Are You Tying Your Skates Wrong?

Tying my skates isn't something I think about after I've done it. But I find that after warming up I usually have to re-tie them because they've loosened. Jamming and certain drills seem to make my laces slip too, and I hate going into a corner and thinking about how I need to tie my skates as soon as I get off the track.

My old double knot just wasn't cutting the mustard. Maybe I needed a better way to tie my skates?

So I found this super-secure knot from Ian's Shoelace Site. Seriously, it's a whole site about just shoelaces, and it's not even remotely a joke. And people think being obsessed with roller derby is weird...

Ian's secure knot is just the thing for keeping your skates tied, though. I used this knot at my last practice where we happened to be doing a lot of hopping, manuals, and one-legged agility work. My skates were just as tight at the end of the night as they were when I first tied them, yet the knot was easy to undo. I'll definitely be tying my skates this way from here on out.

The knot is simple to learn, thanks to some nice diagrams, and easy to remember and show to others. I taught it to another girl the same night and she also had great results with it keeping her skates snug.

Check out the instructions for Ian's secure knot here. While you're at it, take a look at this article that explains what makes your laces keep coming undone.

You may have been tying your skates the wrong way all along.