Why you should upgrade the stock footbed in your ski boots
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- čas přidán 18. 01. 2024
- Expert Boot Fitter, George explains why you should upgrade the stock footbed in your ski boots.
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I've been a customer of the Ski Monster since I moved here in 2017 and it's always been apparent you guys know your stuff and are passionate about what you do. Good vibes all around. Love to see the evolution of TSM over the years and all the new content is highly welcomed. I'm coming in on Thursday to talk with y'all if my boots you sold me 6 seasons ago are end of life :( might try to squeeze this season in with just some new footbeds then buy new boots from ya. We'll see how that works out.
As always, very informative and educational. I always wondered why stock footbeds were so flat, now I know!
Glad to help!
I have some Sidas insoles, and they work great!
Great content thank you
VERY informative. Thank you very much for your excellent content, as always
Thanks for tuning in!
This is actually a pretty controversial topic amongst people who come from running and get into skiing. Some runners believe chronically using footbeds reduces muscle strength in the foot, especially around the arch. It would be interesting to touch on that
Totally. I cover this in a bit more depth here theskimonster.com/blog/posts/ski-boot-fitting-why-do-your-ski-boots-hurt/
For skiing it is best to work on your foot strength and have a set of beds. More people need to spend time barefoot strength training and doing activities that promote foot strength. The problem with too many people is they do the opposite give their feet a cushy easy life and then put them to work and wonder why they hurt.
what makes skiing a bit different, is that your feet are going to be squeezed down, ideally not too much if you have the right fit, but it's better if underneath there is something to match their shape or you'll suffer as the buckles try to make it flat. This is very different in running where your foot takes pretty much whatever shape you want it to.
@@kocot. I don’t set up my ski boots that way. My ankle is locked down tight but my foot is not squished from the top. Allows me to flex/move my arch/big toe to initiate turns and get more edge angle. In a fully casted boot I find it much harder to angulate
Right, and being able to evert and invert, make fine movements and involve the foot more rather than using your lower leg as a lever inside the boots is the only path to high level skiing. When you're absolutely locked in place with no ability to move to foot, a skiers ability to use those micro adjustments is lost. I do a lot of activities without shoes, specifically so all those muscles in the feet are strong and I've gone to floppy foot bed that essentially just prevents my synthetic sock from slipping in the boot and lifts my foot/ankle into the correct position for my ankle.
This guy is great and so is The Ski Monster! 🎿
You made the point of anyone in the industry uses custom foot beds, but I wish you had outlined the costs of the options you showed. Good job other than that. I have some custom foot beds, but they're 10-years-old. They were $175 ten years ago. I've seen the cut-to-fit hovering at less than half that amount today. I just put the older customs in new boots as I purchase them. But that brings up an interesting point: do feet change much in that time. Should one consider getting new beds if they don't feel any pressing issues in the existing beds?
Costs can vary anywhere from about $150 - $300. In effort to make the video timeless, we didn't bring up costs, as they will probably rise and we don't know how much.
I tried a few options, but ended up using the insoles from some Vans skate shoes that were thin under toe but had thick and supportive under the heel - shifting my stance a little more over my toes but ultimately keeping my foot way more stable in my boot and preventing the issue i previously had with my heel rising.
How do you feel about this vs a ski specific custom footbed?
I work with selling boots myself and something I have heard very often aswell is that a custom footbed makes your feet a little bit shorter and narrower due to the feet being ”relaxed” rather than being ”pushed out flat” on more of a flat surface. Is this true or just a complete myth? If true this is a great way of getting a customer to feel comfortable in a tighter boot ä, especially if the customers feet is a little ”between ” sizes!
For me, yes it is true. I've always had pronation issues and without custom footbeds preventing my arch from collapsing I always thought my boots were too narrow/needed additional punches at the 5th toe or side. With footbeds, since my feet no longer spread out anymore and pushing to the sidewalls my boots ironically feel more roomy.
Footbed are there to block your feet in the boot
You need flexibility in your ankle to topple and be on the edge of your foot
Lot of problem for people who are looking to raise their level in skiing is coming from too large boots and footbed to lock the foot
I have tried trim to fit and custom. I ski WAY better in the stock insoles. Not sure why.
Bin the idea of arch support. An arch is self supporting. Snake oil sold by ski shops!
It is not the magic bullet so many claim that it is. More here -> czcams.com/video/-qMSe-qcGSw/video.htmlsi=zVy9eNz7qNGAO_nV
I have had 3 footbeds that different boot fitters supplied with new ski boots over the years and each time I had to remove them within 1 hour of skiing as the pain was too great. But still, when I go for a new boot fitting they want me to buy a footbed. As far as I can see the only reason these so called experts suggest a footbed is to take more of my money!
We do make money on footbeds, no doubt about that. If it was a custom footbed all 3 times, and let's pretend it was built well and the boots are the right boots and had whatever necessary work done.
It's likely that the footbeds are too rigid for your feet. That is common for skiers that can't keep them on very long, more common however that they weren't built well (heel to narrow, arch to high, metatarsal arch shouldn't be there, should be flat)
Any idea what footbeds you had?
@@TheSkiMonster I have no issue with money being made as long as the product or service is good.
I believe I had Sidas footbeds. I recall having to stand on them on a machine of some sort.
@@inquistive when you felt like you needed to take them boots off and get the beds out, what hurt, anything in particular?
@@TheSkiMonsterIt just felt like my whole foot was going numb and had no circulation.
@@inquistive there is a superficial nerve called the posterior tibial nerve that comes around the medial maleoulus near the achilles. It branches into a few different nerves that feeds the bottom of the foot and could be subject to irritation by a pinched heel cup.
There is just no point in getting custom footbeds for FLAT FEET. They are going to be pretty much flat, and not as good heel shape as some of the off-the-shelf products. The material is also less comfortable. It's obviously different for people with high arch, where proper support is harder to achieve. I've switched from customs to Superfeet blacks and greens and I'm not looking back. Pricewise it's at least twice cheaper. Now, you can't expect to hear that from the bootfitter... custom footbeds is a great business :)
Pretty much flat isn’t flat, something built PROPERLY for your feet does help. Just because you got custom beds also doesn’t mean they were built well, we’re assuming in this video they are built well and made of materials that make sense for the rigidity of said feet. When you have a rigid foot and the bed is made of rigid materials it hurts more, more flexible feet need more rigidity and vise versa.
Of course we make money on footbeds, not jamming them down anyone’s throat. But they will help with all that I mentioned.
A ski boots job is to keep you in a ready athletic position, a good custom foot bed aids that where a stock footbed falls short.
@@TheSkiMonster no one says to keep the stock footbed, they are crap, but there is still a huge field between those and the custom ones.
Given the price, there is simply no point to not try off-the-shelf solution. There are dozens of models and fits. They have good structure, shape and materials.
Of course if one has already experience with those not being sufficient, or his arch is very high, or shape unusual, sure, why not. I started with the custom ones, done by top boot fitters, and not only they were overpriced but were becoming annoying when used day by day. I switched to 'super feets' and both the fit is tighter, heel locked and comfort is better. Hence I don't trust boot fitters who aren't transparent about the other options.
I just took out my high arch foot beds and put back the original. Custom foot beds are over rated and most boot fitters are not trained from a kinetic point of view to judge for every skier. Way too much technical info out there.
If you had a “high arch” footbed sounds like you’d didn’t have a custom footbed