Stiffer Boots/Better Blades for Recreational Skating? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Stiffer Boots/Better Blades for Recreational Skating?

Nimyue

On the Ice
Joined
May 15, 2018
I’m not a strong spinner at all, it’s definitely the worst aspect of my skating. On my CA blades I constantly end up too far forward and end up on my toepick. My spins make a horrible sound haha. That’s why I was hoping maybe the MK pro would be a little better. If you have to spin further forward that’s probably good for me since I apparently do that anyway.

Careful, the higher stantion on the MK Pro might throw you even farther forward. This is what I thought about myself also, but the precision required on the MK Pro I didn't realize until I had one.

So you are possibly correct, but my first question is, how is your free hip placement on your spins? Are you good at keeping it up, or do you have a tendency to fall to the inside when you fall out of spins? If you fall out on the inside often enough, the MK Pro will make things worse as your free hip needs to be higher and stable in order to stay on the MK Pro rocker. It's not just forward, but very bulbous. So if you drop your hip, you're going to fall off the rocker and there's no saving it.

The question is why are you on your toe? Is your free hip always high and forward? ( MK Pro might help) OR as is more likely with beginners, are you trying to spin with your foot pointed? If it's the latter you need to learn to spin on the ball of your foot and not try to point your toe when you enter a spin.
 

Elija

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
Careful, the higher stantion on the MK Pro might throw you even farther forward. This is what I thought about myself also, but the precision required on the MK Pro I didn't realize until I had one.


So you are possibly correct, but my first question is, how is your free hip placement on your spins? Are you good at keeping it up, or do you have a tendency to fall to the inside when you fall out of spins? If you fall out on the inside often enough, the MK Pro will make things worse as your free hip needs to be higher and stable in order to stay on the MK Pro rocker. It's not just forward, but very bulbous. So if you drop your hip, you're going to fall off the rocker and there's no saving it.

The question is why are you on your toe? Is your free hip always high and forward? ( MK Pro might help) OR as is more likely with beginners, are you trying to spin with your foot pointed? If it's the latter you need to learn to spin on the ball of your foot and not try to point your toe when you enter a spin.

I wouldn’t say I drop my hip and fall out of my spins. My coach said I tense my shoulders and upper body too much and sort of lift myself up if that makes sense. Also doesn’t help that my skates are too wide, so I’m grabbing onto them with my toes to try to keep my heels down when I spin (hoping to buy new skates soon).

Oddly i don’t go on my toes at all in my backspin... camel spins are also not too bad. It’s mainly just forward upright spins. I really struggle to get my free leg in front or crossed over as well, it’s always behind me, and with the momentum of the spin I can’t seem to being it forward. Also don’t have that problem with my backspin, I can easily cross my leg.

I think perhaps I rush my entrance and am not properly on my spin rocker, so end up scraping the blade and then get on my toes. I don’t know. I don’t think I used to do this with my old skates, so will be interesting to see if it improves with new ones that fit right.
 

adultskater18

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Following, I am having a similar issue. I'm a beginner and I have been in Artistes for about 4 months (which is how long I've been skating). I'm doing high beginner/ basic skills stuff so nothing crazy. My skates definitely aren't broken down or in need of being replaced, but my ankles ache if I skate more than like 30 minutes. They also don't fit my feet super well. I got them in a narrow size but even with that, I feel like my ankles and my whole foot, really, kind of knock around. I feel like I can't lace them tight enough (I'm trying to lace them really tight to compensate for that ankle knocking around/lack of support feeling I get). So maybe it's a sizing issue? IDK. I don't really want to spend money on new skates yet, but not sure what to do. If I was buying them today, I would definitely have spent more on a stiffer model.
 

treblemakerem

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Following, I am having a similar issue. I'm a beginner and I have been in Artistes for about 4 months (which is how long I've been skating). I'm doing high beginner/ basic skills stuff so nothing crazy. My skates definitely aren't broken down or in need of being replaced, but my ankles ache if I skate more than like 30 minutes. They also don't fit my feet super well. I got them in a narrow size but even with that, I feel like my ankles and my whole foot, really, kind of knock around. I feel like I can't lace them tight enough (I'm trying to lace them really tight to compensate for that ankle knocking around/lack of support feeling I get). So maybe it's a sizing issue? IDK. I don't really want to spend money on new skates yet, but not sure what to do. If I was buying them today, I would definitely have spent more on a stiffer model.

Have you tried bunga pads or something similar? That would probably help your ankles feel tighter. If you have really narrow feet you might want to try Riedell or Risport next time. It sounds like Jackson is not right for your feet but some extra padding might make them last a bit longer before you get new skates.
 
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