Hello, this thread I will use to ask questinos about skating, rather than making a new thread each time. Anyone else feel free to ask questions too..

1) How many hours do you skate aweek? I am probably doing over 8 hours a week, is this a lot?

2) At the start of every session do your feet hurt for the first half hour, as mine always do, and is there a way to prevent this?

3) I don't know if my blades are too sharp, I was takling to a hockey skater and his blades were a lot blunter, which was why he could do hockey stops a lot better/easier

4) Backward crossovers I can do them now except I am not going as fast as my backward stroke. Why is this? I seem to be able to get power on the outside leg, but the inside leg I think is letting me down, and as well as this there is always the odd scratching etc from not doing it well...

5) Lastly, I keep falling on the right knee and it never heals, and today I fell on it mighty hard and it hurts to lift it up or lean on it. It doesn't actually hinder my skating very much, only when I am crouching down or leaning on it, should I just carry on, because this right knee i am worried will always be injured if i keep on skating.

6) Shoo tthe duck one legged, I know i got th ebalance but im just not damn flexible enough, i tried leg exercises but my actual flexibility hasn't increased in a month

thanks!

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starting at 28

Sometimes it's actually better if you start a new thread for different topics, especially if you're asking for help with a particular move--that way the replies that can help anyone who's having trouble, won't get lost among all the other replies.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

1) How many hours do you skate aweek? I am probably doing over 8 hours a week, is this a lot?
** Only if you're tired and find your performance is suffering (or your joints are hurting).

2) At the start of every session do your feet hurt for the first half hour, as mine always do, and is there a way to prevent this?
** Mine only cramp up when I try to warm up to fast. Try warming up more gradually and also make sure you lace your skates tight in the toes and ankle, but a little looser through the instep so it doesn't cut off your circulation or make your arch cramp.

3) I don't know if my blades are too sharp, I was takling to a hockey skater and his blades were a lot blunter, which was why he could do hockey stops a lot better/easier.
**Nobody here will be able to tell if your blades are too sharp without feeling them, and you can't compare your blades with hockey blades because the blades are shaped very differently and meant to do different things. Also, if you'd practiced hockey stops as much as he has, you'd be able to do them too! (I'm landing doubles and still can't do a hockey stop, but who needs to?).

4) Backward crossovers I can do them now except I am not going as fast as my backward stroke. Why is this? I seem to be able to get power on the outside leg, but the inside leg I think is letting me down, and as well as this there is always the odd scratching etc from not doing it well...
** After the crossover, keep your butt low and knees deeply bent, and your back shoulder pulled back and lifted high. Now reach way into the circle with your inside foot, grab the ice with it and pull, keeping your upper body leaned slightly outside the circle for balance. Try to make that inside leg pulling movement just as powerful as the push you get with the outside (crossing over) leg.

5) Lastly, I keep falling on the right knee and it never heals, and today I fell on it mighty hard and it hurts to lift it up or lean on it. It doesn't actually hinder my skating very much, only when I am crouching down or leaning on it, should I just carry on, because this right knee i am worried will always be injured if i keep on skating.
** Are you wearing a nice thick knee pad on that knee to protect it? You should wear one until it is healed. What are you doing when you end up falling on that knee? Are you catching your right toepick and falling while skating forward or are you falling while trying to to a turn?

6) Shoo tthe duck one legged, I know i got th ebalance but im just not damn flexible enough, i tried leg exercises but my actual flexibility hasn't increased in a month
**Flexibility comes from stretching, not exercising, and the only flexibility this should require is in your calves. Before and after skating, do calf stretches. I like to stand on the stairs (holding the rail) on the ball of my foot with my heel hanging down below the step, then push my heel down as far as possible while straightinging my knee. Hold for 30 seconds.

It's because you've only been skating for A MONTH!!

Seriously, this sport takes TIME and PRACTICE. You don't get better instantly.

I think you're expecting too much of yourself, and too much of the sport. Slow down and take it easy.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

hi, thanks for the replies. I wear knee pads, they prevent bruises but the pressure from the falls still make an old healing injury worse

I fell initially from toe pick trip, but I never trip over them any more. Today I did it while turning and landed pretty hard on it. bending down in a squat hurts it, as does lifting it up. A pain it is!

I suppose maybe I am trying to progress too quickly, but thats what I am always like with anything!

I go 4 times a week roughly 2 hours each time, but yes it is very tiring (I often go right before work and not stop off at home), but i love it.

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new question..

I thought my boots fit very well when I first bought them, but after a months use I notice the front of the foot is kind of a little big now? There should be room to wiggle your toes right? But thatis not supposed to apply to wiggling sideways, and I can do that by 1/2cm or something other than that the rest of the boot is a ok

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starting at 28

What level are you? It could be that your body is not used to the rigors of skating 8hrs/week. At a certain point, more ice time hurts rather than helps - you can get so fatigued that you don't practice correctly, or worse, fall very badly and hurt yourself seriously.

Skating is all about time - and I mean extended periods, not frequency. If I stopped skating for two months and then came back and skated 3 hours a day for a week, I would be worse off than if I had skated all that time, but 4 hours a week every week.

From reading your posts, it sounds like you're a beginner. You probably only need 2 or 3 hours a week. If you use your time wisely, it will be just as worthwhile as 8 hours. You sound like you want to hurry up and improve (I know the feeling!!) but you could really hurt yourself. Tone down the intensity and you can still get good results.

For the most part I skate 3 hours a week, occasionally 5... so yes, in regards to my schedule you skate a lot but in comparison to others I know it's not much at all as they skate that much in 2 days.

No, never and since they don't I really can't offer you any help in how to prevent this... though my guess would be that maybe your skates don't fit properly.

Freshly sharpened blades always give me trouble with the first few stops but after that they're fine... your's should be the same or atleast similar... are you sure it's not the technique that's the problem?

Practice, practice, practice... bent your legs properly and 'pump' with both of them not just the outside leg, the propelling motion should come from bith equally. Have your coach look at your technique and correct it.

Have you seen a doctor to have it checked out?
Personally I wouldn't get back on the ice without making sure that the knee isn't injured... if it is, let it heal completely before skating again. And since you do seem to fall on it all the time wear good knee pads to protect it from further injury in the future.

How old are you?
I found it funny to see how many teens and young women are actually less flexible than me at 40 and just can't get a shoot-the-duck done.
How do you get into the shoot-the-duck position?
I first squat down so my butt is almost resting on my heals and then I grab the blade of my free leg and stretch it out from under me... maybe that would help.

I strugle with this, but more when doing a sit spin, is it really a question of your flexability or more to do with actual leg strength?

Personaly I just can't see how you need to have flexability to do this
I know I can get in to the position but my thighs just arn't strong enough to get me as low down as I need to be or hold me there for any period of time.

Just a thought.

Sit spins and shoot the ducks are about quad strength, not flexibility

1) How many hours do you skate aweek? I am probably doing over 8 hours a week, is this a lot?
Not necessarily - it depends on you. I skated 30-40 hours per week last summer.

2) At the start of every session do your feet hurt for the first half hour, as mine always do, and is there a way to prevent this?
No, but everyone's feet are different. See what I have to say about custom boots below.

3) I don't know if my blades are too sharp, I was takling to a hockey skater and his blades were a lot blunter, which was why he could do hockey stops a lot better/easier
They don't compare. Hockey blades have a much flatter rocker (generally around 11' compared to figure skates' 7' or 8'), and are curved on both ends. Doing hockey stops on figure skates is not only more difficult, but it's useless and ugly in my opinion. The snowplow stop is what you will likely learn first, then a T-stop. I do one-footed stops but still cannot do (and don't really care to do) hockey stops.

4) Backward crossovers I can do them now except I am not going as fast as my backward stroke. Why is this? I seem to be able to get power on the outside leg, but the inside leg I think is letting me down, and as well as this there is always the odd scratching etc from not doing it well...
Step evenly - make sure you spend the same amount of time on each foot. Count it out and make it consistant. Keep your torso level and not bobbing up and down - only your legs should move. Push off both feet, not just one. Toepicks should never touch the ice, put weight more towards the heel wherever in the process that's happening and you'll find that that gives you more power too. Crossovers are something that you'll learn continually...so establish good habits early.

5) Lastly, I keep falling on the right knee and it never heals, and today I fell on it mighty hard and it hurts to lift it up or lean on it. It doesn't actually hinder my skating very much, only when I am crouching down or leaning on it, should I just carry on, because this right knee i am worried will always be injured if i keep on skating.
I've fallen on my knee 2 or 3 times ever, and say the same thing to everyone - straighten your legs when you fall. It's better to come down harder on your hip or butt or back or chest (but keep your head up!), which can take a lot more impact, than to break your fall with your knee (or wrists or elbows for that matter). Remember that falling on ice is different from falling on land - if you land on one of the aforementioned good areas to land on with any amount of sideways motion, most of the impact will be dissipated by you sliding across the ice anyways.

6) Shoot the duck one legged, I know i got the balance but im just not damn flexible enough, i tried leg exercises but my actual flexibility hasn't increased in a month
Those are more about strength than anything. Do them off-ice, you can practice by holding onto a desk or doorknob or something if you need to but if your balance is good you should be able to do them without it. Start with two-legged squats where you just sit almost to the floor with both feet under you and leaning forward so that your behind is not actually touching the floor. Sit into that and stand from it 5 or 10 times or so, then try it one-footed on each foot. Do a few more each day. Don't do what I did and decide to do 40 or 50 your first day at it and then be sore for a week.

As for flexibility - most people do not hold stretches anywhere near long enough. You need to hold each stretch for about a minute after you've warmed the muscles up, not just a couple seconds. And you have to do them often. After skating is a great time to stretch because your muscles are warmed up well at that point. Gentle stretching before skating is also good for preventing muscle strain when skating, but it's the after warmup stretching where you'll gain flexibility. If you don't stretch right after skating, then do some exercises around the house or gym or whatever first before stretching.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

1) How many hours do you skate aweek? I am probably doing over 8 hours a week, is this a lot?
At your level, yes. I do about 6-7 hours a week, probably nearer six hours, over four sessions, and don't have the energy to do more.

2) At the start of every session do your feet hurt for the first half hour, as mine always do, and is there a way to prevent this?
I get cramp sometimes but skate out of it, usually. Don't forget your boots are fairly new still. Might be worth not lacing them quite so tightly over your foot, then pulling them tight at the ankle.

3) I don't know if my blades are too sharp, I was takling to a hockey skater and his blades were a lot blunter, which was why he could do hockey stops a lot better/easier
Hockey blades are very different to free skating blades, although, of course, the basic skills required are similar. So they need a different sort of sharpening.

4) Backward crossovers I can do them now except I am not going as fast as my backward stroke. Why is this? I seem to be able to get power on the outside leg, but the inside leg I think is letting me down, and as well as this there is always the odd scratching etc from not doing it well..
That usually means your weight is in the wrong place. Without seeing you, obviously, it's not possible to tell what you're doing wrong, so get your teacher to have a look. But you're probably leaning too far forward. Think of pressing your leading hand on to the ice.

5) Lastly, I keep falling on the right knee and it never heals, and today I fell on it mighty hard and it hurts to lift it up or lean on it. It doesn't actually hinder my skating very much, only when I am crouching down or leaning on it, should I just carry on, because this right knee i am worried will always be injured if i keep on skating
Knee pads. Rest. Live with it? To quote an acquaintance of mine: "Of course I hurt, I'm a skater - it's what I do!"

6) Shoot the duck one legged, I know i got th ebalance but im just not damn flexible enough, i tried leg exercises but my actual flexibility hasn't increased in a month
Incidentally, it's called a "teapot" here. Not everybody can do them - my coach can't, never has been able to. The problem, most people find, isn't going down - it's getting up again!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I suppose maybe I am trying to progress too quickly, but thats what I am always like with anything!

Well, you're not the only one...I'm sure you know better but don't care. That's me in a nutshell. ;-)

I thought my boots fit very well when I first bought them, but after a months use I notice the front of the foot is kind of a little big now? There should be room to wiggle your toes right? But thatis not supposed to apply to wiggling sideways, and I can do that by 1/2cm or something other than that the rest of the boot is a ok

There's a sad fact I learned a long time ago - most people do not have "average" feet by any means, and very few fit well into a stock boot. A custom-fitted boot on the other hand is made to your feet and is a lot more reliable. As a much better skater told me long ago, put money into the boot before the blade - a well fitting boot will last for years and years (I didn't listen well to the not spending too much on the blade part though, lol). Also, a custom boot (at least from Klingbeil who I recommend but I assume it's the same for other brands) can be sent in to have another layer of leather added when you get to a level where you need more support. I spent a year in expensive stock boots that caused feet injury and pain from the poor fit, and cannot express enough how important it is to get a properly-fitted boot.

This is not to say that a stock boot absolutely won't work for you, but if your foot is moving around in it that's a really bad sign and could lead to foot problems over time - it sounds like the toebox of the boot is too wide for your feet. In my case the toebox was too narrow, and the heel too wide, and the boot too long to compensate for the narrow toebox. This meant that my feet would shift forward and back, and I'd get callouses the tops of a couple of my toes. I also ended up having to wear ankle gel sleeves just to endure wearing them at all, and heel gel pads to stop the bumps that it made on my heels from growing more. Other skaters have permanent foot injuries or things that required surgery and a lot of time off ice to correct.

Your feet should not really be able to move at all - wiggling your toes is an entirely different matter than shifting your foot around. Any ability to move your feet within your skates means inconsistancy in your skating, possibly more falls, etc. because you never know exactly where the blade is in relation to your foot. The fact that you have pain for the first 30 minutes every time you skate also concerns me.

Ask around the good skaters at freestyle sessions at your rink and other nearby rinks, even if you're not skating them yet, and see who they went to for their skates, ask if they were custom fitted, etc. You should be able to make a reasonable judgement about who the best person to go to is. Finding a good fitter/sharpener is important, I learned that one the hard way. The best fitter is not necessarily the one at your rink, and may not even be in your city so you might have to drive a couple hours to see them. But it's worth it. Even one of your blades being mounted slightly wrong can make the difference between being able to do a spin or not at all (my right blade was mounted slightly too far to the outside on my old skates, and I could never do backspins, but I could the first day out in my new ones).

I would recommend that you at least talk to the best fitter you can find and have them look at your feet and your current boots (which shouldn't cost you much if anything) to see if they identify any major issues with your current skate fit. There are things they can do to make your current skates work better if you can't afford custom boots right now, like adding in layers to the sides of the toebox to make them fit you better, punching out areas that hurt your feet, etc., so it's worth looking into for the sake of your feet even if you don't want/need custom boots right now.

I also read in another thread that your ankles were sore all the time - this should not be the case...I'm betting your boots don't have enough padding to keep your ankles snug. I dealt with this in my old skates using Bunga ankle gel sleeves, so that's another thing you might consider if you stick with your current boots.

Best wishes,

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Hello, thank you all for the replies, they were very detailed and helpful, I will take note of it all!

In regards to crossovers, yes by inside leg doesn't spend a lot of time pushing I have to learn to even it out to create even speed.

And goodness knows how you do one foot stops! Can you do hocky stops from a fast speed? I cannot, I prefer the other two methods of stopping.

In regards to custom boots, I am certain that in my city you cannot get them anywhere (which is surprising as its population is 250 000+ with a hockey rink), the only place I could get figure skates was in the rink shop, and they don't even sharpen the boots. There is only one place in my city who sharpens boots, goodness knows what'll happen if he stops!

Yeh falling down is a problem, I always fall on the knees, I must learn to fall better

I love to skate simple as that, I think about it a lot actually

Thanks again everyone!

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starting at 28

If you keep falling on your right side, focus on keeping your shoulders level. You are probably dropping your right shoulder whenever you do what you're doing. I'd say half of all skating falls are due to skaters not focusing on keeping their shoulders level (and I know from experience, LOL!)

You would only be able to get custom skates here if you went to the manufacturers, and I don't think any skates are made in Bristol! The thing to do, when you are a little more advanced, is to go to a trained fitter (probably your nearest one is about 75 miles away up the M4, near Reading!), and they will be able to advise you.

Your present boots will probably do for now - get your coach to show you how to lace them correctly, and you'll probably find they fit you better than you think they do! They always take awhile to settle in at first, the laces have a certain amount of "give" in them that needs to settle down, and, of course, your skates and your feet are still getting used to each other.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I've just come back from the evening session... My clockwise backward crosses are much better, but the anti-clockwise ones are terrible! I learned that I need the right balance/lean into the curve so I can get power from both legs, but on the anti clockwise I can't seem to get it right, whereas on the clockwise the lean I do feels natural.

Its a real pain in the arse and its put me in a downer! I am going to go again tomorrow morning, I just need to sort his

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starting at 28

Don't feel bad....we have all been there (some of us are still there) where one direction is good while the other one sucks...just keep working at it and soon that bad directions will look really good!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Too true! I worked so hard on my bad side (CW) that it became my good side!

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1)i did my first waltz jumps clockwise today, do I need to learn the other way around on the other foot?

2)I have a major problem, that i get dizzy very easily, one rotation in a jump (off ice) in is enough to make me feel ill, its a real problem. Spins is the same thing, I cannot spin very fast or I feel terrible

3)If I can do the waltz one way, what jump do I learn next?

4) Forward three turns, outside on both legs I can do it fine, but inside I seem to turn with the toepick rather than the 'sweet spot', is this really bad?

5) backward stops, I can't do it, I try to use a plow type thing but it ends up cathing the toe pick.

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starting at 28

My spies tell me that that particular session was very crowded, and it isn't easy to work on things on crowded ice.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Do you have a coach or are you in a class? These are questions your instructor should be answering, since we can't see you doing these elements and therefore don't know exactly what you're doing wrong.
You don't need to learn the waltz jump the other way. The next jump you should learn would be the salchow.
It's normal to get dizzy at first, but your body gets used to the rotation. That's one reason we always spin and jump the same direction, so our bodies are used to rotating that way and we get less dizzy.
No, you should not be turning on your toepick on your forward inside 3-turns. Try pushing out to the right on the entrance to your right fwd inside 3, and pushing out to the left on the entrance to your left fwd inside 3. Also, you need to keep your knee deeply bent the whole time, lifting just a little as you execute the turn. If you are up on your toe, you are probably trying to do them on a straight leg, which won't work.

hello

Turning is a problem for me, it seems to be the main contributor to me falling. I fell three times yesterday from trying to turn, the thought of turning with a lot of speed scares the hell out of me. ANy tips?

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starting at 28

Something that helped me was to twist my upper body and ride the inside edge making a smaller & smaller arc. Don't think about doing a 3-turn at all, just concentrate on the smallest arc you can make. This will lead you right up to finding the sweet spot and the right timing.

You may have to practice the tight arcs over several days before it all clicks, but it should help.

What kind of turn? Just a typical sharp turn? If so, then a tip is to practice getting very used to being on your outside edge of the inside skate. So ...if you turn left, you must get used to riding on the outside edge of the left skate. Most of the weight should be on the left skate. The sharper you turn, the bigger the angler your skate blade will make relative to the vertical position. ....... like...

\ <-- (left skate blade as you're turning sharply).

And remember, you don't have to be travelling fast when practising sharp turns. Travelling slowly is just fine, and if you're good at 1 foot glides and good at balancing on 1 foot, then it's possible to do quite sharp turns at slow speed on 1 foot - once you're good at riding on outside edge that is. It's not always necessary to bend the knee, but it does help a lot when learning, since you can get a bit more stable maybe if your centre of gravity is lower to the ground.

If you're talking about 3 turns, it's about staying well balanced on 1 foot, and a combination of things like transferring weight towards the front portion of the skate (the toe portion) just momentarily before you rotate your upper torso. It's the upper body rotation or something that gives you enough angular momentum to do the turn. Like, you don't physically guide your skate with your foot to do this one. The transfer of the weight to the toe of your skate can be very subtle when you're good at this move, but for the newbie, you can exaggerate it at first, but remembering to bend the knee downwards and then unbend the knee to spring up again. This let's your blade rock up toward the front part of the blade, where it can pivot (rotate). You only do the body twist stuff after you've removed the weight from the rear part of your skate.

Oh yeah...and don't spring up so much as to get caught up on the toe pick.....because that could be nasty.

Actually there's a whole bunch of 3 turns, not just 1 style.

Practice, practice and more practice - turns are not easy to learn! If you watched the competition on Sunday afternoon (did you?), you will have seen some even quite experienced skaters slow down slightly before a turn, even when they weren't meant to!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!