Former professional figure skater Tara Lipinski is following in Michelle Kwan's footsteps (so to speak) by getting into a pair of rollerblades and practicing her best moves. Lipinski, 41, shared a video of herself wearing black shorts and a green sweatshirt, skillfully rollerblading inside her house. "Ahh this is too fun!!! 🛼 @michellewkwan inspired me to get some! Now I can skate anywhere. I didn't take them off for two hours! It made me realize how happy I am in skates, it's home and I love that feeling of flying around. I miss my ice but this is pretty darn fun. Now I just have to get the hang of it, by the end of my session today I started to feel it but definitely a bit different than ice skates. Michelle says I will figure it out…we shall see lol 😂," she captioned the post. Here's what this skating icon's training and wellness regimen looks like.
Lipinski did ballet to balance out her training on the ice. "Skating is the best cardio and glute workout you can ever ask for," she told Equinox. "It's like doing squats for an hour straight. When I was training, I had a very regimented schedule where I came in and stretched, did off-ice training with my personal trainer, and did off-ice ballet. Most of the time I focused heavily on my training on the ice just so I wouldn't overdo it and risk injury."
Lipinski is passionate about yoga. "I was pretty late to the game in discovering yoga," she told Yoga Journal. "I was used to a sport that is a high-paced, energetic workout—that's all I ever knew— so after being on the ice all the time, I went to a lot of bootcamp-style classes and Spinning. Then, about five years ago, I came across a yoga studio [in Santa Monica, California] called YogaHop. I did one class and was so pumped, by that next day, I gave up all other activities and started going to yoga five times a week."
Lipinski loves pasta, and would eat spaghetti before every competition. "My favorite meal is definitely pasta of any sort," she told Bustle. "And I mean of any sort — whether it's penne, spaghetti, linguine, or even a sort of ravioli, with arrabbiata sauce, tomato sauce, vodka sauce, pesto… I can eat that meal every day. I think since I grew up training in ice skating, and it was carb-loading that gave me energy all the time, it became a comfort food. Before competitions too, it was my competition meal, so I think that's another reason why I like it so much."
Lipinski does yoga at home when she can't get to class. "When I practice at home, I start my Spotify playlist and try to make up my own flow that's as similar as possible to what I remember from class," she told Yoga Journal. "I usually do 50 minutes crammed between the coffee table and the TV. It helps my skating as well. Obviously, I don't skate as much anymore, but when I do, I feel like yoga helps me find those muscles and balance, which comes in handy on the ice."
Lipinski is happy not to have to compete anymore, but feels deep empathy for the new generation of athletes. "I sit up there and say 'Thank goodness I don't have to be out there dealing with that myself anymore,'" she told Equinox. "The other part is, even at the last nationals, there were so many times I was hopping out of my seat, gripping Johnny's hand as these skaters were just vying for that chance to go to an Olympic games. I definitely feel what they're going through, just because I've been in their shoes. It's a whirlwind."
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