Ep #306: Advocating for Bodies of All Sizes in All Sports with Laine Dubin

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’ve never felt athletic but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, your fat running coach. I help fat women over 40 to start running, feel confident, and change their lives. I have worked with thousands of women to help them achieve their running goals and now I want to help you.

Jill: Hey, runners. So I’m here this week with a super, super fun guest who you are going to love. You’re going to absolutely love her. Her name is Laine Dubin. And she is actually a full-time college student who is living another life as a figure skating and fashion content creator on social media.

And the reason that you’re going to love her in particular, is because she started a sustainable thrifting business on Instagram way back in 2020, you remember 2020, thrifting clothes specifically for larger bodies. And from there, she kind of grew her advocacy for body acceptance and showed that there’s room for fat women in fashion. And then in February 2023 she went viral on TikTok as a figure skater and is now an advocate for adults with bigger bodies on the ice.

And the reason I wanted to talk to Laine on this show is, first of all, because she’s amazing and adorable and fun and smart. But also, because I think this is such a great example that bodies of all sizes can do all sports. And I think figure skating is one that we’re like, oh my gosh, you’ve got to be skinny to be a figure skater. And Laine’s like, hold my beer.

So, Laine, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Laine: Yes, thank you so much for having me. I’m so happy to be here.

Jill: Yes. Oh my gosh, I was just looking at your Instagram earlier today and just watching videos of you just so graceful on the ice. And I was thinking to myself, like, how did you even get into figure skating? Tell us the story of how that happened.

Laine: Yeah, definitely. So it was back when I was five or six years old but, again, you don’t need to be that young to get into skating. But I was that age and my mom took me to a public skating session and then I just did not hold on to the boards at all and I was just flying around the rink. And I wasn’t scared or anything like that. And then that just kind of took off from there.

I was like, “Mom, I want skates.” She got me some skates and then from there I really just started to get into group lessons, learned through Learn To Skate. And then I did private lessons where I was doing local competitions. And then it morphed into theater on the ice, so something more artistic. And that kind of is what broke me out of my shell when I was like 13 years old in middle school.

And from there, I just kind of let my creativity in skating be wild, and now here we are. And now I’m in college and I’m still skating on my skating team right now and I’m having the best time of my life.

Jill: Oh, I love that so much. I love that you started when you were little, too, and it’s something that’s grown with you as you’ve grown into adulthood. And so this may be a sensitive question, but were you always kind of a heavier child? Or did that come sort of later in life? And how did your skating evolve with that?

Laine: Jill, there are no sensitive questions, I am an open book. But I have always been a heavy child. I was a chubby kid growing up, I was a chubby baby. So it was in my genes already and I just had to deal with it. And I honestly didn’t even realize that I was kind of “different” from other people in terms of my weight until like fourth grade, I want to say. And then my parents were kind of like, maybe you should try eating a little bit more healthier.

And then that’s when those kinds of words kind of got into my head a little bit. But I always had skating to fall back on, it was always my safe space. Everyone has that thing, especially when they’re growing up, that they can call their safe space. And for me skating was my safe space. And it evolved into me using it as my safe space throughout my entire life. And it still is my safe space.

So it just was something that clicked with me, just probably how running clicked with you where it’s just something that you are so passionate about and that you feel so secure in no matter what else is going on in the world. And you can really just always fall back on it.

Jill: Yeah. Oh, I love that. Here’s the thing, I think for a lot of kids who are larger than their peers when they’re younger, often their safe space isn’t physical. It isn’t like a physical activity because I think it’s harder for the bigger kids in school to be in sports and stuff because kids are rough, other kids are rough.

And so do you think that the fact that you had figure skating and a way to connect with your body at any size sort of helped you with your own body acceptance journey?

Laine: Yeah, it definitely helped me. I have been a very self-aware and a very independent person. And not to toot my own horn, but I’ve just always heard growing up that people thought that I was more mature for my age, always. So that definitely aided in being able to stand out from the crowd. I wasn’t afraid to be different.

And if anyone said anything, they didn’t really say it to my face, which I am really happy and lucky to have been in that situation where I didn’t really get bullied for my size. Even though people may have been like whispering behind my back or something, I didn’t let it bother me. I didn’t really hear much from anyone else in school. And I think that that really helped me blossom into what I am today.

And now I get hate online digitally sometimes. And I’m like, you might want to take a step back because I don’t care about what you have to say about me. Stop hiding behind a screen, I will live in the present moment in my own life while you live your life, and this digital hate is not going to get to me.

Jill: Yeah. I absolutely love that attitude because it is amazing when you are a fat person doing things in your fat body, living your life and posting about it on Instagram, the hate that shows up. And it’s always something, like these are the comments that I get like, it’s bad for your joints to run when you’re fat. You should lose weight. Or you are so unhealthy, you’re a terrible example. And I’m like, wow, that’s a lot of information that you’ve just gotten wrong.

Laine: I just think it’s funny how people say things on the internet and it can be the furthest from the truth or there’s just more to the story but there’s only so much you can say. Especially both of us kind of being digital creators of sorts, you can only say so much and keep people’s attention for so long.

So you need to figure out what you want to say in that short period of time. And that usually doesn’t include the bigger picture or the whole thing or all the nuances of the original quote that you’re saying that they are trying to tear you down on. So I think that there’s a lot of room.

But there’s also the people that will, since there’s such a big online community and growing community for fat people in sports and doing any type of physical activity. Those people they come to the comments as well because now they feel like since they’ve already had this safe space created and you have the support like for your running Instagram or my Instagram for figure skating, like you have people to back you up now that will comment on those hate comments.

And they’ll be like, no, like, actually, this probably is what she means. Or there’s actually this kind of nuance to this situation, you don’t need to be so narrow minded about it. So it’s really nice that once you have built a community online, it can blossom and people will stand behind you and they will stand behind what you’re trying to do in your space. It’s amazing.

Jill: It is really amazing. And I think that’s one of the things I love about social media, especially for the body acceptance movement, is that it is really a way for people who have felt isolated to connect with other people and really realize like, oh, actually, there’s nothing wrong with me. And I think it’s like such a powerful tool for those folks.

So one thing I’ve noticed is most of the hate comments that I get, and there’s not a ton, right? They’re usually pretty hilarious.

Laine: They’re few and far.

Jill: Yeah. But they don’t generally come from other runners. They often come from people who are not in the running community. And I’m curious about the skating, the figure skating community, have you had any negativity come from within that community? Or do you find that it’s very supportive?

Laine: I mean, I think I’ve had a little bit of both. I want to say that the people who are commenting something a little bit more negative, it’s usually like my weight. And there’s people that will comment on my videos and they’ll be like, “Oh, this was so good.” And then there’ll be someone replying to it and they’ll say, “It actually wasn’t that good. She’s not going to make it that far in a competitive world.”

And I’m like, there’s so much more to skating than just the competitive side. Just like there’s so much more than just running like a marathon or a 5k. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes and there’s so much more than just those big milestones, if that’s even your goal, because there’s so much else that you can do within the figure skating space.

And I just think that like if I do one jump, usually jumping is associated with the competitive skating world. Then skaters will comment and be like, “Well, she’s not doing a triple axle. She’s not like the Russian. What’s the point?”

And I’m like, the point is that I’m here doing my art that I love to do. I’m doing physical activity and it’s something that makes me happy and it’s something that’s resonating with a lot of other people. So maybe you should be directing your own internal issues on something else, or maybe even figure it out with a therapist, but maybe not commenting about it online.

Jill: Like you are not paying me for your therapy, friend, yeah.

Laine: But I don’t see you on social media doing your thing.

Jill: Yeah. Yeah, agreed. And I think what that brings up for me, because this happens the same in the running world as well, is just that especially for people who aren’t actually in that space there’s this belief that the only reason you participate in a sport is to win or to continually be better than other people or to improve or attain certain standards. When in fact, you can just show up for the sport.

Even if you suck at it, you’re still allowed to just show up and do it and enjoy it and love it and post videos of it on Instagram. Not that I’m saying you suck at all, you are amazing. But I think that there’s this weird belief that you should only do something if you’re trying to be competitive or win or whatever, which I just think is bullshit, right? It takes 90% of the fun out of it when that’s your only reason for doing it.

Laine: Yeah, so like it kind of applies not only to physical activity, but also into your regular business, like your career stuff. You need to find something that you’re passionate about. And when people are doing things in the business world where they turn their passion into a business, most of the time there is always, like once you turn something and you are profiting off of it, that can change your mindset a little bit more.

So it’s kind of that same thing where if you’re only trying to get certain things out of it, you’re taking away some of the other things that you could be just taking in as well. So I think that not always worrying about that typical cliche of caring more about the journey than the destination. As much of a cliche as it is, it’s very true.

There’s so much more to the skating world and there’s so much more to competitions, like there’s that whole mental side, right? With any physical activity or with any hobby even, you don’t need to be good at it, you can just be doing it purely for the fun of it being a hobby or of it being something that you enjoy. And half the battle is getting there, right?

Jill: Yeah.

Laine: So that whole mental block of maybe you not being able to go to the gym or you not being able to run or not feeling like you can skate yet, anything like that, I think that there’s something to be said and a lot of self-reflection that you can do just with that and just being able to sit with yourself and reflect on why you’re feeling that way. And once you get past that block, there’s so much fun waiting on the other side, right?

Jill: Yes. Yeah, there really, really is. And it’s funny, last year I was kind of dipping my toe and doing research into the world of Olympic weightlifting and competitions and so forth. I would just watch a few, just reading about it and I’m not actually signing up for any competitions myself.

But one of the things that I noticed about that world that blew me away, delighted me, was how many people show up to Olympic weightlifting competitions and they cannot lift very much weight. But they’re cheered on and encouraged just as much as the person who is doing a 500-pound squat. People are just encouraged to kind of show up at whatever level they’re at. And it’s such an amazing community and I thought, wow, I want to be part of that, right?

Laine: Yeah. I think that that also happens with CrossFit. I feel like I see that a lot. Like a lot of things, because there’s traditional going to the gym, but then there’s also these very cool things like powerlifting, weightlifting, and like the CrossFit community, it’s amazing to see.

Jill: Yeah.

Laine: I want to get to that place at some point, I’m going in all these different directions right now. But what you were saying kind of is the same thing about college skating right now. It sucks because there’s such a toxic community, there isn’t always. I didn’t grow up in a toxic community, personally, figure skating.

But there are a lot of people that are in that headspace, especially when you’re young and impressionable like, oh, I’m not going to be as good as this person, so why should I even try? Or I’m just skating for my parents, I’m not skating for myself. Or there’s a lot of stakes at these competitions because I’m young and I need to use my body in its prime, I need to climb the ladder.

And they’re not so much enjoying that process as much, and that is a huge battle to go into when you’re very young and impressionable like that. But then you get to college and there’s this other side where they’re doing that thing of encouraging you and they’re clapping. They will clap when you fall, like they will want you to get back up. They see you maybe stumble a little bit, like everyone in the stands will just start clapping for you.

And even though it’s a competition, everyone from all different schools are just cheering you on. And it’s such an amazing atmosphere. And after that, I feel like adult figure skating, the community that I’ve been welcomed into so far because I’m still a young adult, but the community that I’ve been welcomed into so far has just been very open and very loving and nice. And everyone just wants to see you succeed.

It’s a great place to be, especially as an adult or if you’re thinking about getting into skating or into some other hobby or physical activity. I feel like it’s just a lot easier as an adult because there’s that respect that might not have been there and that respect for the journey that might not have been there.

Jill: That’s really encouraging to hear because I think as adults, up to a certain age I think, you know, probably in my 20s and 30s, I would have been like, oh no, I can’t do that. I just would have been too scared that everybody would make fun of me or that I wouldn’t fit in or whatever. But then once I hit 40, I’m like, fuck it, I’m just going to do what I want. So as a woman you kind of hit that age where you really stop caring.

But I think if there’s anybody out there listening, thinking that they’ve always had this kind of secret desire to try figure skating but thought, oh, I need to start when I’m five years old, or there’s nothing out there, there’s no community out there for me as an adult. It sounds like it’s the opposite.

Laine: Oh my gosh, it’s completely the opposite. I started skating and I went up to school in Connecticut. And it’s a new place, right? And moving is a big thing, even though I was only there for college, but it’s still a big thing and having to find a home away from home, especially in the skating community.

It was very jarring, especially for myself. I am an introvert and I also have social anxiety. So I’m thinking about things, I’m thinking about people all the time and how people are going to perceive me, especially at a skating rink, right? Because I did come from that high school mindset of like, I don’t know if this is going to be a very competitive rink where all the high schoolers are going to take over and be rude or something. And I’ve never had that happen.

I’ve been to three rinks growing up and I’ve never had any toxicity occur, which I’m very lucky to have. And that doesn’t really exist, it only exists at certain rinks and you’ll get the vibe if you go there or if you read about it online before you go.

But I went to this rink in Connecticut and there were old people ice dancing, people with gray hair. And in ice dancing you need to have a partner. And I kind of think about ice dancing, it’s a great alternative for adults who think that they’re going to fall and hurt themselves, stuff like that, because they have this seasoned veteran coach, because ice dancers are very, very in touch with the ice. They’re very, very in touch with their skates and with the art of figure skating.

So they’re able to hold onto them the entire time. It’s just like dancing, hence ice dancing. But it’s just like if you took a salsa class and you’re like, oh, I should just try and do a salsa class with my partner or something like that. It’s just like that and you have someone to lean on the entire time. And I saw multiple older adults, and it’s very, very beautiful to see and it gives me a lot of hope.

And I hope that it gives all of your listeners a lot of hope that there is a community of people who are waiting for you if you want to ever come to do adult figure skating. You can do ice dancing, it’s so much fun. You just get to like waltz around the ice the entire time and do dancing steps if you want to incorporate something like that. If you ever want to do something like that, it’s always there for you.

And it’s so inspiring for me to see all of these super, super old people. And I’m not calling them that to be offensive. I’m just trying to say that there are elderly people who are very brittle and more prone to injury doing these things. And they’re not getting injured, having the time of their life dancing to some music and just really connecting with their bodies again through the ice.

Jill: Yeah, I love that. When you say ice dancing, I’m like, oh good, there’s somebody for me to hang on to so I don’t fall down. That’s immediately what I think of.

Laine: Yes, there is. They’re holding onto you the entire time. Like you’re just waltzing around, it’s amazing.

Jill: That’s awesome. I’m going to start Googling that.

Laine: Yes, please do.

Jill: That sounds so fun. So I have a little sort of lightning round of questions that I want to ask. Let me ask another question before we get into that.

So do you think your body size and shape puts any limitations on your figure skating? And if so, how do you work around them? Because I’ve seen your videos and you are just so graceful and your moves are so fluid. And I’m just like, wow, if she can do that, maybe I could do that. But I’m curious if there’s any specific challenges or anything like that.

Laine: Yeah, of course. First, thank you for the compliment. Second, I am probably at my heaviest weight than I am right now. Not afraid to say that, it’s just something that happens, I feel like some of your other listeners will understand. So I have had to deal with it, it’s not necessarily a limitation, it’s just having to adapt. And that’s one of my strongest qualities that I found in myself, is the ability to adapt. I think it’s very important, especially in the skating world.

But I’ve had to adapt to this weight gain that I’ve been going through in different aspects of my skating. A lot of it is just balance related. Like, yes, I know how to balance on my skates, but it’s just having to step on the ice every once in a while and go back to the basics, which is totally fine because the basics, the foundation is what lays everything else, the groundwork for everything else. So it’s not a bad thing to have to go back to the basics at all.

So I think it’s just having to learn how to be at a different weight than I was in high school. So I guess I would say that. But it’s not a limitation, it’s just something – It’s not holding me back at all, is what I’m trying to say. I’m still able to do the same things and I’m just able to appreciate it a little bit more because I’m learning the ebbs and flows of my body in a new body.

So I really see it as something that’s beautiful and something that should just be cherished and treasured because your body is a temple, and learning how it moves on the ice, regardless of a weight gain or whatever, is something beautiful to take away from all of it.

Jill: Yeah. And I feel like you’d have the same adaptation if you lost weight, right? Your center of gravity would be a little bit different and you would just have to learn how to balance.

And I think as women our bodies change so much over the course of our lives that, you’ll get there one of these days when you go through menopause and you have to relearn your body because all of a sudden it’s like, and there may or may not be weight gain associated with that, but there’s just all kinds of other things. And you’re like, okay, what body do we have today, right?

And so I mean, I love that you’re just like, oh, I just needed to adapt to it, that’s all. Because really, that’s what it comes down to.

Laine: And it really comes down to the mindset that you have. I’m at a great place in my life where I’m very reflective of everything that I’m doing and I’m really trying to live more in the present moment. So being able to just go out there and do my thing, and then there’s also kind of what you’re saying about menopause, but there’s also just like being on your period sometimes once a month.

Jill: Oh yeah.

Laine: So it’s just like having to adapt to that at skating. I’m not saying that it’s hard or anything. It’s just to me it’s different and I think that that’s the beauty of being in the bodies that we have, is that we just get to be different every single day in a certain way. And we get to just have to deal with our bodies whatever they’re doing some days.

Jill: That’s so true, right, because our bodies are so different. And I don’t know if men experienced this, maybe they do on a slightly different scale. But, seriously, for a woman every day is like a new adventure with your body.

Laine: Yeah, it really is.

Jill: You’re like waking is the least of my worries.

Laine: Sometimes you just wake up and you’re like, “Oh, today is not the day for me.”

Jill: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that’s just part of being a woman. And I think we kind of get used to it in so many ways that it just becomes the norm.

Laine: Yeah. I think that the way to get through all of that is just by having, not necessarily a positive mindset, but just kind of being a little bit more optimistic every day and just taking it as it is. And seeing it as a growing opportunity and as a way for you to learn and to learn about your body and to learn about what your body needs and what you want to do with your life. Because you don’t want your body to have to hold you back. And it shouldn’t have to hold you back.

And as long as you have that mindset of I’m not going to let this hold me back today, I’m not going to let my body hold me back today. Even though I might feel a little groggy, I will pick myself up. I’m going to do something that makes me feel good today. And for me that’s skating, and hopefully it can be for other people as well.

Jill: Do you have a routine that you use? Maybe one day you wake up and your body is feeling amazing, ready to go. And you’re like, yes, all the jumps, all the spins, all of it. And then some days you wake up and you’re just like, today’s not that day. Do you have a different type of skating routine that you would do or a different kind of self-care routine that you do?

Laine: Definitely, because the days that are amazing, I’m on such a high. I’m coming home, I’m listening to music, it’s blasting and I’m like, this is a great day. I did XYZ, I feel so productive on the ice today. And then the days where I sometimes don’t even know how I’m feeling until I get on the ice, like what kind of skating day it’s going to be. And I feel like you can have that as a runner as well or in any sport. You’re like, maybe today is my day, maybe it’s not my day, we just had to see when we get there.

So when it’s not necessarily my day, I’m just like, you know what? There will be another good day. And today was still a good day because you got out there. You didn’t stuff. Like just because you’re just beating yourself up a little bit too much, that’s always my biggest problem, is just beating myself up a little bit too much. But sometimes I just have to step outside of my body and see it from another person’s point of view.

Like imagine if someone else was watching me do what I did in a session that I didn’t feel my greatest. They wouldn’t even notice because I was still doing amazing things. I’m still doing things that make me feel good. And other people can see that joy, even if I don’t feel it at the moment. You know what I mean?

Jill: Yeah.

Laine: So I always kind of think back to that. And then I will still blast my music after sessions I didn’t feel great after, just to make myself feel better. But it comes and goes. It’s just part of life. It happens in all other facets as well, not just whatever sport or hobby you’re picking up.

Jill: Yeah. I’m so glad that you talked about how some days you don’t have the best day and you just say to yourself, well, there’s always going to be a better day in the future. Because this is something that runners do, I think people just in general do this. But runners in particular will have a bad run and they’ll be like, oh my God, what’s wrong? I’m losing it. I’m not getting any better, right? It’ll just really kind of start to mess with their head. And I just love the like, I just had a bad run. It’s like, the next one could be fine.

And you’re right, you don’t always know. There’s been times when I’ve gone out for a run and I’m like, today is not my day. And then I get out there and I’m like, oh, today is my day. I didn’t even know that, I’m so glad I showed up. Does that ever happen to you, that you show up thinking like, this is probably not going to be my best workout. But then it turns out to be amazing?

Laine: Yeah, definitely. That happens to me not only on the ice, but it also happens off the ice, like when I’m conditioning or when I’m stretching. Especially when I’m stretching. I’m like, oh, I don’t think I can go any further in this stretch, or I don’t think I can hold it for much longer. In my head I’m like, well, what if I just challenge myself a little bit more. And then I’m able to hold a little bit more or I’m able to get a little bit deeper in the stretch.

That always makes me feel really good because I’m like, okay, this is great. This is benefiting me, not only off ice, but it’ll translate on ice and it’ll help me be more flexible. Or strength training, something like that, that will also help me on the ice as well. So yeah.

Jill: Well, and let’s talk about some of the supportive activities that you do like stretching and strength training. What does that routine look like for you?

Laine: Yeah, so right now I don’t have a set routine just because my days look so different. When you’re in college it’s such a busy bustle and you can’t really get set in a routine all the time. But what I usually like to do is I kind of just get on the ice, honestly, and I’ll do some laps. And then I’ll start to move into my edges. And that’ll just be a lot of, you’ll hear like the rip on the ice, a ripple on the ice, and it sounds beautiful. It’s my favorite, it’s a little crunchy.

So I’ll do that and then I’ll also warm up with my arms. I don’t really know what I would call it, but it’s just kind of because I’ve just gotten into such a routine on the ice of doing what I just feel like I need to do, and I feel like that’s different for everyone. But a lot of it is kind of doing dynamic or static stretches. I forget which one it is, whatever one you’re supposed to do when you warm up.

Jill: Dynamic, yeah.

Laine: Dynamic. I do that, but I do it on the ice and some laps. So that’s what I do on the ice. When I’m off the ice I do a lot of stretching. And the conditioning side is usually just running back and forth doing butt kicks and I don’t even know what to call them. But you just put your legs on top of each other and you just – There’s a lot of different things, if you just look it up, I don’t know them by name. Maybe I’m not the best person to ask this question, but there are a lot of different types of warm ups.

And I’ve learned a lot from just doing skating clinics. I think that that’s something else that people can do. They don’t even necessarily have to go to a session if they don’t want to, they can also just try out a clinic and just sign up for that as long as they have their own skates. And those will give you so much more knowledge of what to do on and off the ice. And they will help you with strength and conditioning on and off the ice.

And also I think ballet is something that other people should try. That really helps with figure skating and it also helps, especially as an adult, it helps you just to be a little bit more flexible and not so brittle. So I think that that is something else that goes hand in hand with skating with gracefulness.

Jill: Yeah.

Laine: And just being able to dance as a whole, even if it’s like Zumba. I love doing Zumba, that’s really fun. So I kind of do that as one of my outside activities that helps me translate some of the choreography on ice and it’s really fun. And I kind of use that as one of my creative outlets. I love Zumba so much.

Jill: Oh, that is so cool. But it makes sense, right? Like it’s choreographed and it’s a very sort of fluid kind of movement. I love that.

Laine: Yeah, just being able to move to music, it’s great.

Jill: Yeah. So okay, what is your favorite move on the ice that you just could do forever?

Laine: I can’t do it forever because I can’t hold it for that long. But it would probably be either a spiral, I feel like my spiral has gotten really good. That’s just where you lift your leg very high and everyone claps for you for an extended period of time. So I’ve been getting really good at that.

I also do like a 180, where it’s just like you put your leg up next to your head, basically. So that’s also really fun, just for an extended edge. And then I also do a layback spin, which is kind of that classic look that you always think of when you think of skaters doing a spin. It’s like that.

Jill: One leg is up behind and then they sort of reach back to grab it, is that it?

Laine: Yeah, it’s like that. So those are all my favorite ones. I feel like they’re very timeless and very classic, if that’s even a thing in skating. I feel like they can just last the stand of time.

Jill: Well, and I feel like they’re very satisfying to watch as an observer. Yeah, they’re just so graceful.

Laine: I could watch compilations of those like all day.

Jill: I love that. So what is your least favorite skating move?

Laine: Yeah.

Jill: Do you have a least favorite?

Laine: I guess I do. I like everything that I do, but there are some things that I’m like, do I really want to do that today, kind of thing. And one of those is some jumps. But like, it’s when you get to the double jumps. So everyone, when they ask, like people that don’t skate, they’re like, oh, can you do like a triple axle? And I’m like, that’s actually one of the top ones that’s kind of reserved for like the elite. Like the really, really good professional skaters, not necessarily people that are at a more intermediate level.

So triples are pretty advanced. Most people will do doubles and singles in their lifetime, especially at the adult level. If you do get higher than that, that’s amazing, all power to you. But probably working on double jumps is probably the worst because it’s the one that involves the most amount of falls.

So that’s always not the greatest, but I’m kind of like the queen of falls. I actually got a paper plate award my freshman year that was most likely to be asked, are you okay, at practice. Because I would fall so much after I would do jumps. And everyone would always have to ask me like, are you okay? Because I would take such hard falls.

This isn’t trying to scare anyone, I was just so much of a daredevil that I wanted to do things that were outside of my comfort zone that I couldn’t quite do yet. But I was always, yeah, jumping for sure. And definitely double jumps, because that kind of pushes my limit, which is fine. But sometimes it’s like, do I really want to fall today, like 20 times during this session? Or would I rather just work on choreography?

Jill:. And you can be honest here, does it really hurt when you fall down?

Laine: I think it does now. When I was younger, again, I would fall all the time. I was one of those kids that wasn’t afraid to fall. So back then I would get bruises sometimes, especially on my legs and sometimes on my butt where like I’d be sitting on the toilet, TMI, I would be sitting on the toilet and I could only use one butt cheek. Like I had to put all my weight on the one butt cheek because the other one was bruised and I was like, I’m doing it for the sport. I’m doing it for skating, to better myself.

And then I think I have been jumping like my whole life. And now that I got to college and high school, I think, is when I started to not bruise anymore. So I think my body built up, because I’ve fallen so much. I’ve probably fallen literally a million times, no exaggeration. So I think my body literally just built up whatever it needed to build up to not bruise anymore, which is kind of an incredible place to be at that shows how fearless I am.

But yeah, it hurts a little bit more now that I’m getting older. And I’m only 20, but yeah, I’m looking forward to the artistic-ness moving forward, not so much the competition of spins and jumps and all that kind of stuff.

Jill: Yeah, I love that. What would you say is the strongest part of your body as a figure skater?

Laine: I think it’s my quads and hamstrings, like my thighs. I’ve always had thunder thighs and it gives me a lot of power. And I feel like a lot of fat women are in the same boat. Like we all got thunder thighs and it’s a great place to be in, especially as a figure skater, or as someone that’s trying to start skating.

You don’t know how much power those things have until you do a jump or until you hear that ripple on the ice of just going really, really fast on the ice, something like that. Oh my god, that’s probably one of the greatest feelings in the world, to know that your big thighs shouldn’t be something that you’re ashamed of. They have purpose and they have meaning on the ice.

Jill: Yeah.

Laine: I think that’s great.

Jill: Oh, I love that so much. What about ankles? Is that something that people, that you specifically work on your ankle strength or your ankle stability?

Laine: You know, Jill, I’m so sorry to say but I have very weak ankles. And you can lend that to my soccer. My ankles have definitely been overlooked strength wise. It will definitely help you to have strong ankles. You definitely will benefit from that in the skating world because that’s a lot of what the boot and everything is about. But I have pretty weak ankles and I’m still able to do everything that I need to do.

And I don’t really hurt myself anymore. I didn’t really hurt myself before, but it hasn’t really been an issue for me having weak ankles. So if you have weak ankles, there is room for you in the sport. You can do it, but it does benefit. It’s just kind of one of those things that it’s nice to have good ankles, but it’s something I’m working on right now. But I definitely don’t have the best ankles and I’m still trucking through.

Jill: Yeah. Well and like watching you skate, I don’t see your ankles wobbling or anything. So obviously, like you’re rock solid.

Laine: Oh, no, no, no, the boots. The boots are very important, they will keep you stiff and tight and everything like that. I’ve never had an injury on the ice either. So hopefully, to anyone that’s trying to skate, I haven’t had an injury so far and I’ve been fat my entire life. So I feel like that’s something else that you should now check off your list. And you should say, yeah, now I can skate because someone else that was also fat didn’t have any injuries. So you’ll be totally fine.

Jill: And I feel like, this is something I always tell my runners, is that when you’re fat you have more bone density, right? Just the act of moving your body in a fat body creates more dense bones, which means you kind of have a little bit of an advantage when you fall down. I think you’re less likely to break a leg.

I know plenty of smaller bodied people that have fallen down and broken an arm and a leg. I don’t know a lot of fat people that have fallen down and broken, like there’s a few, but in my limited experience being fat has a protective effect on your bones.

Laine: Yeah, it’s got some benefit to it. I’m in the same boat, I haven’t met any fat people that have broken anything serious or anything like that. So I think we’ve got good genetics.

Jill: Right? It’s like, oh, all right, okay. Last question I have for you, if somebody wanted to go out and buy skates, what is the best way to do that?

Laine: Yeah, so most people will go to Amazon or they will go to Dick’s and get skates, which I’m not trying to knock. But those don’t give you the best ankle support. And as someone that has weak ankles, I think that I would be very scared to use those. And you don’t want to go into your first skating session very scared. I’d rather you just use rental skates, honestly, until you have the money to actually buy skates.

So then if you do have the money or saved whatever, to get a good pair of skates, I think the starting price for maybe boots alone or maybe the entire – Boots and blades are sold separately.

Jill: Oh, I did not know that. Interesting.

Laine: Yeah, they can also be sold together, but they have different prices for both. So whenever you are buying a boot and a blade, if you’re buying it together it’ll just combine the cost, obviously. And I think that for the starting price for boots and blades, it would be like 1,000 at least.

Jill: Oh good lord.

Laine: Yeah, jaw dropping, I know. So there is that paywall in between.

Jill: So rental is the way to go in the beginning, it sounds like.

Laine: Rental is the way to go if you’re teetering and you’re like, oh, I don’t want to dip my toes in that much. But if you do want to get good skates, I would just recommend going to a skate shop or a pro shop, but you don’t want your 15-year-old minimum wage working like hockey, front desk guy to be fitting you. You want to have a skating expert, and I feel like it’s pretty easy to sort those two out.

You’ll see someone that has a ton of different brands of figure skates usually, and those are usually the people that are the best people to talk to you because they usually have the most and they know what you need. They’ll ask what kind of jumps you’re working on. They’ll ask what kind of spins you’re working on. They’ll ask if you’re an ice dancer because ice dancers have different blades than people that do jumps and spins.

So I would just say do your research and going in person is the best, don’t go online. And if you need to talk to someone over the phone, I would much rather you do that or do it over Zoom than have you try and buy skates online, especially if this is your first time getting skates.

Jill: Yeah, it is literally exactly like buying running shoes. I’m like, don’t go to Dick’s. Don’t buy them on Amazon. Go to a running store, get fitted, talk to a professional. You’ll be much happier.

Laine: Yeah. I love running stores, I think that they’re so fun. I could get lost in them forever. I could buy so many things from them, like it looks very enticing.

Jill: Yes.

Laine: It’s bad for my wallet.

Jill: Yeah, it is. But yeah, running stores, just all the walls of shoes is so, I don’t know, it’s so fun to look at.

Okay, well, thank you so, so much for joining me today. This has been the most fun conversation. How can people find you and follow you?

Laine: Oh my gosh, so TikTok is probably my biggest platform. And that is just my name, Laine Dubin. I also have a skating Instagram as well, which is the same thing, Laine Dubin. I have my thrifting account that we talked about in the beginning.

If you are someone that is plus size or mid size, I definitely recommend if you want to shop sustainably and be a little bit better to the earth, that is @BasicallyyBroke on Instagram with two Y’s. Definitely go check that out if you can. I think that that’s it for my socials.

Jill: I love that. And your name is spelled L-A-I-N-E-D-U-B-I-N. So it’s Laine with an I, just to make sure that people are going to spell it right when they look for you. So yeah, so check out the TikTok, check out Instagram skating, check out the Instagram thrifting, all the things. Do you have a website or a blog or anything? Or is that not a cool thing to do anymore? I don’t know.

Laine: I don’t know. Well, I do know the answer. I do know my answer. I have a website and I think it’s like my Canva site, like my.canva.site/ my name again, Laine Dubin.

Jill: All right, make sure you check out all of Laine’s socials. I am so happy when I see one of your reels come up in my feed and I just get to like, just look at that. It is amazing and it makes me want to try figure skating. And now that we’re living here in the city, I’m going to find a rink and do it this year. So it’s happening.

All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been a pleasure.

Laine: Thanks so much for having me, Jill.

Real quick, before you go, if you enjoyed this episode, you have to check out Run Your Best Life. It’s my monthly coaching program where you will learn exactly how to start running, stick with it, and become the runner you have always wanted to be. Head on over to runyourbestlife.com to join. I would love to be a part of your journey.