Alina Zagitova may have stepped away from competitive skating, but her passion for the sport remains as strong as ever. The Olympic champion, celebrated for her grace and skill on the ice, recently shared a glimpse of her continued love for skating with her followers. Wearing an all-black ensemble, she glided across the rink in a video posted on Instagram, reminding fans why she’s still an icon in the skating world. Alongside her athletic pursuits, Zagitova knows the importance of relaxation, sharing that she values “sleep, breakfast, massage, and spending time with family.” Beyond the ice, she has become an advocate for charities and encourages others to make a difference by helping animal shelters.
Zagitova still loves to skate to keep herself in shape. The New England Baptist Hospital states that skating has a lot of benefits. “Ice skating is an activity where you work almost every major muscle group with an emphasis on the lower body and core (abdominal) muscles. Maintaining your balance as you work yourself across the ice is a great challenge that engages your core and builds stability through the legs. Skating is a low impact activity, which causes less stress on the joints, in comparison to other exercises like running. However, once you begin jumping and spinning, skating can become high impact.”
Zagitova shared her favorite ways to relax in her interview with Voice Magazine. “Sleep, have breakfast, go for a massage, and watch a good movie. I also like shopping and hanging out with friends. It is also very important for me to spend time with my family over a delicious lunch or dinner. Of course, 24 hours is not so much, and they are often not enough for everything that I would like to do, but I try to fit the above into my day.”
Zagitova revealed in this Instagram video that she came up with workouts for the Sportmaster app. One of them is a stretch workout. Harvard Health states that stretching has a lot of benefits. “Stretching keeps the muscles flexible and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on the muscles for activity, they are unable to extend all the way. That puts you at risk for joint pain, strains, and muscle damage.”
In the previous Instagram video, Zagitova revealed that she created a barre workout for the Sportmaster app. Barre exercises have a lot of benefits. YMCA Fit states, “Small and precise movements are key to a good barre workout. For example, instead of full squats, you may go into a squat position and pulse up an inch, down an inch over and over. For someone observing, it may look like your body is barely moving, but trust us, you’ll feel the burn! Barre is also celebrated for the way it targets small muscles that may be tough to reach in other forms of exercise. It’s common to leave your first barre class feeling sore in deep muscles you’ve never noticed before!”
Zagitova likes to support different charities. She revealed in this Instagram post that she supports animal shelters. Zagitova captioned the post, “Starting the year with good deeds đNot so long ago I came to visit the fluffy tails again! These babies are so cute and defenseless⊠đ„ș You too can take part in the charity Donation Campaign @4lapy.ru and leave a gift at the till in store, or arrange a delivery online to one of the participating shelters, or give one of our little friends a new home â€ïžLet each of them be happy! And we will help them with it đ”