Learning to skate

[Ragnarohk]

So I bought some inline skates last week. I've only used them for around 3 hours total and im able to skate in a straight line

My current issue is that I can't brake and stop. There's this wierd method were you spread your legs and it awkwardly works to an extent, however I can't do the "T" stop where one of the skates is placed horizontally to sweep and function as the brake.

I've watched various Youtube videos and I can't seem to be able to copy the exact maneuver. I know that 3 hours ins't that much, but in order to keep advancing I have to learn how to stop.

My goal isn't to do cool tricks and skate for recreation. I want to use the skates to commute to my job, so eventually i'll have to get used to skating in an urban environment with pedestrians and everything, but I still have a long way to go.

Any tips?

[eschatological]

A t-stop on inline skates is gonna be hard. It works on ice skates because it digs into the ice and causes massive friction. That's why most inline skates have actual spurs/stops put on them to lean back on to cause the same friction effect. Beginners' ice skates have a similar ridge at the toe of the blade.

If you really want to do a t-stop on inline skates, you need to really dig into the ground and brace your leg. I'd recommend against it, though, tbh.

A beginner's skate method of stopping is to form an inverted V, so that your skates come close together and eventually slow down. It can be harder to balance in that stance, but because you slow down considerably it's something that's taught to young skaters.

[StillMcfuu]

So I bought some inline skates last week. I've only used them for around 3 hours total and im able to skate in a straight line

My current issue is that I can't brake and stop. There's this wierd method were you spread your legs and it awkwardly works to an extent, however I can't do the "T" stop where one of the skates is placed horizontally to sweep and function as the brake.

I've watched various Youtube videos and I can't seem to be able to copy the exact maneuver. I know that 3 hours ins't that much, but in order to keep advancing I have to learn how to stop.

My goal isn't to do cool tricks and skate for recreation. I want to use the skates to commute to my job, so eventually i'll have to get used to skating in an urban environment with pedestrians and everything, but I still have a long way to go.

Any tips?

I'm really not trying to be a negative nancy here or rain on your parade... But this is a terrible idea. You will either get smashed by a car or you are going to take a bad fall or even worse hurt someone else. Just buy a bike or if you are city dwelling they sell those collapsible scooters that are high quality and don't have a steep learning curve. I work in and around NYC and I've only known maybe 3 or 4 people who rollerblade/skate to work and they are all highly, highly skilled.

This is coming from someone who rides a motorcycle, used to street ride BMX, raced BMX professionally. I know how to skate and I wouldn't go anywhere on skates. I know a ton of people who skate at high levels and they rarely skated anywhere, they would literally ride bikes to places to put on their skates to skate.
This is with all respect to you, but its a real bad idea.

More on topic if you continue to learn to skate (because it's fun in safe areas); there are main takeaways of T stopping. You may not realize it, but the leg you are dragging is going to feel more like you are crossing behind your front foot, vs just being placed behind. Basically if you are dragging your right leg, your right ankle will be to the left of your left ankle. Not some outrageous cross, but it will be a couple of inches. The other trick is weight balance. More weight forward, less speed will be scrubbed, more weight back, more slowing but you'll be more unbalanced. You generally want to have like 65%/35% front to back. The foot drag isn't going to slow you down quickly, the only real way to do that is heel braking (or like 2 foot jump slide like you see in skiing). Heel braking (i think that's it's name) which is the T stop, but you have your T out in front of you and you reverse your l part of your feet.

[Witchblade77]

I'm really not trying to be a negative nancy here or rain on your parade... But this is a terrible idea. You will either get smashed by a car or you are going to take a bad fall or even worse hurt someone else. Just buy a bike or if you are city dwelling they sell those collapsible scooters that are high quality and don't have a steep learning curve. I work in and around NYC and I've only known maybe 3 or 4 people who rollerblade/skate to work and they are all highly, highly skilled.

This is coming from someone who rides a motorcycle, used to street ride BMX, raced BMX professionally. I know how to skate and I wouldn't go anywhere on skates. I know a ton of people who skate at high levels and they rarely skated anywhere, they would literally ride bikes to places to put on their skates to skate.
This is with all respect to you, but its a real bad idea.

More on topic if you continue to learn to skate (because it's fun in safe areas); there are main takeaways of T stopping. You may not realize it, but the leg you are dragging is going to feel more like you are crossing behind your front foot, vs just being placed behind. Basically if you are dragging your right leg, your right ankle will be to the left of your left ankle. Not some outrageous cross, but it will be a couple of inches. The other trick is weight balance. More weight forward, less speed will be scrubbed, more weight back, more slowing but you'll be more unbalanced. You generally want to have like 65%/35% front to back. The foot drag isn't going to slow you down quickly, the only real way to do that is heel braking (or like 2 foot jump slide like you see in skiing). Heel braking (i think that's it's name) which is the T stop, but you have your T out in front of you and you reverse your l part of your feet.

maybe things changed. I haven't lived in NYC in over a decade. but way WAY back when I used to live in Brooklyn, its EXACTLY what I did. I commuted to work on skates, because back then I could not afford a bus without sacrificing elsewhere. they were cheap K-mart skates too and I wasn't even remotely extremely skilled. I was passable enough to skate and break reasonably, but not much else. never fell. never got hit by a car. I did use pedestrian pavement whenever possible (my job didn't start till 11 am, so by then - morning rush was long done, and that definitely helped)

but the point is, YES it can be done and you don't need to be super awesome. cause.. i did it. for a while.

P.S. I used heel breaking with one of those stumpy things on the back of the skates.

[StillMcfuu]

maybe things changed. I haven't lived in NYC in over a decade. but way WAY back when I used to live in Brooklyn, its EXACTLY what I did. I commuted to work on skates, because back then I could not afford a bus without sacrificing elsewhere. they were cheap K-mart skates too and I wasn't even remotely extremely skilled. I was passable enough to skate and break reasonably, but not much else. never fell. never got hit by a car. I did use pedestrian pavement whenever possible (my job didn't start till 11 am, so by then - morning rush was long done, and that definitely helped)

but the point is, YES it can be done and you don't need to be super awesome. cause.. i did it. for a while.

P.S. I used heel breaking with one of those stumpy things on the back of the skates.

Clearly it can be done, because people have done it.

Just because Buzz Aldrin retired after a career of being an astronaut doesn't mean it's "safe".

The point is skating is incredibly unnatural to a human, there is no safety net, no jumping off so to say. And OP just wants to learn to skate now... if it were the 90s and there really weren't other options other than a full on bike. But it's not there are foldable scooters, foldable electric scooters, foldable bikes, etc... there are better options.

[Witchblade77]

Clearly it can be done, because people have done it.

Just because Buzz Aldrin retired after a career of being an astronaut doesn't mean it's "safe".

The point is skating is incredibly unnatural to a human, there is no safety net, no jumping off so to say. And OP just wants to learn to skate now... if it were the 90s and there really weren't other options other than a full on bike. But it's not there are foldable scooters, foldable electric scooters, foldable bikes, etc... there are better options.

did you just... compare skating to going into space? biking is more dangerous then skating, TBH. at least skating is a more or less natural motion, biking is not even close. moreover - skating can be 1. cheaper 2. does not require thinking about where are you going to leave your bike while at work (I currently bike to places and securing my bike is a BFD) 3. still a decent exercise 4. if you hit an area you cannot skate over - and its a sort of addendum to point two - much easier to just take off your skates, put on your shoes and walk or take public transit. bikes, even foldable bikes are far FAR more cumbersome. honestly, if i didn't already have a bike and as such felt like I should get a use of it - I'd just buy a pair of skates and use those instead.