More than six years have passed since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were awarded gold medals in the figure skating pairs competition at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
The Edmonton residents have since retired from competition and turned pro, got married and were recently inducted into the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Sale, 31, gave birth to the couple’s son, Jesse Joe Pelletier, in September. The petite figure skater gained only about 25 pounds during her pregnancy - partly due to the fact she stayed active until late in her third trimester with a prenatal regimen of Pilates.
“I feel so good right now,” she says. “I don’t feel like we’re not able to do what we used to do. We do a lot of what we used to do, plus even more things.”
After giving birth, Sale had an extra five pounds to lose, which she shed within a couple of months thanks to the elliptical machine and stationary bike. She also returned to the ice three weeks after getting out of the hospital.”I don’t even feel like I really had a baby as far as my body goes. I feel great. I don’t feel 31, that’s for sure. And I definitely don’t act 31. I still act like I’m a teenager, maybe sometimes,” she says with a giggle.
These days, Sale weighs 107 pounds at five-foot-one.
Jesse weighs 25 pounds at seven months old.
“He’s heavy,” says Sale, the Calgary native who grew up in Red Deer. “Just lifting him and throwing him up in the air a few times, that’s your arm workout for the week.”
Meanwhile, Pelletier, 33, is 180 pounds at five-foot-10 - just a pound or two above what he weighed at the Olympics.
The 2001 world champions are currently touring with Stars on Ice. When the tour wraps up next week, the two plan to get back into a regimen of yoga.
“I want my muscles to be long and stretched, so I kinda gave up the running since last September (when their skating season began),” he explains, adding he plans to combine yoga and running this summer. “That would be a perfect combination.”
The two world-class athletes also resort to an old standby - rubber exercise bands. They use the bands almost daily in the off-season to perform a variety of movements, including exercises that keep their shoulders strong and limber.
“We got so toned from it, and strong,” Sale says. “It’s way more difficult than lifting weights. You have to control the elastic eccentrically and concentrically. It’s very challenging.”
In addition to all of that, they will often go through a half-hour session on the bike, 20 minutes of core training and 20 minutes of stretching.
On the bike, Pelletier says they’ll cycle at 100% intensity for 30 seconds and then back off to about 60% for 90 seconds. They’ll do that eight times, before moving on to the all-important core exercises.
“Everything starts from the core,” he explains. “If you have a strong core, you’ll be able to lift anything on the ice and be stable and balanced while you’re doing it.”
Of course, a major key to their training is variety.
“We’re very active. We do a lot of different things,” Sale says. “We get bored very easily. We try to change it up.”
One thing they won’t change, however, is their attitude towards keeping fit.
For the dynamic skating duo, it’s all about living a healthy and happy life.
“Look at it as a lifestyle that you will take on for the rest of your life,” Pelletier says. “The rewards are so great that you’ll look back and think what the hell was I doing before?
“Do it for yourself first, but also because you want to be around as long as you can for the people you love.”
Engage your core like never before. Incorporate Pilates into your workout regime today!
written by PalmBeach
