Most of the mistakes that slow adult skaters down are habits, not a lack of talent: looking down, straight knees, leaning back on your heels, skates that don't fit, skipping the warm-up and rushing into jumps. Each one has a plain fix, and none of them mean you started too late. Pick the one that sounds most like you and start there.
Key takeaways
- Look ahead, bend your knees and keep your weight off your heels. Together they fix a lot of wobbling.
- Check your skates before you blame yourself. Worn rentals and boots that don't fit make balance much harder.
- Warm up before you skate, and give your weaker side real practice time, not just the skills you already like.
- Practice between lessons, falls included, and leave jumps until your edges and your landing position are steady.
- Compare yourself with last month, not with the teenager who started skating at four.
Every adult skater picks up a few habits that make skating harder than it needs to be. They creep in through nerves, stiffness and busy lives, and they're easy to miss when you can't see yourself skate. Habits can be changed, though, and most of the fixes below are small.
Here are ten that come up again and again, each with a plain fix and a link to the guide that goes deeper. The technique describes counterclockwise skaters, which is most of us. If you rotate clockwise, mirror the left and right.
1. Looking down at your feet
Watching your feet feels safer, because you want to see what the blades are doing. But your head is heavy, and when it drops, your chest folds forward and your balance goes with it. You also can't see the skaters around you, which matters on a busy session.
Pick a point ahead of you and keep your eyes on it as you glide. On a curve, look ahead along the circle, and when you skate backward, glance over your shoulder instead of down. Ask a friend to film a few seconds of your skating, because looking down is much easier to spot on video than to feel. Our goal-setting guide has tips on using video.
2. Skating with straight knees
Stiff, straight knees make almost everything on the ice harder. A straight leg can't soak up bumps or adjust your balance, so every wobble travels up to your shoulders. Edges, crossovers and landings all feel much less steady without a knee bend underneath them.
Keep a soft bend in your skating knee the whole time, and bend your ankles too, as if you're about to perch on a high stool. Dips, where you sink low on a two-foot glide and rise again, are a good way to feel it. Our guide to inside and outside edges shows how a bent knee helps carry you around a curve.
3. Leaning back on your heels
When you're nervous, it's natural to sit back, away from the direction you're going. On skates, that puts your weight on your heels, and from there it's very easy to tip over backward. It often shows up when you first start skating backward.
Keep your weight over the middle of your feet when you skate forward, and over the balls of your feet when you skate backward. Bend at your knees and ankles rather than your waist, with your chest up. Don't overcorrect, though, because tipping too far forward catches your toe picks. Our guide to skating backward covers the stance in detail.
4. Putting up with skates that don't fit
Rental skates are fine for your first few weeks, but they vary a lot, and a worn, loose or wrong-sized pair makes balance much harder. Staying in them too long, or in boots that pinch or let your heel lift, feels like a technique problem when it isn't. It's like trying to drive with numb feet. If your ankles keep collapsing inward or your feet go numb, look at your skates before you blame yourself.
Once you know you're sticking with skating, get fitted for your own skates in person if you can. A good fit is snug, with your heel held down when you bend your knees and nothing pinching, and lacing changes the fit as much as the size does. Our skate fitting guide explains what to check, and when to go back to your fitter.
5. Skipping the warm-up
When you've paid for ice time, it's tempting to lace up and step straight on. Cold, stiff muscles make the start of a session feel clumsy, though, and the first part of your ice time goes on waking up instead of practicing. Long, still stretches in the lobby aren't the answer either.
Spend a few minutes getting warm and moving before you put your skates on, with marching or gentle jogging, then leg swings, lunges and arm circles. Start on the ice with easy stroking and swizzles before anything big, and save held stretches for afterward. Our stretching routine has a simple warm-up, and a short one is far better than none.
6. Only practicing what you're good at
It's natural to spend practice on the things that already feel nice, like forward crossovers on your good side. The trouble is that the skills you avoid stay hard, and your weaker side falls further behind. Your coach will notice, even if you don't.
Give your weaker side and your least favorite skill real time in every session, a little at a time, while you're still fresh. Our guide to crossovers suggests counting how many it takes to get around a circle, which is a nice way to watch the gap between your two sides close. Then finish with something you enjoy, so practice stays fun.
7. Comparing yourself with skaters who started as kids
It's hard not to compare yourself with the teenager landing doubles on the same session. But a 14-year-old who started at four has ten years of skating you don't. It's just math, and it says nothing about your talent or your commitment. The adult next to you might have skated as a child too, or be on their fifth lesson to your second.
Compare yourself only with your past self. A quick video every so often, or a note of what you worked on, shows how far you've come on the days it doesn't feel like it. Set goals about what you can control, like practicing backward crossovers every session this month. Our page on building confidence on the ice has more ideas.
8. Never practicing between lessons
A weekly lesson is a great start, but a skill you only touch once a week is slow to stick. By your next lesson, a lot of what your coach said has faded, and the first part of the lesson goes on catching up. That's frustrating for you, and hard on your wallet too.
If you can, add a public session between lessons, even a short one, and work on one or two things from your last lesson. Write down what your coach said straight afterward, so you know what to practice. Our guide to public, freestyle and adult sessions explains which ice to use, and balance work at home helps on weeks you can't get to the rink.
9. Avoiding falls practice
Most adults would rather not fall on purpose, which makes sense. But if you never practice falling, every fall is a surprise, and a surprised skater stiffens up, throws out a hand or lets their head snap back. Worrying about falling also keeps you stiff, which makes balance harder.
Practice at home first, on a carpet or a mat. Bend your knees, sit down to one side with your chin tucked and your hands in, then roll to your hands and knees and stand up. Next, try it on the ice from a standstill near the boards, with your coach or a friend close by. Our guide to falling safely walks through it.
Padding helps while you practice, too. Padded shorts or knee pads under your leggings take the sting out of landings, and nobody at the rink will notice or mind. If you'd like padded shorts made for skating, we carry CRS Cross padded skating shorts.
10. Rushing into jumps
Jumps are the fun part, so it's tempting to try them before you're ready. Without a steady edge to take off from and a landing you can hold, a jump becomes a guess, and that's when falls get hard. Vaulting off the toe pick, where you jab it into the ice and launch off it, is one of the first things coaches watch for.
Before your first waltz jump, you want a steady glide on your left forward outside edge and a comfortable backward glide on your right back outside edge, which is your landing. Practice those pieces on their own, learn the jump with a coach watching, and try it on freestyle or in a lesson rather than on a crowded public session. Our waltz jump guide breaks it into steps.
This is general advice from adult skaters, not coaching or medical advice. Your coach can see things you can't feel, so if something here doesn't match what yours teaches, go with your coach.
