Ankle support vs forward flex in Graf MCI 5035

[hockeydad3 51]

I´m a beginner in skating and learning to skate on my own. I´m skating in Graf MCI 5035 size 6.5R T-Blade on medium runner 5/8. I´m 50years, 180 pounds 170cm. Most ofthe time i´m skating in public skate on a 400m track because of the openig time of the hockey rinks around.Thats why I´m skating straight forward  most of the time. My biggest problem is that i don´t know if my skates are fitting ok because i´m not satisfied with my learning progress. The solution to balance problems was to change the standard insole against superfeet pro hockey. And i´m trying to bend my knees more than before. This is leading me to another problem. I used to tie my skates very tight to get a strong ankle support, but this doesn´t give me enough forward flex for a stronger knee bend and i couldn´t rotate my foot to play with the edges. But i can´t find the sweetspot between tying my ankles too tight or too loose. Since five skating sessions i´m trying to tie a looser ankle.  How long does it take to get used to the low ankle support? I dont´t feel secure anymore and now i´m having pain in my tibialis anterior and other muscles and my ankle, knee pain has gone. My endurance also decreased noticeably. Are there any tips for tying with more ankle support and a good forward flex? Or is my skate too wide around my ankles?  Or do i have to keeep on skating to get stronger ankles?

p.s.: The skate size seems to be ok, because i do have a perfect heel-lock and my toes are touching the cap when i´m standing upright. My midfoot has also a ferfect fit, just my big toe has a little space around and i don´t have any pain or get blisters directly from the boot.

[puckpilot 312]

I tie my skates in a way that I find gives me plenty of forward flex and pulls in the sides of the boot for support. Give it a try and see if it works for you. See pics below. 

 

To tie them, thread the laces through the loop created by the lace between eyelets three and four, tug tight, and tie as normal. You don't have to do any tightening of the upper boot laces before that one tug before tying. 

 

 

 

 

[Vet88 674]

I coach a lot of players in your position. There are no shortcuts, practice practice practice is the only way to get ahead. There are a lot of times when you feel you aren't improving, what you put in is what you get out. Without seeing you skate I can't offer any advice other than some generic comments:

- one foot balance drills, this is what you want to practice ALL the time.

- as you start to improve, drop an eyelet. Losing ankle support from the boot is a good thing as you learn. Stop relying on the sides of the boot to hold you up and instead rely on the feedback from your feet and the stability muscles in your ankle. But be warned, every time you drop an eyelet it will be like you are having to learn how to skate all over again, back to square one. But keep at it and as you improve and get back to getting better again, drop another eyelet. Aim to get 3 eyelets down and settle there and keep practising. If you train and skate on your own, dropping eyelets is one of the best ways to self learn proper skating and balance technique. You will get different muscle pain because you can now flex and balance differently, keep at it and as your muscles strengthen the pain will ease.

[hockeydad3 51]

14 hours ago, Vet88 said:

I coach a lot of players in your position. There are no shortcuts, practice practice practice is the only way to get ahead. There are a lot of times when you feel you aren't improving, what you put in is what you get out. Without seeing you skate I can't offer any advice other than some generic comments:

- one foot balance drills, this is what you want to practice ALL the time.

- as you start to improve, drop an eyelet. Losing ankle support from the boot is a good thing as you learn. Stop relying on the sides of the boot to hold you up and instead rely on the feedback from your feet and the stability muscles in your ankle. But be warned, every time you drop an eyelet it will be like you are having to learn how to skate all over again, back to square one. But keep at it and as you improve and get back to getting better again, drop another eyelet. Aim to get 3 eyelets down and settle there and keep practising. If you train and skate on your own, dropping eyelets is one of the best ways to self learn proper skating and balance technique. You will get different muscle pain because you can now flex and balance differently, keep at it and as your muscles strengthen the pain will ease.

Thanks for your comment.

This describes pretty well what happend to me. My boots seem to be low-cut. So tying them loose seems to have the effect of dropping an eylet. What do you think is better, dropping an eylet and tying tight or tying loose?

What is more effective, shorter units everyday or longer units every second day?

[Vet88 674]

Personally I prefer dropping eyelets and doing up snug. This allows you to progress with dropping eyelets and still retain a fair degree of control because of the lock you get around your forefoot. Skate everyday if possible, it's about repetition and muscle memory.

[hockeydad3 51]

This evening i gave the "drop down one eylet and tie tight" a try. Doesn´t seem to be my stuff. This method doesn´t give me a better ankle-support but limits my forward flex and gave me some arche-pain.Tying "loose" seems to give me a better forward-flex, more comfort, a better control and maneuverability with the same amount of ankle-support. My skates seem to be a low-cut style having at least one or two eylets less than Bauer Vapors. Maybe that´s the reason for their behavior.

[Vet88 674]

On 12/22/2017 at 10:00 AM, hockeydad3 said:

This evening i gave the "drop down one eylet and tie tight" a try. Doesn´t seem to be my stuff. This method doesn´t give me a better ankle-support but limits my forward flex and gave me some arche-pain.Tying "loose" seems to give me a better forward-flex, more comfort, a better control and maneuverability with the same amount of ankle-support. My skates seem to be a low-cut style having at least one or two eylets less than Bauer Vapors. Maybe that´s the reason for their behavior.

Sorry, I should have picked that up in your original post. If you are already tying loose then tying tight and dropping an eyelet will not work well, you are changing 2 things. Even just tying tight all the way up you will hate. So stay loose AND drop an eyelet over time. Ultimate aim is to skate with no laces, get there progressively by dropping eyelets every time you start to get comfortable again with your skating. This will teach you how to skate better than anything else you might do. You are on a 400m track but there are lots of drills you can do as you skate around. Youtube is your friend here, type in "advanced edge control drills", watch them, take note of ones that you think are at your level or slightly above then go and practice them. Each time out, try a new drill or 2, every time you are trying to push yourself. Just doing the same shit over and over doesn't make you a better skater fast.

[hockeydad3 51]

Thanks for your advice. I startet tying loose about two weeks ago. Tying loose means that i`m tying the last  three eylets as tight as i could because my forefoot seems to be small, in the midfoot area i´m just pulling my laces until i feel some slight resistance, the third eylet which is in the angle is tied very tight because this one gives me the heel-lock and the upper two are just pulled until i feel some resistance again. Im using Bauer waxed laces. This gives me the feeling of a loose ankle with a low support but good forward flex and agility. Before that i was tying my skate as tight as i could. Will take some time to adjust and get a strong ankle. During the last days i had the chance to skate on the hockey-rink in crowded public-skate or during rain on very soft ice on the 400m track. Both conditions have been a kind of training situation without exercices. This morning i was skating barefoot for the first time. Another experience. Could feel and control my edges much better. It was feeling like my feet and my skates had been melted together. Is this just psychology? What kind of socks are giving a similar feeling? Until now i was wearing thin and tight fitting wool&cotton socks.

[asgoodasdead 74]

i always skate barefoot. i tie my skates tight, but not too tight and skip the top eyelets for more forward flex/ankle movement

[boo10 323]

7 hours ago, hockeydad3 said:

This morning i was skating barefoot for the first time. Another experience. Could feel and control my edges much better. It was feeling like my feet and my skates had been melted together. Is this just psychology? What kind of socks are giving a similar feeling? Until now i was wearing thin and tight fitting wool&cotton socks.

Elite Hockey Skate Liners or something similar will be the closest to barefoot.  They are very thin, (not much thicker than women's nylons).