I always tell people that skating is 90 percent technical. If you have strong legs but weak technique, you’re like a powerful car without wheels. That’s why it’s so important to work on technique. Even after years of training, there are still a few technical challenges I try to work on every time I skate.

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Three Keys of Technique – Joey Mantia – Skate Tip of the Week.

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Imagery is an extremely effective tool for winning races. Though at first blush it may seem foreign or esoteric, all it involves is creating a mental experience that you can use later to your advantage.

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Winning Imagery – Skate Tip of the Week – Skating Skills.

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I’m not sure why but us skaters tend to avoid stretching as strenuously as we avoid potholes. That’s too bad because the added flexibility that comes with stretching is invaluable. Not only can it help us avoid injuries (by making our muscles and joints more limber), but it can help us improve our technique by making our bodies more compliant with those hard to maintain skating positions (e.g.: the low sitting position used when striding.)

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Stretch for Success! – Skate Tip – Inline Skating – Inline Planet – Rollerblading.

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Any skater can learn proper technique and build huge muscles. But success in any sport is only 30 percent physical; the rest is mental. So in your training, be sure to devote some time to the development of a sharp and well-focused mental edge.

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Train Your Brain.

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Have you been doing your wall sits and low walks? If so, you’re ready to move on to the most important part of skating — staying down. In my first tip, you learned how to practice skating on a line while landing on the tops of your wheels (rather than on the inside or outside edges). In my second tip, I outlined two dry land exercises (wall sits and low walks) to help you build leg strength. Now it’s time to combine the drills and skate on a line while maintaining a low position.

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Staying Down – Skate Tip of the Week – Patrick Creveling.

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Now that you can skate on a line, (see my first Skate Tip), you are ready to start perfecting your form. And the best place to begin is with the “down position.” Skating in the down position means keeping your knees bent so your upper and lower legs form an angle approaching 90 degrees. In this position, your entire leg will be involved in your push. And that will make you much faster.

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The Down Position – Skate Tip of the Week – Skate Skills.

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Some skaters are born with an abundance of leg speed, which makes them natural sprinters. Others are not so lucky. But just because you weren’t born a sprinter, doesn’t mean you can’t become one. Specific exercises can increase your leg speed. Here are the best two I have found:

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Get Your Legs Moving – Skate Tip – Inline Skating – Rollerblading.

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Now that you are comfortable on your skates (see Joey Mantia’s tip: “Putting in the Time”), you are ready to start eliminating your inefficiencies. A good place to begin is to learn to land on the top of your wheels, which is an essential skill for future double-pushers.

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Don’t Let the Wrong Edges Slow You Down – Skate Tip of the Week.

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Want to improve your skating? First, make sure you are fully comfortable on your skates. How? By simply putting in time on your skates, whether it be at public sessions, strolls around the neighborhood, or local practices.

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Putting in the Time – Skate Tip of the Week – Joey Mantia.

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No matter where you are in this sport — beginner or advanced, speed skater or freestyler — working on your technique will yield huge dividends. There’s no shortage of technical advice out there, but how do you practice all those picky little things without driving yourself insane? The key is breaking skills into logical progressions of steps, starting with the most basic and adding difficulty one item at a time.

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How to Practice | Skate Tip of the Week | Inline Planet.

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