How important is backwards skating?

[cbeck]

I'm curious how the ability to skate well backwards is generally perceived?

Although I manage foward fairly well, backwards is very wobbly. Would my lack of practice going in reverse affect me negatively as I tackle jumps larger than a curb... and stairs with more than a few steps? Or would the skills required for those (stairs, jumps) not really be influenced by whatever is gained in backwards mode?

I'm just curious because my primary interest is in going forward and my free-time is limited... so I'm trying to figure out where my learning efforts should be directed first? A skate instructor does not seem to be an option (not available).

At the moment I can jump off a curb and ride down a few stairs (three is the most I have tried) with out any major complications. I've been on skates about a month. Any thoughts?

[Jointlock]

I think it's important. This is my second year skating. At first I was like you...forward only. But after I got better forward got boring. I wanted to do more so the journey began. Now I am slaloming and freestyling, and I am hooked. As you improve you start to see that skating is like child developement. There a series of things to learn and mastering each step leads to the next skill. If you find something you want to do on skates you quickly figure out that you can do step 1,2,3 and maybe step 6&7, but you need 4&5 to put it together. Backwards is one of those steps. It builds better balance and strenght. Just when I had backwards down I learned its different in pedestrian traffic...new skill. Then learned underpush and realized I needed to do many things on one foot (gliding) to do many slalom tricks....next new skill. Then you gotta switch up and struggle on your weak side...it goes on and on. Practice is key; good deep knee bends, good form at all times and always practice your weak side twice as much as your good side. Learn skills in a logical sequence, practice and you will look back in a couple of seasons you'll be pretty good. Then you take a class like I did (with Naomi) and you realize you stink compared to a real skater. Yet another level to strive for. The best part is that skating (and learning well) is that its like a pyramid...Biggest at the bottom and smallest at the top...as you get better learning gets faster as you have a much bigger base to work from. Keep practicing; and get the best skates you can. Chris (freestyle/slalom freak)

[fablemaker2]

A skate instructor does not seem to be an option

Gravity is the best skate instructor out there!

All kidding aside...as you take your skating to higher levels, you're going to need more skills to keep Mr. Face from meeting Mr. Ground! I'm sure that you've fallen plenty of times learning to come off of those stairs, and some of those falls could have been prevented if you had strong backwards skills.

Also, when you start to do 180's, 360's, and the like from curbs, you'll be better off being able to consistently land backwards so you won't have to bail if you don't get all the way around.

Plus, dropping in backwards just looks cool.

[NightWind]

[QUOTE=fablemaker2;422]
I'm sure that you've fallen plenty of times learning to come off of those stairs...[QUOTE]

Hi!
I am curious to know how to come off the stairs in a proper way!)) Are there any tricks to learn or does it just go with practice?
I've learnt how to climb the stairs pretty fast. My first way up was SO frightening!)) Thankfully, I was with a great friend who watched my back and was ready to help.

[cbeck]

Jointlock: Thanks for sharing your experience! I think you are probably right that I would eventually get bored when there is much more that could be done. I had already planned on spending some of the upcoming rainy-cold winter days working on some cone/slalom moves in the kitchen or front porch.

I think one of my biggest problems is not being able to stop going backwards, so I'm afraid to pick up any speed. As you and fablemaker point out, I should probably try to tackle that fear and work on it.

Originally Posted by fablemaker

keep Mr. Face from meeting Mr. Ground!

I've been pretty lucky so far! 180's, 360's... might be a bit ambitious for me!

I wonder if it would be better to work on swizzles or a backwards step/stride first?

[cbeck]

Originally Posted by NightWind

[...question about comming off stairs...]

I took a trial-and-error approach, so I doubt I'm best at advice. But I come off with my weight towards my rear foot, knees bent, and my hands are generally near my sides, and somewhat raised in case I need to throw them about for a little extra balance. (I wear a helmet too, in case a backwards fall lands my head on the corner of a step )

Someone helpful over at serpintine road had suggested that I practice with steps having a handrail in case it is necessary to grab on.

A seperate post might attract more attention?

[Jointlock]

I just love skating and am happy to help...I want the sport to flourish and grow back to where it was in the 80's/90's. Skating appeals to me on many levels. As far as stairs I can't help. Never was interested in aggresive skating, and too old to suffer the injuries....I have a physical blue collar career and can't afford an orthopedic problem. As far as stopping backwards with some speed I found the backwards powerslide the easiest stop to learn. I rarely stop backwards anyway. As a freestyler I am lucky that as a 41 yr old guy I was able to to learn to sidesurf really fast (10 yrs of karate made me pretty flexible) and I usually go from backwards to a 2 step mohawk transition. Thats backwards to sidesurf to forwards. Helps keep the hips limber and works a slalom trick into constant practice. It also works the components of a barrel roll onto my skating all the time (provided you work the entrance from one side and the exit from the other side). I also find that after a enough time you realize your body/balance/muscles are ready for a new trick and it just kind of happens. It's a matter of time, practice and work.

Head up, wheels down. Chris

[mikeyb]

I'm with jointlock. Learning all the skills is fun. If you're wobbly skating backwards, the problem is more than likely body position. Backward body position is a bit different. I play roller hockey and learning good backward position cured my backward skating problems.

Backward skating has all the joints pointed in a different direction. To feel stable, you have to bend your knees more deeply. Finally, and the key point, is when you backward skate, you center your body weight over the back 2/3 of your skate frame (as opposed to forward skating where you center over the rear 2/3 of your frame). Yep, you're weight is over the balls of your feet (not your heels). If your weight shifts to the heels, you'll feel unstable and will easily fall. On the other hand, with your weight over the balls of your feet, you will be very stable, in fact so stable that it will be hard for someone to push you down! If you watch ice hockey you won't see too many instances of a skater being knocked down while backward skating. Once you make this stable position routine then all the other skills like crossovers, stops, jumps, etc. will be much easier.

[NightWind]

Originally Posted by cbeck

I took a trial-and-error approach, so I doubt I'm best at advice. But I come off with my weight towards my rear foot, knees bent, and my hands are generally near my sides, and somewhat raised in case I need to throw them about for a little extra balance. (I wear a helmet too, in case a backwards fall lands my head on the corner of a step )

Someone helpful over at serpintine road had suggested that I practice with steps having a handrail in case it is necessary to grab on.

A seperate post might attract more attention?

Hi, cbeck!
Thank you very much for your advice! I'll try it next time I use a subway!
I normally grab on a handrail when I go down the stairs. When I was a child I fell down the stairs when I was catching a train and I slitted a brow. That was a really horrible experience (I still have a small scar)!

Perhaps, it's a bit strange, but very few skaters in my country wear helmets even when they go with the traffic!)

[NightWind]

Originally Posted by Jointlock

I just love skating and am happy to help...I want the sport to flourish and grow back to where it was in the 80's/90's. Skating appeals to me on many levels. As far as stairs I can't help. Never was interested in aggresive skating, and too old to suffer the injuries....

I rarely stop backwards anyway. As a freestyler I am lucky that as a 41 yr old guy I was able to to learn to sidesurf really fast (10 yrs of karate made me pretty flexible)

Hi, Jointlock!
I should say I am also in love with skating, though I am just a beginner! It's something that makes my life so colourful and exciting!)) I used to figure skate when I was a child, but that was a long time ago, so I have to learn quite a lot!

I wasn't thinking about agressive skating when I asked about the stairs. Far from it!))

You said that karate helps you a lot. I am into belly dancing and that's also a big help! It really helps to avoid pedestrians and so on.

[Jointlock]

skate 10 minutes lightly to warm up....and stop skating. Then stretch, stretch stretch. Then up the tempo. Stretch after a cool down. It will improve your skating and help prevent injury. That goes for all sports, especially karate.

Stretch at home when not skating. That helps and strenghtens too.

[cbeck]

Originally Posted by Jointlock

I just love skating and am happy to help...
Head up, wheels down. Chris

You could quickly become my new best friend! Even though it is somewhat late in life, I'm really happy to have discovered skating! I'm not sure what the mohawk is, but I've read about the powerslide and I could probably try to start practicing that soon, though I am likely out for a week with an overextended knee of some sort. I think I would skate with a little more confidence if I knew I could either stop or turn back around. I've got quite a bit of stretching and balance to get a hold of before even considering a sidesurf, I would think.

Originally Posted by mikeb

Backward skating has all the joints pointed in a different direction. To feel stable, you have to bend your knees more deeply. Finally, and the key point, is when you backward skate, you center your body weight over the back 2/3 of your skate frame (as opposed to forward skating where you center over the rear 2/3 of your frame). Yep, you're weight is over the balls of your feet (not your heels). If your weight shifts to the heels, you'll feel unstable and will easily fall

Funny, but my problems tends to be falling in the other direction (foward). I have an irrational fear of falling over backwards (an early tramatic experience when I was 10 that ended skating for me) and I usually end up leaning further and further foward with each backwards stride. But I think I have been bending from the waiste mostly as I lean over. Must remind myself *knees knees knees*

But back to the point on weight distribution, once bending the knees more, is this accomplished by placing the entire torso over the toes (hips to shoulders) or, uhmm... I suppose what I'm wondering is if there is a handy little rule similar to the "nose-knees-toes" of forward skating? Or what is the proper way to get my weight centered over my toes properly? I wish this sort of thing would just be natural for me.

Thanks both so much for your help!


Nightwind: I don't see too many skaters around here, but with all of the trail bikers I have ever ridden with, helmets just always seemed to be an unspoken mandantory. Honestly, I don't ever feel safe rolling without it! But I have seen the topic generate some hot debate on this and some other forums I was reading through. I imagine what you see is pretty much the norm. Good luck on those stairs! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one trying to figure these things out! (y)

[cbeck]

Originally Posted by Jointlock

skate 10 minutes lightly to warm up....and stop skating. Then stretch, stretch stretch. Then up the tempo. Stretch after a cool down. It will improve your skating and help prevent injury. That goes for all sports, especially karate.

Stretch at home when not skating. That helps and strenghtens too.

Yes, it might have helped if I tried that stretching thing before my last skate!

[mikeyb]

Hi Cbeck. Your problems with falling forward are common and I did the same thing. Backward skating is done almost in a sitting position, like sitting on a stool. Bending only at the hip is perfect for falling over forward and I did plenty of this. Your weight shouldn't be so far forward that you're over your front wheel that you fall forward. Again, to do this you probably are bending too much at the hips and not the knees as you noted. It does take a bit of discipline and be patient with yourself. Remember, weight is centered over the front 2/3 of the frame which is the front 2 or even 3 wheels and little or no pressure over the back or 'heel' wheel. Keep in mind that even if you bend your knees a bit too deeply that you will only feel more stable. Now if your butt starts scraping on the ground then you took me too literally!

[XeleX]

Originally Posted by Jointlock

skate 10 minutes lightly to warm up....and stop skating. Then stretch, stretch stretch. Then up the tempo. Stretch after a cool down. It will improve your skating and help prevent injury. That goes for all sports, especially karate.

Stretch at home when not skating. That helps and strenghtens too.

can you suggest any good stretches?

[cbeck]

Originally Posted by mikeyb

Now if your butt starts scraping on the ground then you took me too literally!

I knew I was doing something wrong!

But seriously, I do get what you are saying and I think it is going to help. I've been swizzling up and down the kitchen linoleum for about twenty minutes here and I at least "feel" better. (the fact that I can grab the counter on either side of me at any given moment could be helping a bit too ) I think keeping weight on my heels has definately been a problem. I'll let my knee rest until wednesday then get oustide and give it a full go.

I sure do appreciate the encouragement. I'm just not used to being so completely horrible at something I want to do! (don't even get me started on team sports. I throw like a two year old.) But then, I think back to a month ago when I would stand up, roll two feet, then fall over backwards... This is progress!

Much thanks!

Originally Posted by xelex

can you suggest any good stretches?

Hi! You may have found it already, but there was a thread started on this topic over in the fitness forum that you might want to check out. here

[Jointlock]

Xelex,

Skates on or off: 1-feet together, bend at waist...touch toes...or as close as you can get. 2- cross feet, outside of ankles touching each other, repeat strech 1....you won't go as far. 3- feet spread, about 6-8" wider than shoulders, reach for left ankle, right ankle and the ground in the center.

skates off: one foot far forward, other foot far back (like the start position of a track race) keep heels touching ground, arch and raise back/head...alternate sides. 2- feet less than shoulder width, slowly raise up on tippy toes, hold, return down slowly 3- sit on bed/floor, bottoms of feet together, knees to side. Rest forearms against inside of legs and push knees towards ground, hold for several seconds 4- classic split stretch 5- hurdlers stretch: sit on floor, one leg straight out, other leg bent at knee ( the position a track hurdler is in while going over a gate) reach for toes. Alternate sides.

Will make you stronger, more limber, improve skating ability and endurance and prevents injury.

Jointlock

[hungryrollerblader]

At first, I didn't think that sk8ing fakie was important. But, it does make things look a lot cooler. I'm not TOO good at it yet, but ill get better.