March 2024 Practice Schedule
Hello and Happy March! We have a lot of exciting things to work on this month. Everything that I mention in this video can be found within my Memberships on ThatNicoleFiore.com or my Memberships 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. So, there's a lot within that membership! Please check it out and let me know if you have any questions at all.
Every month I build out a practice schedule that includes drills, skills, and choreography videos and below is my recommended practice schedule for this month. You can find links to each video at the bottom of each section. Everything that I suggest practicing is lined up with the skills and choreography we are working on. Weave these into your regular practice throughout the month.
Week 1:
Drills 2 (balance & point)
Outer Forward 3-Turn
PRACTICE:
Back & Posture Workout (mind | body | soul)
Held-Open 3-Turn
Dribble
Drills 2 & Outer Forward 3-Turn:
I want you to work on Drills 2. Drills 2 is on balancing and pointing. We will be working on balancing one foot and then the other and pointing our free leg out. Our wheels like to roll. So, we do have to figure out where we need to put our weight in our skate and throughout our entire leg and entire body. We also need to work on pointing the free leg. When you push, you don't want a dangly, floppy free leg. We want to be able to point our toe and use our boot to elongate our leg.
After you work on those drills, I want you to get into the outer forward three turn. Our three turns are very fun and very important skills. Learning how to turn on one foot can realistically save you! To get out of the way of someone or something a heel to heel transition is great, but sometimes you have to turn around even quicker than that. And a three turn can be a really great option! Our outer forward three turn starts on an outer forward edge and ends on an inner back edge.
Back & Posture, Held-Open 3-Turn, Dribble:
For our practice this week, we are going to do one of the mind|body|soul workouts that is for the back and for your posture. Just like Drills two, when learning how to balance, our posture is very important. So, I want you to work on your back and your posture with that video.
Then I want you to get into the held-open three turns. Just like the outer forward three turn, this one will be going from the outer forward edge to the outer back edge. It's the same three turn, but we will be using the free leg, pointing it and swinging it through. We don't want our freeleg to go around on the held open three turn. We want to slice that free leg through and hold it up. When you're doing a three turn (or any turn for that matter) and stretching the free leg out, you want to make sure it is kind of copying the same movement before the turn and after the turn. You want your freeleg to be exactly the same when you start the turn and when you end the turn, you just slice it through during the turn.
Then we have a really fun skill to practice! Not the turns aren't fun! I want you to work on the dribble. The dribble works on transferring your weight, one foot and then the other while kind of doing a stationary moonwalk. It's a really good skill to practice for technique and balance, but it is also a really cool dance move and we will be using it in our choreography this month.
Where to find these videos:
Drills 2: Drills & Workouts page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Outer Forward 3-Turn: Skills page (turns section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Back & Posture: mind|body|soul page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Held-Open 3-Turn: Skills page (turns section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Dribble: Skills page (dance section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 2:
Beginner/Intermediate Choreography — Skate by Silk Sonic
PRACTICE:
Back Pivot
Drills 4 (toe stop balance)
Inner Forward 3-Turn
Beginner/Intermediate Choreography:
We are doing choreography to Skate by Silk Sonic. I love this song so much! Our choreography uses a ton of different skills: a back pivot, an assisted three turn, dribble, cross pull, back to forward heel to heel rotation, and a spin. Even though that's a lot of skills, this is beginner/ intermediate choreography. I encourage you to do what you can and have something to grow into. There are a lot of different options! You can always go a little bit slower or a little bit quicker. You can lessen the moves or you can add in more. It's more about finding your own rhythm and giving you enough skills to build upon. I love to use choreography as a practice tool. You don't need to be a dancer and you don't need to be confident dancing on your wheels. It is more of a practice tool to make our practice really really fun!
Back Pivot, Drills 4, Inner Forward 3-Turn:
For our practice this week we are going to do the back pivot. I do encourage you to wear a toe stop when you're working on your pivots, but you don't need to have a toe stop it. You can do it anchoring your toe wheels down instead of anchoring that toe stop down. In the back pivot, you'll be pivoting using your inner back edge to rotate you. One toe stop will be down (or toe wheels) and the other foot will be doing an inner back edge. When you do this, you want to make sure that your knee is staying over your toes and that you are rotating your entire body with your pivot. The body has to follow the leg that is doing the inner back edge.
The second thing I want you to practice this week is Drills 4, which is on our toe stop balance. Just like that pivot, we are using our toe stop to balance. So, I encourage you to put in a toe stop or at least a toe plug when practicing this. Our drills videos are key! They are so important and I really do encourage you to do them at least a few times a week. I just spoke with one of my students who does 30 minutes of drills each day. That is amazing! It is so beneficial to your skating and the longevity of your skating. All of these things that I build out each month are meant to develop your skating at a steady rate so that you can be as safe and successful as possible.
The third thing I want you to practice this week is your inner forward three turns. We did our outer forward three turn in week one. Now I want you to go into the inner forward three turn. You'll be starting this turn on an inner forward edge and ending it on an outer back edge. We do an assisted turn in our beginner/ intermediate choreography, so I want you to do practice that in the choreography and then lift the freeleg for the pull 3-turn when you get a little more comfortable.
Where to find these videos:
Skate Choreography (Beginner/Intermediate) - Choreography page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Back Pivot: Skills page (toe stops section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Drills 4: Drills & Workouts page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Inner Forward 3-Turn: Skills page (turns section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 3:
Drills 11 (static turns off-skates)
Half Flip
PRACTICE:
Marching Turns
Rolling Pivot
Backward Cross Pulls
Drills 11 & Half Flip:
Halfway through! I want you to work on Drills 11. This is one of my favorite drills videos that I've created and it is on static turns off-skates. We've dabbled in our turns this month, working on the outer forward and then on the inner forward. Now I want you to take those skates off and I want you to do the turns without the weight of the skate. We also need to know what's going on with our feet without our skates on. We can train the body to lift specific parts of your foot and put weight into specific parts of your foot while turning.
Our skill this week is our half flip. The half flip is a jump, but it doesn't need to be a big jump. It can be more of a hop. At least that's how I like to do it. I do not love to jump on my skates. I like my feet on the ground and my feet like to be on the ground. So whenever I do a jump, I do more of a hop! If you're like me and don't love to jump, please don't shy away from the half flip. The half flip is your friend. It's a half rotation from backward to forward and you do use your toe stop on this.
Marching Turns, Rolling Pivot, Backward Cross Pulls:
For our practice this week, I want you to work on your marching turns. Marching turns do a turn from forward to back and another back to forward, switching feet in the middle. You don't need to do super deep edges on these turns, you can do them flat or straight down the floor.
Our second skill is a rolling pivot. We practiced a back pivot in week two, now I want you to do a rolling pivot. You can do this forward or you can do it backward. I like to do this forward, doing a forward pivot and rolling out of it. This is a really fun one to do because you can slow yourself down. I use this a lot when I am chasing a camera. I tend to get a lot of speed and then sometimes I have to slow down really quickly. This is really good for that.
Next, I want you to work on your backward cross pulls. We do our backward cross pull quite in general as well as in our choreography. I think that backward cross pulls are easier than forward cross pulls. So, if you are a little afraid of backwards skating, I encourage you to do this because it will automatically make you more comfortable. The foot that is closest to the inside of your circle will be doing an outer back edge. The foot that you cross over and actually do the cross pull with will do an inner back edge. Another key thing to remember is to keep your body rotated to the inside of your circle. Pretend like there is a pole or a midpoint, something in the center of the circle that you are creating. You want your body to open up and aim toward that item, toward the center of your circle at all times during your cross pulls.
Where to find these videos:
Drills 11: Drills & Workouts page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Half Flip: Skills page (toe stops section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Marching Turns: Skills page (turns section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Rolling Pivot: Skills page (toe stops section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Backward Cross Pulls: Skills page (backward skating section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Week 4:
Advanced Choreography — Skate by Silk Sonic
PRACTICE:
Heel-Toe Spin
Drills 11 (static turns off-skates)
Outer Back Heel to Heel Transition
Advanced Choreography:
Our last week! We will be doing our advanced choreography to Skate by Silk Sonic. Again, this song is soooo good. When creating this choreography, I didn't do it necessarily back to back, although you totally can do the beginner/ intermediate into the advanced. However, for this month I did more of an advanced version of the beginner/ intermediate choreography. So, you can kind of graduate into the advanced and I definitely encourage you to do so. Whether it's in these four weeks or if it's in a few months! You can always go back to this choreography. With a membership, you have access to the full library of choreography. It's not just these videos that I'm mentioning right now. You get it all! You can go back and revisit things as you wish. Now this advanced choreography has a lot of skills within it: a right outer forward three turn, a heel-toe spin, a down pivot, a toe stop spin, a right inner forward three turn, a dribble, a cross pull, and another three turn to finish it off. Like every piece of choreography, I do not expect you to nail it the first try. Choreography takes a while to get. Work on the feet and work your way up so that you can develop your own movement throughout. You don't have to copy my choreography exactly. Again, it's more of a practice tool. Do what you can and build up that confidence as you go.
Heel-Toe Spin, Drills 11, Outer Back Heel to Heel Transition:
To finish off the month I want you to work on your heel-toe spin. The heel-toe spin will give you a ton of rotations on your spin. A standard two foot spin uses inner edges and you can only go one to two times around. With a heel-toe spin, you pop to the heel and toe and you can do a ton of revolutions! When you rotate (just like the pivot), everything has to rotate together. Make sure each body part is telling another body part to rotate so that nobody gets left behind.
Then I want you to go back to your Drills 11 (static turns off-skates). These drills are very important to find that balance point for you on a turn stationary without the weight of the skate and without rolling.
Lastly, our outer back transition. This transition is a heel to heel transition going from an outer back edge to an outer forward edge. When you do this again, just like rotating and just like the spins, everything has to rotate together. Make sure your core is nice and tight and your posture is really good. Work on your edges to make opening up your hips a little bit easier. I want you to be able to simply step forward and not have to fight your way around.
Where to find these videos:
Skate Choreography (Advanced): Choreography page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Heel-Toe Spin: Skills page (spins section) [Link: Website, YouTube]
Drills 11: Drills & Workouts page [Link: Website, YouTube]
Outer Back Heel to Heel Transition: Skills page (transitions 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!
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.
Keep in touch about how you’re feeling. Know that I am right here, practicing all of these things alongside you. It doesn’t matter how new or experienced you are in skating, it is very important for all of us to stay consistent with our drills and practice. I am here to help with technique, movement, and most importantly with motivation.
What was your favorite part of this month? What was the hardest for you? What kept you going? Leave a comment! 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!
Thank you so much for allowing me to share my love and joy with you. I truly appreciate it. Nothing makes me happier than that!
Thank you for being here. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this. I am here and happy to help.
