and sisters needlessly killed just for being black while out in the world leaves us feeling helpless. As owners of Roller Derby Athletics w…

RDA All-Star: Kitty Skittles

RDA All-Star: CoCo Sparx

Kaio-kensi – Roller Derby Athletics Contributor

Kaio-kensi (she/her) is one of the 2019 team captains of the New Skids on the Block of Montreal Roller Derby. She has a background in neuroscience, sport & community recreation program curriculum development, coaching, fitness, and risk management. S…

RDA All-Star: Tandava

RDA All-Star: Gnarly Quinn

Why Am I So Tired? (psst – it might be your diet…)

I'm sure we've all said it a hundred times: "I'm so tired, why am I always so tired?". There are lots of reasons that we can feel tired (poor sleep quality, lack of a sleep routine, stress, etc.), but one of the under-examined causes can be the foods yo…

RDA All-Star: Beta BlockHer

Post-Game Pain? Eat it Away!

And I don't mean binge on chips to feel better :) What I'm talking about is tailoring what you eat to help manage the inflammation that intense exercise and exertion can cause. When we compete, our exertion causes the release of free radicals. Free…

RDA All-Star: Poison Apple

RDA All-Star: Crashidy Jade

RDA All-Star: Ani DiSpanko

Batch Cooking for People Who Hate Batch Cooking

If you've been keeping up with me (Lilith NoFair) and Derby Fuel, and like basically any heathy eating plan ever, you've likely heard about how great batch cooking is. And that's true. Batch cooking is awesome. It helps you to have healthy options in …

RDA All-Star: Leigh F!

We love our members here at RDA, and we sometimes take a minute to tell the world how awesome they are! We have a super special member to recognize today. She's been with us since LITERAL DAY ONE - one of the first people ever to sign up for our first Pu…

Keeping Your Heart Healthy

It's Valentine's Day! Time to think about your heart, and keeping it healthy! Did you know that your heart beats approximately 2.5 billion times over the average lifetime, transporting gallons and gallons of blood, oxygen, fuel, hormones and essent…

RDA All-Star: HippocraTEASE

To kick off 2018, I'm celebrating some of Roller Derby Athletics' favourite athletes from the past year! These skaters worked their butts off, were super consistent, and really stepped up their game this past year. All of the RDA Coaches and I are s…

RDA All-Star: Showtime!

From Resolutions to Results

I hate New Year's Resolutions. Okay, I don't hate them. But I certainly don't love them either. While I can see the appeal of a month of excess (December) followed by a brand new routine to supposedly last until next December, I think the whole set-…

Squeaky Dirty SOTM, photo TJ Chase Photography

RDA All-Star: Squeaky Dirty

Polly Avarice Photo courtesy Dave Schrader

RDA All-Star: Polly Avarice

RDA All-Star: Maurine

RDA All-Star: Galaxy Inferno

To kick off 2018, I'm celebrating some of our favourite athletes from the past year! These skaters worked their butts off, were super consistent, and really stepped up their game this past year. All of the RDA Coaches and I are super proud of these …

Turkey Time!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Leftover turkey time!!! I remember the first time I was planning to host a holiday dinner. I was SO nervous about cooking a turkey. Then, after that first one - I realized it's the easiest thing in the wo…

Winter Warmers

I don't know what it's like where you live, but around here winter just came in with a bang! In the spirit of our (newly) cold weather, I thought I'd share some healthy recipes that will warm up your kitchen and your belly! I don't like soup, but lots of…

Ingredients You Should Be Using: Flax

Know how I'm always going on about how you need more Omega-3s in your diet? Well, today's ingredient is here to help! Especially if you're vegan/vegetarian and can't eat fish or fish oil. Flax is ready to help you hit your healthy fat targets! Today's In…

Ingredients You Should Be Using: Kimchi

When you're eating healthy, it can be easy to eat the same things over and over again (heck, I even encourage it in Derby Fuel). Usually, we have our favourites - those dishes that are easy to make and that we know we'll enjoy. Having a few solid staples …

Comfort Food: CHEESE

To round out our comfort food series, we had a request from RDA fan, Erin Hanusa to address the most awesome comfort food ever - CHEESE. Oh cheese, how would we ever make you healthier? Cheese, in and of itself, isn't too bad for you. It's that we ten…

Comfort Food: Burger & Onion Rings

Photo credit: Delfina Cocciardi Now we're getting to my favourite kind of comfort food - BURGERS! I love burgers in a pretty serious way. But I also love my health, so it was important for me to find a way to skip the McD's, and make something th…

Comfort Food: Fettuccine Alfredo and Garlic Bread

Grey, rainy Spring days always make me want to bundle up and spend the day in bed with some puppies. Also, they make me crave comfort food. I don't know about you, but one of my most comforting of comfort foods is pasta of all different sorts. All kinds o…

How to Sneak Vegetables Into Everything

Ah, veggies! Nature's candy! It's often easy to get lots of veggies in the summer when things are in season and you can pop out to the garden, but what about in the middle of winter? How can you make sure that you're getting enough vegetables when all you…

Getting to Know Jess Bandit!

Last week we had a chance to get to know long-time RDA Coach (and my performance nutrition spirit animal) Lilith NoFair, author of the Derby in the Kitchen column. This week, we get to meet the newest Coach to join the RDA team! Jess Bandit is now bringi…

Getting to Know Lilith NoFair!

Lilith NoFair has been cooking up healthy food to fuel us at Roller Derby Athletics for over two years now. We learned a bit about what makes her tick in a fun video chat way back when… ...but with lots of new faces around Roller Derby Athletics these d…

Breaking Your Fast

So, how was Intermittent Fasting? Straight talk - Intermittent Fasting was really easy for me. I spent much of my life skipping breakfast and lunch, then eating a big dinner. To be honest, eating 6 meals a day would be FAR more challenging for me t…

Intermittent Fasting

What does "Intermittent Fasting" Mean?Intermittent Fasting (IF, also called, in various permutations, The Warrior Diet, Lean Gains, 5:2, Eat Stop Eat) is an dietary intake pattern that has become popular in the last few years. There is a period of fasti…

Keeping You Going – On the Go!

Food to-go doesn't have to come from the drive-through. With a tiny commitment of time, you can have super tasty, healthy meals, no matter how busy you are.Derby skaters are busy people and we don't always have tons of time for meal prep. A little bit of …

Champs Watching Party? Here’s How to Get Your Snack On!

So, all of us will be watching WFTDA Championships next weekend, enjoying some great derby and not really thinking out all the snacks we'll be scarfing...right?Well, with a little bit of advanced planning, we can make sure that our Champs-watching snacks …

Coconut Water

Sports performance! We all want more of it! There are all sorts of potions and supplements out there that will claim to boost the hard work we're doing on the track - but what really works and what's a scam?Since Booty and I only want what's best for you,…