Sounds a kind of strange, but in the same way as the one-leg-standing-like-a-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-girl (or boy) can make you a better skater. Only, we have two legs….and being on them both is making you more stable. Being nice and stable is way more fun then wiggling on one leg. And because we like being happy and having fun, why try and making all the hustle?
But wait!
Why doing all the trouble? I have two legs?!
Despite it can be really difficult in the beginning. Practicing to stay longer stable on one leg during your inline skating is really helpful for improving a couple of moves, for example:
- It is the base of a proper stride
- You need to keep balance to make a descent T-stop (which was on my bucket list, a must have stop)
- It will improve your maneuverability 🌀
In fact, professional inline skaters are telling so. And trusting them this, this move is certainly (again) one thing we should be able to. Wanting to help others (at least I’m trying 😇), I’m happy to share my thoughts and finding about this. Giving you some nice examples how to manage this fine trick.
The team from This is Soul gives the advice to start with flow skating. This is the kind of skating where you don’t tilt your leg up during skating. Practices of flow skating are:
- Lemon drop 🍋
- Half lemon drops 🗡️🍋
My tip: buy yourself some cones (you can get really cheap ones at the Action stores for example, mine were 99ct for 4 pieces). With these you have to force yourself to make good curves. Without the cones you’re risking it to make it too easy for yourself (busted 😏).
Helpfull step by step instructions
In the video below Daniel, from Skamidan, gives you excercises to practice first without your skates and afterwards with them on.
I must say that this video gives me a lot of confidence that I can learn this. The skates-of workout is something you can do during any kind of standing position. For example during brushing your teeth of waiting for the traffic light 🚦However you can look a bit silly with the last one, but who cares! And I’m 100% positive this exercise will also be helpful to train your muscles, making them stronger and more agile.
The guy that also gives (already 10 years ago) skates-off excercises is Bill Stoppard. Sorry I mentioning him in almost all my posts, but I just think he’s very inspirational 💯.
It is fun after all
If you have read some of my posts you may have seen I have some favourite inline skaters to follow. And thé one who gives good advice in combination with lots and lots of humor is Nik Zvi Inline. He also is a big advocate for being able to skate on one leg. Even if it was just to slide through the streets like Superman! Huh, what? Yes, just watch the video and get motivated 😅
Likewise Daniel from SkaMiDan, Nik Zvi is showing you that the movement of your back leg can help you to have more balance. Plus a nice addition he makes is that you should be slightly on the outer edge of your skate.
Summary
The take home messages from these video’s:
- Bend your knees over your toes, this will give you more stability
- Practice when and where you can, even with your skates off
- Use your back leg to balance
- Move your arms like you are doing with walking. Use the right swing: shift them opposite to your legs
And last: what I see in all the videos above: your balancing leg is not sideways but in the back of your sliding leg.
Sigh, this is going to take some time to work on. But that is only motivating 😎. When I can, I will take my tripod with me for filming. Untill then you can see my progressions on my Instagram page. That’s it for this week, see you the next one!
