How to stop & control speed on downhill slopes on rollerblades Heel Brake, Plough T-stop Powerslide

Hi I'm Asha from Skatefresh and welcome to Brighton. It's an amazing day today, I had to come out and do another lesson. So this lesson was requested by Simon Evans and he wanted to know how do you go downhill and control your speed. So this is a super important issue and many many skaters in my opinion do not have their stopping methods completely sorted to make them safe on hills. So the first thing you have to do is make sure that your stopping methods are perfect on the flat before you even begin to put them on slopes. So I'm going to show you my two favourite most essential methods and I think every skater should really try to have both of these totally nailed. So here's the heel brake stop, some revision. So scissor the braking foot in front, apply the brake and remove it and apply it as you need staying in scissor, weight on the back leg. In order to stop, sit down and elongate at the end. Now for method number two, the stepping plough. Start in a wide A-frame position on inside edges and take sideways lateral steps with an inversion. Toes in, heels out very slightly. This inversion becomes more accentuated towards the end as you want to actively stop. So notice I'm going to increase the cadence, I'm going to take more steps per minute and more knee bend, more toes in, that's how you'll come to a stop. Notice the toes in at the end. And next we have the T-stop, the most important downhill control method. So place most of your weight on your favourite leg with a really good knee bend and you slide the lighter leg behind you. So begin on gentle slopes and slide the lighter leg as much as you need to to control your speed. So it could be a short time, could be a longer time. Look at that knee bend on the front skate. That knee is balancing all of your body weight and really making small movements to control the edge. Pull the back foot in at the end to stop. So notice the narrowness here, it's not sideways movement. And here's the power slide, we're about to do that in a moment. So again this narrowness means that all your weight is on the front foot nice and easily. Keep that knee bent and keep that centre edge on the front skate. If that front knee tilts onto the inside edge you will lose your balance. Pull in more weight at the end. And now to the power slide, my favourite of all stops. I think every skater should be learning this one. Whatever your ability level, start practising this one, even if it's just statically. So it starts in scissor, left foot forwards, weight on the left skate. Step to backwards, right foot, slide the left. Or the opposite. So start on very gentle slopes, going for this mini slide. Just a foot of slide, heel to heel. At the moment you transition, really get the belly down towards the thighs. So your body makes this skate heavier. The sliding leg, if it doesn't slide, it's too heavy. Which means more weight on the support leg. So really look at the knee bend in this position. You don't really see my body but I am leaning forwards when I transition. And you can use it in combination with the T-stop to slow down a bit. And then do it at your good speed. So there you have my three favourite downhill methods. The heel break and the T-stop to help you control. The stepping plough is a really good way to just keep your speed nice and constant. And finally the power slide to come to a full stop, even if you're at speed. So master those three techniques separately and then begin on small hills. And you'll be fine. See you next time. Hope this helps. Bye.