Untied skates for ankle strength?

[<TJ> 0]

Hi all,

I recently read somewhere that the Soviets used to make players skate with no laces on in order to build up their ankle strength. Successfully too, since they've managed to produce a bunch of awesome skaters with their school. Do you think there could be any truth to this? Would skating with untied skates for 15 - 20 min every day make for better ankles? Or is it just a quick way to get injured and that's it?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this one!!

Cheers!!

[dwreckm 0]

Sounds like a good way to injure yourself nice and fast.

[Chadd 916]

I would suggest doing some other exercises to build some strength before doing that.

[<TJ> 0]

Yeah... that's pretty much what I thought you'd say, just thought I'd check.

I really don't know that weak ankles is my problem. It happens only on my right foot... and I'm a righty!! It may be time to see the doctor about getting new orthotic inserts (I have flat feet). Maybe my foot is just not resting in the right position.

[dwreckm 0]

I really like doing squats as my main leg exercise, because besides strengthening my leg muscles, it also seems to do wonders for my ankle strength. I essentially just do squats, sit ups, push-ups, and cardio (running) for all my exercising. I've only been skating for a year, so my ankles were terrible when I started, but by just skating as much as I could I'm sure helped as well.

[pelikano 1]

Yeah... that's pretty much what I thought you'd say, just thought I'd check.

I really don't know that weak ankles is my problem. It happens only on my right foot... and I'm a righty!!....

You haven't said what "it" is. Please clarify.

Laura Stamm wrote that weak ankles are "generally a myth," and I think she is right.

[Davetronz 109]

I would suggest doing some other exercises to build some strength before doing that.

Agreed.

Players don't realize the benefit of a simple balance board for ankle strength.

You can go buy a store-bought balance board, or you can try this simple replacement:

Take two pieces of 2"x3" lumber about 2.5-3" long and lay them in a cross, one on top of the other.

They don't need to be nailed or mounted to each other in any way - free floating.

Wearing your shoes, stand on top board.

Toss on your hockey gloves and grab a stick and handle a puck or ball while you're standing on the board trying to keep balance.

It acts like a bit of a teeter-totter balance board effect for maybe $1 of materials.

If you're not getting enough challenge, slightly reduce the length of the top board.

[dwreckm 0]

Take two pieces of 2"x3" lumber about 2.5-3" long

I'm going to assume you mean 2.5'-3' long, cause I don't think my feet would fit on a 3inch piece of wood.

[mug25 2]

Laura Stamm wrote that weak ankles are "generally a myth," and I think she is right.

That book is amazing.

[Davetronz 109]

I'm going to assume you mean 2.5'-3' long, cause I don't think my feet would fit on a 3inch piece of wood.

Hahaha good catch. You're right.

[lee92 2]

Walk around your house with your untied skates on. Same thing as a balance board. Can do both to build up ankle strength. I wouldn't recommend skating in untied skates though.

[sickwilly 37]

When I attended one of Laura Stamm's camps (years ago) I'm about 99% sure that she recommended tying our skates pretty loosely. That was almost 20 years ago, though.

[Apes44 7]

i wouldn’t recommend it during practice, stick time or a game (shinny or live) but ive done it at open skate (really really loose so I didn’t trip over laces) I don’t think it helped all that much

[JonoDigz 4]

Hi all,

I recently read somewhere that the Soviets used to make players skate with no laces on in order to build up their ankle strength. Successfully too, since they've managed to produce a bunch of awesome skaters with their school. Do you think there could be any truth to this? Would skating with untied skates for 15 - 20 min every day make for better ankles? Or is it just a quick way to get injured and that's it?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this one!!

Cheers!!

Sounds hard to do...

Balance Boards and Bosu Balls are great for ankle stability. Not sure if strengtheing is the right term.

Either way, performing squat variations on the Bosa will help for sure. Balance Boards are great too.

Certain plyometric moves will help as well.

[<TJ> 0]

Thank you all for your advise!

I'll try the balance board thing this weekend and see how that goes.

What I meant by "it" is my right ankle rolling slightly inward on many occasions. My blades would look kinda like this if you were standing in front of me: / | , where the tilted one is my right one. It's not that tilted, but I do feel that it's not as stable as my left one is. Again, it may have something to do with the custom molded shoe inserts I use due to my flat feet condition. So maybe step one should be seeing the doc about those, since they're a pretty old prescription.

[pelikano 1]

What I meant by "it" is my right ankle rolling slightly inward on many occasions. My blades would look kinda like this if you were standing in front of me: / | , where the tilted one is my right one. It's not that tilted, but I do feel that it's not as stable as my left one is. Again, it may have something to do with the custom molded shoe inserts I use due to my flat feet condition. So maybe step one should be seeing the doc about those, since they're a pretty old prescription.

That sounds like a pronation issue, and the fact you're wearing orthotics pretty much confirms it.

Those inserts do wear down. You might try getting custom footbeds made. There are threads on that. I got customs made for $60 a while back because I have some suppination. You feel the difference right away. The skates feel "flat" or level. If you try gliding on one foot you can go forever. It is weird.

As for weak ankles, do you play other sports? How are your ankles in games with a lot of jumping and landing, like tennis, basketbsall, volleyball? If they are truly weak I believe you would have a lot of problems, including twists and strains. My 2 cents anyway.

[<TJ> 0]

That sounds like a pronation issue, and the fact you're wearing orthotics pretty much confirms it.

Those inserts do wear down. You might try getting custom footbeds made. There are threads on that. I got customs made for $60 a while back because I have some suppination. You feel the difference right away. The skates feel "flat" or level. If you try gliding on one foot you can go forever. It is weird.

As for weak ankles, do you play other sports? How are your ankles in games with a lot of jumping and landing, like tennis, basketbsall, volleyball? If they are truly weak I believe you would have a lot of problems, including twists and strains. My 2 cents anyway.

I do play other sports. I'm from Argentina, so soccer is a must. And I've also played tennis for the better part of my life. No issues there. As a matter of fact I'm pretty quick and light on my feet, and I have pretty decent acceleration on a tennis court.

I'm not pronating THAT much (I'll see if I can post a picture later), but it's enough for me to feel I'm not as stable with that foot. I'll check about those custom footbeds too. It sounds like it could be just what I'm looking for. Just hope there's a way I could get them here in Argentina.

[goblue9280 33]

When I attended one of Laura Stamm's camps (years ago) I'm about 99% sure that she recommended tying our skates pretty loosely. That was almost 20 years ago, though.

Funny, I just got her power skating book in the mail yesterday and was reading the first couple chapters. She recommended looser at the very bottom, then tighter in the middle of the foot (from about the ball of the foot to the ankle, and then a bit looser again at the top eyelets.

http://www.laurastamm.net/Lacing-The-Skates.aspx

[ktang 34]

I have practiced with the top 3 or 4 eyelets unlaced. It wasn't just for ankle strength; you really have to centre your body over your skates on turns, crossovers, and stops or else you will wipe out.

[Tubesteak 1]

I had a coach in bantam that made us do this. Pretty silly.

[sickwilly 37]

Funny, I just got her power skating book in the mail yesterday and was reading the first couple chapters. She recommended looser at the very bottom, then tighter in the middle of the foot (from about the ball of the foot to the ankle, and then a bit looser again at the top eyelets.

http://www.laurastam...The-Skates.aspx

No argument with that. I think what really stuck with me was that she encouraged me to loosen the upper part of the skates a lot more loosely than I had been doing. (Had a recurring ankle sprain early in college and really had the upper eyelets tight). Loosening them felt really weird at first, but felt better (in terms of overall mobility) after I stuck with it for a while.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

My coach in high school would never lace his skates up. The only time he would is if he was actually playing.

[pelikano 1]

I do play other sports. I'm from Argentina, so soccer is a must. And I've also played tennis for the better part of my life. No issues there. As a matter of fact I'm pretty quick and light on my feet, and I have pretty decent acceleration on a tennis court.

I'm not pronating THAT much (I'll see if I can post a picture later), but it's enough for me to feel I'm not as stable with that foot. I'll check about those custom footbeds too. It sounds like it could be just what I'm looking for. Just hope there's a way I could get them here in Argentina.

Precisely my point. If your ankles were "weak" how could you have played those sports? I should have mentioned soccer--plenty of jumping, and often running on rough, improperly groomed fields.

I got Footbalance foot beds made. This was at a hockey shop in Toronto, but this brand is pushing hard into golf as well. Golf shops might be a place to try too.

Excuse my curiosity, but is there a hockey scene in Argentina?

Go Messi go !!!

[<TJ> 0]

Precisely my point. If your ankles were "weak" how could you have played those sports? I should have mentioned soccer--plenty of jumping, and often running on rough, improperly groomed fields.

I got Footbalance foot beds made. This was at a hockey shop in Toronto, but this brand is pushing hard into golf as well. Golf shops might be a place to try too.

Excuse my curiosity, but is there a hockey scene in Argentina?

Go Messi go !!!

There's not that much of a hockey scene down here. We just have 3 rinks in Buenos Aires, and they're all pretty small, so we have to play 3 on 3. The only olympic sized rink in South America is in Usuhaia, which is a 500 dollar air ticket away (literally the "southest" city in the world). There's only a few of us who play, but somehow we managed to send a national team over to Mexico this month for a couple of international matches for the first time.

Messi is awesome. Some of the moves he makes out there are flat out unbelievable.

[pelikano 1]

There's not that much of a hockey scene down here. We just have 3 rinks in Buenos Aires, and they're all pretty small, so we have to play 3 on 3. The only olympic sized rink in South America is in Usuhaia, which is a 500 dollar air ticket away (literally the "southest" city in the world). There's only a few of us who play, but somehow we managed to send a national team over to Mexico this month for a couple of international matches for the first time.

Messi is awesome. Some of the moves he makes out there are flat out unbelievable.

Amazing. I really wouldn't have expected any hockey in South America. But then, I hear they even play some in Australia.

Perhaps a good thing for Canada--if you guys started taking hockey seriously and producing skating versions of Messi....