How to Roller Skate Forwards (NO EXPERIENCE Needed!)

If you're a beginner skater and have no idea where to start, you're in the right place. Maybe your skate's just arrived and you've been marching around the house wondering how anyone makes this look so easy. Don't worry, I've got you. Hey guys, I'm Tracy from Suns Out Skates Out Roller Skating School. I grew up competing in artistic skating and now I help everyday people learn to skate with confidence, flow and fun. So whether you're just lacing up for the first time or getting back into it after years away, this video is a one in five part beginner series and each video is five minutes long. So they're short, sweet and super easy to follow. Today we're kicking off things with a bit of a beginner mistake, which is walking in your skates like they're moon boots. Instead, I'll show you five simple steps to help you start rolling forward safely and smoothly and with more balance and control. So if you're ready to stop shuffling and start skating, then stick with me. All right, first things first, let's sort out your skate posture. This bit is way more important than it sounds and you're probably wondering what skate posture even is. So you want to start with soft knees about shoulder distance apart, straight back for tall posture and keeping those arms up. I like to say pretend you're balancing on a balance beam. It might feel weird at first, but trust me, having your arms up is huge for balance and helps you stay upright if things get a little bit wobbly. Step two is marching on the spot. Next step, just start marching on the spot and there's no need to move forward just yet. Just lift one foot at a time. So skates are underneath your hips, standing up tall, bending the knees, arms are out. Just lift one foot up at a time. This gets your body used to the movement without suddenly rolling off somewhere. Remember, we're not walking here, we're marching on skates. You can see my skates are underneath my hips, my knees are bent, my posture's up and my arms are out for balance. Step three are called V-marches. Now we're going to turn those little marches that we just did on the spot into little V-shaped marches. Kind of think of it like baby penguin steps. Angle your toes out and just start stepping one foot in front of the other. This helps your wheels want to roll without you needing to push out. Keep the steps small, steady and in control. My knees are still bent, they're under my hips, my posture's still tall and my arms are out for balance. So now we're moving forward but we're not rolling yet. Oh and by the way, if you're completely new to skating, I've got a free beginner guide that shows you exactly what to focus on first, plus some tips that would have saved me a ton of trial and error. The link's in the description below if you want to go and check it out. Step four, we've got the V-march with weight transfer. Now we're going to let those skates roll a little. Same V-step but this time you're going to let one foot roll just as you step out and here's where the real magic happens. Try shifting your body weight from side to side as you do it. It's like a tiny waddle and yes it sounds and might feel a little bit silly but this is how you learn to balance while rolling. Again we're skating, not walking and we need to transfer the weight side to side. I always tell my students let your weight fully land on one foot before switching to the other. So with this V-march, I hope you can see now that I'm starting to shift my weight from side to side like that little penguin waddle that I mentioned. We're just going from left to right making sure that we place the foot down completely before we bring the next skate up to me. Okay final step, time to put it all together with the push and glide. So now we're gently pushing out of the back skate by bending our knees and shifting our weight forward and hold the back leg out straight. Bring your skates back together then switch. Keep it smooth, keep it soft. There's no need to power off just yet. You're just getting a feel for gliding. As I'm doing those penguin marches, we're shifting the weight. Now we're bending, we're putting a little bit more weight in the front and pushing out of that back skate bringing the other skate in front to me. Bending, pushing out of the back skate bringing the other skate forward in that V-march. So we're marching, shifting the weight side to side. Now we're starting to push out of the back skate. Skate goes flat, pushing out of the back skate. Flat, bend, push. Now as you get more comfortable with that bend and push into the glide, you'll start to spend a little bit more time on each skate. So just a quick recap of what we just learned. Step one, we found that comfy balanced skate posture. Step two, we started to march on the spot. Step three, we took our skates into that V-penguin walk. We let it roll out and then we started to shift our weight. Step four, we've got the V-march with weight transfer. And then step five, we started with a little push and glide that will get you finally skating forwards. If you can do these five small steps on your skates, you're already way way closer to feeling confident on your wheels from the get-go. As mentioned, this is part one of a five-part beginner series and trust me, you're going to want to watch the other videos. Each video is short and sweet, just five minutes, so you can take it all in without feeling overwhelmed. We're building skills step by step and by the end of this series, you're going to be rolling with way more confidence and flow. In the meantime, dive into my other videos for more tips and tricks to keep you moving forward in your skating journey. Thanks guys and I'll catch you in the next video.