What to Practice - June 2024
Ah, it is my favorite month! It’s my birthday month, summer is almost here, baseball is in full swing, and it means that we are a little bit closer to my next favorite month…December! Still a ways away, but we're closer!
Every month I build out a practice schedule for you. All of the videos that I talk about can be found within the memberships on my website (ThatNicoleFiore.com) or with a membership on my YouTube channel. I also offer the Foundations Course on my website. The Course is an A to Z roadmap of everything I recommend every skater knows. It perfectly guides you into anything you will want to learn on skates. No matter what discipline or style of skating you want to do, this is the foundation you need. Speaking of all the things you’ll want to learn on skates, the membership has hundreds of videos to take you anywhere you want to go with drills, skills, and choreography. It has it all. I also offer private lessons online and in-person and I hold an in-person workshop once a month. This month we will be working on skating outside, the Downtown, and techniques to develop your own flow and style. We will also spend some time skating together at the beach after. It is always such a great time!
Alright, let's get into what I recommend practicing this month. I shortened our practice a little bit last month so that we could really focus in on a few very specific things. I got a lot of great feedback on that, so we are going to be doing the same thing this month. All new things, but the same structure as last month.
Everything that I mention in the video and text below can be found within my Membership on ThatNicoleFiore.com or the Membership on my YouTube channel. When you join the roller skating membership, you also get access to all of the mind|body|soul videos: mindfulness, off-skates workouts, as well as early access to the podcast. Please check it out and let me know if you have any questions at all. You can find links to each video at the bottom of each section.
Week 1:
Kneel Stand Up (mind | body | soul)
Sidewalk Skating
PRACTICE:
What do I do with my arms?
Drills & Skills:
We are going to start off-skates this week with our Kneel-Stand Up video from the mind | body | soul section. With a Membership, you also have access to all of those videos too (10-minute or less workouts, mindfulness videos, and early access to the Glitter & Cat Litter podcast)! This is probably common knowledge by now…I hate falling. Unfortunately, it does happen in skating and in life. Learning to get up safely from the ground and building the strength needed to do so is extremely important. Skating is a full body workout. Getting up from the ground also uses every single part of our body. So, we are going to practice this over and over on both feet. Since this video is from the mind | body | soul section it is less than 10 minutes and off-skates, making it the perfect little workout to sprinkle in throughout the day and throughout the week.
Our main skill this week is Sidewalk Skating. I have been skating outside a lot recently and especially love it during this time of year. Skating outside or on unpredictable surfaces can be very tricky. To stay safe on those surfaces and even indoors, we use the technique of staggering our feet. If we hit something on the ground, having your feet in the staggered position will be so much safer and that is what we are really focusing on in this sidewalk skating video. I also have a boardwalk skating video that is kind of similar. I know a lot of people love skating at the beach, but boardwalks can be kind of sketchy at times. The cracks can be huge! So we have to really develop this technique and make it muscle memory for our body to get into this position and maintain it.
Practice:
What do I do with my arms? This is a question that I get A LOT. So, I made a skills video on it! Our arms are very important for our stability. I typically start from the bottom (at my feet) and work my way up. At a point (usually around the intermediate level), you may switch things up and start using your arms to guide your movement into your feet. So, it’s important to know what to do and start developing your own style. We spend so much time focusing on our feet and legs, but we don’t want to forget about our upper half!
Where to find these videos:
Kneel Stand Up: mind | body | soul page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Sidewalk Skating: Skills page (outdoor skating section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
What do I do with my arms?: Skills page (dance section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 2:
Beginner/Intermediate Choreography — Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
PRACTICE:
Abs (mind | body | soul)
Beginner/Intermediate Choreography:
We have brand new choreography to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter. If you follow me on social media, you probably know I am obsessed with this song. I am constantly singing it. I skate to it all the time. I love it! I also love coffee and love espresso, so it's very on brand. I am very proud of this choreography and it is sooooo fun to do! It flows very nicely and it is the perfect amount of challenging. It doesn't have a ton of skills that you need to learn beforehand, so it's really great for every skill level. The Beginner/ Intermediate flows directly into the Advanced. If you learn the full choreography you have a full routine! I highly recommend checking out both pieces of this Choreography, starting with the Beginner/ Intermediate of course.
Practice:
Because of some of the stability used in our Choreography, our practice this week is Abs. I usually put a skill here, but I'm putting a drill this month. And it is off-skates! However, you can add extra weight to just about any exercise by putting your skates on. They are literally a weight at the bottom of your feet. Our abs are extremely important. It's not all about pretty muscle and making ourselves look good. It's more importantly about holding ourselves up and holding ourselves together.
Where to find these videos:
Espresso Choreography (Beginner/Intermediate) - Choreography page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Abs: mind | body | soul page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 3:
Drills 6 (hip strength)
Corkscrew Spin
PRACTICE:
Strong Outer Forward Edges
Drills & Skills:
We are going to start with Drills 6, which focuses on hip strength. I have talked about our stabilization and our core, but we can’t forget about our hips. We use our free legs a lot for balance and to add style to our skating. Our hips help us to do this! I have recently started running regularly and I have noticed that the muscle around my left hip is not nearly as strong as my right hip. So, this is a reminder to do all of these workouts and all of these skills on both sides. I know I say that all the time and I definitely need to listen to it more often for myself. Growing up in artistic skating, my right free leg lifts up a lot because we skate around to our left on a skating floor (kinda like Nascar, less like F1 😂). We rarely lift our left side in artistic dance skating and I am just now realizing this as I'm starting to run. So, I will be doing this drills video a lot this month with you to make sure that my hip strength is improving.
Our skill this week is the corkscrew spin - one of my favorite skills! It is a spin, but it is realistically a deep outer forward edge. A corkscrew spin can be used in a lot of different ways. Say you want to go from a downtown into crazy legs. You can do a corkscrew spin in the middle of it to turn yourself around and give yourself a moment to breathe. It’s a really good skill to have in your back pocket. And like I said, it is simply a deep outer forward edge. When we spin any spin we want to make sure our full body is working together. If you feel one part of your body getting ahead of the other, you will really notice it in the corkscrew spin. Take a step back and make sure your technique is correct. Make sure you're moving every single part of your body together.
Practice:
Our practice this week is our strong outer forward edges. My outer forward edge video is probably the most important video in all of my membership. We use our outer forward edges a lot. We use them when we're simply pushing, striding down a sidewalk, or in a skating rink. If you don't understand your edges quite yet, that is totally okay. This video will really help explain it. I want to challenge you to use the strength around your hip to lift your free leg when you are doing these strong outer forward edges.
Where to find these videos:
Drills 6: Drills & Workouts page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Corkscrew Spin: Skills page (spin section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Strong Outer Forward Edges: Skills page (edge section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 4:
Advanced Choreography — Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter
PRACTICE:
Outer Forward Loop
Advanced Choreography:
Next up: our advanced choreography to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter! This choreography is more challenging than the Beginner/ Intermediate and does have quite a few more skills. Like I mentioned earlier, the Beginner/ Intermediate flows directly into the Advanced. There isn’t even a beat in between. You can go directly into the Advanced portion. I highly recommend checking it out no matter what skill level you are. You may be surprised at what you can do and what I can kind of trick you into doing within choreography. That's the beautiful thing about choreography! It is such good practice, and it's like my secret power to make you progress quickly. Muahaha! Our Advanced Choreography uses a sort of inner forward 3-turn, some one foot balance, hip strength, a cross in back, a cross in front, toe manuals, a corkscrew spin, and a pivot. All of these skills can be adjusted for all levels. Ease your way into it, of course, but give it a try. Always remember that we have options. If you want to make the song a little bit slower, try a different song. Take a few moves out if you're not quite ready for them. Play with it. Make it your own. And I hope you enjoy that. I’m very proud of this choreography! It is so much fun to do.
Practice:
Our practice this week is the Outer Forward Loop. We have done the corkscrew spin and strong outer forward edges. Now I want you to really use your strength and timing to create a loop. There are a few different types of loops, including a jump version and an edge version where you draw an imaginary loop on the ground with your wheels. This is not the jump version. I want you to use your edge to deepen into the outer edge and create a loop. The interesting part of a loop is that you go into it and come out of it on a more shallow outer forward edge. It’s super deep in the middle of it. You also have to use that hip strength to bring your free leg through. The outer forward loop is a very important skill in artistic skating and it is very fun to do on camera. I actually do it a lot when I'm just flowing out on the basketball court and stuff like that. I love how it looks. The Ina Bauer is still probably my favorite and most beautiful skill, but the Outer Forward Loop comes close.
Where to find these videos:
Espresso Choreography (Advanced): Choreography page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Outer Forward Loop: Skills page (edge section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Alright, that’s it for this month! I hope you check it all out. All of the skating skills I talk about are included in the Roll With Me (On-Demand) Membership.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know if you would like further guidance. You can book in-person private lessons or online private lessons!
If you prefer a roadmap from A to Z of everything that I believe every skater should know, The Roller Skating Foundations Course is also available! The course is literally everything (your solid foundation) to do whatever you want to do on skates.
At the end of each month, I want you to take a moment to look back and see how far you’ve come. Did you learn something new? Did you progress? Did you surprise yourself? Do you have new goals for next month? Take a moment, breathe, roll your shoulders back, lift your head high, and tell yourself you’re doing a great job. Because you are.
If you would like to submit your progress for our Community Progress Video, submit your vertical video here. Submissions are due on the last day of each month.
What was your favorite part of this month? What was the hardest for you? What kept you going? Leave a comment and/or send me a message! If you are practicing on Instagram, please tag me and #quadsociety! I love to see and share your progress! Lastly, don’t forget about the wonderful community on the Discord. Everything is better with friends!
