Are skates suppose to feel floppy when standing?

[Northshoremb 0]

Ive always my whole life taped my skates up around top of tongue around back of Tendon guard. So all you semi pro, college, university skaters when your standing up straight in the locker room do your skates feel like you can roll side to while standing or do they feel pretty supported and stand up straight with no wobble? I tried going loose yesterday and in the locker room it felt so wobbly but on ice didnt feel tbat bad. Just wanted to see how most of you fuys do it

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

No - that does not happen. Sounds like you really need to work on your ankle strength and make sure you have properly fitted skates. I'd venture to guess that you are wearing skates that are way too big for you - or just plain terrible.

[JaniV 9]

dkmiller is right!

I have pretty weak ankels and I can skate without lacing my skates. Not fullspeed but still.

You need a stiffer boot or new ankles.. :D

[flip12 699]

Even among the skaters that used to tape their tendon guards, the best ones (Fedorov, Bure, Zhitnik, Malakhov, etc.) employed that kind of ankle roll in their stride. If you don't do it at your ankle you have to do it at your knee, because you need an acute angle to push against the ice, and most of the skaters that do it at their knee miss at least a bit of ice on each stride. No one demonstrated this more extremely than Bobby Orr. My theory on why those guys even ankle or tendon guard taped at all isn't as much to improve ankle stability side to side as front to back to eliminate slop in the boot when flexed forward.

[JaniV 9]

Little offtopic. So sorry about that.

I skate with tongue in. All eylets laced and with a stiff boot.

I tried to tape my ankles for one game. Just of laugh and for Bobby Orr Tribute.

At the evening after game I realised that I had an major stresspain on my knees. So tapin made a big difference to the way my feet worked. My knees did all the bendin.

And do I even have to mention. I was much slower on ice than normal.

[flip12 699]

But if you look closely on the stronger skaters that do/did tape, they have ample ankle mobility. You're not doing the same thing if you lock your foot in with your lacing and lock your ankle in with tape. Just look at Orr skating in slow motion and you see how on each stride his ankle's rotated and his lower leg is flexing, doing a lot of work. If you look at that picture in my above post again, you can even see how he doesn't even lace the top two or three eyelets, back '70's era Tacks, no less.

[JaniV 9]

But if you look closely on the stronger skaters that do/did tape, they have ample ankle mobility. You're not doing the same thing if you lock your foot in with your lacing and lock your ankle in with tape. Just look at Orr skating in slow motion and you see how on each stride his ankle's rotated and his lower leg is flexing, doing a lot of work. If you look at that picture in my above post again, you can even see how he doesn't even lace the top two or three eyelets, back '70's era Tacks, no less.

Yes, youre right, and I did not even try to make it right. But what I meant that its huge difference between too "locked" ankles and too loose ankles.

[chippa13 1844]

Keep in mind that Bobby Orr was skating in 70's technology and skates weren't even close to as stiff as they are today.

[flip12 699]

Keep in mind that Bobby Orr was skating in 70's technology and skates weren't even close to as stiff as they are today.

... top two or three eyelets, back '70's era Tacks, no less.

Yes, youre right, and I did not even try to make it right. But what I meant that its huge difference between too "locked" ankles and too loose ankles.

I agree 100%.

How do those '70's Tacks compare to skates from the '80's and '90's?

[z1ggy 81]

I have Mako II's. When I put them on, 0% tied, I can walk around just fine, I could probably even skate around really slowly in them, too.

TLDR; skates shouldn't feel floppy and flimsy. You have the wrong size or need some major ankle strengthening/balance work.

[stick9 881]

Sounds like you have a less than ideal fit. You shouldn't need to tape your ankles, doing so can restrict your forward lean and hinder your stride. But on the flip side, flopping around in the boot isn't good either.

[romdj 26]

Basically proper footbeds and ideally blade alignment should be the parts to be adjusted.

[Northshoremb 0]

I have sprain my ankles maybe 1000 times in my life and lots of scar tissue but they are pretty strong to me. Play golf in tournaments, ran track, hike, ski, snowboard and many other sports that have strengthened my ankle so that cant be it. Ive never tried on a skate that felt like i had to slide it on and grabbed my foot to the point that i could walk around without being done up. Even the Vapours i have that are correct length and narrow everywhere on my wide foot dont allow me to walk around without being done up. Back in the 80-90 every skate i owned was pretty soft and nothing compared to todays rock hard boots. If they are suppose to hug your foot to the point that you should be able to walk around without lacing yhen i have been missing alot of potential these last 30 years of my life

[romdj 26]

I have sprain my ankles maybe 1000 times in my life and lots of scar tissue but they are pretty strong to me. Play golf in tournaments, ran track, hike, ski, snowboard and many other sports that have strengthened my ankle so that cant be it. Ive never tried on a skate that felt like i had to slide it on and grabbed my foot to the point that i could walk around without being done up. Even the Vapours i have that are correct length and narrow everywhere on my wide foot dont allow me to walk around without being done up. Back in the 80-90 every skate i owned was pretty soft and nothing compared to todays rock hard boots. If they are suppose to hug your foot to the point that you should be able to walk around without lacing yhen i have been missing alot of potential these last 30 years of my life

You're right in a sense that if there's no way for your ankle to do the work, you'll never be able to walk around with them.

What you should be able to do to "test" if the fit of the boot is good (along with the footbed and blade/holder allignment) is that when your skates are untied without walking, you should be able to alternatively be on one foot or the other and feel stable. They shouldn't be wobbly and your leg shouldn't rely on any sidewall to keep it's balance.

If you want to feel your ankle (given that you have a stiff bauer boot), try for a session or two to tie your laces without the top 2 eyelets and to really exagerate your knee bend and forward flex. You will see that your stride will be much, much longer. One of the best quads workout ever too.

[wrangler 157]

I agree 100%.

How do those '70's Tacks compare to skates from the '80's and '90's?

It's been a while since I skated in mine. I think I'll try them again, out of curiosity.