Roller Skating Mechanics

rollerskatingOne of the most popular questions that is asked by people learning how to roller skate has to do with the mechanics involved in roller skating. Many brand new roller skaters find themselves wondering how they can achieve acceleration in a forward motion while they are skating on a surface that is flat. Some new roller skaters believe that skating occurs when the weight of the body is shifted forward, back and forth or side to side in order to create a forward acceleration, but this is not quite the truth. So what is the truth about the mechanics behind the art of roller skating?

When you are skating on a surface that is flat using quad skates or inline skates, the safest and the most efficient way for you to achieve forward motion is for you to utilize side push in conjunction with only a minimal amount of body movement.

If you treat each skating foot as if it were an individual scooter, then the forward motion would come from keeping your body weight over only one skate at a time, the employed skate, while you are pushing to the side and then back using the other skate, which is the free skate. The more control that a skater has while keeping the feet close for the purpose of transferring feet, and the more that the skater is able to keep his or her body over the supporting skate or employed skater, the faster the skater will go and the safer he or she will be.

Skating occurs when a number of different right foot and left foot pushes are completed in a sequence, maintaining the concept of using each foot as if it were an individual scooter in order to generate the right amount of momentum. The only body movement that is required is a very slight shift of the skater’s weight in order to keep the main weight behind the head, the chest and the hips situated above the skate that is rolling.

Rollerblading or inline skating techniques are not difficult to learn, but it does take some practice to perfect moves like these in order to get the most out of the basic mechanics behind the sport. If you are not roller skating in this manner, then you are probably utilizing more energy than you should need to, making your inline skating inefficient. If you want to get the most out of your inline skating habit, you have to make sure that you are getting the most out of the mechanics behind the use of roller skates. When you perfect the art of the basic momentum and mechanics of inline skating, that is when you can effectively graduate into tricks and other skating endeavors to get the most out of what your skates are capable of.

Photo Credits: vanlaar

Originally posted 2009-09-04 03:33:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Learning How to Duck Dive

duckdiveBefore you can learn how to duck dive, you may need to learn what duck diving is and what it is all about. Any breaking wave that is more than two feet high is going to require that you duck underneath the wave rather than floating right over it, and this is where the duck dive term comes from. Duck diving is not something people really learn how to do when they are first learning how to surf, because most beginning surfers are surfing the smaller waves anyway. In fact, most people that learn how to duck dive do so through necessity because they end up having to tackle a wave that was larger than what they were expecting. Still, it may be a good idea for you to learn how to duck dive before you even learn how to stand up on the board.

This way, when you do encounter a wave that is too large for you to simply float over, you will know what to do rather than having to learn very quickly at the worst possible time through necessity.

As you are padding and approaching an oncoming wave, you should be shooting to have as much speed as you possibly can. Approximately two feet before you make contact with the white water, you need to grab both of the rails, or the side edges of the board, particularly about halfway between the midpoint of the board and the nose, and you should push all of the weight in your upper body onto your hands and your arms until you feel as if the nose of the board is about to go under the water. Now you should point your head down, allowing your body to follow suit.

Once your body has gone just below the surface, the next step in the process is to bend your dominant leg, using the knee of your dominant leg to push the tail of your board under the water. The momentum that you create should be enough for you to be quickly thrust under the wave which is passing quickly over you, only requiring you to be under the water for a short period of time. As the wave begins to pass you overhead, you can let the natural flotation of your board to bring you back up to the surface. Now you should have the necessary skill to paddle yourself to the lineup, or you can paddle up to the next wave and duck dive underneath it as well.

It’s not really a difficult process to learn, but it can go a long way in preparing you for real surfing. Once you know how to duck dive to line yourself up for big waves, you can begin to surf the big ones. Practice this technique until you become comfortable, and then you can go out and tackle the big ones, showing your friends that yes, you really can learn to surf on the internet!

Photo Credits: colmsurf

Originally posted 2009-08-07 05:03:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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