5 ways to stop on Roller Skates every time!

If you've ever gone to stop on roller skates and it just doesn't work or you panic and forget what to do, chances are it's not that you don't know how to stop, it's that in the moment you're not sure which one to use. So in this video I'm going to show you five easy ways to stop on your roller skates and more importantly when to use each one so you feel in control every time you need to Hey I'm Tracy from Sons Out Skates Out and I teach adults how to roller skate with confidence both in person and online and there is something that I see all the time with my students, they learn a few different stops but when they actually need to use one they freeze up or they pick the wrong one for the situation. Now the reason I teach multiple ways to stop is because there's no one stop that works in every situation. Sometimes you're going slow, sometimes you've picked up a bit more speed and sometimes you've left it a little too late to stop and each of those need something slightly different. So when you know a few different options you're not guessing in the moment, you're just going to feel more comfortable in which stop to do. Alright let's start with your main control stop, the plow stop. This is the first way to stop when you're learning especially if you're a complete beginner. This is your go-to stop when you're rolling along starting to pick up a bit of speed but you still are in control. You're not in a panic mode and this is the one you want to do nice and early, not when it's too late. So you're going to be skating along, you're going to bend your knees, let your skates come out, push those knees out, bring those knees in, bending down and pushing into the skates using a slight inside edge. We need nice soft knees as we stop and the skates are finishing in a loose triangle. This one isn't great for high speeds because if you leave it too late and you try and stop too quickly you're going to go over the top of your skates. So this one really is about going nice and slow, gradually slowing down and preparing for the stop. A really common mistake that I see with the plow stop is that people either stay too upright or they try and really force their toes together. Now if you leave it a little too late or you need something that's a bit stronger for stopping then this is where the next one comes in and that's a toe stop. This is usually the next stop that people learn after the plow stop and it gives you a little bit more stopping power. This one you want to use when you've picked up a bit more speed or the plow stop isn't quite enough to slow you down. You're still in control but you need something to bring you to a quicker stop. So what you're going to do is roll, bring those skates into a staggered stance, drop that toe stop at a 45 degree angle as you put the weight into the front skate. So with this one you need to think of it as a light tap and then drag. What I see a lot of the time is skaters really put all that weight into that toe stop and it almost anchors them down and they end up doing a forward lunge. So the toe stop isn't getting pressed into the ground really hard, it's just a light drag and the more that you bend into it the more that that toe stop will slow you down a bit quicker. Now this toe stop does require a little bit of balance so it feels tricky at first but you can even practice this one off skates by doing a forward lunge and just gently having that back toe stop balancing you. Now if you want something even stronger to stop and you're comfortable with skating backwards that's where this next one will help. It's a backward toe stop. This is such a stronger stop again and a really good one to start building on once you've gotten a little bit more comfortable on your skates. This is the one you want to use when you've got a bit more speed to bring you to a quicker stop. I like to say it's like ripping up the handbrake but it does only work when you're moving backwards. This one is still for beginners too because if you've just started skating backwards or if you spin out of control by accident and you find yourself backwards this is definitely one that you can use. So you're going to be skating backwards need to stop we're lunging popping that toe stop down gently. So it's a lunge position so if you can practice this on skates putting that toe stop down the weight goes into that forward leg. This is exactly what you're doing backwards. So that back toe stop is the brake and it's sliding you to a stop. So the lower the lunge the more pressure goes into the toe stop the quicker the stop. So you'll see I can stop quite slowly doing this one. If I just press into the toe stop a little bit brings me to a slow drag versus if I have a bit more speed and I want to stop quicker I bend press into the toe stop heavier and you can see there it brings me to a quicker stop. A lot of the time when I see people do a backward toe stop they lean forward because they're too scared of going back but that is throwing your weight off there's more chance of falling forwards. So when we're doing the backward toe stop we just want to keep the posture nice and tall we're staying centered over our skates like that. Okay so don't lean too far forward when you stop and definitely don't lean backward when you stop. So the next one is a one foot plow stop. This is a more controlled version of your plow stop. This is the one you want to use when you don't have space to push both skates out into a full plow stop. Maybe you're on a narrow path or there are lots of people around and you can't take up as much room as what you're used to. So instead of using both feet you can just use one to slow yourself down. So what you're going to do is skate along the weight's going to go into the skate that's staying on the ground we're bending and the other skate is coming out and around bending down finishing in that triangle stance but just with one skate this time. So it's exactly the same as a plow stop except we're just using one skate. Okay so you don't want to be using this when you've got a lot of speed just remember we want this one to be nice and controlled and not forced. We never want the skates to touch either and just like your normal plow stop this one isn't designed for higher speeds so use this one while you're still in control and you need to slowly slow down and you've got minimal space to do it. All right and then for the last stopping skill if everything feels like it's getting a bit too fast or you just need to quickly stop safely this last one is the one that I want you to remember. Let's think of this as the emergency stop the run out stop this is the one that's going to save you when everything else hasn't worked. So you want to use this one for when you've picked up too much speed when you've left it too late or nothing else is working. Instead of panicking this is what you can do if you're near grass or even carpet you're going to roll onto it and let it slow you down and take small quick steps. This is called a rollout stop you're going to make sure that the knees are soft you're going to bend go into a staggered stance roll onto the grass you might need to do a little bit of a run it's a bit of a run out and take some little steps. If you have smooth carpet nearby you'll definitely be able to roll onto the carpet without taking those steps otherwise if I don't do those little steps I might find myself going over the top of my skates like that okay especially if you've got a bit more speed so just be prepared to do a little bit of a run out on your skates you don't have to stop perfectly every time sometimes the safest option is just getting yourself to stop however you can and this is exactly why knowing a few different ways to stop really matters because not every situation is the same and once you know which one to use stopping will stop feeling so scary for you and if you're still feeling a bit unsure on your skates or you're still fairly new I've got a free beginner workshop where I walk you through the same three-step approach that I teach all of my students in person and online to build confidence and control as fast as possible. If you're interested I'll pop the link in the description down below I hope this video has helped you with your stopping feel free to like and subscribe and I will see you in the next video