What are your tips for keeping warm?

[turtledove]

The rink I usually skate at is VERY cold. Typically I wear a base layer of regular leggings, a long sleeve top and leg warmers. I have a vest that I wear over that for warming up and a big puffy jacket that goes over the vest for just the very beginning of warming up. The pattern I'm stuck in right now is I get warm, take off my layers, and then if I stop moving for a bit or start working on less energy-intensive things, I get cold again and find it impossible to warm back up even if I put all the layers back on for a while. I've repeated this cycle enough times that I figured it was worth checking if anyone has good tips for sustaining warmth.

Over the past few weeks I've been testing fleece-lined tights under my leggings and this has made an incredible difference, but the thick layers on my legs also make me feel restricted and I've noticed it's been harder for me to get into spirals and camel spins since I've been doing this. Would love to hear if anyone has other solutions!

 

[Diana Delafield]

The rink I usually skate at is VERY cold. Typically I wear a base layer of regular leggings, a long sleeve top and leg warmers. I have a vest that I wear over that for warming up and a big puffy jacket that goes over the vest for just the very beginning of warming up. The pattern I'm stuck in right now is I get warm, take off my layers, and then if I stop moving for a bit or start working on less energy-intensive things, I get cold again and find it impossible to warm back up even if I put all the layers back on for a while. I've repeated this cycle enough times that I figured it was worth checking if anyone has good tips for sustaining warmth.

Over the past few weeks I've been testing fleece-lined tights under my leggings and this has made an incredible difference, but the thick layers on my legs also make me feel restricted and I've noticed it's been harder for me to get into spirals and camel spins since I've been doing this. Would love to hear if anyone has other solutions!

Hi! I don't know how much response you'll get, since GS tends to be more fans of skating than skaters themselves, and everyone is watching and commenting on and dissecting the Olympics just now. I'm a pairs skater, so my partner provides a lot of the warmth, and I happen to thrive in the cold, so I don't know how much advice I can give. I do have to work on my own skating part of the time, and I layer like you do. I find long legwarmers that cover most of the legs aren't as restricting as thick tights since they leave your hip joints free, but I do wear footless sweater-knit tights that come down over my boots.

My go-to "warmies", though, are turtlenecks and gloves. I take the gloves off when we're working on pairs elements, obviously, but I'm so used to turtlenecks under a light jacket with leggings, or a skirted jumper, or a leotard, that I feel undressed with my neck uncovered. For a performance, I bought the dress in the catalogue picture and had a dressmaker shorten the dance skirt to pairs length.

Ideally, keeping your head covered is the best way to conserve heat, but not practical or even safe while working on many skating moves. But I find keeping my neck covered works well for me. Good luck!

 

[turtledove]

Hi! I don't know how much response you'll get, since GS tends to be more fans of skating than skaters themselves, and everyone is watching and commenting on and dissecting the Olympics just now. I'm a pairs skater, so my partner provides a lot of the warmth, and I happen to thrive in the cold, so I don't know how much advice I can give. I do have to work on my own skating part of the time, and I layer like you do. I find long legwarmers that cover most of the legs aren't as restricting as thick tights since they leave your hip joints free, but I do wear footless sweater-knit tights that come down over my boots.

My go-to "warmies", though, are turtlenecks and gloves. I take the gloves off when we're working on pairs elements, obviously, but I'm so used to turtlenecks under a light jacket with leggings, or a skirted jumper, or a leotard, that I feel undressed with my neck uncovered. For a performance, I bought the dress in the catalogue picture and had a dressmaker shorten the dance skirt to pairs length.

Ideally, keeping your head covered is the best way to conserve heat, but not practical or even safe while working on many skating moves. But I find keeping my neck covered works well for me. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the ideas!! And you're totally right about the olympics. I should be watching too!

 

[NanaPat]

Not a skater, but a hiker and cross-country skiier, so have plenty of experience with the exercise/cold cycle and even with a few bouts of hypothermia.

Cold can be a real problem if you exercise hard enough to get your clothes sweaty. When you stop or even slow down, the wet clothing quickly chills you. You can help combat this by wearing merino wool against your skin; it retains its warmth even when wet. It can be expensive, and it needs to be washed with extreme care (NEVER put it in the dryer), but it is worth it. The synthetics that claim to be moisture-wicking can be hit and miss; some work OK, some not. For those, avoid fabric softeners at all costs or they will lose their wicking ability. Avoid cotton near your skin when exercising.

The other thing you can do to avoid being chilled after you finish exercising is to immediately change your clothing from the waist up, down to the skin. At this point, any dry clothing will do, including cotton. Taking off your wet inner clothing is just as important as putting on more clothes, perhaps more so!

 

[Diana Delafield]

Not a skater, but a hiker and cross-country skiier, so have plenty of experience with the exercise/cold cycle and even with a few bouts of hypothermia.

Cold can be a real problem if you exercise hard enough to get your clothes sweaty. When you stop or even slow down, the wet clothing quickly chills you. You can help combat this by wearing merino wool against your skin; it retains its warmth even when wet. It can be expensive, and it needs to be washed with extreme care (NEVER put it in the dryer), but it is worth it. The synthetics that claim to be moisture-wicking can be hit and miss; some work OK, some not. For those, avoid fabric softeners at all costs or they will lose their wicking ability. Avoid cotton near your skin when exercising.

The other thing you can do to avoid being chilled after you finish exercising is to immediately change your clothing from the waist up, down to the skin. At this point, any dry clothing will do, including cotton. Taking off your wet inner clothing is just as important as putting on more clothes, perhaps more so!

Interesting. The turtlenecks I wear for skating practice are all either cotton or silk, but I tend to forget that other people sweat when they exercise. I was born with Systemic Sjogren's and I don't perspire, not noticeably anyway. I should remember that when I'm giving people advice! I stay away from heat because I'll cook in my skin, and practically move into a rink fulltime in the summer because I need the cold.

 

[NanaPat]

Interesting. The turtlenecks I wear for skating practice are all either cotton or silk, but I tend to forget that other people sweat when they exercise. I was born with Systemic Sjogren's and I don't perspire, not noticeably anyway. I should remember that when I'm giving people advice! I stay away from heat because I'll cook in my skin, and practically move into a rink fulltime in the summer because I need the cold.

I believe silk is also warm when wet. Cotton absorbs water, so it is good for after-exercise; it absorbs the small amount of residual moisture left on your my skin when you I take off your my soppy exercise clothes.

 

[Diana Delafield]

I believe silk is also warm when wet. Cotton absorbs water, so it is good for after-exercise; it absorbs the small amount of residual moisture left on your my skin when you I take off your my soppy exercise clothes.

I remember when my husband and sons used to go hiking, when the boys were teenagers. Our driveway door led straight into the laundry area. I had a rule that all hiking clothes must be stripped off there and dumped in the washing machine upon entry, before proceeding one step further. I tried to have the curtains closed on the big window in our kitchen when they arrived home, but if I was busy elsewhere the neighbours across our back fence got an eyeful of three large naked males parading through the kitchen on their way to the showers.

 

[BeefDumpling]

The rink I usually skate at is VERY cold. Typically I wear a base layer of regular leggings, a long sleeve top and leg warmers. I have a vest that I wear over that for warming up and a big puffy jacket that goes over the vest for just the very beginning of warming up. The pattern I'm stuck in right now is I get warm, take off my layers, and then if I stop moving for a bit or start working on less energy-intensive things, I get cold again and find it impossible to warm back up even if I put all the layers back on for a while. I've repeated this cycle enough times that I figured it was worth checking if anyone has good tips for sustaining warmth.

Over the past few weeks I've been testing fleece-lined tights under my leggings and this has made an incredible difference, but the thick layers on my legs also make me feel restricted and I've noticed it's been harder for me to get into spirals and camel spins since I've been doing this. Would love to hear if anyone has other solutions!

Honestly, I feel like I've had the best results with dealing with this issue by just leaving on my "last layer." I also wear a vest many times during practice to keep my lower back warm before doing advanced spins and jumps, and I feel like keeping it or a thin jacket (think like a Lululemon Define or a skating club jacket over a long sleeve) on longer is what really does the trick. Keeping layers on until almost the end of the session where you're ready to exert the last of your energy will likely save you in the long term from injury, as well as help with recovery if you've had one in the past.

As for getting too warm, maybe try venting your vest or jacket by unzipping it enough to let your circulation cool down without losing the heat from your working muscles (I do this on occasion when I start to feel a little hot, but know that my back and shoulders aren't warm enough to safely move on). I like to wear a thin jacket similar to the ones mentioned above because they have vents built in so that I simultaneously release excess heat while keeping a thin layer under my vest that helps retain just enough heat to be comfortable and stay warm.

 

[Query]

As a guy who doesn't usually like skin tight clothing, I can only answer a little.

turtledove: what is the long sleeve top you wear made of?

Some fabrics, like cotton, when they get wet, switch from being good thermal insulators (which is good for staying warm) to being good thermal conductors (which you don't want, to stay warm). That makes them poorly suited for conditions where you sweat.

Another example of that is down.

Light plastic piles or fleeces (I like polyester, but there are other materials) are, for the most part, just as good thermal insulators as wool, and weigh a lot less, and almost as good as down, but stay pretty good thermal insulators when wet.

Instead of wearing the fleece under your leggings, could you try wearing them over the leggings? Fleece can move around a lot, so I wouldn't think, properly used, it would interfere much with motion, but if it is confined under elastic leggings, I wonder if that effectively adds high friction layers within the fleece? Could any one else comment on that?

However, either way, I wonder if the thickness would matter from an appearance perspective. Figure skating is to a significant extent an appearance sport. People like to be able to see how your muscles move, and anything thick could interfere with that.

The diving and paddling communities sometimes use "dive skins", made of stretchable materials like spandex, which are somewhat thicker than most leotards and leggings. They tend to breath less well than leotards and such, which makes them warmer, and they are designed to insulate well when wet. Some of them cover everything but your heads. I've never seen anyone skate with them, but I wonder if they might work fairly well. Though maybe they would be overkill, and might not be as easy to move inside of as a leotard. Of course, as with leotards, they hide very little of your body shape, and may even emphasize it, so if you are modest, they won't work. (As a modest guy, I've used them while paddling or swimming in somewhat cold water, but with a bathing suit on top.) I think they are more expensive than leotards. So it would be understandable if you didn't want to risk the cost for an experiment.

As other people have mentioned, silk is a great thermal insulator. So is polypropylene, though it may retain more odor - though there have been attempts to add materials that help with that. Both silk and polypropylene are fragile and heat sensitive, so it is best to wash them on a gentle cycle (or hand wish) inside a mesh bag, and to hang dry, or gently dry them on low heat. Both of these can be bought at places that sell performance outdoor wear, like camping goods.

Many skaters and other athletes take of layers as they warm up, and put them back on while resting. Zippered tops don't work as well as that, but as others here have noted, they help. Some performance outdoor clothing uses "pit zips" - zippers under the arms, which help a lot too - but AFAIK, no skin-tight clothing suitable for skating is like that.

 

[Casey]

Wool! I wear an Icebreaker 175 merino base layer - leggings and long sleeve shirt. Wool dress socks (not too thick). Smartwool gloves that look like regular synthetic black gloves people use for skating all the time but feel nicer. Thin smartwool hat when warming up. I love being covered head to toe in wool while skating... Then as outerwear I use either Lululemon Sojourn jogging pants and jacket which are thin, or Mondor Powerflex which are thicker and better when it's colder. Though most often, I only wear the base layer on top because I get too hot otherwise.

 

[Casey]

The diving and paddling communities sometimes use "dive skins", made of stretchable materials like spandex, which are somewhat thicker than most leotards and leggings. They tend to breath less well than leotards and such, which makes them warmer, and they are designed to insulate well when wet. Some of them cover everything but your heads. I've never seen anyone skate with them, but I wonder if they might work fairly well. Though maybe they would be overkill, and might not be as easy to move inside of as a leotard. Of course, as with leotards, they hide very little of your body shape, and may even emphasize it, so if you are modest, they won't work. (As a modest guy, I've used them while paddling or swimming in somewhat cold water, but with a bathing suit on top.) I think they are more expensive than leotards. So it would be understandable if you didn't want to risk the cost for an experiment.

When we go swimming, we dress modestly. I wear these leggings: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HHY3RFS ...and this shirt: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQC7279F ...then wear regular loose-fit swimming shorts over the leggings. For kids, looking for swimwear intended for a Muslim audience has proven productive, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXDN86CS (we're not Muslim, just modest). Although not intended for it, in a warm rink or with a base layer, these swimsuits could make fairly decent skating clothes.

 

[Query]

You might find it interesting to look up burkini on Wikipedia. Interesting history.

I recently wore a face mask while skiing. I wanted it to be neoprene (which can be quite warm, and can be warm even while wet - and winter paddlers often wear neoprene masks), but couldn't find one fast enough in local stores. But I suppose a face mask would scare some people. I wore a thick wool face mask while very young in North Dakota - where we sometimes played outside in roughly -40 deg weather. (BTW, -40 Fahrenheit = -40 centigrade.)

You do not need to dress for -40 while ice skating - ice isn't all that slippery at that temperature. But outdoors, wind chill can sometimes make it seem pretty cold.

One way to stay warm while skating is to go to a rink that heats the air over the rink. Not very efficient, but it works pretty well. Many athletic skaters (who work hard enough to stay pretty warm) are short sleeve shirts (or equivalent) and shorts at such rinks.

 

[Casey]

One way to stay warm while skating is to go to a rink that heats the air over the rink. Not very efficient, but it works pretty well. Many athletic skaters (who work hard enough to stay pretty warm) are short sleeve shirts (or equivalent) and shorts at such rinks.

I wouldn't think it would be too terribly inefficient, since heat rises. When I first started skating, I lived much farther north and the rink I went to was notoriously cold and I think completely unheated and I had to layer up a lot more and take breaks just to take my skates off and warm my frozen toes periodically. The ice was more brittle and toe jumps would frequently send large chunks of ice skidding down the rink. Funnily enough in those days I didn't yet have any experience with merino wool and was a lot less comfortable and more constricted than now. Now I'm in a warm climate and there is some light heating along one side of the rink over some bleachers which I'm sure has a warming effect on the entire rink, so except for some winter early morning freestyle sessions where the heat's been off all night, I can either skate lightly and be comfortable, or skate hard and sweat. But I never wear short sleeves or shorts anywhere, despite now living in an area where the majority does. Even when I get hot, I still find the wool base layer to work the best for skating.

 

[fliptzies]

Not sure how well it'll work for skating, but a ton of coaches at my club have heated vests - from the brand ororo, you can definitely probably find cheaper dupes though

 

[Query]

I wonder what the weight tradeoff is for an electrically heated vest vs a passive insulation vest or jacket is, assuming it must keep you warm for all the skating you do for a day, vs a good quality fleece vest, sweater or jacket.

Good quality passive insulation vests, sweaters and jackets (as well as pants, gloves and perhaps socks) can be very durable, even if you take a lot of falls - which I think most serious figure skaters do. I'm not sure how true that is for the electrically heated equivalent. Plus there are no batteries to replace - even the best rechargeable batteries don't last forever. I still have a very good quality fleece jacket I bought in the 1980s - though I have had to have the pocket linings replaced, and the zipper has become hard to use and should be replaced. I used it thousands of hours, for skiing and skating. I bought similar fleece pants, which have had no problems. But I don't need either in the rinks I skate at now.

AFAIK, the most lightweight rechargeable batteries are also fire/explosion hazards, especially if they frequently get wet, so that corrosion can create holes in the battery case. Getting wet isn't uncommon for ice skaters - especially if you sometimes skate in warmer rinks, or if you sometimes skate outdoors in a variety of conditions.

I spoke to a bicycle store manager who also carried e-bikes. He has had several fires in his store from lithium ion batteries. (BTW, water based fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems are counterproductive for putting out lithium ion battery fires.)

Iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are less flammable and last for more years than most other lithium ion batteries, but are fairly heavy.

This issue has recently become significant for electric vehicles - some people advise against parking EVs inside garages, or bringing the batteries of e-bikes, e-scooters and other ultralight electric transportation devices indoors. Some college dormitories ban them, or require they be stored in special high ventilation areas.

In the U.S., batteries with sufficient capacity for your purpose would probably not be allowed by the TSA on commercial aircraft for this reason, and perhaps they are detectable by airport x-ray machines. I don't know if there are similar rules for trains. And I don't know to what extent other countries have similar rules.

But an automotive technician who had worked on EVs and Hybrid gas/electric vehicles told me he thought the fire and explosion hazards were exaggerated. He said not to worry about parking EVs indoors. (He worried more about being electrocuted by the chargers, or maybe even the batteries - but I doubt that the chargers or batteries for heated vests pose a significant electrocution hazard.) Of course, auto technicians routinely work with gasoline, so maybe his safety standards are different than mine.

Those of you with an engineering background can speak to the safety issues better than I can.

OTOH, maybe an electric vest is easier to adjust for different temperature regimes. It does seem like an interesting idea. And maybe you can adjust more easily which parts of the body are heated.

A rough equivalent in a very good quality fleece jacket is to have "pit zips" - underarm zippered or Velcroed regions that you can unzip or unstick if you get too hot), and have hoods and waist pull cord straps, and to an extent you also can unzip the front - though if you unzip them too much, I find that makes spinning (or twizzles) harder, because the material flaps around as you spin. (And of course high rotation jumps are aerial spins.)

Another option is to dress in layers, so you can take off layers if you get too warm. But maybe there are rinks where the outer layers are likely to get stolen if you leave them by the rink. I once had a jacket that I loved stolen at a rink I thought reasonably safe.

It helps a lot if one the outer layer is a "vapor barrier", like a snug raincoat, and rain/snow pants. That can add a lot of warmth with very little weight. Often too much warmth - some of them have adjustable ventilation areas too. But again, you don't want a loose fit that flaps around and interferes with spinning. And of course, you can take them off if you get too warm. It would be hard to quickly take off rain/ski pants since you are wearing skates. Some of them have full length zippers, so it is possible, but that is harder to figure out how to do than you might think - I had trouble doing that while wearing ski boots. And some of them let you remove the bottom portion of the legs, so they become shorts.

And a lot of even the best quality outdoor gear wouldn't meet the appearance standards that people in the figure skating community expect. For that matter, many coaches want to be able to see the muscles moving under your clothing - so maybe you need skin tight "cat suits".

BTW, good quality fleece gear can be washed fairly easily in machine washers and driers. Wool cannot. Like some of the performance underwear and socks, it should be hand washed and hung dry, or washed and dried on gentle low heat cycles - and probably with special detergents, like Woolite. Added to the extra weight of wool, especially if it gets wet, I think there is no comparison. IMO Fleece is much better.

But of course, some people are allergic to certain fabrics. That could be just as much a consideration to you as anything else.

 

[tij]

The rink I usually skate at is VERY cold. Typically I wear a base layer of regular leggings, a long sleeve top and leg warmers. I have a vest that I wear over that for warming up and a big puffy jacket that goes over the vest for just the very beginning of warming up. The pattern I'm stuck in right now is I get warm, take off my layers, and then if I stop moving for a bit or start working on less energy-intensive things, I get cold again and find it impossible to warm back up even if I put all the layers back on for a while. I've repeated this cycle enough times that I figured it was worth checking if anyone has good tips for sustaining warmth.

Over the past few weeks I've been testing fleece-lined tights under my leggings and this has made an incredible difference, but the thick layers on my legs also make me feel restricted and I've noticed it's been harder for me to get into spirals and camel spins since I've been doing this. Would love to hear if anyone has other solutions!

I used to wear a wireless heating vest when i used to skate. It was wonderfull. The vest was light weight and you could put it on low/med/high.

I also put hand warmers inside my skates before putting them on. I found that doing that kept my feet warm and toasty during practice.

 

[Query]

I haven't much to add that I haven't already said.

Frankly, skating at a relatively warm indoor rink is perhaps the biggest factor.

It's amazing how cold outdoor rinks can feel, especially in high winds.

It probably helped that I replaced leather and similar material insoles with my own custom made closed cell foam insoles.

Instead of hand warmers you could try (ski boot style) electric boot dryers. Not sure if that will work better for you. Some of the thermostat controlled ones go to about 98 degrees - i.e., about body temperature.

 

[Query]

Oh one last thing - which is so obvious, I apologize for saying it. Please don't be offended.

You say you stay warm when you work hard, then get cold when you slow down - and then can't get warm again. So - what if you put the warm clothing on as soon as you slow down, so you never get a chance to get cold.

Also, if this is a sweat issue, cooling you off: I already mentioned using a vapor barrier. So, as soon as you slow down, put on a light raincoat. It will stop the sweat from evaporating.