Hi, i was just wondering about off ice training (not the warm up/strenght/jump kind of off ice). How do you practice your skills during summer when you cant access an ice rink? Im pretty new to figure skating, i had maybe around 13h of public class figure skating session last seasonn and my last training was in april. I am kind of nervous i'll really lose touch from the skill I learned, ehich was basics like front/back crossovers, normal spin and edge work. I was working on my 3-turn right before the end and started to get the hang of it. However, i havent been able to slate after april because of time and limited access to ice. Originally I was supposed to get wheels for inline figure slates but my old boots (my only pair till I bought new) were actually too big so the fitter didnt recommend it. Can i use normal rollerblades? I want to keep on practicing 3-turn and crossovers but i dont want to teach myself wrong in terms of balance and foot placement (bc i know rollerblades can be very different from ice). Any recommendations? Or do I just got to hppe I'll still be fine till next season?
Off ice training during the summer
- Thread starter Pastare
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- Oct 22, 2022
The only thing I can suggest is to buy a small spinner platform, which your skate shop probably sells. You can practise balance, spins, and the upper body work for some one-foot turns on it at home. I think if you work on maintaining balance with it, you'll find the basic skills you've learned will come back quite quickly when you're back on the ice.I wish I could suggest more, but in Canada we have ice all year round -- if one rink closes for a month in summer for annual maintenance, there will be another one open at that time nearby -- so the problem never arises. And when I roller skate I use quad wheels, not inline. I hope others who use rollerblades can tell you if that helps or hinders. Good luck!
BTW, "Rollerblades" is one specific brand name for inline skates. I don't know if there is a specific reason you would chose that brand for your purposes over others. And of course you can use them, and it might be somewhat helpful - but it is substantially different (and actually harder) to turn or spin on inline skates than ice figure skates. But inline skating can strengthen many of the muscles that figure skating also uses.
Unless you get ones designed to sort-of emulate a toe pick, you turn and spin in completely different ways - i.e., you can't roll up to or near the toepick, without being likely to fall over, because there is no toe pick to stop the roll. Also, unless you wear protective clothing (gloves, knee pads, rear end pads, possibly wrist guards and a helmet), falls on inline skates (or for that matter, quad roller skates) may be more likely to cause an injury - so it is important you learn to fall right. Finally, if there are even slight hills, stopping on inline or quad skates is also harder on ice. Lessons might help.
So can skiing, especially cross country skiing. But the equivalent of backwards skating, 3-turns and spins on skis are a lot harder, and done wrong, can easily create an injury, because skis are longer so they have more leverage. As I once did. Regardless, ski lessons might help prevent injuries.
If you told us where you are (e.g., your city), and whether you can drive (and other transportation options), we might be able to find another ice rink that you could get to, if you can travel a little farther.
You could also search for "ice rink" at maps.google.com - but that doesn't list them all.
If you know how to contact any skating friends from the rink, perhaps they can suggest options too.
I know that isn't a comprehensive answer. But I doubt other people here can do much better until you provide your location and transportation options.
Unless you get ones designed to sort-of emulate a toe pick, you turn and spin in completely different ways - i.e., you can't roll up to or near the toepick, without being likely to fall over, because there is no toe pick to stop the roll. Also, unless you wear protective clothing (gloves, knee pads, rear end pads, possibly wrist guards and a helmet), falls on inline skates (or for that matter, quad roller skates) may be more likely to cause an injury - so it is important you learn to fall right. Finally, if there are even slight hills, stopping on inline or quad skates is also harder on ice. Lessons might help.
So can skiing, especially cross country skiing. But the equivalent of backwards skating, 3-turns and spins on skis are a lot harder, and done wrong, can easily create an injury, because skis are longer so they have more leverage. As I once did. Regardless, ski lessons might help prevent injuries.
If you told us where you are (e.g., your city), and whether you can drive (and other transportation options), we might be able to find another ice rink that you could get to, if you can travel a little farther.
You could also search for "ice rink" at maps.google.com - but that doesn't list them all.
If you know how to contact any skating friends from the rink, perhaps they can suggest options too.
I know that isn't a comprehensive answer. But I doubt other people here can do much better until you provide your location and transportation options.
You are so lucky!
I've known "reverse snowbirds" who move to colder climates in the summer, so they can do winter sports. But that isn't practical for everyone.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
Hi Pastare,
Happy to share some info I do "artistic inline" skating when ice rings are closed (will continue with it in winter in parallel to ice skating due to lack of sufficient ice time).
There is a sports club that has a hall where we have slots where we can practise.
If we are talking ice skating as a hobby (no triple axels or competitions ;-) then artistic inline comes pretty close to ice skating and you can transfer all your skills.
You would use the same type of boots (i.e. same level of stiffness) as for ice skating and just mount a special artistic inline plate/frame/chassis instead of a blade.
I can recommend the Linea Roll Line plate/ frame/ chassi. To my knowledge it is the only inliner chassi/ frame/plate where you can adjust the rocker by changing the offset of the center wheel: https://roll-line.it/en/plates/linea/
"Snow White" is also good (but with a fixed rocker):
You would need a proper shop that does the mounting.
It is also possible to buy a complete pre-mounted set online. I would though only order online if I was sure that the boot would fit (e.g. if I had the same boot for ice skating and just ordered it a second time as part of an inliner-set).
Happy to share some info
I do "artistic inline" skating when ice rings are closed (will continue with it in winter in parallel to ice skating due to lack of sufficient ice time).There is a sports club that has a hall where we have slots where we can practise.
If we are talking ice skating as a hobby (no triple axels or competitions ;-) then artistic inline comes pretty close to ice skating and you can transfer all your skills.
You would use the same type of boots (i.e. same level of stiffness) as for ice skating and just mount a special artistic inline plate/frame/chassis instead of a blade.
I can recommend the Linea Roll Line plate/ frame/ chassi. To my knowledge it is the only inliner chassi/ frame/plate where you can adjust the rocker by changing the offset of the center wheel: https://roll-line.it/en/plates/linea/
"Snow White" is also good (but with a fixed rocker):
You would need a proper shop that does the mounting.
It is also possible to buy a complete pre-mounted set online. I would though only order online if I was sure that the boot would fit (e.g. if I had the same boot for ice skating and just ordered it a second time as part of an inliner-set).
Of course, if your skating is only for recreation - and you don't have realistic dreams of high level competition - you could also vary what sports you do according to the convenience of the season. I think that is what many or most recreational level athletes do.
And if you do have such dreams - skating is a somewhat expensive sport. It is going to take a lot of time and money to get there, if you can. Traveling a somewhat longer distance to another rink may be one of the lessor things you have to do to accomplish it.
So, again, about where do you live, and what transportation options do you have? There is still a possibility we might find you another reasonably nearby ice rink that is open in the summer.
BTW, FethryDuck, does you advice mean that PicFrames are no longer considered good? Or Jackson's own equivalents?
As a lower cost alternative, have any of you tried putting RollerGards on figure skates? They look fragile to me, though I'm not an engineer, but the figure skate style sort of has (plastic) toepicks. E.g., one online review said that turning in them is harder - but so is turning in inline or quad skates; another review said the attachment doesn't feel secure. But I was told the hockey style is very popular with some hockey kids, to the extent that some rinks ban them indoors, because the users might collide at high speed with people walking or standing inside the rink facility.
And if you do have such dreams - skating is a somewhat expensive sport. It is going to take a lot of time and money to get there, if you can. Traveling a somewhat longer distance to another rink may be one of the lessor things you have to do to accomplish it.
So, again, about where do you live, and what transportation options do you have? There is still a possibility we might find you another reasonably nearby ice rink that is open in the summer.
BTW, FethryDuck, does you advice mean that PicFrames are no longer considered good? Or Jackson's own equivalents?
As a lower cost alternative, have any of you tried putting RollerGards on figure skates? They look fragile to me, though I'm not an engineer, but the figure skate style sort of has (plastic) toepicks. E.g., one online review said that turning in them is harder - but so is turning in inline or quad skates; another review said the attachment doesn't feel secure. But I was told the hockey style is very popular with some hockey kids, to the extent that some rinks ban them indoors, because the users might collide at high speed with people walking or standing inside the rink facility.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
@Query: I doubt that RollerGuards would stand the forces (even if its not a triple axel but just a single jump ) when doing jumps on those. They look a bit like children's toys to me. (But I may be wrong.)
Wrt PicSkates or Jacksons inliners: they are not very common where I live and also seem to be not so much used in international competitions.
(There is "high level competition" also in artistic inline).
) when doing jumps on those. They look a bit like children's toys to me. (But I may be wrong.)Wrt PicSkates or Jacksons inliners: they are not very common where I live and also seem to be not so much used in international competitions.
(There is "high level competition" also in artistic inline).
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
One of the answers to the common question, "Why is artistic roller skating not a Summer Olympic event?". The wheel sports world is divided into quad vs inline camps, and neither is then big enough with enough funding and support to qualify for admission to the Olympics (among several other reasons). Artistic quad skating, being the older and more traditional style, gets a larger share of financial support and prestige in wheel sports, although I can think of many other sports where there are Olympics events for different styles of equipment -- archery, for instance, and fencing.@Query: I doubt that RollerGuards would stand the forces (even if its not a triple axel but just a single jump
Wrt PicSkates or Jacksons inliners: they are not very common where I live and also seem to be not so much used in international competitions.
(There is "high level competition" also in artistic inline).
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
Yes, "pooling the wheel sports" wrt (summer) Olympics would be a good idea.
Personally I think it's really cool that there are so many different ways to skate (ice or off-ice, inline or quad, speed or artistic, and I would even count in skateboarding) so there is something for everybody
The more skating, the better
Being also a windsurfer, also within watersports a lot of new "action sports" have emerged over time such as kiting, windfoiling, wingfoiling, SUP. And of course there were people moaning that those new sports would cannibalise windsurfing. But in my opinion those sports just cross-fertilize instead and (hopefully) attract more people to spend their leisure time with something meaningful (in my opinion ...)
Personally I think it's really cool that there are so many different ways to skate (ice or off-ice, inline or quad, speed or artistic, and I would even count in skateboarding) so there is something for everybody
The more skating, the better
Being also a windsurfer, also within watersports a lot of new "action sports" have emerged over time such as kiting, windfoiling, wingfoiling, SUP. And of course there were people moaning that those new sports would cannibalise windsurfing. But in my opinion those sports just cross-fertilize instead and (hopefully) attract more people to spend their leisure time with something meaningful (in my opinion ...)
Cool!
Maybe one could design something along the lines of those RollerGards that would work better, if they were made of strong resilient materials. Kind of like the Nordic skates that clip into cross country ski bindings.
I've been tempted to try the figure skating RollerGards, and just add a little stronger bungee to the back so they couldn't scrape or come free, but am worried there could be too much sideways sheer force, and the blades would break.
But now that I think of it, that was a crazy idea to suggest to the o.p., who is relatively new to the sport. A dubious adaption like that would likely be harder to use - and maybe more likely to create injury - than true purpose-built equipment.
Are inline and quad skating really less popular or less well funded than speed skating? In addition to outdoor use, there are still a moderately large number of indoor roller skating rinks - in fact, some winter-time ice rinks convert to roller in the summer. My impression is that speed skating is not very common, and it has no major sponsors. I've only known well a few people who do it. Yet ice speed skating is an Olympic sport, and land speed skating is in the "Summer Youth Olympics".
Anyway, for most of us, Olympic level sports is nothing more than a pipe dream. It shouldn't matter whether a sport is in the Olympics, though I suppose you could claim that watching the Olympics is a way for people to find out about a sport.
A less equipment intensive summer "sport" would be to take up ballroom or other social dancing. (Though I admit some ladies spend a lot of money on dance dresses.) An ice dance coach (I think he was Czechoslovakian) once told me he was made to study ballroom dancing as part of an ice dance training program.
Maybe one could design something along the lines of those RollerGards that would work better, if they were made of strong resilient materials. Kind of like the Nordic skates that clip into cross country ski bindings.
I've been tempted to try the figure skating RollerGards, and just add a little stronger bungee to the back so they couldn't scrape or come free, but am worried there could be too much sideways sheer force, and the blades would break.
But now that I think of it, that was a crazy idea to suggest to the o.p., who is relatively new to the sport. A dubious adaption like that would likely be harder to use - and maybe more likely to create injury - than true purpose-built equipment.
Are inline and quad skating really less popular or less well funded than speed skating? In addition to outdoor use, there are still a moderately large number of indoor roller skating rinks - in fact, some winter-time ice rinks convert to roller in the summer. My impression is that speed skating is not very common, and it has no major sponsors. I've only known well a few people who do it. Yet ice speed skating is an Olympic sport, and land speed skating is in the "Summer Youth Olympics".
Anyway, for most of us, Olympic level sports is nothing more than a pipe dream. It shouldn't matter whether a sport is in the Olympics, though I suppose you could claim that watching the Olympics is a way for people to find out about a sport.
A less equipment intensive summer "sport" would be to take up ballroom or other social dancing. (Though I admit some ladies spend a lot of money on dance dresses.) An ice dance coach (I think he was Czechoslovakian) once told me he was made to study ballroom dancing as part of an ice dance training program.
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- Oct 22, 2022
Roller skating of either kind is popular as a recreational activity, artistic roller skating not so much. As for funding, in the ISU and in many of its member countries (I've never looked up the statistics) figure skating and speed skating are rolled into one organization which receives blanket funding then divided between the two sports. And remember that Ottavio Cinquanta, all-powerful in the ISU for so long, was a speed skater himself, hence that sport's entrenchment in the Olympics.
I ballroom dance competitively. Have for many years. Believe me, it's every bit as expensive as figure skating even if you don't compete at the high levels with the glitziest gowns. (And the men's stretch costumes, even if they look like regular formal wear are not, and are more expensive than a rented white-tie outfit for weddings. They're specially made and need replacing constantly thanks to the frequent dry cleaning and mending.) Club memberships or school fees, floor time rental by the hour for private practice, coaching fees, even the most basic dance shoes with the delicate suede soles needing the same meticulous care as skate blades and not lasting nearly as long as skate boots and blades. They all add up, and up, and up. Add in travel to competitions and conventions (you pay for your coach as well), not funded by any form of government, only by a sponsor if you're very lucky......it's a money-draining activity that you do for love. Even people who start out joining a class for group lessons get the fever, or else they drop out because most of their class friends get hooked and move into private lessons and low-level competitions like the little group of adult students in Shall We Dance? or the larger class in Strictly Ballroom.
Between the two, I live a very frugal life, squeezing every penny!
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- Apr 6, 2025
@Query:
There are skates that come with both a blade holder and wheel chassi:
Amazon.com : Rollerface Switch 3-in-1, Interchangeable in 3 modalities: Inline Skate, Roller Skate, and Ice Skate. (Adjustable up to 3 Sizes) : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com : Rollerface Switch 3-in-1, Interchangeable in 3 modalities: Inline Skate, Roller Skate, and Ice Skate. (Adjustable up to 3 Sizes) : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
However those skates are for recreational use only and thus of limited use if you aim to do on-ice/ off-ice figure skating.
But the construction principle itself should work, one would just need a "high end" version for figure/ artistic skating.
Most high end ice hockey boots for example have removable blades that sit in a kind of blade holder and you can exchange the blade in seconds without special tools.
A similar "high end" construction where you not only replace the blade but exchange it against a wheel chassi would surely be feasible.
But so far no manufacturer seems to have seen a market for such "convertables".
Such convertables would though be of much use for "hobby level" figure skaters (I am thinking of figure skating up to single jumps here; i.e. skaters that do not break down and replace their boots each and every half year.)
A lot people who (hobby) figure skate are reluctant to fork out >600 € or $ for a second pair of (off-ice) skates. Add to that another trip to a fitter.
So why not use the boots that you already have (and which presumably already fit perfectly
) for ice and artistic inline.(For quad skating I do not know; I think quad skaters usually use softer boots than what they would use on ice as the 4-wheel 2-truck chassi already provides more ankle support. But Diana may know).
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- Oct 22, 2022
Right. You usually go down at least one level in stiffness (or, as I've done when money was particularly tight, use an old figure skate boot that you've broken down). It's more difficult to tilt onto an "edge" on two wheels that are much wider apart than the edges of a blade. The softer boot makes it easier to force the edge. And also gives the optical illusion that you're on a deep edge, skating on the outer edges of two wheels, because to the distant eye you're on more of a lean.
I would guess that relatively few skaters and skate techs would have the skill to mount artistic inline chassis on figure skates, in such a way that they could easily go back to the original configuration again. Especially if some of the hole positions would have to overlap. So I would hesitate to suggest it to the original poster. They might also end up with leaky boots that allowed water and cold to leak through. Too many potential problems. But maybe you disagree.A lot people who (hobby) figure skate are reluctant to fork out >600 € or $ for a second pair of (off-ice) skates. Add to that another trip to a fitter.
So why not use the boots that you already have (and which presumably already fit perfectly
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- Apr 6, 2025
... I admit the discussion drifted a bit away from the initial subject, apologies.
I was just dreaming up a solution where you wouls have just ONE pair of boots with some kind of "basic chassi" which always stays with the boot and which is suitable to either hold a blade or a set of (inline) wheels.
But that solution does unfortunately not exist yet as "high end" version (only as recreational skate of doubtful quality)
:-(
I fully agree, drilling additional holes in the boot's sole and alternate between inline chassi and "original configuration" is not a good idea (and I never suggested it.)
I was just dreaming up a solution where you wouls have just ONE pair of boots with some kind of "basic chassi" which always stays with the boot and which is suitable to either hold a blade or a set of (inline) wheels.
But that solution does unfortunately not exist yet as "high end" version (only as recreational skate of doubtful quality)
:-(
I fully agree, drilling additional holes in the boot's sole and alternate between inline chassi and "original configuration" is not a good idea (and I never suggested it.)
They sort of exist:
And interconversion instructions exist
(And you can find a bunch more ice/roller interconversion stuff on Youtube.)
But I think they are mostly talking hockey skates, not figure skates. And I think (am not sure) they are talking about interchanging sets with holes in the same places. Plus roller chassis holes are often drilled all the way through the soles, whereas figure skate holes are usually drilled part way through. (Except Edea and maybe a few others.) It sounds like the o.p. might be fairly pleased with their current ice skates. It would be a shame to mess that up.
I apologize if I misunderstood your intent. I thought you were suggesting something you weren't.
Multipurpose boots are a very cool idea. But AFAICT, multipurpose equipment often isn't as good at each purpose as dedicated equipment.
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- Aug 5, 2025
This is such a great thread with a ton of excellent advice. Summer is the perfect time to focus on off-ice training and build up your skills without the pressure of a competition season.
As everyone has mentioned, a solid off-ice routine that includes a mix of strength training, flexibility, and cardio can make a huge difference when you get back on the ice. Focusing on exercises that improve your core strength and jump landings can help you come back even stronger. Thanks for all the great tips!
As everyone has mentioned, a solid off-ice routine that includes a mix of strength training, flexibility, and cardio can make a huge difference when you get back on the ice. Focusing on exercises that improve your core strength and jump landings can help you come back even stronger. Thanks for all the great tips!
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