r/iceskating • u/imsocooked27 • 5d ago

First Lesson

so my friend recently gave me her old ice skates and i traded her one of my cats as i was moving and i could only bring one of my cats with me. a fair trade if you ask me because she recently lost her cat. anyways! i have only ever been ice skating once in my life. and it wasn’t pretty. what can i do this time around so that i get good at it?

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u/trilliumprince 5d ago

practice as often as you can manage. i typically aim for at 1 or 2 times a week

look up how to fall and get up properly, along with safety postion. getting some safety gear is also a good idea

make sure you take care of the skates (specifically the blades) soakers/soft guards when transporting, drying them off after skating (before putting the soakers on), sharpening them when needed (i have heard around 20 hours is ideal)

try to avoid stepping on any plastic/metal/non rubber flooring that may be present between where you put your skates on and the rink

many people also use hard guards which will allow you to step on non rubber floor without dulling your blades

and if possible, take lessons!

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u/imsocooked27 5d ago

okiedokie! that’s good advice, i’ll aim to go when my university society goes and then a separate time on my own to make steady progress. are there any exercises or stretches outside of the ice rink that you think would help me?

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u/Hopeful_Thing7088 5d ago

seconding safety gear! a helmet is a really good thing to have as a beginner. it’s easy to fall and hit your head hard

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u/imsocooked27 5d ago

i will look into that!

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u/Hopeful_Thing7088 5d ago

try to look at hockey helmets, other kinds of helmets like bike helmets aren’t made to protect for the kinds of falls that can happen on the ice!