Roller skating has many health benefits but it's also a fun way to get outside and see your neighborhood in an entirely new light. We often hear of skaters getting too discouraged to start skating and we understand. New things can feel challenging and scary but we're here to help! In just 4 easy steps we will walk you through trying on your skates for the first time and how to start rolling around.

First, before you get your skates on you should inspect them to see if anything is loose or potentially broken. Even if they came straight from a box, please try them on and put your weight on them to see if they fit properly. If you bought them from us, check our returns policy so that you can get a different size if needed.

If you need a deeper explanation on how to inspect them, we have a “pre-skate check” video that you can reach below and it’s useful for every time you skate.

We of course recommend wearing protective gear while you’re learning because an injured skater really doesn’t get that far and falling is natural so it’s better to be prepared. A lot of people try skating and then get too quickly discouraged by an injury and we want you to start off safely and comfortably so that you can enjoy it.

Once you have your skates on and laced up comfortably, I want you to start getting onto your feet by first getting your knees bent below you and then putting one foot in front of you to feel the wheels. Play with that if you’ve never skated before and if you want have a friend or a stationary object there to help support you.

You can use that person or object to pull yourself around on skates just to get the feel of the wheels but with all of your weight on them.

This is especially helpful for kids, the hardest part of learning how to skate is just getting used to the physics of wheels so it’s kind of like when you are wearing socks and sliding on hardwood floor, it’s just the displacement in balance that can feel uncomfortable.

Now that you’ve gotten up, I want you to keep your shoulders over your hips, knees bent and head up. This is the best skating posture, your hips will control a lot of your skating and if you are looking too over yourself or hunched over, you’re more likely to spill.

In the upright position, once you’ve found your balance with your knees very bent I want you to point your toes out and pretend like you are skating your feet around a circle and then bringing them back in to point each other.

These are called “bubbles” and they’re super fun but I really like using this trick for beginners because it’s low-risk, you’re not picking your feet up yet and it feels safe but it’s also great for teaching your legs where to go in normal skate strides like *this*

When you’re sick of bubbles and ready to stride I want you to keep this very slow but point one foot forward and the other in that v-shape just like the beginning of the bubble and push your feet out with your body weight over that leading foot but again in an upright position, knees bent. This is skating! If you’re doing this you’re doing it! And if you need to stop you can drag a toe stop behind you.

That’s how I would teach an absolute beginner but please let us know if you want more videos like this or if you have any questions, I can help you in the comments below the video on our YouTube channel.