One of the things that I see a lot of in Miami Beach is people on rollerblades, not to mention skate boards, bicycles and any other type of wheels you can imagine...  But it's the rollerbladers that catch my eye because most of them struggle dangerously through the crowds walking on the sidewalks or Lincoln Road.  The common problem that they all share is a lack of understanding of what one is actually doing when skating or blading, i.e. they confuse the techniques we use to walk with skating.  And for this reason they toggle back and forth from one skate to another as if they are 'walking on wheels'.  They move forward because of this motion, but they are hardly skating and have zero control of themselves or where they are going.

Over the years I've taught many people the four simple - but critical - rules to skating.  It takes 60 seconds to learn how to skate like a pro - on ice or on land. However, hearing these rules and putting them into action depend upon how well the person I am teaching can grasp the logic - eventually everyone of them gets it. So you can too.

Rule #1 Learn to shift all of your weight from one leg to the other - not 50% of your weight on one leg and 50% on the other as most beginners and novices do - all of your weight must move over from one leg to the other.  We call that the 'standing leg'. The leg with no weight on it is doing the pushing ('pushing leg').  When you have extended your pushing leg out as far as possible, bring it back in, place it directly under you (becoming the standing leg) and take all your body weight on to it while pushing with the leg that has no weight on it.  THIS MOTION IS THE KEY to skating.  Transferring all of your weight from one standing leg to the other standing leg, as noted above, is what enables you to skate. the pushing leg is the power source.  When you understand this, you will have skating nailed!

Rule #2 Lower your center of gravity.  That means bend your knees and drop your butt lower so that your body assumes a posture that is similar to a speed skater. You shouldn't be so much bent over as more in a running position.  When you lower your center of gravity you have more balance and more control. If you stand straight up your sense of balance diminishes and you will react by waiving your hands in all directions trying to regain your balance every time you hit a bump or small stone.  On the other hand, if your center of gravity is lower your sense of balance is that much stronger and you will feel significantly more in control of yourself when your rollerblades encounter rough roads.  To prove my point watch someone who does not know how to skate and notice that when they hit a bump they react by shooting bolt upright while trying put their feet together as fast as possible (to effectively put 50% of their weight on each skate in an attempt to regain their balance).  What they should be doing when they hit something is bend their knees; lowering your center of gravity will enable you to regain your balance instantly while maintaining all of your weight on one leg (skate).

Rule #3  Forget trying to use the stupid rubber brakes!  Lifting your toes while pushing your heel down to try to manipulate the break is completely foreign to what our bodies do and they give you no control over how quickly you can stop...  Learn to T-stop.  A T-stop is when (with all of your weight on your standing leg) you use your pushing leg to stop by placing it - quite literally - in a 'T' position at the heel of your standing leg, i.e. at 90 degrees to the wheels of your standing leg.  By dragging all of the wheels of your braking leg simultaneously - maintaining the 'T' position - you can come to a complete stop with a natural movement.  More importantly, by applying more weight (pressure) to your braking leg you can stop more rapidly - and you are in absolute control of how quickly you can stop or slow your pace.  It takes practice, and will wear your wheels down somewhat more rapidly, but you will have 100% control of yourself and the speed of your stops - which could safe your life or that of another!

Rule #4 To make a turn, lower your center of gravity when you are crossing one skate over another.  Most people tend to raise up into a bolt upright position when they are trying to execute a turn (like they do as noted above in Rule #3) rather than doing the opposite - correct way - which is to bend your knees and get your butt lower to the ground.  Every time you get lower you gain more control, balance, power, speed...  Even if you find yourself wiping out - and we all do from time to time - you need to immediately bring your body lower.  Watch ice figure skaters and you will notice that when they miss a jump or are just skating and catch an edge - they will immediately bend their legs and bring their butt to the ice.  In this way they reduce the possibility of injury.  So always thinkg about getting lower (not straigthen up) and you will improve your skating skills dramatically.

That's it.

When I tell you this, it takes about 60 seconds.  How long it will take for you to master these four basic rules depends on you.  But, I can tell you that if you really concentrate on these four basic rules you could be skating like a pro in one weekend.

Good luck!