Dancing Off-Ice, the latest fitness craze to hit the UK and it’s here to stay…

In Sept 2011 I travelled up to Birmingham to take on a world fitness record at the Birmignham NEC during the Leisure Industry Week and opposite the stand I was taking on my latest challenge was none other than Daniel Whiston from Dancing On Ice along with the founders of Off-Ice Skating Karen Coombes & Karen O’Neil who featured on Dragons Den last year. 

Once I had recovered from my challenge I decided to go over and check them out and see what Dancing Off-Ice was all about…

The Off-Ice Skating boot looks like a figure skating ice skate with wheels like a roller blade but the front and rear wheels are slightly raised to mimic an Ice Skate blade, which means that at any one time there is never more than two wheels from each boot in contact with the ground.  The design of the wheels also helps you perform jumps, spins and other manoeuvres usually only able to be performed on ice.

The fitness side of the Off-Ice Skating which has been backed by Dan Whiston (2 times winner of Dancing On Ice), have now produced exercise DVDs  based on the exercises used by him on and off the ice to train his celebrity dancing partners, all of whom have dramatically lost weight and toned their bodies. And now it’s here as an all new exciting and fun fitness class that works.

Dan decided to take it upon himself to give me a master class crash course lesson in skating, where I don’t think he knew what he was going to get himself into, I cant ice skate for toffee! And haven’t been on ice since I was a teenager, and as for rollerblading I haven’t done this for a good few years also, but I have to say I actually did quite well, doing a few turns, a move called the lemon, and I even got moving backwards!

Watching the demo video and trying out some of the moves myself along with seeing the transformation of Kerry Katona when she was on Dancing On Ice, I can definitely say this is no gimic, and a fitness class that works as well as being extremely fun!

From a personal trainers point of view I can see a great new fun way of training your one to one clients outside in parks around the UK like Hyde Park.  Its a great way of getting a cardio workout at the same time as toning up your whole body.

For more information on where your local classes are, or if you are a trainer that would like to qualify as an Off-Ice Skate Instructor/trainer then go to www.off-iceskating.com

By Mike Buss

For any information on fitness classes best suited to you or for booking onto a personal training session with Mike, call: 07791 356 482 or Email: activelifeuk@hotmail.com

 

 

Category: Fitness Class Reviews