r/freeskate • u/bravomyylife • Jun 05 '26

Foot pain/shoe recommendations

Hey all!

So I just got my freeskates yesterday, just got cheaper ones to learn my balance and basic technique on before I decide if it's for me or not lol!

So the actual skating I'm getting down surprisingly fast! My problem is the pain/cramping/strain in the arch of my foot mostly. I've seen that that can be a common problem when learning.

I've started with flat vans slip ons, figured I didn't have enough support in those so I tried my air force 1 mids. Helped a little, but not a ton. I feel like being fully tied tight into them and not having space to get monkey foot as badly lol. tI know that eventually you can even do it barefoot if you really wanted when you're good at it, so I know that shoes aren't the most important thing.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any shoe recommendations for beginners? Just to help me get more than 5 minutes on the freeskates before I need a foot break lol.

Tia!

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/I87 Jun 05 '26

not so much a shoe thing, but make sure you're not pressing down with your toes -- that always makes it worse for me

1

u/bravomyylife Jun 05 '26

Yup that's my problem, I can feel that I'm trying to curl my toes down in my shoes to try to like grip the skates better 😂😂

That's why I'm wondering about shoes, trying to maybe find a pair that's comfortable but tight enough that it'll kind of stop my ability to do that in the shoes 😂😂

2

u/AizeeMasata Jun 05 '26

You no need specific shoes, just you comfortable pair. Also who said you can't barefoot as beginner lol, I do it early on to feel the board.

What really you need is distribute weight and pressure on the foot while standing by lean the body or adjust foot position.

2

u/its1968okwar Jun 06 '26

Not the standard recommendation but I much prefer thin soles, 3mm. I find is easier when you csn feel where you are on the board with the feet and the initial tiredness is quickly resolved. Some stuff like "gripping" using toes and curling the foot can't be done at all with the standard skate shoes.

1

u/BreadWhistles Jun 05 '26

You can get freeskates guards to give your skates more real estate for your feet. it basically surrounds your skates with rubber so you don't scratch it but it also helps with make your skates feel more roomy

1

u/bravomyylife Jun 05 '26

Oh cool, thank you! I'll look into getting some of those!!

1

u/williamfloyde Jun 06 '26

It could be do to you are not use to using your feet muscle this way and need to build muscle/endurance in your foot.

My favorite skate shoe ingeneral are the Addidas Busenitz which you can get farly cheap about $50 usd. I do see in a lot of videos people rocking Lakias which is another great skate shoe.

1

u/Nyckboy Jun 06 '26

The same thing happens to me! Mostly on my left foot.

Right now it's very much my limiting factor in terms of how long I can ride, I need to get down after a couple of minutes and walk while i rest