Can Pro Figure Skaters Ice Skate Using Rental Skates? 

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Imagine being one of those other people skating and seeing two men enter the rink all wobbly with the help of those bears. And one minute later they're making pirouettes. I would be very confused

"don't try this at home" do you think I have a ice-skating ring at home with which I can do this?

Someone is going to get these sharpened rentals at their next session and skate like they’ve never skated before

I didn’t realise skates weren’t supposed to hurt and be like that lmao

I'm so glad to see the comments about rental skates being trash globally. I thought it was just our rink.

me only knowing rentals my whole life: aye, but what do new skates,, f e e l like

I went ice skating once, I thought till this day that I sucked. This makes me feel better, 70% I sucked, 30% the skates sucked.

When they said they can barely bend, I was like “They’re supposed to bend?”

As someone who used to work at an ice rink, I can confirm that in the year that I worked there the skates were not sharpened once and had not been sharpened the year before either

When you are a complet beginner trying to take ice skating lessons on those crap...but thinks that the problem lies in you because you dont have enough talent :D

6:52 My dear Paul, not everyone has an ice rink at home. No need to worry.

they’re supposed to feel comfortable? 😭😭 damn i though yall just skated through he pain-

I forgot my skates once and my mom said, “hey let’s get you rentals instead!” I was like- n o

They have polar bears as skating helpers?! Wtf, all we have are the Franklin Sports Metal Trainers.

Wait... what do proper skates feel like then??? I've used rental my whole life!

I wonder how many people might have been good at ice skating, but went skating in rentals as a kid, hated it, and never tried again :(

When I was young the rental skates were REAL skates, like actually leather figure skates. Those days are gone...

at our local rink, our skates aren't even skates. they're just lump of plastics with no laces, you fall down on those u ain't bending ur ankle at all buddy. poor kids think they're terrible, but it's just the restricting skates :(

Me, a non skater who thought that all skates are the same: *Confused but amazed noises*

“Woah listen to that! It’s sharpening“ *the music in the background blasting as loudly as it can while i try to listen*

He did an axel in those things? Nobody does more than toddle around in those skates.

For safety reason, usually the rink does not sharpen the blades often, especially some parents concern about the keen edge will cut their kids. (Frankly speaking, toe pick does more harm than edges, my sister was cut off four finger nails at a time by a toe pick, when her friend crashed on her and accidentally skated over her hand). It depends on different rinks, some rink says rental skates are for those who just want to have a brief experience of ice skating. But I also have seen some rinks really check and maintain their rental skates often.

“There’s no inside edge... there’s even less outside edge” 😂😂

“don’t try this at home” uhm.. we don’t have ice skating rinks at home so I guess we’re good

The blisters that the rental skates give you- Dont get me started on them.

The rentals at your ice rink are PLATINUM compared to the rink I go to. We've got plastic snap ties and THICK plastic boots.

From my experience the quality of rental skates really varies a lot. Sometimes you get fresh sharpened ones that work decently enough, sometimes you get ones that are about to fall apart, have no edge and make you wonder which decease you'll get from putting your feet into them.

They aren’t supposed to get caught in all the grooves and are supposed to have EDGES?!? :O

Congrats on your new fungal infection :D

"you confident?" "No" "Good" 🤣 Rental skates are the WORST

I didn’t even know ice skates were meant to be sharp

I find it very hard to get my friends or family to go skating with me. And then I remember the utter pain and discomfort of rental skates and feel a bit more sympathetic. Even my first pair of $30 skates felt worlds better to skate in than rentals.

I can barely skate on a good day, maybe a few laps around the rink without crashing into someone/something, but this gives me hope that the reason why skating feels so clunky at the rink I go to is because of the rentals and that it’s not entirely a me issue 😅😅

I once went skating with rental skates and asked the one renting them out to get me sharp ones. Like I actually wanted there to be 2 edges to skate on. First and second try he gave me once where I just slipped because they had no edge at all. On my third try I pointed to new looking white ones and he was unsure and cautioned me that they were very sharp and I should be careful not to get hurt while putting them on. I just stared at him because that was what I wanted from the beginning. And yes, they were much better than the first ones I tried.

Bro my rink ain't open yet seeing this video makes me want to get back on the ice

I used to work at an Ice-Skating ring in the UK where we used to actually sharpen the skates pretty often to make sure they had proper edges, we used to use a blademaster, they were kind of okay to skate in, but would always prefer my own skates.

I've seen people on public skating in rental skates who were actually pretty good! Not even olympic skaters, just the general public. Though I have no idea how they did it. I guess you can get used to it. I learned to skate in a second-hand piece of plastic, crossovers, three-turns, waltz jump. Then I got a pair of real skates and learned the rest of it in those. Years later I went to skate in my first pair of plastic skates. I didn't expect myself to do combo spins in it, but I could barely move forward in them. 😳 I was way better than that in my beginner days. So yeah, you can get used to them. Also, maybe try a brand new pair of rental skates? They exist, I've seen them when the rink throw away the absolutely useless ones and replaced them with the exact same model you tried, but brand new. Not sure about the boot, but the blade was sharp and the rocker intact.

Rental skates are hard plastic and don’t have laces where I live, so they hurt A LOT

I've only ever skated on rentals once when I lived in Japan and hadn't taken my skates with me when I moved. They were surprisingly good. After getting used to the skates I was actually able to skate and do stuff (that was allowed on public skating rink)! So thumbs up for Osaka Umeda station's skating rink! They even had a student discount ❤

As someone whos only ever skated using rental skates so far, I feel much more confident in my skating abilities now.

Our rental skates don't even have laces 😂😂

I remember struggling so much when I first started skating in those crappy rental skates... I can't stress how much of a difference it made when I finally bought my own. It was like magic.

“Don’t try this at home” Guess I’ll have to use my ice ring for something else😪

I didn’t realize that the skates made that much of a difference, I just skate for fun.

After having real skates, I tried rentals once, could not even stand up! Amazed by anyone who can do anything in rentals!!😆

This makes me feel moderately better about how bad I was last time I skated 😂

I went ice skating once at Atlantic Station in Atlanta and was using the rental skates. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. I asked someone working there what the secret was, and they let me borrow their personal skates. Absolute night and day difference. Super thankful to that person for showing me what it's like to have the proper equipment.

This is a good example of "you can have the skills but you need the tools". So many kids could be Olympic skaters but everything is so expensive it always makes me sad.

LOL, I'm a pro ice skater, not figure, I was paid to clean the ice for AHL teams while simultaneously cheerleading for them, and I've been quad skating for 16 years. I can not use rental skates of any kind, anywhere.

You're lucky - my local rink's hire boots don't even have toe picks - nearly lost my front teeth ;)

My senior synchro team did this once for fun. We were out to dinner at Nationals and there was a pond near the restaurant with rental skates. All 20 of us put them on and attempted our long program. Same problem, no edges on the blades at all. It was scary how slippery they felt, like my feet were going to slide out from under me into wide splits at any given moment.

'are you confident?' 'no' me throughout life

You guys made me feel a lot better about the only two times I've been on ice in my life, obviously in rentals. I thought it was at least half my fault, and the rest I blamed on the skates. Now, remembering that I was actually able to hold a camel, I believe that I am just an untrained Nathan Chen ,,,😜

Just because I felt nostalgic, I rented public skates at an old ice rink. Just because I wanted to try on my first type of skates... Omg... The most frightening experience I’ve had in a long time... Zero support, yes padding, major dents.... But I still managed to try out some things.

Thank you so much for this. I like to skate in my free time (amateur), and the first time I went out one season, I went to some cheapie place with skates like that and thought I had totally forgotten how to skate. I was slipping all over the place. It was so frustrating and disappointing. Took me going back to my regular rink to realize it was just the skates.

I always felt like rental skates were very loose around the ankles, so at every fast movement you could have an injury. Moreover it's pretty harder to turn backwards

LOL I’m dying just watching the intro! I remember the last time I was on ice on rentals I couldn’t grip the ice, just couldn’t even stand in them. I got them to switch them for another pair with better blades but a terrible boot that made my feet feel like they were in a torture device!

My mom did some fancy moves on ice skates at the rink in my town and they were falling apart and the women running the snack shack told her she was surprised that people could even skate using them let alone do tricks

This grieves me so much! I remember being poor and I loved to skate. But in Alaska, there was only one skate sharpener company in the state and it was in Anchorage. When I moved to Ketchikan I learned very quickly that I couldn’t sharpen my skates. I’d get so angry with my mother who encouraged me to use the rentals. I’d scream at her that they were flat on the bottom and dangerous to use for practicing jumps. I felt bad for everyone trying to learn to skate on flat, unsharpened blades and felt like it was a conspiracy to make everyone think they were horrible skaters, when it’s impossible to get a grip with crappy blades! So dangerous and I don’t know why they can’t hire sharpeners for rinks

When I was learning to figure skate (in my 40s!) I used rental skates for my first 10 or so lessons. When I finally bought a pair of good quality skates, the difference was astonishing. I called them my magic skates.

I bought my first pair of figure skates 10 years ago, and the first time I wore them it was magical. Since then, I have had actual nightmares about having to skate in rental skates because I left my own ones at home. I would rather not skate than wear those again, I think I might actually cry lol. Good to see my fears are justified!! 😂😂😂

I am a skater. When I go to public ice with friends, they often laugh and say, "what? Rental skates aren't good enough for you?" If only they knew what a difference it makes to have the right equipment.... I know that not everyone can afford skates though. Kudos to these guys who have demonstrated that it is possible to skate on rental skates! I just don't recommend jumping in them--I feel like that's a way to injure yourself

I have never skated before and I always wish to do so. Good thing I saw your video. This will help me take better care of myself once I get my chance to do ice skating.

I take speed skating lessons and in the beginning I was using rentals and I could barely stand. Then I eventually bought my own but they were still pretty bad and I continued to struggle but after I bought some skates from a retired short track skater and bought way better blades I actually saw a huge improvement. I’m still learning but I feel way more stable and comfortable on the ice. It’s crazy how a good pair of skates can improve your skating so drastically.

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR AGES 🤪🤪🤪

Omg never been more impressed by someone doing an axel 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

So many of my friend say they can't skate, and my response is always, you could with good skates. No way would I even try rental skates. Bravo to you both!

I feel so justified! I broke my wrist skating on rental skates after years of skating on my own. Rental skates are SPOONS! Thank you for making me feel better.

i was so scared for your ankles there wow

This is eye opening. When I saw you both stepping on ice. You both looked just like me and your first reaction "it has no edges, i barely can stand in them!" made me realize I need to sharpen my OWN skates more! Coz my feet just slide to the sides, I don't remember using edge to stop like you did... coz I don't have any I guess. And the rocker part. Maybe I don't have it too. These all should be investigated till the winter comes!

4:04 “Wooooaaaaah listen to that!” As the music kicks in, quality editing choice right there

It's so validating to see professionals struggle at first on rentals and point out their limitations. I'm a beginner, I tried rentals a few times to learn at first and get a feel for what ice skating is like and what I even need and want from ice stakes. But I had very little money and bought the cheapest option or second cheapest option. Even so they were SO much better than the rentals. I have some issues with doubting whether I'm just whining or whether there's really a problem so seeing the professionals wobble mightily at first, and even after they got the hang of it can't help but laugh at certain experiences, and then at the end point out the limitations of these ice skates, is so reassuring. I still have issues with the skates I bought. I have a narrow foot but somehow not the whole foot ig? And I already have an issue with pronation (ankles "falling" inward when I walk unless I focus on it) so my skates being too broad, by design, exactly where I need to tighten them (where the arches of flat feet are flat basically) makes the pronation issue very annoying and hindering when I ice skate. I have to tighten the whole hard cover skate to the point of my feet hurting and getting less blood flow and they're still not stable where the pronation issue happens. My feet still slide inside the shoe, exactly there. Next time I'll put some cotton where I need the support, I hope this helps. I want to gain more experience (and money lol) and then buy new skates, knowing better what I want and need. And then I think I'll really want softer skates or if hard ones then ones that are a better fit for my foot shape and as short as possible while still just high enough to support the ankle. Then maybe I won't need an aid for my arches and will be able to just muscle power it into the correct position. But when my foot slides inside the shoe it's so hard. It messes up with my balance, it messes up with with which part of my foot I press on the blades with. Really annoying.

OMGGG this is my local rink!!! i didn't know you guys are in the area!!!

Our rink in New York is actually really good skates , they’re soft on the inside and got many layers , I prefer to use my skates either ways but for rental skates they’re really good and only for $3 a day it’s CRAZY😍

Hey y’all! Loving your chaotic energy on ice! Is there any official videos of you guys skating at events? I’d love to see some of y’all’s routines! :)

i've been skating with rental skates my whole life and thought it was fine, but after i bought my first skates, it was so much better

I'm not an expert at skating, just a fan of the sport, but been in those rental skates a few times and those things are so hard and uncomfortable!! Good video!

I was a skate guard - forgot my skates one day for work and had to use the rentals. Never again in my life.

This is so validating. Yesterday was my 4th time ice skating & the left rental boot was pretty rough. I couldn't seem to get any traction so I was skating very slow. It got worse when the rink started getting snowy. I absolutely love skating though! I was thinking of buying my own boots & this video convinced me to.

I tried hired skates in Austria, different world ! Really well cared for hockey skates, sharp and HEATED !! Maybe I just got lucky but it was nice to see how the other half live. For everyone who learned in hire skates and stuck with it huge respect ! :)

I can almost count on one hand the number of times I've been on ice skates. I enjoyed it for the most part but had a couple of outings that were totally miserable. The first couple of times, I thought I did ok but that's without any frame of reference to judge. I thought the skates were a bit "slidey," if that's a word, but I also thought it was because I didn't know what I was doing. I could get from one end of the rink to the other but it wasn't pretty. Then one day, we decided to go ice skating and I lucked into a pair of rental skates that actually had an edge on them. I discovered I could really move around on the skates with a measure of confidence. The blades actually allowed me to carve a turn and never once did I feel like they were going to wash out on me. We skated for almost two hours and I never got tired or sore. It was great! Before that, the best I could tolerate being on the skates was maybe an hour or so and by the time I got off the ice, I was miserable. The last time we rented ice skates, the pair I got were the polar opposite of the skates I just described. They had no edge at all. I only lasted about 20 to 25 minutes on those and gave it up. I haven't been on the ice since.

Im here for the polar bears Bruce is soo chill

I was arguing with my friend the other day that professional skates are different + rentals are so much worse + harder to skate on! Ty for helping me win a petty debate cx

i feel so much better about myself now and how wobbly I've been on rented skates. Thank you for this!

when I first tried ice skating, I thought the rentals were meant to be fully dull as a safety thing, the ones I had were fully flattened and probably close to a centimeter in width

Loved the video! Not gonna lie I was fearing for your ankles 😅 regardless the skates you both guys are great 🤩 💙⛸

Just got my first pair of proper (hockey) skates after using rentals at the exact same place this video was filmed, going to get them sharpened and can't wait to see them difference it makes!

Did he just do an AXEL in rental skates? Okay I’m officially impressed

Boys can u put the mic cable inside your jackets/shirts next time please? 😂 That aside I'm very glad you shared this. Because when I started I aways wondered why I'm this terrible. And then I got good skates and was very shocked how big the difference was. Improvements were instant, too.

I was decent at skating when I was a kid, and every few years as an adult I convince myself to give it another go and fail miserably to function. I'm glad putting blame on the lack of support in the boot and a bad balance of the blades turned out to be less deflection than I worried and more just what I suspected: the rentals were just uncomfortable garbage.

What a boost of confidence this is

I remember seeing, a VERY long time ago, something on probably PBS that explained how hire skates and figure skates are different. Hire skates are actually designed with thick unsharpened blades to make them last longer, prevent handling injuries, and be easier for unskilled people to use. The program also recommended that if you spend enough time ice skating to be even modestly skilled, you should buy a cheap pair of skates.

Did you know, in my experience, In England and the USA most rental skates are figure skates, meaning they have a toepick, while in Germany the majority are hockey skates, missing any toepick.

The fact I know where this is and do ice skating lessons there. My first few lessons were horrible as I had to use rental skates because I didn't have my own yet all I can say is the difference when using rental skates and your own figure skates is amazing especially for the first time I performed so much better when I got my own skates.

I remember getting a pair of rental skates so I could skate at a mall in Dallas. I have my own skates at home and the rentals were miserable, so blunt! I asked for a sharper pair and the rental operator said they didn’t make them sharp for safety reasons. I told him no one could even push off on those skates because they had no edge which would cause people to fall. Didn’t seem to matter to the rental operator that sharper skates would have prevented more falls. Enjoyed this video!

As an Ice Dancer who coached, with my son, a Junior Ice Dance competitor at the time, and my daughter, a synchro skater we tried this in Switzerland. First had to send the skates back before putting them on as there were dull. When we finally got something with a semi-decent sharpening the three of us had some of the scariest ice time we have ever had. Will not repeat.

I’m a figure skater, and now I’m like I wanna try rental skates!

The look on my face when I bought my first low level pair of ice skates. Major difference lol!!! Rental skates are awful :D Now that I've improved, I upgraded to an even better pair. When it comes to ice skating, the skate and blade really do matter

I just went ice skating for the first time today and considering how many videos of figure skaters I've seen, I thought it won't be very hard, but it took me an hour to learn how to do it. Watching this video I understood that it was the very bad quality of the skates and the lack of sharpness of the blade that made my ankles wobble and that stopped me from getting a good grip on the ice :)) I feel better.