Learning to stop with a heel brake is relatively easy
when you're shown how to do it properly, and most people should be able to stop
confidently within a couple of weeks with sufficient practice.
Unfortunately if there's no-one to show you how, learning this simple stop can
be quite difficult as the technique isn't intuitive. It's all about
technique and not about strength.
You'll find that being able to stop quickly and
confidently will do wonders for your enjoyment of skating. Not being able
to stop when you urgently need to can be one of the more terrifying experiences
for a skater. If you're a new
skater don't listen to skaters who will tell you that you don't need the
heel brake. Sure, you don't need the heel brake to be able to stop, but
it's by far the easiest and most powerful way to stop on inline skates.
All the other stops are much more difficult, and often less effective. Like some skaters, you may eventually choose to
discard your heel brake, and there are some very good reasons to do this, but that
discussion is for another article (entitled
"The Heel brake - use it or loose it?").
Before you start.
If you're wanting to learn how to stop, it's probably
quite likely that you're a newer skater, so I'd advise you to get proper
instruction from a certified instructor. Learning with an instructor tends
to make learning much easier, and will help to boost your confidence more
quickly. You can check the learn to rollerblade page if you live in London for more help from a qualified instructor.
Next, be sure to wear all the recommended protective
gear. Falling on tarmac hurts! Find a smooth flat and quiet area on which to
practice. This will make it easier to learn in peace. The heel brake
should be done in a straight line, so a good tip is to chalk a line marking on
the road surface and do each of the steps while gliding along next to this line.
Step 1 - Ready position
This is a basic position, and is used as the starting
point for many other skating manoeuvres. Skate along at a comfortable, but
not slow, speed, and then:
Keep your skates a hand's width (or slightly less)
apart and parallel to each other.
Bend your knees so that they are vertically above your toes - you
shouldn't be able see your toes as they should be covered by your knee pads.
Keep an equal amount of weight on both legs.
Hold your arms out in front of you, spread wide.
Step 1 - the ready position from the
front. Note how the skates are shoulder width, or slightly less, apart.
The skates are also on a very slight outside edge.
Step 1 - the ready position from the side. Note
the knee bend - keep your knees over your toes, and your back straight and
upright.
Step 2 - Scissor
Another basic position used throughout skating, and
critical to the success of your heel brake stop.
Ease your brake skate forward and the other skate a little back. This would
usually be your right skate, but some skates have a heel brake on both sides, or
on the left as some people prefer to brake with their left foot.
Your front skate should be only slightly in front of
your rear skate, showing a small gap when viewed from the side. The gap
will never be big, but taller people need a larger gap than shorter people
purely due to geometry.
Keep most of your weight on the rear leg. When
you're practicing you can check this by trying to tap the toe wheel of your
front skate on the ground. If you can't tap it easily you've probably got
too much weight on the front leg.
Don't lift the toe at this stage. It's more
important to get the scissor stable and under control.
The side-side separation between your skates should remain narrow, perhaps
one hand's breadth.
Step 3 - Slide
Prepare to brake by lifting the toe of your front
skate, but you're not actually going to brake just yet.
The aim is to get the brake brushing the ground, but
softly enough that only a little braking friction is generated.
Be sure to keep your feet pointed straight ahead, your
knees bent, and your back straight. Your scissor needs to be as perfect
now as it was in the earlier step.
You'll need to use a little force to hold your left skate back to
prevent it from overtaking your right skate.
Once you're stopped and are motionless, try to stay balanced in the
stopping position for 2 seconds. This is the acid test of how good
your balance and control is.
Don't use your toes to lift the toe of your skate.
It's hard to bend your skate at the cuff, and you'll find it much easier to drop
your hips slightly and push your brake foot down and forwards to bring the brake down
onto the road surface. That way you'll be keeping the skate boot and cuff
at the same angle relative to each other, and not using your relatively weak
shin muscles to lift the skate toe.
Step 4 - Sit
Sit down gently by further bending your rear leg and pulling back on it to
slightly increase the length of your scissor.
I once heard an American instructor describe this motion by telling a student to
pretend he/she was about to sit on an imaginary toilet. Pretty funny, but
also a very apt way to describe this.
Do this gently and slowly the first few times else you
may be surprised at how powerfully your brake engages!
The effect of sitting down will be to smoothly engage
your heel brake, which will quickly slow you down.
Ease on the sitting down motion until you're stopping
quickly, and then maintain that position until you've come to a complete halt.
Only then step out of the braking position and you'll have made a successful heel brake stop.
Remember that your brake needs to have quite a lot of
force applied to it to generate enough friction to stop you. That's why
these four steps are used to ensure that you easily generate enough stopping
power with your weight, and that it all happens balanced and under control using correct
technique.
Think of squashing a bug under your healbrake.
Be sure you keep your front foot in the same position
relative to your rear foot and body. Don't let it slip backwards under the
braking pressure, but equally don't let it go forwards.
Be sure to keep your feet pointing in the same
direction.
You should do the entire stop in a straight line.
Once you're good at the stop, you'll find it possible and easy to stop while
turning or on rough surfaces, but leave those for now.
Remember that your body should stay mostly upright.
You're going to have to lean slightly to perform this step, but your back should
be as straight and as upright as possible.
Once you're stopped and are motionless, try to stay balanced in the
stopping position for 2 seconds. This is the acid test of how good
your balance and control is.
This step is the only one that will actually stop you - all the previous steps are preparatory moves.
Step 4 - Brake. This is done by sitting down and thus
putting pressure into the heal brake.
Putting it all together
Be sure to start out doing each step slowly, carefully, and CORRECTLY.
This is the only way to ensure that your muscles and nerves learn the correct
movements properly. Unlearning the wrong movements takes much longer
than making sure you have them right in the first place. Speed and
stopping power will come later, as you gain confidence and familiarity.
Mentally think of Step 1: ready position, Step 2: scissor, Step 3: engage
brake, and Step 4: sit down each time you go
through the stopping process. After you've done a lot of stops over a
few weeks you should find that the whole process comes much more naturally.
Practice the stop every time you go out skating.
Step 1: Ready position
Step 2: Scissor
Step 3: Slide
Step 4: Sit down
Once you have the stop down pat, try the following more advanced steps:
Smooth out the transitions between each step, and do them a little more quickly. Don't skip any though, else it's likely to go wrong.
Increasing the braking force by sitting down more quickly on step 4, and
eventually by shoving your front foot down and forwards into the ground.
Remember it's much more effective and easier to use your weight to push the
brake into the ground rather than your calf and thigh muscles.
Together with this, make a chalk mark on your practice surface and try to
stop before that mark. You'll soon find yourself able to skate faster
and faster, and still be able to stop before the mark.
Try out stopping on some rougher surfaces, such as rough tarmac, paving
slabs, tiles, etc. Be careful about your brake juddering or catching,
but you'll be amazed at how easy it is to stop on these non-ideal surfaces.
See if you can make that brake pad screech and even smoke!
Careful!
I would suggest avoiding situations that require high speeds or involve
hills. It's going to take quite a lot of time and practice to become
competent on the heelbrake stop, and both these situations will quite likely
overwhelm your ability to stop.
Video.
Check out this video of a properly executed heel brake
stop.
There are a bunch of other video clips on the
skating videos page. If you're
pretty confident of your ability, you could always move onto a more advanced
stop such as the one-footed heel brake stop demonstrated on that page.
I'm having difficulty.
Here are some dos and don'ts. If at first you don't succeed, persist
and practice more. Try asking other skaters - most of us just love to help
out, often because it's very rewarding, and all of us have been given lots of
help along the way so like to put something back into the sport. Skating is very much a social activity, so don't be
shy!
Do:
Try engaging your brake as smoothly as possible. You don't need to
do this slowly, but be certain not to apply the brake too fast. With
good knee bend and a firm smooth brake application you should find the
juddering/catching of the brake will reduce or disappear completely.
It's important to keep both skates on parallel lines approximately
a hand's width apart even while applying the brake. Make sure your
skates stay parallel, and are both pointed forwards. You might find you
need to steer your skates to stay on a straight line.
Skate at a medium-comfortable speed. Going too slowly will make braking harder,
not easier. Be sure not to exceed your limits, though!
Don't
Don't stick your backside out or lean forwards during steps 2, 3, and 4.
Make sure your body is in the right position. If you find yourself leaning forwards, chances are your weight is too far back. Correct by pulling your left foot back.
Don't apply and release brake pressure - simply bring the braking pressure
smoothly from zero to the amount you require, and then keep it there.
Don't straighten the knee of your braking (front) foot. Of course
the leg will straighten a little as braking pressure is applied, but the leg
should remain bent during the entire stop.
Lift the toe of your braking skate by pulling up your toes - you may give
yourself pain in your shin muscles otherwise.
As always, skating is a dangerous sport, and you assume all risk when taking
part. It is very likely that you will fall while practicing this,
especially because you're likely to be a newer skater, and no responsibility can be taken by either myself
or LondonSkaters.com for any injuries you get.
Remember that protective gear and supervision by a certified instructor still
doesn't guarantee that you won't get hurt. After all, it is your
choice to learn this move, and if you don't want to assume any risks, then don't
try to learn it. :)
