There is some very important information to go over before you begin to roll. This section includes tying your skates, adjusting your skates, safety equipment, learning to understand your body, falling, sitting, standing up, and posture. We will also go over my favorite off-skates warm-up!

Safety equipment is nothing to be ashamed of. I want you to feel free to wear whatever safety equipment you want to wear and whatever feels right for you.

Did you know that you can adjust your skates to fit your needs? Let’s talk about how to make your skates work for you.

I hate falling with a passion, but it happens sometimes! Let’s talk about how to prevent it and how to handle it when/if it happens.

Skating posture is a real thing! Take a breath, roll your shoulders back, tighten your core, and hold your head up high. Carry that confidence throughout everything you do in life.

Training off-skates is extremely important for overall strength, balance, and endurance. Let’s talk about how to remain rolling safely for a long time.

This is my favorite way to warm up before I put my skates on. I recommend going through this off-skates warm up at least once a week. It gets easier over time.

Roller skates are cute and all while standing still, but let’s learn how to roll. Gaining and maintaining momentum takes balance, concentration, and technique. We will cover all of that as well as stopping, pushing, and cross overs.

One step at a time. Bend your knees, tighten your core, and get ready to roll.

Sure, you can run into a wall to stop, but there are a few other ways to stop your momentum that are a lot safer.

Scissors are great for gaining controlled speed and a great way to get to know your edges.

Whether you want to skate fast or cruise, pushing technique is extremely important. Let’s work on it!

Stationary or rolling, cross overs will teach you how to transfer your weight from one foot to another and can save us from falling over!

This off-skates video focuses on how we put pressure into the ground while getting a great work out!

Our edges are arguably the most important thing in roller skating. If we don’t press our edges, we will only roll in a straight line! We will go over what our edges are and why they are so important, breaking them down into our outer and inner forward edges. We will also go over a few very important skills that use our edges: forward cross pulls, the two foot spin, and pivots.

It’s pretty difficult to confidently press an outer back edge if you don’t know what that is. Let’s go over what our edges are and what we can do with them.

We use our outer forward edges in so many skills. We’ll start out shallow and learn where to put our weight and build up to pressing deep edges using our freeleg to help balance.

Shallow or deep, learning to press your inside edges is a necessity in skating.

Cross pulls help us to gain speed around corners with ease. We will learn how to push with both feet when crossing over.

A two foot spin is done with all wheels on the ground. One foot skates an inner back edge while the other skates an inner forward edge. We’ll take one foot at a time and build up to spinning one to two rotations.

Toe pivots are best done with one toe stop on the ground and the other rolling on an inner edge. We will go over how to do them forward and backward!

In this video we will build very specific strength to help our inner edges and balance. You’ll want to have skates on for this one!

Backward skating can be one of the most daunting, fun, and rewarding skills on roller skates all at the same time. We are going to learn how to skate backwards comfortably, control our edges, and gain speed. In order to rotate from forward skating to backward skating, we will also learn how to safely transition with heel to heel transitions.

Let’s work on transferring our weight little by little to begin skating backward. Make sure your practice area is clean and free of debris.

Switching from inner to outer edges in scissors allows us to gain speed in a controlled manner. So, whether you want to go slow or go super fast, scissors are the way to go.

Backward cross pulls are most commonly used to get around corners, enter jumps, and enter spins. We will go over how to maximize your efforts to get the most out of each step.

This heel to heel transition is the most commonly used and we’ll go over a few ways to do it in whatever style you want.

Let’s talk about how to get from backward to forward in the safest and cleanest manner. This transition can be done very quickly and sharp or drawn out in an artistic manner.

Have you ever heard the term, “fake it till you make it”? That works for a while, but eventually, you have to believe it. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will? You have to become your biggest cheerleader. And why not? You deserve it! We’re going to talk about mental health, strength, and stability as well as ways to continuously encourage yourself. Keep that head held high!

Confidence can grow over time. We will talk about how to harness those positive thoughts and use them not only in skating, but in everyday life as well.

Listening to your body is one of the biggest lessons we can learn. We’ll talk about how often you should practice and what you can do to maximize your efforts on skates.

No matter what type of skating you want to focus on, controlling your movement is a necessity. Skates are heavy and our limbs want to do their own thing, but you are strong enough to take control of your movement. We will go over outer edge swings, the 3-turn, the dribble, edge rockovers, and the spread eagle/ ina bauer.

Swings are a combination of pushing, edging, core stability, and freeleg control. Let’s go over all of it.

Our first one foot turn! Similar to a heel to heel transition, you can do this a few different ways and we’ll learn all of them.

This fun skill will teach you how to transfer your weight from one foot to the other while maintaining control with your inner thighs. Let’s have some fun!

Switching over from an outer edge to an inner edge requires attention to the foot as well as the entire body to make your edges flow. We’ll work out how to do this nice and easy as well as with big, swooping edges.

The spread eagle is done on two inner edges. Let’s work on how to get into that comfortably and transform it into an ina bauer with beautiful body positions.

Jumps and spins may not be everyones’ favorites, but they are skills that I believe everyone should know. I, for example, truly prefer my feet on the ground 100% of the time, so jumping is not my favorite; however, you never know when hopping over something may be your best/ safest/ only option. It happens! These are the essential jumps and spins that I recommend learning.

The bunny hop is a small jump that will teach you how to jump to and from your toe stops. We will work on how to keep your ankle still and your entire body engaged.

Let’s learn how to jump off of our wheels and land with ease. This is a full body workout and takes a lot of concentration. Let’s do it!

This is a half rotation jump that allows you to truly choose how big or small you want to jump. We will work on going from a step around to the technique you’ll need to know for any jump you want to learn in the future.

This half rotation requires one toe stop to jump off of and another to land on. We’ll work on making this a small hop as well as future techniques to make this a single rotation jump when you’re ready.

This half rotation jump takes off of the toe stop and comes down on the same toe stop before rolling out and exiting. It’s a super fun way to turn around and gains great control over all parts of the body.

If you want to get multiple rotations while on two feet, this spin will be your best friend! We will work on how to lightly go to the heel and toe and how to make sure your spin continues rotating for as long as you want to.

Spinning on one foot requires a solid edge and commitment from every part of your body. Let’s work on each step and build to connecting it into a beautiful spin!

This spin can be used in so many different ways. We will simplify it to make sure you can use it in any way that you want.

Now it’s time to find your style, your rhythm, and your flow. Our differences make us beautiful and unique. These skills require all of the technique you’ve learned so far with your own spice thrown in. Have fun with these and take some time to get lost in your movement. Put on some headphones, turn on a song you love, and move!

This simple dance move teaches how to move one part of your foot at a time while getting to know your body’s natural movement. From here, you can build your movement to represent whatever flow and vibe you want.

This movement can be a stand-alone skill or used as a transition into your next skill. Let’s learn how to create timing within your body and create momentum from a standstill.

This is the number one skill that I recommend learning for your next skate adventure, especially if you want to go into the center of the skating rink and vibe! It’s great for all skill levels and is done by everyone.

It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner skater or a world champion, this skill is…crazy. We will break it down from the very beginning steps and work our way into a flowy movement.

The c-step uses inner back edges to draw a “c” on the ground. This fun skill uses a small space and can be broken down into a simple rotation.

This fun skill will work on getting your weight fully onto one foot and then the other with some sass thrown in there too if you’d like!

This legendary move is a whole lot easier on wheels than it is on feet. We’ll work on how to continue this fluid movement from your feet all the way up to your shoulders.

I want to take a moment to tell you how proud I am of you. You have invested so much into learning something new, practicing, and getting to know your body through movement. That takes a lot of guts, confidence, and hard work. I am proud of you and I hope you are proud of yourself. In this last section we will talk about how to continue practicing, taking care of ourselves, and enjoying the journey.

Practice is different for everyone. We will talk about how to continue to listen to your body and provide it with the care that it needs.

Let’s talk about the ways that you can help your body prepare for skating and recover. We will discuss ways to set yourself up for an even better practice session next time.

Skating requires a lot from your body as well as your mind. Let’s talk about how to maintain a strong mind and carry these lessons throughout everything we do in life.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. I am so grateful that you have spent this time with me and more importantly with yourself. Let’s continue to grow our skills, confidence, and joy on skates!