4 Roller Skating Hacks To Get You Skating NOW!

In this video, we're going to cover four hacks which are going to help your roller skating journey go smoothly. I'm Katie, and you're watching Skatey. Everything in skating is easier if you've got a little bit of roll to your wheels. So even if you're just doing a snake pattern, forwards, backwards, it's always easy if you've got a little bit of roll because your wheels will move easier. It's similar to when you're teaching a child to ride a bike. So they're pedaling away, and then before you let go of the back of that saddle, you give that saddle a shove because you know with that bit of speed, the pedaling is going to be easier to balance. So it works the same on roller skates. A good idea to give you a bit of roll is to push off from something. So you can use anything that's around you. You can use a wall, or you could do... One question that gets asked quite a lot is where should your weight be on your skate? So you want your weight over the ball of your foot. That should then be over your front truck, which gives you the manoeuvrability of your skate. So then you can do turns and all sorts of things. Now this is kind of correct for about 90% of the time, unless you're doing some crazy trick, and then obviously you've got to have your weight on the back or whatever. But whether you're going forwards, backwards, sideways, or if you're going sideways, you're already in trouble. Especially backwards, you want that weight on the front. And I know that might sound a little bit kind of counterintuitive because you're going backwards, but the idea is that it keeps you weight forward, which makes it a lot safer for you. Part of your weight is also not looking down, because as soon as you look down, you're almost pushing your weight past your toes. I know I talk about all the time, do this with your feet, do that with your feet, and you want to look at your feet. I mean, that's natural. But try and look where you're going, and that will make life a lot easier. Another little hack that's going to help you is to do with falling. So when you feel this sort of wobble, I know the natural thing is the helicopter, because it just is. But try and reach forward, grab your knees, grab your ankles, go for your feet. And then what might happen, it might save the fall. But if it doesn't, the chances are you're going to go forwards to the ground, rather than backwards. And those backward falls, I know they're not very pleasant, and they can really come out of nowhere sometimes. So for falling, you want to try and keep your body relaxed. Again, I know it goes against every ounce of your being, but don't tense, because when you tense up when you fall, that's when you jar yourself, and you can hurt your wrists, your shoulders. So don't forget to use the softer bits of your body. They're very helpful. And to keep it soft. So if you fall, it's more of a fall to the ground, and not a jar of your body. And that's when you're going to hurt yourself. So try and use the bottom. Because it's nice and squidgy. Can you guess what the next hack is? Safety gear, of course. It's a really good idea to have some safety gear when you're learning, but also when you're more experienced. I mean, I'm the worst person for this. I'll go out without my safety gear on, and then when I fall over, I think, well, I've left it in the car. So it's not much good in the car, so please put it on. I'm wearing a three-piece set today. This is just a size large. I can put a link to this one in the description bar for you. The knee pads, I can confirm, are very good. I've tried those out a number of times. And the wrist guards are great, because they've not only got the metal here, but they've got the metal on top as well. And now I'm wearing a skate hut helmet. These are double certified, and it's really important that you get a certified helmet, because then you know that you're safe, and it's gonna protect your head. The key here is to keep yourself safe, but it's also to give you confidence. If I do kind of try something that's a little bit out of my comfort zone, and I do hit the deck, I'm gonna be okay. I mean, you can see I've got quite a few scrapes on these, so they have been used quite well. What you can do is you can obviously protect the soft bits as well. So you can buy padded shorts that have hip protection and protection for your tailbone, but you can always stick some padding or some foam or a pillow down here. When your pads do arrive, try them out, so it gives you confidence again. So even without your skates on, find a nice soft area, carpet or a piece of grass, and try them, feel it. So just fall to your knees, and that is so much softer than if I didn't have these on. I would not be doing that. So give them a go, and it will really help your confidence, and then you'll just be away. Learning to roller skate is a journey. So everyone learns at a different speed, so don't compare yourself to everyone else. I know it's really hard, but compare yourself to you. So when you go out, take a video of yourself, and then you can look back at it in a couple of weeks' time when you're really frustrated that you can't skate. You're like, ah, that's it, I give up. Look back at that first video and be like, wow, look how much better I am now. So you always need to keep perspective, and just bear in mind that you can do it. It's just gonna take a little bit of time and a little bit of perseverance, but you can do it, and we'll do the journey together. That's been our four hacks. I hope that these have really helped you to progress in your skating journey. And now, a shameless plug of my fabulous T-shirt that I'm wearing. If you, too, would like one of these, there's a link in the description below. I'm Katie, and you've been watching Skatee, and I'll see you next time. Bye! Great thing. So when your pads do arrive, test them out. There's a train.