how to lace skates

Apparently my skates weren't laced properly so I have searched high and low to find this video which is actually really helpful.  As far as I can tell though, it's entirely personal preference as long as they give you good support!

http://youtu.be/lyNVjUp7F_E

More skating exercises

I really want to improve my balance and strength etc, I am tending to twist to my right and have less strength and confidence with the left hand side of my body SO I am going to try and incorporate some of these into my exercises:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0R-7mKu3ZE&feature=endscreen


Ohhh I haven't got time to check these out fully but this looks helpful!

http://www.sk8strong.com/articles.html

Maiden voyage of the new skates!

Ok, happy Friday bloggers!!  My new skates have finally had their first outting at Altrincham ice rink !  What an amazing skate hehe. The skates were great apart from the cramp I had in the arch of my foot but that started to go after about an hour and a half.  Matt and I practised doing the turns and cool step which we shall call the fish !  It felt much easier to glide on these skates as opposed to the rentals and I felt a definite improvement from last time, especially considering I've not skated since that first lesson a month or so ago!  I have booked another lesson for Monday at 10am with Jane Dawson.  Bit excited right now !!


Oh we also sat on the ice and then got up which helped me with my falling over fears!  and what's more some people told us we looked professional and were shocked when I said we only had two go's so far !


Videos for your viewing pleasure for now, more to come!

strengthening ankles for skating

I have decided that it's my ankles that are the weaker part so I have found this article, and will look for more to help strengthen ankles for skating.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/424647-how-to-strengthen-ankles-for-skating/

My kit!

Here are my skates, the gel wraps that are a god send even for just standing up, the bag and the microfiber cloth.  I got the cloth from the supermarket making sure that it was really absorbent.

The only thing I don't have so far are the soakies.  I've found out that it's better to store my boots with the soakies on the blades to draw out any moisture that will make them rust.  The guards (which are the spring guards) are just for walking in.

I am taking my skates back to notts to get sharpened next week as its important to get it right otherwise this could cause my blades to not behave as well as they should lol!

I am going to keep wearing my boots at home so that my feet 'heat mold' them and see how I go on when I skate on the 4th with matt ! Should be fun ! Then after that I must book some lessons :):):)

skating accessories

I have just found the most hilarious skating accessory known to man, that I probably will want after a while ...


http://figureskates.discountskatewear.com/p-1907-bumsaver.aspx


This looks interesting tho!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3bXAL-U72sw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Taking care of skates

OK, now to find out how to keep my skates in good condition!  Also going to be looking at how to keep feet happy, IE foot cream and massage and that...

Article 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_3845628036?sb=1