Adult Figure Skating

good skates will not make you a good skater, but bad skates are almost guaranteed to keep you from becoming a good skater.

Still think you need the heavy-duty boots?  Read on: ultra-stiff boots can cause skin problems, cysts, bone spurs, ankle injuries, tendonitis, knee problems, hip problems, muscle atrophy, etc.  If you buy boots like this as a beginner, you may never learn to skate properly simply because you have to be incredibly strong to get the boots to bend, which is what you must do so you utilize the entire blade, but stay off your picks.   Since most adult skaters have knee-bending issues throughout our careers -- we tend not to bend our knees enough and our ankles at all -- a too-stiff pair of boots will only reinforce bad habits.  

Custom Boots 

Also avoid custom boots, because they are extremely expensive and you do not know what your custom needs are right now -- unless, of course, you have specific instructions from a health care professional (or a very unusual foot).  Even then, if a professional suggests orthotics for you, I’ve heard more than once that the orthotics that are built into custom boots are often inferior to the ones available from vendors specializing in orthotics and orthopedic shoes. It’s probably better to buy a pair of orthotics from a specialty shop and just slip them into your stock boots.  Be sure to bring your orthotics along when you go to the shop for a fitting, though, because even a thin orthotic can cause discomfort if the fit of the boot does not allow for it.

All in all, custom boots seem to be a waste of time for a beginner with average feet, unless you have your heart set on blue suede or whatever.  In that case, go for it.

Keep this in mind during your fitting:

Regardless of their stiffness, expect new boots to hurt.  If they hurt too much and you can't find a pair that don't hurt, and you're sure the fit is correct, have the boots punched out or stretched at painful points. 

But remember that good figure skates always hurt a bit, especially at first.  The very first time you slip a pair of good boots on, I can almost guarantee that you will feel like you have cement blocks on your feet and that you’ll never be able to bend your ankles or knees like I’m telling you to do.  Your ankles may even be in an uproar and you may have tears in your eyes.  Just muster all your strength and give those nasty boots the deepest knee and ankle bend you can.  If you absolutely can’t bend them, then the boot is too much for you and you should ask for the next lower model -- as long as that isn’t the one with the blades bolted on.  (If you find that the pair with the blades bolted on is the ONLY pair you can bend, work on your leg strength and shop for boots again in a few months.)

Yikes!   Baby Booties!

On the other hand, if you can bend skating boots as easily as baby booties (this is bad; there should be some resistance), and they feel great (new figure skates never really do), they are probably too soft.   Yes, your boots can be too soft.  Once upon a time, when skaters spent most of their days doing the ankle-building tracings called figures -- and relatively little time jumping -- soft boots were the norm.  Nowadays, virtually all boots, even many of those meant for recreational skaters, are stiffer than Great-Grandma’s – although this does not mean you will never find soft boots in the store.  For the serious skater of today, soft boots are useless and may even cause injuries.  However, if you want to spend your first couple of months in class in Great-Grandma’s glove-leather, nearly knee-high lace-ups, and the blades are sharpened and the boots fit you closely, and you don’t have issues with your ankles, then it is okay – for a few months.  The moment your feet leave the ice for your first bunny hop or waltz jump, however, your Great-Grandma’s need to go back into the attic.

Blades.  
I'm not very conversant in the more technical aspects of bladelore.  For that kind of information, look at this site: http://vesc.ca/blades.htm.  This site gives very good descriptions of how blades are made and what the terms "radius" and "rocker" refer to; however, I'd stop short of blindly accepting the author's opinion that beginners need blades with huge rockers.  Personally I believe that most beginners would spend so much time sitting on the ice due to rocker-y blades that they would get frustrated with the sport and take up jogging on dry land instead.

What I will present here are my conclusions based on personal experience, and the advice I've been given through the years.

I've been told that the general rule for adults is to get the best blades you can afford, but do not buy “K-picks”  which are for advanced jumpers.  The new parabolic blades may be an okay choice, although they, too, are more expensive and there is much argument about whether they are any different than regular blades.  The trouble with "the best blade you can afford" is that the cost of some blades will eat up a couple of months' worth of groceries in some households.  Add this to the cost of even modestly-priced boots, and it can rob your kids of presents for the holidays. 

But there is a happy medium.  A safe general rule is to avoid anything that is meant for “recreational” or “beginner.”  If there is no designation, assume that the cheapest blades on display are the ones you don’t want.  After all, there's a reason they're cheap.  Your skills may outgrow these beginner blades in 6 months.   How can this happen?  Well, I have a limited understanding of blades, but I assume it’s because the picks on "beginner blades" are too dainty (yes, that big awful pick you keep tripping over right now can actually get to be too small once you start to progress), and the materials used in creating the blade are probably not as good. 

As an adult skater, you want blades to last far longer than 6 months before they start frustrating you.   Three to five years is a good average lifespan for many adults' blades (the more you skate, the shorter the life of the blade), so you can see why it’s not worth buying “beginner” blades:  you are not going to be a beginner for three to five years!

Two brands of blades are widely available: Wilson and M-K, which are made in the U.K. by the same company.  Sometimes a vendor will have a third manufacturer’s blades on hand; in the U.S. and Canada, this is usually Jackson’s Ultima line.  Ultimas tend to be less expensive and are manufactured with the aid of computers, and so are supposed to be more accurately produced than the English blades.  They have also created an interesting blade with a runner that can be replaced (and three different styles of replacement runners), limiting the need to plug old holes in the soles of your boots.  Some top skaters love Jackson Ultima blades.

Right from the start of their skating careers, many adults prefer the M-K Professional blade, or the Wilson Coronation Ace or Coronation Comet blade. All of these are very similar; there's just a difference in radius between the models.  As I said, I still don't entirely understand the concept of radius (your blade dealer will know about this and be able to explain its impact on your skating); I think it has something to do with how big of a circle the blade will draw...never mind.  All I know is that I can't skate very well on a blade with an 8' radius (apparently the opposite is true of most skaters).  Most Wilson blades -- except for the Coronation Ace with its 7' radius -- have an 8' or greater radius, as do all of the Jackson Ultima blades.  All of M-K's blades have a 7' radius, which is why I chose the Professional as my first serious blade; I also tried the Coronation Ace at one point and found it not very different, if at all different, from the Professional.  Regardless of that, all three of these blades are good, reliable freestyle blades; even so, beware the K-picks because these models come in an optional K-pick design.  None of these blades can be described as "cheap," but they are certainly inexpensive compared to some of the more advanced blade models.  However, many adults start with more advanced blades such as M-K Phantom or Wilson Pattern 99, and never leave them.  Pattern 99 in particular seems to be very, very popular.  I currently have a blade that I have been told is nothing other than a less-expensive version of the Phantom; it's called the M-K Vision.  It has larger toe-picks and more of a "bump" at the ball of the foot than the Professionals I previously had.  These blades took a bit of getting used to, but now I love them.  So again, everyone is different.

In the years since I first wrote this essay, several new blade manufacturers have appeared.  I don’t know anything about their products at all.  All I can say is, if you really have no idea what you want, I’d stick with the old-standby M-K Professional, or Wilson Coronation Ace or Coronation Comet at this point, or else, if you are in the U.S. or Canada, look into Ultimas. With any of these blades I can almost guarantee happiness for the first few years of skating.

DON’T FILE YOUR PICKS OFF.  Yes, I’ve met skaters who have done this.  Of course you are tripping over your picks right now; if you’re a beginner, that’s what they’re for.  They are also handy emergency brakes, but don’t tell your coach I said so.

The point is, you are going to learn to stay off your picks very soon (HINT: BEND THOSE KNEES AND ANKLES and PRESS DOWN ON YOUR HEEL as you begin your glide).  Then you are going to learn skills that require the use of picks.  Many jumps require some use of the pick (this is why the first tooth at the top of the pick is sometimes bigger than the others); dabs at the pick are also used in turns, which are used for spinning and jumping (this is why the last tooth on the pick is also sometimes bigger than the others). 

Picks are a small but essential part of figure skating.  Don’t waste all that money you spent by irreparably damaging your blades for a false sense of security right now.

It is important, and will become more important as you progress, to have your blades sharpened regularly.  Some skaters do this every 30 skating hours.  I judge the condition of the blades by gently running a thumbnail over the edges.  If a small portion of outer nail surface is scraped away, I don’t need a sharpening yet – unless I can feel a dull surface before I feel the bite of a sharp edge.  But don’t worry about that.  Just time it to “every thirty hours” at first, and be faithful about it. 

I’ve known adults who have tried to convince themselves (and others) that they did not need to have their blades sharpened at all, ever.  One even told me that blade sharpening ruined the shape of the blades (which it does, eventually) and was a waste of money (which it isn’t).  I think it’s significant to note that the “blade experts” who used to hand out this kind of advice to me and others back when I started have long since left the sport.  Could it have been because of their blades?

The fact is that skating is about edges.  Speed, fluency and control are attained through the use of edges.  “Beautiful skating on edges,” as one famous Russian coach calls it, is attained -- of course -- only with the use of edges.  Most importantly to the beginner, one can achieve safety with edges. Smooth stopping is attained with edges (my remark about toe picks being emergency brakes was a joke ).  If you feel you’re losing control, go for an edge and glide on it.  It will return you to a sense of calm rather than panicking, going for the abrupt halt of the toe pick (or your butt, or worse, your arm or someplace else), and possibly getting hurt. 

The point is, if you don’t have nice, sharp blades, you won’t be able to use your edges.  Edges are everything.  Therefore, sharpening is important.

HAVE YOUR BLADE SHARPENINGS DONE BY A PROFESSIONAL.  I can’t stress this enough.  You CANNOT do it yourself.  A skating blade is a true work of art – and a finicky one.  Sharpening a skating blade, with all its subtle surfaces and angles, is a skill that requires years to perfect.  Moreover, if your blades are sharpened badly, you can end up badly hurt.

Baby your blades.  Wear rubber blade guards when walking around off the ice.  (Yes, you will see lots of kids and coaches wandering around without them, but this is risky behavior and can shorten the life of a blade.)  You will prolong the life of your blades and sharpenings by using guards and also by drying your blades thoroughly with a towel, or better yet, a chamois, after skating.  Most blades rust, so it is essential to get them as dry as possible as fast as possible after skating -- particularly if you live in a humid climate.  When thoroughly dry, blades should be stored in cushy blade covers or at the very least wrapped in a soft towel.

Still More: Lace your boots tightly at the ankle, but somewhat less tightly further up than that because very tight laces there will inhibit ankle and knee bending.  It’s up to you how tightly you want them laced over the foot; some skaters insist that you shouldn’t lace tightly over the instep and others insist you should.  Experiment.  Just never leave your laces completely loose because you run the risk of injury.  With properly laced boots, you should have a strong sense that your blade is an extension of your foot and you should be aware of everything happening with the blade.  There should be no wobbling within the boot.

Invest in gel sleeves or moleskin.  Even middle-of-the-line boots can tear the skin on your ankles, and I’ve found that gel sleeves are the only way to prevent this; apparently moleskin works as well, but I have not tried it.  Socks will not help, and you don’t want such a silly injury to cut into your enjoyment and keep you off the ice.  On the other hand, you can use too many gel sleeves and throw your balance off.  Never place gel sleeves on the bottoms of your feet.  Only wear one gel sleeve or patch per foot if you can, and never layer a gel sleeve/patch on top of another gel sleeve/patch.

Do not wear heavy socks under your boots.  They won’t keep you warm (if you have icicle toes, invest in thermal boot covers), and if the boots are fitted well, you won’t be able to do it, anyway.  If you can wear big woolies under your boots, take the boots back.  They do not fit correctly.  There should be just enough room in your boots for your feet, a thin pair of socks, wafer-thin orthotics if needed, and perhaps gel sleeves or pads.  That’s it --and that’s far less than it sounds like.  Thick socks can shift around, which can cause potentially nasty control problems even if you have the sensation that your foot is being held motionless in the boot. 

As a beginner, you may want to invest in knee pads.  This is because you can expect to trip over your picks a bit at first.  Always wear gloves for the same reason.  If you are really not feeling confident, wearing a helmet is fine.  Serious head injuries are rare in skating, but if you feel a risk, address it.  (And hey – hockey skaters wear helmets and they usually have nothing in their heads to protect!)

If you think you can get around all of the boot/blade issues by buying hockey skates, you are mistaken.  Yes, I’ve seen people, (mainly talented children), do figure skating successfully in hockey skates.  No, you will probably not be able to do that.  That does not mean you are not talented, it just means that you grew up.