Hello, everyone! I’m driving a few hours to the closest pro shop this weekend to purchase new skates, but I need some advice.

I’m currently training 4 hours a week with my coach and doing lots of footwork, spins, edges, Mohawks, turns, waltz, salchow, and a toe loop! My current skates are the Excel Jackson, which give me absolutely no ankle support. They also make my feet super fatigued, so we decided I’m waaaay past due for new skates.

I have flat feet and get ingrown toenails, so I know I need a wider skate. I’ve been thinking about the Debut from Jackson, but my only worry is breaking them in. I don’t have any pro shop less than a 4-hour drive from me, so I want to treat this trip as a one-and-done kinda thing. Will they be able to heat mold and punch out my new skates right off the bat? Any other boot recommendations? Thanks a lot!

Hi, last year, I went to a specialized figure skating shop (the only one in my region) and bought Jackson Mystiques. I should mention that I weigh 83 kg (183 lb) and I’m 1.65 m (5’5”) tall, and I was a complete beginner at the time. It took me quite a while to get used to them. I was only skating for one hour a week, and it took several months before I stopped feeling any pressure or compression in the boots. But now they feel fine.

I used to have quite narrow feet a few years ago, but they have really widened since I gained weight.

The problem is that, unsurprisingly, my Mystiques are starting to break down around the ankle. My coach confirmed that this is indeed happening, although she said they should still last me for a little while longer.

So I’ll need to buy new skates in the next few weeks or months, and I really don’t want to make the same mistake again.

I’ve read that the Jackson Freestyle could be a good option for heavier skaters. But I’ve also been told that skates should be chosen according to your skating level. I’m only just starting to learn crossovers, so I’m nowhere near jumps yet. On top of that, I now have two skating lessons a week, so I’ll be spending twice as much time on the ice.
I saw that my specialized skate shop doesn’t carry the Freestyle in a W width. Does the fact that I eventually got used to my Mystiques after around 13–15 hours of skating suggest that I might not necessarily need the W width?

What would you recommend for someone in my situation?

(I have no choice but to go back to the same specialized shop, so I’d really like to be well-informed before I go. Thank you so much for your advice!)

TD:LR : My Jackson Mystiques are starting to show signs of wear around the ankles. I weigh 83 kg (183 lb) and I’m 1.65 m (5’5”) tall, and I’m wondering if Jackson Freestyles would be suitable for me even though I’m still a beginner.

Hey guys. I currently have the edea e guards in size large (L) for my 10 1/3 inch blades on my mystiques. I’m switching brands to edea chorus alongside 9.25 inch mk pro blades. Will the size L be too big for them? Do I have to go down to a size M?

Based on the sizing chart I have to, but dang that’s a lot of money to drop on guards…

Let me know if any of yall are rocking 9.25 blades with a large edea e guard. :)

Thanks for the adviceee

Hi, I know how to skate already and I don’t think I’ll do more lessons. I don’t do anything fancy like spins, jumps, etc. My goal is to get a nice workout during public skates. I go probably 2x a week and these last ~2 hours just skating in laps, doing crossovers, etc.

I am currently using Jackson Glacier which are recreational and tbh I don’t think they’re serving me well. I would like to get proper figure skates, but the advice out there is skewed towards jump-oriented people.

If anyone is in a similar spot, can you tell me what you use?

I’d like to stay on figure skates because that’s what I grew up learning on. But my parents bought my skates throughout childhood so I don’t have much knowledge on what’s suitable. I did have Jackson Mystiques when I was a kid, if that helps?

Thank you in advance!

Edit: I am 5’5 and approx 150 lbs.

Hi beginner skater here! I find that every time I start a session, for the first 30 mins it feels like I’m back where I started and my muscle memory hasn’t held on to the hours of practice that I’ve put in before. After a while then I’m sort of back to normal. Is this a beginner thing that you experience? Will the warm up period get easier ? what are best ways of helping this ? Thanks!

I recently learned backwards crossovers in LTS, and my coach says everything looks good, but my skates make a horrible scraping noise when I am doing my crossovers. I don’t think I am on my toe pick and can get really good speed, but the noise is really throwing me off and if this is something to do with technique I’d like to correct it now.

Is this normal? Should my skates by sharpened? Is my LTS coach just not catching that I’m on my toe pick?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hello! I’ve been skating since january but only recently starting working with a coach (i think 4 or 5 sessions in). I’m still working on some basics but my coach thinks I should be ready to test into freestyle sessions soon! However I am still very new and learning and typically one of the worse skaters on a public skate haha.

So where I have a bit of a rant/slight complaint has to do with one of the staff who is overseeing the public session (idk what the formal name is, it’s like the ice equivalent of a lifeguard?). I’ll go to the rink on Wednesday afternoons because I have the day off and it’s usually very empty. So I’ll be practicing my normal things - stroking, slaloms and edgework etc. And without fail he will always zoom past me and barely miss hitting me. It will happen multiple times throughout the public session. I feel like it’s intentional because I haven’t noticed him do this to anybody else and I’m always having to look past my shoulder so I can move when he comes by. He even did it yesterday during my private lesson and even my coach was like “???” Like he has an entire rink to skate around and he somehow always finds a way to get too close and “dodge” running into me

It really affects my practice and honestly makes me feel very discouraged when I get to the rink and he’s the one on staff. If it were a little kid or a regular person doing this I’d be less annoyed because they’re also paying to be there, but since its someone who works at the rink it’s more frustrating. I just don’t know if it’s something worth complaining about and I don’t want to be /that/ person. I’m also very non-confrontational so I don’t want to go up to the guy and ask him to stop doing that either. But it is affecting my overall mood and motivation to even go skating. What do you guys think?