First Skate of 2010

Last night was my first skate of 2010, and, in fact, the first time I've played hockey in about 9 months! It actually went much better than I expected.

For sure, my hockey skills weren't great, and my skating wasn't great, and my "hockey fitness" wasn't great, but somehow, I actually felt somewhat decent. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I felt like I was able to make better athletic moves than I remember being able to before. Things like stopping faster, changing directions faster, reaching farther, leaning farther, etc. You know what I'm going to attribute these changes to...

I also did my weekly FMS test yesterday before hockey. I really wasn't expecting much, since I didn't make much improvement last week. I expected a slow slog toward passing my remaining tests, so I was pleasantly surprised to see big improvements in my weakest tests. I am very close to passing the inline lunge. The first couple times I did this test, I thought that there was surely an error in the test description in the book because I couldn't see how you could lean back enough to pass (actually, you stay upright... I was leaning forward before). Now, I don't have much problem keeping my upper body straight, but I'm still a little wobbly (wobbly = fail).

I also improved a lot on my worst test, the seated rotation. According to the book, this test will demonstrate how tightness in the body can severely reduce range of motion. For me, it seems to be tightness in the hips and low back that are the problem. Like I said, I didn't improve much on this movement last week, I needed about 3 inches more rotation to pass, which is about where I started. Last night though, I'd dropped it down to 1/2-3/4 of an inch!

Anyway, it was nice to see progress in the tests, but it was also nice to have some validation that it really influences sports performance. My expectation is that the changes may be more subtle on the bike, since riding doesn't require such a wide variety of movements, but maybe I'll be surprised again?