Speed Skating Techniques

Roller blading has been a popular sport in the late 20th century. It is particularly a very entertaining form of exercise since it uses slightly less energy than running to get from one point to another. Speed skating allows people to get from one place to another very quickly mostly relying on short glides and long strides from the skates. Before speed skating, you must first get a good pair of in-line skates.

  1. Bend the Knees

    • Bending the knees will get your body lower, and will make you more aerodynamic. Standing up will just cause more wind resistance and shorten your strides. Try to get as low as possible without losing your balance.

    Center Your Weight

    • Keep your weight as centered as possible. This means keeping the weight of your body away from the toes. You must focus your weight on the strongest parts of your feet: the heel and the instep (the "palm") of your foot. Make sure the wheel on the back of the skate is the last one to leave the ground when you are taking a stride.

    Stride to the Side

    • Striding to the side will give you more power than if you stride as if though you were running. The first time that most people put on a pair of skates and start skating, they often make the mistake of treating the skates as if though they were a pair of feet with wheels. Skates are anything but an addition to your feet. Since they operate on wheels, you need to exert force to the sides to give them more power.

    Stride at an Arc

    • Striding at an arc is the most ideal way to gain a maximized amount of power in your skating experience. You should start at the center and move outward from your body as you make a stride, then tail it off gently and recover back to the same position. While you are recovering from one stride, you should ideally be making another stride with the other skate. When you do this, you have continuity, making you accelerate, or maintain a high speed.

    Long, Slow Strides vs. Short Frequent Strides

    • Ideally, you should take a big and slow stride, rather than a bunch of little frequent ones, when you are already in motion. The long strides keep your wheels spinning on the ground more and take advantage of every bit of force that you have exerted on the skates at the time you made the stride. Short, frequent strides slow you down rather than speed you up. Keeping the wheels on the ground for such short periods of time will impact your speed and not take advantage of the full potential you have, especially as you are moving on a downward slope (downhill, in other words).