Come on. Come on.
(HITTING THE WALL)
(KARINA AND CARMEN
(TRAIN FOR ICE DANCING)
We've been so lucky with the weather, huh?
I know.
It's been hot every single day.
I'm actually starting to get kind of warm.
So we should probably go cool off.
And we've had a lot of gelato.
So how about we try ice dancing?
I've got the moves, girlfriend. I don't know about you.
But I bet the Olympians will teach us how to do it better.
I think so.
(MILAN, LOMBARDY, ITALY)
I'm Anna Cappellini.
I'm Luca Lanotte.
We are an ice dance duo.
We participated to Pyeongchang 2018 The Olympic Games.
We ranked fourth in the team event and sixth
in the single event.
We have hit the wall many times in our career.
When my mum passed in 2006, I had
a moment where I didn't know if I was able to continue.
Luca was the most patient friend,
partner you could ever hope for.
It was clearly a moment that defined our relationship.
I knew from then on that I had a partner for life.
Hi.
- How are you? - Ciao.
How do you guys know each other?
We met in 2001.
First skating with different partners, and she was the best.
Well, I think you guys
have your work cut out for you today.
We're both very active in the gym.
Do you guys train with weights as well?
For ladies, core is the crucial.
For guys, that have to do the lifts.
So they have to be very strong overall.
There's a lot of balance exercises, and sort of couple
of exercises also to help us
get in sync and work on our lift.
Should we go try it out?
- Yes. - I think we should.
- Are you ready? - I hope so.
(ICE DANCING WARM—UP)
We're going to show you something very basic,
but it's super useful.
For the lifting partner, which is usually Luca,
it helps him improve his stability
and his core strength.
For me, it's all about agility and just trying to help myself.
I'm nervous to see what this looks like.
I know.
(TREE)
She's so cute and tiny.
Oh.
So she just has to go around?
- OK. - Karina, I am your tree.
That's it. Tight, tight.
You've just got to go for it, right?
Where do I go?
There's no way.
Help my foot out. Help my foot out.
(ICE DANCING TRAINING)
OK, so we train a lot on the ice.
But also off the ice it's important
that we get the right preparation
to be able to do all the things that we have to do on ice.
We're going to show you one of our most peculiar exercises.
It's a combination of four typical gym exercises.
But it's done with a tempo.
So we have to use a metronome.
Because everything in ice dancing
especially is so connected to the music that it helps
you build your rhythm and to follow the rhythm.
All right, it's a circle. Luca will demonstrate.
This is just to add to the rhythm of the movement.
We have to be able to be fast but stop
and be strong in various ways.
You look like a robot.
Yeah, very cool.
Overhead extension, works lats...
and core engagement.
I do significantly less weight training than Luca does.
I do more core flexibility, Pilates-inspired exercises.
Yeah.
He has to be strong to lift you.
Yeah.
Pay a lot of attention for this exercise.
Ooh.
So you get more and more tired, but you
need to control and just...
- Wow. - Yeah.
Ah.
That looks challenging.
It's definitely aimed to help you control everything, even
when you're doing very strong exercises, and you're in pain.
You have to be smiling, always poised,
always able to keep composure and posture
and to look relaxed when you're about to cry from the pain.
You have to smile through it.
It's important. So we train for it.
Good.
Carmen is the professional.
If you can, you should try to be sharp with the...
better.
Yeah.
Woo.
This one is a lot harder.
Very good job on the core.
Very good posture.
A lot of lat.
A lot of lat work in this one.
Oh, my gosh.
Very good. Very good.
That was a lot of fun.
The tempo is challenging and it makes
me use my core a lot more than I typically would.
- That's very cool. - I will be much more loud...
We are here to help you.
..and emotional than Carmen who had her
composure the whole time.
She made it look too easy.
Try to be sharper.
Sharper.
Oh, my gosh, Carmen.
How did you do this?
Soft elbows, yeah.
And think...
Sharper.
Perfect, perfect.
Perfect.
Yeah.
- Come on. - Go, girl.
- Whoo. - Good. Good.
Good.
Give me a gold medal already.
Ice dancing is a type of figure skating
that draws inspiration from ballroom dancing.
It first became an Olympic sport in 1976.
Dancers compete together as a couple
performing spins and dance moves to the beat of the music.
Unlike traditional figure skating,
throws and jumps are not allowed.
We're going to show you one thing.
Oh.
Look at their legs.
Absolutely mesmerizing.
It's beautiful. And majestic.
They complement each other so, so well.
They do.
- Perfect unison. - Uh huh.
- It's just beautiful. - It's a 10 for me.
A 10.
I'm going to start rooting for the Italian team now.
Me too.
Bravo!
- Welcome, guys. - Welcome to the ice rink.
- Come on down. - Come here.
- I need help. - I need help. I need help.
No. You guys look fine.
We're just going to shuffle around a little bit together.
OK.
And so you get the feeling a little bit.
All right.
Yeah, girl.
She's pushing. Like, I'm not doing it.
Whee!
She's great.
She was doing cross-overs like basically by herself.
I'm making a lemon. Making a lemon.
(FIGURE EIGHT RACE)
Now it's time for The Hitting The Wall Challenge.
We're going to put down some cones for you.
And you're going to have to weave through them.
The fastest will win.
I don't know if I'm cold or nervous?
I'm both.
- You ready? - Three, two, one, go.
Whoo.
Oh.
Oh, oh, oh. It's OK, it's OK.
Yeah!
Whoo.
All right.
Da, da, da.
Thank you.
What's up, girlfriend?
Really, today was fantastic for both of you.
- Thank you. - It was a lot of fun.
So much, so much, so much respect for what you do.
I can't even stand up straight.
It's amazing.
I cannot believe the amount of skills that they have
to incorporate in order to do ice dancing.
Their drills are so unique, and you
can tell very specialized and tailored to their sport.
It was different, and it was fun to try something new.
That's always the most fun when you're doing something
completely out of your element.
And we definitely were out of ours today.
I have much respect for Anna and Luca.
- We had a blast. - But they were really fun.
They were really up for anything.
They were amazing.
And we loved their commitment.
And they are so friendly and sunny
and they really, like, give everything.
They were ready to have fun with it.
Next time on Hitting The Wall -
we'll be meeting up with US gymnast Laurie.
Can we keep up?
Let's find out.