I recently started a new job. At this job they have a fitness center called HealthWorks. I started to go to this fitness center regularly at lunch time. The personal trainer there, Chris Re, asked me what sports I like to do. This is when I told him all about Freestyle Slalom. He was very interested in what this sport was and asked about what muscles I use. He was able to take what I did on skates and translate that into a training routine. The training routine included exercises mostly performed on VersaDisks. I had never seen one before this. From the fitness site I ordered them from:

“Incorporate with workouts for enhanced balance training. Build core strength by using one or two cushions for push-ups, lunges or squats. Enhance balance techniques by doing sitting, standing and lying exercises. Made of soft pliable PVC. VersaDiscâ„¢ has two textured surfaces that are useful in rehabilitation and massage therapy.”

I have been working out on these for a few months now and I have way more stability in my ankles when doing one foot/toe/heel tricks. They even strengthen the stability when doing the double toe pause or double heel pause to reverse direction. Quite a bit of the tricks in slalom require some smoothe movements in the core area as well which these disks strengthen as well.

My routine on these is as follows:

1. Standing: Stand on both feet, each foot on a disk for one minute.
2. Standing: Stand on one foot on a disk for 45 seconds. (repeat twice, once for each foot)
3. Squats: Stand on both feet, each foot on a disk. Do 10 squats.
4. Lunges: Stand on one foot on a disk. Bring your other foot behind you and inch it back pretty far, enough so you’re almost off balance. Hands on hips. Lower your torso down to the floor as if you’re going to kneel down on your back knee, but don’t actually touch down. Raise up. These are standing lunges. Do 10 standing lunges.
5. Pushups: Put hands (fists are easier) down on disks, one disk per hand (fist). Do as many pushups as possible.
6. Plank: This is an exercise not performed on the VersaDisk. Do the front plank for 30 seconds. Then do a side plank for 15 seconds. A side plank is where, from the normal plank, you rotate your body onto one elbow/forearm facing sideways. You must rotate your elbow on the floor so that your arm is pointing to the side now. Put your top arm on your hip and push your pelvis forward so it is not sticking out behind you. Go back to the regular plank for another 30 seconds. Go up on another side plank but on the other side now for another 15 seconds.
7. Repeat above steps 3 times.

You’re done! This should take about a half hour. This is the first workout routine the trainer has created for me. I will be asking him to either add to this or create a new one for me that will challenge me even more. I will post that routine when it becomes available.