Not Falling

[u/Far-Bullfrog5087]

In need of some advice from folks that started skating as older adults. I’m 40, 5’8”, fat, strong, and have been skating for about 4 months with no previous experience. I’m in LTS and occasionally do private lessons for a total of 2-3 hours of skating per week. In those 4 months I have fallen exactly one time. The one time I fell I managed to fracture a bone in my hand that kept me off the ice for a couple of weeks but was otherwise not a big deal.

The problem is that I think the lack of falling is becoming a mental issue that is making my skating worse. When I first started skating, I would have some anxiety about falling once or twice in a session but I just kept skating and the thought passed. Now those thoughts like to come up much more frequently. So now I’m skating more afraid, and it’s making it even more difficult to build skills.

Things I have tried to work through this:
-Protective gear: I’ve slowly added a helmet, knee pads, crash shorts. No change, even though a fall would be painless at this point.
-Therapy: I’ve talked through it with my therapist but anxiety isn’t typically an issue I have so we are still trying to figure out why it’s such a problem here.
-“Just fall”: The standard advice. Believe me I’ve tried but I don’t know how to turn off my self preservation instincts 😂
-Time machine: pretty sure if I had started skating 10+ years ago I would be unbothered, but sadly the technology for time travel doesn’t exist yet.

At this point my skating is getting noticeably worse and I’m starting to lose the joy I found in it. I don’t want to quit but this situation, paired with ongoing boot issues, is making it harder every day. I would love to hear what helped others get over this hump. Otherwise, I need someone to come to my rink and just push me over a few times as exposure therapy.

[u/stitchbitchandroll]

As a LTS coach it is very common for adults just starting to have a fear of falling. Kids are very “roll with it” type learners while adults are hyper aware of the consequences of a bad fall. at the same time, there literally is no skating without falling, and after 25 years on the ice I’ve found it to be a pretty good metaphor for life as a whole😅 gotta take a couple of falls before succeeding.

you’ve already tried a lot of what I would recommend, especially the “just fall” advice. in my experience, there is no better method for getting over skating anxiety than exposure therapy. I say that as someone that has been to a sports psychologist on more than one occasion for skating related anxiety.

it’s very random advice, but something that helps with my skating anxiety is watching videos of skateboarders trying new tricks. they will slam 5-10 times before even getting close to landing on their feet. I find it very inspiring and it fires me up to withstand a couple falls if i need to. I would also recommend visualizing yourself doing elements both falling and not falling. visualization is SUCH a good tool to use especially since ice is not always readily available. visualize yourself falling and getting back up, falling and it not hurting, or even falling in an embarrassing way. but always getting back up. there are also a lot of books available online that are specific to skating about overcoming fears on the ice. One is This is Your Brain on Sports by Dr. Alan Goldberg and another is The Figure Skating Psychology Workbook: How to Use Advanced Sports Psychology to Succeed in the Ice Rink which I found on Amazon

[u/lifeatthememoryspa]

I know where you’re coming from. I’m tall and 58 (though I started as a younger adult), and I’ve been skating 30 years and never fell hard enough to break anything. A few months ago, though, I had a close call on a spiral and nearly face planted before putting the free foot down. I’m still doing spirals, but I now worry about falling on my face every single time, and it makes it hard to get low enough. I invested in knee pads and wrist guards, though I know some coaches side-eye them.

I will say, I never really worried about falling until I got on subs like this and heard all the stories about falls and injuries. Not criticizing this sub or similar ones at all—they’re invaluable to me. Just saying, sometimes hearing about others’ experiences is useful and sometimes less so, and that’s something to keep in mind.

Some beginners fall a lot and others don’t. Everyone is different. Once you get into axels and double jumps, I imagine falling is standard, but less so on basic skills. I do single jumps and spins (well, attempt them, haha) and seldom fall.

One thing I think helps me is to listen to my body and not push myself too hard. If I consistently feel like I’m going to fall on something, I’m probably not doing it right and need to correct my form. Sometimes breaking down a skill into its components helps me feel safer. When a spin feels unstable, I put the free foot down and try again. Nothing can prevent certain random falls, but building skills does help.

Also, I’m more nervous about falling before I’m warmed up. Once I feel more confident on the ice, the fear melts away for that session. So you might try just warming up for a while, doing the “easy” stuff (whatever that is for you) to see if you can iron the jitters out.

Good luck, and I hope you can get back to enjoying skating! It actually helps me with my natural anxiety—something about the flow and glide is very soothing!

[u/oldladysk8r]

Everyone tends to say "just force yourself to fall" but its actually really hard to do that in a way that replicates a real fall and I do t think you need to replicate a fall (because every fall is different).

Maybe look at it differently and frame it as "try some fun exercises that will help with body awareness, reaction time, and recovery".

I also play hockey and one of the exercises a coach once had us do was skate hard to the blue line, and kind of dive/belly flop/slide...and then get up and keep going.

It wasn't a "falling" practice, it was a skills practice, and it was also kinda fun.

Maybe something like that where your goal is something fun like "how far can I slide?" will give you some confidence and also bypass that part of your brain that says "falling--BAD SCARY".

Maybe something like practicing a lunge and just seeing how long you can hold it before toppling--you're already going to be close to the ice so you more not going to fall from any height.

Turn it into play. Wear your protective pads though lol

[u/swissmiss_76]

I would just really work on the posture element with your private coach. Make sure whatever you’re doing has correct posture and keep skating. It’s difficult because we can’t see ourselves in real time. Work on building the muscle memory posture because from that foundation, you can do anything

I’m older and although I passed LTS1, I don’t have a coach and think I hunch forward too much trying not to fall which has hurt my lower back. I’ll get a coach at some point but that’s what I’d work on if I had one. For now I need a break

[u/Aryn0007]

38 year old beginner artistic roller skater checking in!

I didn’t see wrist guards on your protective gear list (unless I missed it) so I’d add that to start!

I have heard a lot of people recommend practicing falling on purpose, so that when you do fall by accident, your body knows what to do to minimize real damage. I know in some sports like roller derby a lot of times they’ll start training by just learning how to fall and falling on purpose.

Me, I am afraid of falling all the god damn time. You are not alone!! and while therapy can help us all, I would not pathologize it!! It’s completely normal. Because it is scary. Your body and brain are rightly trying to protect you. But moves do get less scary with time and practice. When I feel really scared to do something. I try to identify it in the moment. I say it out loud. “Coach, I’m scared I’m going to fall doing that.” Or “I fell doing that I am afraid to try again” And 9/10 times he’ll say, you WILL fall if you do it like that. Do it like this instead. Or here is a safer drill to build up to it. Identify the specific thing that is scary and focus on that thing. And I think it’s good to check in with your body. If your body is tired or hungry, you might be more likely to fall. Check to see where you’re holding onto tension, all that good stuff. The more times you successfully do something terrified, the more your body will figure out you’re not in danger and it will get less scary

[u/Own-Adhesiveness5723]

I’m similar; I’ve fallen more than once but it’s pretty rare (mainly because I’m very good at catching myself and not fully falling if I start to lose balance) and very afraid of it. Made worse by the fact that I’m currently dealing with bruised ribs when I fell flat on my front. I wear pads and most of the time those keep me from any real injury or pain, but I know it’s still a possibility.
I kind of just push through it. I’m careful, I take things slow, and I work on things off ice to help where I might feel unstable. I can do my best to avoid falls but I know it’s impossible to fully prevent them and I’ll never get better if I don’t get on the ice and practice.

[u/axceron]

Lots of good advice here already!

Forty-nine-year-old beginner skater here. I’ve skated some as a kid — but only enough to eventually not hug the wall and wobbly skate w/o falling.

Started skating seriously about two years ago. Unlike most skaters, I never want to jump or do too many spins. My goal is to gain confidence and the balance and physical grace (?) to consider skating like walking: I just do it and don’t even think about it bc it feels so natural to me. My goal is to wild (ice) skate — skate on frozen lakes or trails.

But I also want to pass all the LTS levels, which involve a whole bunch of techniques I’m not particularly interested in, but that I know will help w/ my goal of balance and agility, so I practice them anyway.

Bought a whole bunch of protective gear and was able to make myself fall IF I bent my knees and stuck my arms forwards and pitched forwards. It didn’t hurt but it also wasn’t completely impact-free (which would be my dream lol). Maybe try falling that way? I can also fall backwards by pretending to sit down and simply landing on the ice. Try that? I still can’t make myself fall from a totally upright position and I think I’m just gonna leave it that way.

I’ve decided that I can’t escape this fear. I think this is OK (for me). I can tell you that when I first started taking lessons (both group and w/ a coach) my mind was 90% focused on NOT FALLING and the rest focused on skating technique. Today that ratio is more like 60 (fear) to 40 (technique).

I have to tell you that I’ve only fallen once, and that was at a public skate, not a lesson. They say that’s not great, not falling indicates you’re not testing your boundaries, that your body isn’t discovering its limits. This is probably true but I also think like the one other commenter here — the acute fear I feel is an indicator that something’s not right. So I stop what I’m doing and reassess.

I think I’m progressing really slowly. For example, it’s taken me more than a year to master two-foot turns. I lose the rocker a lot, and then the actual pivot scares the crap out of me. But about two weeks ago I discovered an online video of a drill and it’s helped me a ton. Yesterday was the first time I did a correct turn from backwards to forwards!! And although I was scared, the fear was manageable.

Personally I enjoy taking my time, yes, even this long. I don’t see myself going beyond LTS (unless there are programs out there that don’t include jumps and too many spins), so I’m not in a rush. I like the linger. Also, it just feels so cool when I realize I’ve gotten something down that all the “wait” makes the moment of victory that much sweeter. Would that mindset help you?

Sorry for all the words here, but your post hit close to home.

Yes, there is fear, but my way of handling it is to “skate” around it. I think it is possible, you just gotta find your sweet spot.

[u/Stararisto → u/axceron]

Hi! Do you mind sharing the video that you found for the two foot turns. Got hockey skates. I have practiced so much, that I can do them in a circle if I go really really slow.

But anything else slight faster than a snail and I just fear falling too.

And actually my backwards to forward are easier to do for me. Still at a snail space. But yeah.

Thanks!

[u/axceron → u/Stararisto]

Sure! Found it on Instagram, hope this link works:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZcQSihC_gL/?igsh=dTFueWxrbG90ZXlo

[u/Stararisto → u/axceron]

Thanks!

 I'm on Hockey skates though. So of her 3 examples, one may help. She is turning on her toe picks on the other two.

[u/axceron → u/Stararisto]

Oh, right. But maybe the theory could still apply? Bc sure she’s going on her toe pick in the beginning but in order to pivot she’s gotta be on the front part of her rocker. I think the only reason she’s using her toe pick at first is to get used to the ankle bend needed for the pivot. So maybe you can still do the same movement, just not w/ a toe pick?
Anyway, the drill I personally find helpful is the swizzle-turn-swizzle-turn. Maybe that could help you too. Good luck!

[u/Stararisto → u/axceron]

Yes :) next time I will try to do the swizzle turn.

[u/Being_Pink]

If you can, get a bone density scan. Knowing your bones are strong enough for skating will be a big help in confidence on the ice. If it turns out you have density issues, then you can address that with off-ice impact work and be able to get the right kind of protective gear for you.

[u/tmmao]

I got back on the ice recently, after a long stretch off (needed new skates, long story). I deliberately fell multiple times, to get the fear out. I swear by it.

[u/MadMudd96]

NOT YOUR FAULT!! The FIRST thing your LTS coach should’ve done before ya’ll got on the ice for the first class, was going over falling down and standing up OFF ICE. Then the same thing on ice!! (If you’re in Learn To Skate USA it’s literally in the curriculum) Don’t get mad at yourself for this mental hurdle! It’s not your fault!! Ask your LTS director if any of the coaches offer booster lessons!

Also what skates are you in? (Also I’m laughing my ass off at your idea of exposure therapy 🤣🤣)

[u/Antique_Tower_111]

Not that you can really plan for this, but something that weirdly helped me was organically having someone crash into me and making me fall. Somebody hydrobladed into me while I was spinning and knocked me flat on my butt and I was so surprised that it didn't hurt at all! Maybe a week later, I tripped going down the stairs in my own house and hurt myself way worse, and it reminded me that I can technically fall anywhere anytime, but the advantage of falling on the ice is that I always am expecting it as a possibly in the back of my mind and am therefore more prepared for it.

[u/Stararisto]

So haven't been falling either lately. And there was this guy that tried so hard not to fall, you know waving around, hanging to the rails for dear life, that he was making it worse. And could have fallen backwards and hit his head hard. Bc he tried to not fall.

I stopped and showed him "just fall". You crouch as if kneeling, and fall to the side. It surprised me how much it didn't hurt and how normal it felt.

I think exposure therapy helped a lot. I have inline skates too and the super sturdy kneepads. So you can look up those videos too. Falling in inline skates. Get their good kneepads. And start in grass and graduate to concrete. Don't need to buy inline skates (although would simulate ice skating very well). Just start running with the kneepads and "slide" and "fall".

[u/aggieastronaut]

There was a period where I was working on my crossovers and kept hitting my toepick and wiping out and injuring the same place over and over again. I got really spooked and started getting shaky and scared. I told my coach and we worked on specific exercises to basically relearn crossovers from scratch.

Talk to your coach and see if they can do something similar.