75 Great Reasons to Train

By Susan Ellis, June 2009
Celebrating our 75th Tip of the Month!!
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This month marks the 75th, yep, that’s right, seventy-five tips that I have published on the skating tips page. So in honour of that, this month’s tip is 75 great reasons TO train!

I started struggling somewhere around number 70 to come up with 5 more so I asked my homies in the Saint John club to come up with 5 more. They did such a good job I replaced some of mine with theirs!

Interestingly enough we had just had a chat that week at dryland training about what motivates them to train. That night we had one of our best training sessions ever! Yes, sometimes training can be boring, hard to do, tough to find the time, lonely, and makes you hurt! But if you look at all the good reasons to train I think you’ll find more than a few to get you going and be the best you can be. So pick your favourite reasons and follow through with your commitment. You know you can!!!!
  1. Training increases the size, strength, and stroke volume of my heart muscle
  2. Training increases my lung capacity to take in more oxygen
  3. Training increases the amount of my capillaries in the muscles so more blood can flow to the muscles
  4. Training increases the return of blood to my heart so it can be re-oxygenated quicker
  5. Training increases the amount of exercise I can do so I can skate longer
  6. Training increases and enhances a bunch of proteins and enzymes that help in producing and using oxygen and muscle fuel
  7. Helps to convert the food I eat into fuel for the body
  8. To be able to use fuel from blood oxygen longer rather than muscle fuel – legs don’t get tired as quickly
  9. Increases lactate threshold – can work harder for longer
  10. Increases lactic tolerance – muscles don’t hurt as much
  11. Increases amount of fuel stored in muscles
  12. Increases aerobic capacity
  13. Increases aerobic power
  14. Increases lactic capacity
  15. Increases lactic power
  16. Improves lactate buffering system – picture a bunch of Pac Men in your muscles eating up all the nasty waste products and then spitting them out as fuel again
  17. Increases strength in muscles
  18. Increases size of muscles
  19. Increases power in muscles
  20. Increases fast twitch muscles – sprinting
  21. Increases muscle coordination
  22. Increases agility
  23. Increases flexibility
  24. Improves balance
  25. Increases range of motion
  26. Improves skating position
  27. Easier to stay in perfect skating position
  28. Improves push – longer
  29. Improves push – harder
  30. Improves push – faster
  31. Can put more pressure into the ice
  32. Improves efficiency
  33. Increases reaction speed
  34. Improves quickness
  35. Get better starts
  36. Better lap times
  37. Be able to do more laps
  38. Increases rate of recovery between training sessions
  39. Increases rate of recovery in between races
  40. Improves core strength
  41. Improves core stability
  42. Improves stability in hips
  43. Improves stability in ankles
  44. Proud of being fit!
  45. Look cool in the weight room
  46. Get a six-pack of abs (women love it!)
  47. Train with friends
  48. Fun to train
  49. Learn new skills
  50. Improve fitness for other sports
  51. Don’t want to get left behind
  52. Lose weight
  53. Look buff!
  54. Make qualifying times for competitions
  55. Make teams
  56. Improve performance at competitions
  57. Set goals
  58. Accomplish goals
  59. Build on strengths
  60. Improve in weak areas
  61. Win competitions
  62. Improves confidence
  63. Prove to myself I can do it!
  64. Improves mental toughness
  65. Have fun while working hard (Sandy Archer)
  66. Makes for a good night's sleep (Sandy Archer)
  67. Because you like to skate (Julia Laparco)
  68. It's better than doing nothing!!! (Catherine Tremblay)
  69. Guys like girls that are in shape! :) (Catherine Tremblay)
  70. Decreases mental stress (Leah Holah)
  71. Sets lifelong habit of being physically active which will serve you well in later years!!! (Angela Lavric)
  72. Builds strong bones and prevents bone loss (osteoporosis) later in life. (Angela Lavric)
  73. Helps prevent cardiovascular disease and lowers cholesterol which begins earlier in life than you think! (Angela Lavric)
  74. Sets a good example for the rest of your family to get active. (Angela Lavric)
  75. Rewarding and motivating as it releases natural endorphins! (Angela Lavric)