How to inline skate?

Starting to inline skate can be very difficult. The main reason why it is difficult is because when you get it wrong, you can hurt yourself. This article gives you some tips when it comes to beginning to inline skate.

Lessons

The best way to start inline skating is to take a lesson with an instructor. Many shops that carry inline skates offer instructional clinics, or a friend who skates may be able to teach you. Several community or adult educational centres and local retailers also offer lessons. You may even want to purchase instructional materials such as a book or video to introduce you to the sport.

Practice

You can use some important skating skills on grass or carpet to get used to the feel of your inline skates before you step onto the pavement: Walk around with both toes pointed slightly outwards. This is how you'll push off once you're rolling on the pavement. Practise balancing on one foot at a time. The better your balance becomes, the easier, stopping and striding will be for you.

Stopping

Bend your knees, hold your arms slightly in front of you, tip the toe of your brake foot upward and apply pressure to the brake until you stop. You need to do all of this gradually to avoid jolting and potentially harming yourself.

Protection

You should not inline skate without wearing a helmet, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads. Wrist guards can prevent the most frequent inline skating injury: breaking or hyper-extending a wrist. Knee and elbow pads help to protect those areas and also help to prevent injuries by allowing you to slide forward when landing on the pavement. Many helmets made specifically for inline skating have extended coverage on the back because skaters tend to fall backwards, while cyclists tend to fall forwards. Wearing full protective gear will greatly decrease the chances that you'll get injured while doing inline skating.

Balance

Progress to the pavement and practise your balance before you start rolling: Stand with your feet even and about four-to-six inches apart, arms slightly in front of yourself and knees bent so that your shins touch your skates. Your weight should be balanced on the balls of your feet. A common mistake that beginners make is standing up straight with their knees locked or balancing their weight on their heels.

Heelys

Some of the best inline blades around are made by the manufacturer Heelys. Cheap heelys skates can often be found second-hand and are ideal for beginners who do not want to splash out on an expensive pair of skates straight away.