Tag: prehab
7 Steps to Rock Your League Holiday Break!
You know I love chocolate, right? So, if someone told me I needed to give up chocolate to be 3.7% better at roller derby, you know I’d tell them exactly where to shove their advice in a hurry. (#teamcocoa) And that’s why I would NEVER tell you that …
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Stability Workout At Home
Stability workouts are critical for derby! This kind of training makes us feel more solid on the track. It helps us absorb hits and stay in-bounds. It makes us stronger in a braced formation. AND - very important - it also helps us to avoid injuries. In …
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Fix Your Squats: A PSA
Roller Derby: It's me, Booty Quake. And it's time for a very frank discussion. There's a scourge in our community that has been ignored for too long, and I can no longer stand by and watch it happen. It's time for us all to come together to fix the …
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Maintenance Monday: Build Ankle Strength!
Every roller derby athlete needs excellent foot and ankle strength, in order to get the most out of our skates! Having stronger muscles in our lower leg will allow us to balance more easily, use our edges more effectively, and have a stronger skating s…
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What’s the best cardio for roller derby?
Cardio. You either love it, or you loathe it. Either way, jammer or blocker, you probably ought to be doing some form of cardiovascular exercise in addition to roller derby practice – especially if you’re trying to level up, improve your endurance qu…
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The Four Key Elements of a Derby League Cross-Training Program
1. Burpees, 2. wind sprints, 3. suicides, and 4. wall sits. Just kidding! As a league, you’re responsible for supporting your athlete members, and creating successful outcomes for individuals, teams, and leagues. Of course this means providing the bes…
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Five Reasons Why Your League Needs A Cross-Training Program
If you’re a roller derby league, charging membership dues, then your members are your customers -- your lifeblood. Much like a bicycle though, if you ride ‘em hard and store ‘em wet, well quite frankly, they won’t last ya long! On the flipside, i…
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Maintenance Monday: Solve Your Hip Pain with TFL
Ladies and gents, meet the Starbucks Muscle! Otherwise known as the TFL, or Tensor Fascia Latae, it's the star of this week's #MaintenanceMonday. TFL might also be the magic ingredient that will help you finally solve your hip pain. I call it "the Star…
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Maintenance Monday: My Hottest Hip Stretches
So, when was the last time you stretched your Inferior Gemellus? What? You don't even know what that is...? Fear not. Inferior Gemellus is just one of the external rotators of your hip. There's a little pack of them deep under your gluteus maximus. They …
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Maintenance Monday: A Better Quad Stretch!
On #MaintenanceMonday, I try to help you give your bod a little extra TLC. This week, it's a way better quad stretch! Most of us fail to give our quads the TLC they deserve. After all, these big ol' sexy muscles do a lot, from extending the knee joi…
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Maintenance Monday: Cactus Arms
On #MaintenanceMonday, I try to help you give your bod a little extra TLC. This week, it's a deceptively simple move that may teach you some surprising facts about your shoulder mobility! "Cactus Arms" will either feel nice, but pretty easy, OR you…
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Maintenance Monday: Charlie’s Angels Stretch
On #MaintenanceMonday, I try to help you give your bod a little extra TLC. This week, it's an upper body stretch that feels F#$%ing amazing, for reals. You're going to make like the Charlie's Angels silhouette graphic, and use the ol' two-handed f…
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Maintenance Monday: How to Roll with The Stick!
On #maintenancemonday, I try to help you give your bod a little extra TLC. This week, I show you an alternative to foam rolling for loosening up your tight muscles. It's called The Stick, yo! Foam rolling is highly recommended. But if you're like me …
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My Best Derby Training Tips of 2016
Just about everyone can agree, we're all super (DUPER) glad to be seeing 2016 in the rearview mirror. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, you crazy year! Nevertheless, there were a few good things to look back on. Perhaps you started pl…
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My Super-Quick Warm-Up Routine
Is that you? Late for practice again?Or maybe you're trying to slot in a quick but intense workout on your lunch break?I've been working on warm-ups and cool-downs, aka "flexibility training" a lot lately (You can check out my Pre-Hab! On-Skate Warmup, t…
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How to Stretch Everything in Eight Minutes
Stretching feels like a chore. “Flexibility Training”, however, feels like something I can sink my teeth into. Competitive Yoga anyone? I kid. But if you’re like me, you’re a fairly competitive sort, and you like to push your boundaries. That’…
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My Quick and Dirty After-Derby Stretch
We’ve all been there. Practice ran late and you’ve got a big meeting at work first thing tomorrow. As quickly as you can, you gear down, throw your sweaty gear into your bag and run out the door – only to wake up the next morning feeling like you…
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Pre-Hab: How to Build A Derby Booty
It’s time for a frank discussion about your butt. It’s lovely – really it is! But it’s been slacking on the job lately, and that’s not doing you any favours for your game. Today I’m going to show you how to first awaken and recruit, then stre…
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Pre-Hab: Build an All-Star Derby Booty
Hello All-Star! Some of this post is identical to the free, public post - but there are added goodies in here, and an extended video, so be sure to read through all the way!It’s time for a frank discussion about your butt.It’s lovely – really it i…
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The Advice that Got 11,023 Skaters Talking in 2015
Could 2015 have been any more [insert spazzy word here!]?? I’m going to give you the hit list of my best advice of the year, but first, a quick rundown on what 2015 brought. It was shocking: Rollercon left the Riviera, Rose City won the Hydra, and …
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7 Steps to Rock Your League Holiday Break!
You know I love chocolate, right? So, if someone told me I needed to give up chocolate to be 3.7% better at roller derby, you know I’d tell them exactly where to shove their advice in a hurry. (#teamcocoa) And that’s why I would NEVER tell you that …
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All-Star Extra: Engage Your Core
Hey there, All-Stars! :) Click here to go back to the main post with full explanation.[rda_video video_url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aqN1PlOt-Vc"]Print and take this with you: Pre-hab CORE PrintableHere’s the drill. This entire sequence will…
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Pre-Hab: How to Engage Your Core
If you’ve ever been coached or taken a fitness class of any kind, you’ve almost certainly heard the phrase, “engage your core.” But unless you’ve got a strong fitness, yoga, or dance background, that instruction might be really difficult to fol…
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PreHab: How to Reduce Concussions
Despite our helmets and our mouthguards, concussions are among the most frequent, and most traumatic of roller derby injuries. Anyone who's suffered a concussion in derby can tell you how crappy the experience can be, on many levels. From the initial, ac…
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Back to Prehab! Feet and Ankles
Given that most of us who follow the WFTDA season are currently on some form of an off-season, now seems like a GREAT time to do some pre-hab for the upcoming season's smashing-each-other-around. If you're not one of the 320 skaters hitting the decks in M…
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PreHab: Dynamic Roller Derby Warmup
As I wrote in my last article, a dynamic warmup is a key step in the exercise process. A dynamic warmup brings increased blood & oxygen to your muscles and joints, increases your range of motion, and prepares your body for more intense work to follow.…
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Prehab! Proper Form
Ladies and Gentlemen: prepare yourselves for a hard truth! Life is much too short to waste even a minute of it doing half-ass workouts with bad form. Here comes another one: getting an injury from cross-training is super super lame. No one at the office…
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Prehab! Feet and Ankles
Today's workout isn't exactly a workout to get your heart rate up and your sweat on. It's a PREHAB session - a routine to help minimize ankle injuries and keep your body in kick-ass shape for kicking ass on the track. This is the preventative work we sho…
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