Beginner's Skates Keep Drifting Outward

[wildwood]

Hi all, I just started learning to skate. I am past the initial fear and now can roll for short distances. I have a few problems in the way i skate.

After the initial few strides, I am finding it difficult to bring the skates back closer to my body and eventually have to stop. This also happens to me when I start moving a bit fast. Is there something I could do to stop this or is this something which I can get rid of by practising.

I hope someone could help with this. Though I am exited that I can go short distances, I like to do more.

Thanks in advance
K

[Kathie Fry]

Welcome to our forum Wildwood! Can you describe in a little more detail what is happening to your feet when you skate? Are your feet slowly migrating outward, so they are farther and farther from each other as you skate? And then you have to stop and move them closer together before you can start skating again?

- Kathie

[wildwood]

Originally Posted by KathieFry

Welcome to our forum Wildwood! Can you describe in a little more detail what is happening to your feet when you skate? Are your feet slowly migrating outward, so they are farther and farther from each other as you skate? And then you have to stop and move them closer together before you can start skating again?

- Kathie

Thanks a lot Kathie and others..., this is a great forum and is also one of the reasons I started learning to skate. I should have given you more info in the first place , I usually start with the duck walk thing, but once i start rolling I feel like loosing balance and hence like you said migrate outward and stop. I am finding it hard to bring it back to the center (?) after a few strokes. The place I skate is a trial right next to my house, and is upward incline.

Thanks again.

[gbo]

posted elsewhere:

Welcome to the board.

There are a couple of different approaches:
1. find a flat piece of pavement without traffic like a parking lot after the businesses have closed or before they open on a Sunday morning. Make sure the pavement is pretty smooth and without loose stones. Put on all of your safety equipment (I hope you included a helmet) and skates and start skating.

2. Find a roller rink and practice inside for awhile. You won't get as much road rash off the wood floor. But, you'll want to go when there aren't many other skaters.

3. Find an instructor and take a lesson. Inside or out. Google for canberra skating instructors. I don't know the sites right off. The local rollerrink or the sports equipment store might have ideas as well.

Check out inlineplanet.com. There are several useful articles for beginners.

Welcome to the wonderful world of skating. If you find it half as enjoyable as the rest of us here, you'll be addicted for life.

Although the above doesn't address your specific problem, finding a flat place to skate may help with your problem as well as the http:\\www.inlineplanet.com website.

Good luck
Geri

[Kathie Fry]

Wildwood, if you are trying to learn how to inline skate, and there are no instructors in your area, I recommend that you buy one of these instructional inline skating books:

Books for Beginning Inline Skaters

You will learn much faster and develop better techniques from the start if you can take some lessons, but if that is not possible, a book written by a skating instructor can also be very helpful. The author of the first book on the above page - Liz Miller - also has a Web site with many articles for beginning and intermediate inline skaters at GetRolling.com - Learning to Skate.

- Kathie

[b3eyes]

Originally Posted by wildwood

Thanks a lot Kathie and others..., this is a great forum and is also one of the reasons I started learning to skate. I should have given you more info in the first place , I usually start with the duck walk thing, but once i start rolling I feel like loosing balance and hence like you said migrate outward and stop. I am finding it hard to bring it back to the center (?) after a few strokes. The place I skate is a trial right next to my house, and is upward incline.

Thanks again.

Like Kathie said, welcome to the friendliest skating forum! Before you go out today, try to find time and browse through this website's beginner's section. You probably have the same questions many have asked before, and has been answered in previous posts. Read up on them, I'm sure you can pick up a couple of useful tips.

Now onto your problem, can you give us more detail on how you distribute your weight? I'm taking a wild guess and assuming that you cant quite retract your leg once you push it out, let me know if this is the reason why.

A general rule (correct me if I'm wrong guys) is to bend your knees, when one of your legs pushes out , your weight should be on the opposite (bent) leg, traveling forward. Your upper body should be leaning forward to balance while trying to keep your legs parallel to each other.

I'm sure somewhere on this forum someone has done a much better job describing how this should be done, so search and read up on it, hope this helps a tiny bit.

Have fun!

[Jointlock]

Make sure your skates are tight enough to support your ankles till you build the strenght necessary to do it properly. Lots of practice for the first month; push through the pain/burning/doubts till you get it down....5 nights a week for 2 hours each skate for a month and you will see a major improvement. Bend your knees, no bend them more, no more. Most new skaters are way to upright. Look forward, not at your feet. Practice!!! New skaters, and learning new skills even when you are an experienced skater (slaloming teaches me this all the time) requires lots of strenght, fine muscle control, and flexibility from muscles that you don't normally use. It takes gobs of time and practice. Newbies usually think 2 or 3 skates and I am good to go. It isn't so, anything worth doing in life takes time, patience and practice. Good Luck, and wear your pads and your HELMET!!!

[Spins]

Originally Posted by wildwood

After the initial few strides, I am finding it difficult to bring the skates back closer to my body and eventually have to stop. This also happens to me when I start moving a bit fast.

Recommended equipment: helmet (for sure).

We're all with you Wildwood.

Gary
o-o

**************************************888