Hi everyone,

It's been about 5 years since I've had to do this. Can anyone offer some tips to help me break in my skates with minimal "down" time and pain?

Thanks

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Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

How to 'Hot Sock' Your Skates
How to 'Hot Sock' your new skates in order to mold your new boots to your feet.
Difficulty Level: Easy Time Required: 30 Minutes

Here's How:
1. Get a pair of socks as thin as the skating tights that you wear when you skate.
2. Soak the socks in HOT water. Make sure that the socks are completely saturated.
3. Put the socks on, immediately followed by your skates.
4. Put your guards on and walk around your house for about 30-45 minutes.
Tips:
1. When your feet get tingly, take a break while continuing to wear your skates.
2. For optimal results, do this three days a week for two to three weeks of wearing your new skates.

How to Break in New Skates
Difficulty Level: Easy Time Required: 60 Minutes

Here's How:
1. Put on your boots on and lace them leaving the top two hooks unused.
2. Skate in your boots in this manner for approximately 30 to 60 minutes the first day.
3. The next day or time you skate, increase the time by 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Continue to skate each time and/or day with the top two hooks unused until you've accumulated a total of four to six hours.
5. Now lace your boots leaving only the top hook unused. Continue to skate as above for another four to six hours following the same procedures.
6. After following the steps above, lace them all the way to the top and begin your regular skating routine.
7. Next, lace your boots leaving only the top hook unused. Continue skating as above for another four to six hours following the same precautions as above.
Tips:
1. Obviously you cannot break in your boots in one hour, or even one day. Be patient.
2. While breaking in your boots, do not do any jumps, spins, or other moves that will cause you to do deep knee bending.
3. Take the time to follow the correct break-in procedures and you will have better performance and fit from your new boots.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Since I sit at a desk behind a computer screen, I actually broke them in at work. I wear them for half an hour at a time.

One time I had to go to the printer and I forgot I ha them on. Got some strange looks but that is a whole other story..................

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

I recommend against the wet sock method. It just helps mold grow and will aid to your skates breaking down faster.

It's much better to break them in simply by wearing them. Time and patience are your friends! :-)

After they have aired out, lace them as tightly as possible, tying them at the top. This will help bring in the edges along the tongue.

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Personally, I've always loved new skates .... the best support and always the best spring come from brand new skates ....... sure your feet hurt like hell, but hey, no pain no gain.

My recommendation .... is to bite the bullet and stroke like hell on sessions .... of course, emphasis would be deep deep deep knees ..... if you can do circular stroking, so much the better.

The *best* method I've ever tried is to buy Harlicks! Never had an OUNCE of trouble even from the newest, most concrete Harlicks

The second *best* method for me was given to me by an old coach:

• Lace normally up to the ankle joint
  
• MISS OUT the hole at the ankle
  
• Tie fairly loosely until you get to the top hook, this should be tied but left fairly loose

This allows them to crease at the right place and gives you the support while still allowing you to skate

After a while you gradually start lacing up more tightly (but not too tight!) up the ankle and then, finally, start lacing at the 'ankle' hole again.

I've always found missing the top hook to be really uncomfortable, I skate with all the hooks done up normally so it doesn't feel 'right' not to lace all the way up when I'm breaking them in!

ITA with Vesperholly re the wet socks, btw, I need as much life as possible out of my skates and don't want to do anything that's going to make this even a minute less!

Good luck


x

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The best whisper is a click

While doing this, you can also tie a baseball into the ankle of the boots--helps 'punch out' stiff leather.

My method:

1. Never walk in skating boots unless you have to; the walking movement breaks them down the wrong way.

2. Anytime you are sitting at home for half an hour or so (eg. watching tv/doing homework), put on your boots and any socks/tights you will be wearing, lace them up and just sit in them. The natural warmth and moisture from your feet is enough to break them in. You can also gently practice turnout off-ice to make sure they are OK for mohawks etc. In my experience, about 6 to 10 hours of this (over a week or two) is enough to make them OK to skate in. Don't forget to wear your skateguards!

3. When lacing them up, you can miss out lacing at the "bend", for a week or two, until the laces stretch and the boots settle in. Then "firm" over the foot, "tight" for a couple of hooks just over the bend, then "firm" at the top.

Heat them in the oven at like 250 for 12 minutes I think, and then wear them around the house. My old moves coach told me to do this with my last pair of skates and it really helped.

My girlfriend's boots were hurting her feet so badly (she has flat feet) that her coach finally told her to soak them in a tub of water for 20 minutes and then wear them for 30 minutes.

She had to do this several times to get any type of comfort.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Lots and lots of back crossovers. Skate in the new ones each time you skate, and gradually increase the time until it's the whole session.

I'm breaking in new boots and Thank God for the Bronze MIF test- it's mostly back crossovers!!

Personally, I just put them on my feet and go. The first day the jumps felt a bit off balence and the skates didn't feel totally perfect for a week or two but I found the easiest way is just to forget that you have new skates on and go for it.

That's what I do too...but to help curve the tongue and laces area my coach gave me this tip (because my skates were soo stiff the laces couldn't pull the two sides round the tongue):
Get 2 beer bottles. Put one in each boot, but don't push the all the way down. Keep them so that the "fat" part of the bottle is where the laces are. Tie your laces up as tight as you can. Leave your boots like this for a couple days and the front will be nice and curved

For curving the tongue... I folded (or rather smushed) the tongue in half length-wise and pushed it back into the boot, away from the laces. I store my skates like this. It helped push out the heel area and push in the tongue.

And if your feet still hurt, open both beers and drink...pain will go away.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

You didn't say what kind of skates you purchased. Are they heat moldable? If so, you may have to get them reheated. I just got Jackson Ultimas 3500, and needed two heatings. Also, before I leave for the rink this is what I do: Place a washcloth, dampened and rolled up, into a ziplock bag that is only partially zipped. Nuke in the microwave for a minute or a minute and a half. Remove from the microwave carefully, it will be very hot! Slip this into the skate and close the boot as best you can, don't need to lace it up. Close your skating bag. By the time you get to the rink, the inside will be nice and warm and easier to skate in. Works for me!

I have custom SPTeri's that were a bear. My coach finally ended up pouring boiling water in them before punching them out for the zillionth time. The water didn't hurt them a bit.

In my previous boots I used oven bags (I know this sounds ridiculous). Just put your foot in an oven bag, then into the boot, and skate. No blisters, and your feet heat up in the oven bags and it works somewhat like heat molding.

Be sure you don't lace them all of the way to the top initially.

This is what the SPTeri website recommends:

"3. What is the right way to break-in my new skating boots?

By far the best way to break-in new boots is to skate in them. First, start by spending a session or two just stroking forward, stroking backward and doing simple spinning. When the boots feel comfortable, add the basic jumps you can land consistently.

You may find that when the boots are new, you may have to relace the boots during the session to allow the lace to stretch, leather stretching and foam tongues compression. The top hooks should be left unlaced until you feel you need more support for jumps. Lacing the top hooks at the beginning may cause shin splints, tendentious and bursitis or may cause the heel of the boot to separate. In addition, if you lace the boot to the top and do not bend properly, the crease may develop at the ankle, but down below the lower instep area.

When you try to break-in boots by walking in them or wearing them while watching television, you do not get the crease in the right place. Walking in skates results in a walking gait, a heel strike and then transferring weight to the ball and then pushing off the first toe. This is not the same action as stroking. Walking gait will cause the creasing to develop forward of the instep."



Good luck!

I know this might not be as effective as all the others, but the way i broke in my skates was to do slaloms, everytime i was on the ice.
It worked eventually.