Crazydog!!!!

[Renee750il]

Okay, I want to hear more about the blading! It absolutely fascinates me. I even bought a decent pair a couple of years ago (at a skate shop - spent a few $$$ on them - lol) but the friends who promised they would help me learn disappeared into the woodwork, of course. They all thought I was nuts to want to try it - me being all "grown up" and all. I warned them all I wasn't going to participate in their silly getting older agenda but they didn't believe me.

Anyway, I want to hear more about it and would love any advice you can give me on the very basic starting. I'm fine on the balance; I grew up taking ballet and modern dance and roller skated my whole misspent youth, it's just getting that forward motion that has me stymied. I've thought about getting a set of ski poles or something to use to get the hang of it. Blades really are very different from rollerskating. Anyway, I'd like to be able to try it again when the weather gets warmer.

 

[bogolove]

Oh yeah they are very different from skates. I am ok on the whole going forward part. It is the stopping that proves tricky for me. My husband is really good at it though.

LOL! Can you imagine me trying to rollerblade WITH Brady? It sounds like fun for someone with a dog that is good about following directions. Brady likes to think for himself.....who knows where I would end up.

 

[Debi]

Renee, even I rollerblade...and I am an oldie...lol Like bogolove, my stopping isn't always that graceful. We take the truck & car out of the garage and it becomes our practice area. I was amazed cause I have a weak ankle and thought I'd have trouble, but I didn't. We use the garage during the winter, then the park in the summer....the park has fabulous trails for bikes and rollerblading. There was always a gal there last year that had her dog on a leash with her......I'm NEVER gonna be that brave!

 

[Renee750il]

The times I got out by myself I learned in a hurry that I had to wear ankle supports. I sprained both ankles a time or two playing basketball. I may have been the shortest center in the division at 5'8". I hit 5'8" in the fifth grade, then didn't get any taller until I took up serious bodybuilding many years later - and grew 3 inches! Surprise, surprise! All that ballet paid off at center; I was the only girl who could jump up from a standing start and grab the rim. My Mom finally found out why she had handprints on the ceilings when she caught me jumping. She didn't know whether to be mad or amazed, since we had 11 foot ceilings.

I found out from standing around on the blades, though, that those long-ago sprains let my ankles get really, really tired pretty quickly. Shiva and Kharma have been pretty hard on my knees lately, too, running into me. They just don't understand why my knees don't bend the same direction theirs do. Pain. I think I'll try to spend some time in the gym getting my knees a bit tighter and maybe see if I can catch that Tai Chi class I keep missing. Then maybe by the time it's warmer I won't completely destroy myself.

 

[crazydog]

sorry im late but yeah what i do is aggressive inline. its when you have those skates with the grind plates and whatnot and you can grind rails, curbs, whatever crosses your mind. are you talking about aggressive inline or just rollerblading? i just typed a wholllle long thing about aggressive inline and decided to delete it all because i had a feeling you were talking about rollerblading. oh well

well i got 2 blades. the aggro ones and normal rollerblades, just for cruising around. sadly, i grew out of both of them. i got all the basics; forward, backwards, stopping, turning; all down really well.

theres lots of stuff you can do with blades. you can surf stairs with them too. thats when you go up and down stair real quick with them. but heres a suggestion, if youre going to do it goign down stairs then do it backwards. its scary but it is alot, and i mean ALOT, easier and it will save you the bruises, fractures, and whatnot.

if you want to be jumping with them too then youre going to have to work out your abs for them. alot of people work out their calfs when they want to learn to jump high with blades, but thats where they are wrong. your abs are teh muscles that are pulling your blades up. theres alot of easy ways to work your abs. ill just leave that to you.

and as for your calfs, for skating around, i always do this thing to work up my calfs. all you do is stand next to a wall with one of your sides facing the wall. the wall is just for balance. hold onto the wall so you dont fall over. now all you do is lift one leg and with the other leg thats on the ground, just stand on your toes, tippy-toes. then just put your whole bottom part of your foot down on the floor, and repeat. tippy-toe, flat, tippy-toe, flat, and so on. that may be a little confusing, but i tried.

ok enough with all the workouts, haha. theres not much anyone can do to help you. if you know what youre supposed to do then just practice, practice, and practice.

if you have any other questions then ill be more than glad to answer them.

wow this is much longer than i expected and seems like its all useless, but im bored.

 

[Renee750il]

But, Crazydog, at least you're not boring!

Oh, and calf muscles? I've got calf muscles where most people don't even know there are calf muscles. Even up the front of my shins. I suspect it was all those years of ballet and dance, but the bodybuilding didn't hurt, either.

You're right on target about the core muscles. Most people never figure that out. Used to do a couple thousand crunches a day bodybuilding, and about five hundred hanging upside down. But no, I don't have any ambition to do any aggressive skating - I just hate falling and busting my butt, and speed's really my addiction.

You'd have laughed your butt off at me the first time I tried to get those blades on by myself. The latches are really stiff, and I need them pretty tight around my ankles. I had to sit down on the bottom ledge of the open car door since there are no benches or anything else to sit on at the track. I got the first one on just fine, but when I was trying to latch the second one it was much more difficult because I couldn't brace myself since I had the blades on the other foot already. Well, there I sat, scrunched down on the car ledge (I'm 5'll" so I really had to fold up) of the big black Bimmer, twisting and turning, trying to stay balanced on that little ledge, shoving and cursing those latches. I must have fallen on my butt six times before I even got the things on!

I am soooo glad no one had a video camera . . . But hey, at least I was in the cool car when it happened . . .

 

[crazydog]

haha thats funny. my aggro blades have laces with one buckle and one strap. i already did up all the laces and buckles so whenever i want to go out and skate i just slip my foot in like a loose shoe. when i blade, i only feel comfortable if its loose and not tight. it gives me more flex.

i have never done that much crunches before. a couple thousand?!? and several 0hundreds upside down?!? wow! i would be out if i even went up to a hundred to be honest. and i would probably pass out from haivng all the blood go to my head, doing it upside down. ::sigh:: i shouldve listened when my coach was yelling at me to wake up in gym.

 

[ChiliBeans]

My husband loves to do speed skating with in-lines. It's amazing how well he can do it, as I can barely stand on a pair of rollerblades! He's got a pair of blades that are made for speed skating that have bigger wheels and faster bearings than a typical pair. My husband does complain about his ankles after he skates for awhile with them, though. If you have any questions about speed skating, Renee, maybe my husband can answer them!