Learning to ride inline skates: The basics
To ensure that the first attempts on the inline skates are a success, choose the right training ground – a smooth, asphalted surface or road without cracks, potholes and, above all, without gradients. This causes nasty surprises, especially at the beginning. Also a gradient should not have the route. And ideally little traffic, so you can practice in peace and safety. Let a helper help you balance you or use a wall or post to walk along. Also, always pay attention to your speed – you are faster than expected. The best conditions are provided by dry soil.
Now you determine your leg and your playing leg. Jump into the air (without inline skates!) and push yourself off once with your left leg and once with your right leg – with which leg do you higher? It’s your stronger mainstay – that’s where you shift your weight later when you brake or start when you inline skating. With the leg you repel yourself.
Nice to know: The right technique when driving ensures that the joints are spared because unpleasant shocks can be avoided. And the swinging arms mobilize the shoulder and neck area.
Start-up
Now you’re ready to go. You stand hip-width wide and bend your knees slightly – that will be your driving position later. The tips of the feet point slightly V-shaped outwards. Now you put your playing leg T-shaped (at a right angle) behind the leg and repel yourself. When you roll off, you shift your weight to the other leg. With each step, your weight now goes diagonally forward – the movement corresponds to skating. If you have your desired pace, you can let both feet stand parallel and roll.
Cornering
If you want to drive a curve, you shift your weight to one foot: In a left turn, you put your left foot in front of the right and load it. This will be easier if you put your left hand on your left knee. Lean forward a little and stay loose in your knees.
You can also turn the hips like skiing or you can take the technique of translating from speed skating, it is the most demanding: if you want to make a left turn, you shift your focus to the left foot, turn your upper body in the direction, push yourself off and put your right foot in front of the left. You repeat that when you drove around the bend. Elegant, but tricky!
Braking
If your inline skaters have a heel stopper, you brake like this: Point the tip of your front leg upwards so that the stopper touches the ground. At the same time, you shift your weight to the back leg. If you kneel down a bit here, braking becomes safer and more effective. Or you can shift your weight to the front leg and place the other at a right angle behind it and then load. The T-stop is cool, but not quite as strong in terms of braking. The snow plough is more demanding – here the tips of the inline skaters point together, you drift and your center of gravity must be low and behind your feet.
Braking on inline skates is quite demanding – so be sure to practice swerving.
Practicing traps
You’ll probably fall once. So that you can prevent injuries, good preparation is the be-all and end-all. Always try to fall forward, to your knees to control your fall as much as possible.
Then either catch the fall with your elbows and wrists or roll on your side or back. Practice the movement on soft ground like a meadow – first from a standstill, then from the movement and then on asphalt. This also gives you the opportunity to train to get up.
Of course, inline skating includes suitable protective equipment for hands, elbows and knees – without this, your fall exercises will be unpleasant, not to mention a real fall. A helmet is also advisable. If you have ever suffered a few scratches, you can easily go to the ALOE PROPOLIS CREAM (Art. 51). Its 71 percent pure aloe vera gel in combination with bee propolis, vitamins A, C and E, chamomile and moisturizing oils moisturize, soothe and regenerate – especially irritated and stressed skin. The ALOE PROPOLIS CREAM lays a protective film over the skin and strengthens the skin barrier.