Tag: How To Inline Skate (Page 10 of 10)

STICK + PUCK = FUN
from How To Inline Skate on 19 Jan 2017

Thank you all for your support!!!

Can I Skate with DULL BLADES?
from How To Inline Skate on 18 Jan 2017

My blades are dull. I haven’t sharpened them in a very long time. On the lake where I usually skate that’s no big deal. But let’s see how it goes on this indoor ice rink.

**Ice Matters … a lot
I’m here on fresh ice. A good indoor ice requires much sharper skates than a snowy outdoor ice. I’ve been skating on a lake lately, and there the dull skates are okay.

**Find that edge!
Getting a grip is a constant challenge. I always push on my toe balls to dig the front of the blade into the ice. It works. You can even hear the skates gripping, but it’s a constant struggle.

**Short Strides
I keep the strides very short. If I stretch too far and lose grip … I could get injured. Better safe than sorry.

**Quick Crossovers
Same thing when turning. Short strides. And always push down on the toe to ensure grip.

**Transitions are Easy
Since no grip is needed when transitioning, they are pretty much the same. Actually, maybe it’s easier with dull blades.

**Stops are Easy
The same with stops. Dull blades slide whether you want to or not, so naturally the hockey stop is easier. Or .. the hockey SLIDE .. I would say. I keep sliding and sliding since there’s no grip.

**Better grip after 30 min
As the ice wears down the grip impproves a lot. After around 30 minutes I noticed a much better grip.

Finally I’d like to add that skating with dull blades is NOT recommended. You may injure yourself by stretching you groin or hurt others by falling. If you play hockey it’s essential to have good grip.

*** Hockey requires grip
Here I’m on the lake, and even here – although the ice isn’t that good – I lose grip because the blades are dull.

How often to sharpen skates, I don’t know. I read online someone says every 5-10 hours but personally I just feel it when they need sharpening.

The reason I this time did not keep my blades sharp, is that I’ve been on a lake for the last weeks. Nature is great but there are no sharpening machines out there. And when I went to the ice rink, the sharpening guy was out for lunch.

***

I made a few rollerblade videos in rain, on snow, and so on. I experienced pretty much the same thing there. To grip I need short strides and weight on toes. I will show some of these clips now.

Top Five TRANSITIONS Forward to Backward on Ice
from How To Inline Skate on 16 Jan 2017

Hockey Transitions Playlist:

***

In this video I’ll show my five favorite transitions.

#5 Drag Spin
On the fifth place comes the drag spin. Drag one skate behind to trigger a 180 degree spin. I use this one a lot on inline skates but not that much on ice. Though for beginners it’s a good first transition to learn.

#4 180 Jump
A jump is not that efficient but sometimes there’s a stick or whatever that you have to jump over.

#3 Toe Pivot
This one is actually the 180 jump except you don’t fully jump. When you turn clockwise the front of the right blade scratches the ice, and when you turn counter clockwise it’s the left blade that never leaves the ice. Since you don’t fully jump it’s both faster and more efficient. I use this one a lot both on ice and with rollerblades.

#2 Break Transition
Begin a hockey stop and let it continue into a transition. It’s maybe not the best choice when continuing in the same direction, as here … but it’s very useful when you want to return to where you came from. For hockey defense players this one is essential.

#1 Mohawak (Heel to Heel)
The mohawk is the most efficient transition. It’s not very difficult from a technical point of view, but it does require very flexible hips. If you can open your hips to a full 180, then you can do this while going in a straight line.

This is what happens if you’re not flexible enough.

Although I struggle with the mohawk transition going straight, I do use it a lot while turning. Especially going from backward to forward while turning I use it a lot.

Here going in a circle, while constantly facing the camera, I prefer a pivot transition going forward to backward, and a mohawk going from backward to forward.

All of these transitions should be learned both ways. Because remember: The number one rule of hockey is; never turn your back to the play!

***

I made a playlist of transition tutorials. There are lots of details I left out, or well, don’t do perfectly. So I hope you found my video a good starting point to explore transitions more and that the playlist is a natural next step. If you don’t see the playlist on screen, click the link in the description.

I plan to make a similar video for inline skating transitions. It will be up in a few months when the snow has melted and I’m back on wheels.

Hockey SLAPSHOT – 4 Mistakes Reviewed
from How To Inline Skate on 13 Jan 2017

Slapshot Playlist
– https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYy1V52-ztnp4GG76G4EuZSWEF3Po_wzH

***

Lately I’ve been practicing the slapshot. Sometimes I feel I do quite well, like here, but just as often I fail miserably.

So in this video I’ll share my mistakes, try to analyze what I do wrong. But I also encourage, you, the viewer to comment below.

At the end of the video I link to a playlist of slapshot tutorials. So if you’re not intersted in my mistakes, go right to the end or click the link in the description below.

1. No Flex
So this was my very first shot. As you can see, it’s not very hard at all. It does get some air, and it does go pretty much in a straight line, so that I’m happy with. But the lack of speed has one very simple explaination.

Here the stick hits the puck. The correct way is to hit the ice so the stick flexes, builds up stored energy and then releases. Much like how a bow and arrow works.

Here I do it better … see how much the stick bends.

2. No Tape
Okay, this is one is silly. But please just tape the blade alright. I did not and it cracked. Thankfully, it didn’t break but it was a great warning of what will happen if you don’t tape it.

I can add that my stick is the very cheapest wooden stick you can find. I picked it up at the discount store between light bulbs and toilet seats for around 10 euros. Still, I guess a more expensive stick needs tape too, if only for better grip.

3. Aiming high
I was very surprised when I watched this footage. Look, the puck flips on the blade and I had no idea it did that. What I do know, is that my focus was too much on lifting the puck.

As a matter of fact, I do believe you shall always try to aim low. If you do a proper slapshot, the puck will gain air anyway.

But again, what is you experience? What are your thoughts?

4. Looking at the puck
So here’s my second day practicing. My shots are a lot better now, half of them are decent … but the other half are … well … just terrible. And I’m pretty sure I know the reason. When I look at the puck, the shots are bad. When I look where I’m aiming the shots are good.

Of course, there’s sort of a catch here. Because if I don’t look at the puck then … I may not hit the puck in the first place. So I believe to clue is to look where you aim. You can look at the puck while you prepare the shot but when you release that’s when you must look where you aim.

***

Finally I’ll add that I used to play hockey but that’s many years ago. So for me it’s more about relearning what I once knew. If you are new to hockey I guess the slapshot is one of the more difficult things to learn.

YouTube has lots of helpful tutorials, and I made a playlist which you likely see on screen right now. If you don’t, there’s a link in the description.

You may also wanna watch my video about how I relearned the hockey stop. As with the slapshot, it was quite frustrating at first but it soon came back to me, just like that it just clicked, and that’s a very satisfying feeling.

As always, thank you for watching and subscribe for updates.

Six Jump Exercises (180, 360, High, Far, Etc..)
from How To Inline Skate on 9 Jan 2017

* Freestyle Ice Skating: 180, 360, 540 Tutorial
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRgD9-KI87Q

* Ice Skating: Long Jump Contest
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mncOHDNe9E

***
Six Jump Exercises (180°, 360°, High, Far, Etc..)

In this video I’ll present six differen jump exercies. I do them here with ice hockey skates on a frozen lake but on rollerblades they work just as well.

1) 180 Degrees

Try to do it both ways. Clockwise and counter clockwise.

2) Backward 180 Degrees

Backward is a little bit more difficult. Both in terms of balance and timing.

3) 360 Degrees

Hmmp … I’m still working on this one. See a link to a proper tutorial in the description below.

4) One-leg

As with the 180, try to do it both ways. You should be able jump with your right leg and with your left leg.

5) High Jump

Six soda cans amount to 70 centimeters, and I’m happy I managed to jump over these so easily. I’d like to try even higher but they keep blowing over. These are empty cans with some stones and melted wax inside to add weight. Obviously more weight is needed to prevent them from blowing over. Next time I will fill them with water and that shall do the trick.

6) Long Jump

Technically, the long jump is similar to the high jump. Jump straight up. The higher you jump the longer you’re airborne, and the the higher the speed, the further you’ll travel before you hit the ice.

Sad to say, I failed to jump 3 meters. Be aware that landing on a t-shirt, like I do here, may cause you to slip, so you may think of a better way.

My longest jump was a meager 2.5 meters. In the description below I link to a video where some excellent freestyle ice skaters jump twice as far as I do.

But I’m optimistic. I will improve, and I think working on my sprint is the way to go. As my speed increases I will be able to jump at least 3, or hopefully 4, meters.

If you have tips to other jump exercises, or how to improve these that you just watched , then please let us know in the comments.