"I skate about 15 to 20 hours a week and also incorporate a lot of off-ice training. I take ballet and Pilates classes and lift weights with my physical therapist when I'm not on the ice"
About this Quote
Fifteen to twenty hours a week isn’t a humblebrag; it’s a quiet demolition of the “natural talent” myth that still clings to women’s figure skating like glitter. Sasha Cohen’s list reads like a behind-the-curtain inventory: ice time, sure, but also ballet, Pilates, weightlifting, physical therapy. The intent is practical - explain the workload - yet the subtext is cultural: this sport is an engineered performance, built through cross-training that sounds more like a full-time job than a childhood dream.
What makes the quote work is its matter-of-fact specificity. Cohen doesn’t romanticize. She itemizes. Ballet signals line, extension, and the old-school aesthetic expectations of skating; Pilates hints at core control and injury prevention; lifting weights pushes against the lingering idea that female athletes should look delicate rather than be strong. Sliding “with my physical therapist” into the sentence is the tell: the body is not just an instrument, it’s a project under constant maintenance. There’s an implied negotiation with pain, fatigue, and risk that fans rarely see in a three-minute program.
Context matters: Cohen came up in an era when skating was evolving into a technical arms race without abandoning its demand for grace. Her training menu reveals how elite athletes adapt to that contradiction - becoming simultaneously ballerina and power athlete, art object and laborer. The glamour is the product; the grind is the point.
What makes the quote work is its matter-of-fact specificity. Cohen doesn’t romanticize. She itemizes. Ballet signals line, extension, and the old-school aesthetic expectations of skating; Pilates hints at core control and injury prevention; lifting weights pushes against the lingering idea that female athletes should look delicate rather than be strong. Sliding “with my physical therapist” into the sentence is the tell: the body is not just an instrument, it’s a project under constant maintenance. There’s an implied negotiation with pain, fatigue, and risk that fans rarely see in a three-minute program.
Context matters: Cohen came up in an era when skating was evolving into a technical arms race without abandoning its demand for grace. Her training menu reveals how elite athletes adapt to that contradiction - becoming simultaneously ballerina and power athlete, art object and laborer. The glamour is the product; the grind is the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
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