Powerslide is more like a uncontrolled sharp turn

[FrizzleFry]

Hi, I'm really good at T-stops, but I want to be able to stop on a dime at nearly any point in time while skating. I have watched many videos but I still cant seem to get my tall and lanky body into the right position to powerslide or hockey stop. It's more like a turn and that's not what I want. It's like I'm so tall that the angle required would be too drastic for me but logic tells me being taller should mean I don't have to lean as much. Did anyone have a similar issue but overcame it? I could use some advice.

[Nostalgic]

If you're turning then you are doing it too slowly. You have to commit and quit wimping out.

[FrizzleFry]

Do my skates need to leave the ground to turn them? Or do you just turn as fast as possible? I am not sure I'm getting the actual movements correct.

[Nostalgic]

No, the skates don't have to leave the floor.

[Mort]

Originally Posted by FrizzleFry

Hi, I'm really good at T-stops, but I want to be able to stop on a dime at nearly any point in time while skating. I have watched many videos but I still cant seem to get my tall and lanky body into the right position to powerslide or hockey stop. It's more like a turn and that's not what I want. It's like I'm so tall that the angle required would be too drastic for me but logic tells me being taller should mean I don't have to lean as much. Did anyone have a similar issue but overcame it? I could use some advice.

Well for starters, a T stop is nothing like a powerslide(1 foot doing the braking) or a hockey stop(both feet doing the braking).


The graduation of skill you need is to get your plow stopping down first, this will make learning it alot easier. How well can you plow stop? You'll want to learn all 3 plows, left/right. and both feet at the same time.

If turning hard left, the right foot in a powerslide will be doing the braking. It should be at an angle a bit past 45 degrees but not quite to 90 degrees compared to the direction of travel, this stops the rotation of wheels during the move and can cause flat spots. Same with T stops, they don't need to make a "T" shape at all, in fact if they do, they usually cause you to lose braking power.

To break the foot loose you need to force a turning arc that your plate/wheel/boot combo cannot do. Essentially either a turn too sharp producing slip, or a outward kick that breaks the traction threshold of your current skate setup.

I remove a lot of the weight from the heels of my skates in a forward hockey stop at least. backwards hockey stops are the opposite :P this reduces the grip on the rear wheels. This is where the plow stopping comes in because the braking foot is going to be similar to that of a plow, the way your facing though will be sideways(laterally to your direction of travel).

The other thing is you need to kind of violently whip into the turn/stop, so for a lot of people you'll need to turn to the right(toward the wall during normal direction skating) then rapidly and harshly turn to the left and whip your right leg out. You'll need to turn your chest and whole body to the direction your feet are pointing. You also need to lean away from the direction of travel so the braking force you generate does not flip you over the skate. The more grip, the more lean needed.

Your foot position will be left foot forward of center mass(your torso) and right foot kind of inline with or slightly trailing your center mass(this gives fore/aft stability). Your feet will NOT be parallel during the stop, if your feet end up too far forward you can end up flipping ass over tin cups as your skates kick you into a backward position. Same can happen forwards if you don't get your feet right.


If your still in Cincinnati Oh, we take trips up there once in a while and could go to a rink with ya and demo/teach ya anything ya want just have to schedule a good day!

In a way, think of how people initiate a drift with a car, its very similar to breaking traction with your skates. offsetting the weight displacement of the setup has a lot to do with it.

Last but not least, NEVER fully straighten your leg, a straight leg cannot push so you lose your ability to modulate.

[FrizzleFry]

I have a really hard time with plow stopping. How do people turn their legs in that much to do it? My legs don't seem to have the ability to twist in far enough to do plow stop.

[FrizzleFry]

I have a really hard time with plow stopping. How do people turn their legs in that much to do it? My legs don't seem to have the ability to twist in far enough to do plow stop. Learning to skate better is pretty tough because no one around me skates and I feel I miss quite a bit from videos. I am in Cincinnati, work and school makes scheduling a bit hard but not impossible. I have been mostly skating downtown after 11pm

[Nostalgic]

I have never done plow stops either, at least on roller skates. I have done them on ice skates. I don't think that I have ever seen them done on roller skates.

[Mort]

Plow stopping is similar to t stopping, where a foot is floated across the floor. Harder wheels help invoke a slide.


You dont need to toe your skates in. A plow stop is more like forcing your legs into the direction of a split, from the heels. The idea is to laterally break traction. If you cant kick your feet out to the side to break traction youll likely have too much.

I remove some weight from my rear wheels and jut my heels out hard, causing them to break traction. You'll want to keep some bend to your knees so you can modulate the move.

Figure out when a good time for ya to go to a session is we'll work a day out. I like skating at castle and orbit.

[larryoracing]

Hockey stops.

1) In general I don’t see anybody doing Hockey stops, unless you go to a skating session and it seems or appears those who do “hockey stops” do it with fiber glass wheels.

1a) So the key is a very slippery wheel, that does not provide much traction/grip laterally…lol!

1a) So when people are sliding sideways they are barely touching the wheels of their skates to the skating surface and really are just skimming across the floor like one throwing a flat rock across a pond or lake and the flat rock just skims or skips across the skating surface/or lake/or water pond.

2) When I did Hockey Stops over 50 years ago we were skating on a very hard clay wheel, Fo Mac Zephr skate wheel. The floors were very slippery and natural wood. The only way to get traction was putting a white resin powder on the floor which gave grip in only designated areas of the floor. The places that did not get powder were like the center of the floor and designated egdes of the floor, like around the outside perimeter of the rink/wall railing.

2a) So that is where the sliding occurred or where you stopped sliding before slamming sideways into the wall. The trick was to time it just right so when you stopped sliding you would be standing right next to the wall and stop sliding…lol!

3) When people are doing “hockey stops” they are “un-weighting” their skates. You kind of jump into the air, turn sideways, and very carefully brush the wheels across the skating surface sliding sideways, so really you don’t have much weight on your skates at all, as you are sliding sideways.

It’s kind of like your body motion is going up in the air as your skates lightly brush the floor while they are sliding sideways. It’s called un-weighting the skates. The faster you go before the slide the farther the “slide” will be. As you slow down the wheels grab more traction like when people ski and then at the last second you let all the weight down on the skis/skates and the wheels dig into the floor for the final stopping motion.

4) The key is very slippery wheels or slippery skating surface and unweighting your skates as they slide sideways across the skating surface. You still need skill and practice, but a slippery surface or slippery wheels is the key.

Larry O and good luck

[Mort]

Originally Posted by larryoracing

Hockey stops.

1) In general I don’t see anybody doing Hockey stops, unless you go to a skating session and it seems or appears those who do “hockey stops” do it with fiber glass wheels.
Must be your area, loads of us do them. We all do it, on any wheels, any surface, none of us have fiberglass wheels. 89A full width wheels(Zombies) 190 lbs @ Rollerjam USA, the second most sticky floor I've ever been on. No problem

1a) So the key is a very slippery wheel, that does not provide much traction/grip laterally…lol!

1a) So when people are sliding sideways they are barely touching the wheels of their skates to the skating surface and really are just skimming across the floor like one throwing a flat rock across a pond or lake and the flat rock just skims or skips across the skating surface/or lake/or water pond.

We dig our weight into it or float a little if needed for just slight modulation to direction and speed, of if we need to establish a slide and then force a lot of stopping power at a chosen time to avoid an accident, but hold a slide for a long period. How ever much braking force is needed really. Like I can choose to make a hockey stop go for 10 foot slides, or 2 -3 foot slides from the same speed to a dead stop.

2) When I did Hockey Stops over 50 years ago we were skating on a very hard clay wheel, Fo Mac Zephr skate wheel. The floors were very slippery and natural wood. The only way to get traction was putting a white resin powder on the floor which gave grip in only designated areas of the floor. The places that did not get powder were like the center of the floor and designated egdes of the floor, like around the outside perimeter of the rink/wall railing.

2a) So that is where the sliding occurred or where you stopped sliding before slamming sideways into the wall. The trick was to time it just right so when you stopped sliding you would be standing right next to the wall and stop sliding…lol!

3) When people are doing “hockey stops” they are “un-weighting” their skates. You kind of jump into the air, turn sideways, and very carefully brush the wheels across the skating surface sliding sideways, so really you don’t have much weight on your skates at all, as you are sliding sideways.

There's not really a jump to it. It's more like picking your legs up. which is only if needed to initially break traction, once traction is broken and an experienced skater can decide when the slide will end, how aggressive their stopping will be, and even which direction or angle they are going to travel when the slide is canceled before forward movement halts

It’s kind of like your body motion is going up in the air as your skates lightly brush the floor while they are sliding sideways. It’s called un-weighting the skates. The faster you go before the slide the farther the “slide” will be. As you slow down the wheels grab more traction like when people ski and then at the last second you let all the weight down on the skis/skates and the wheels dig into the floor for the final stopping motion.

4) The key is very slippery wheels or slippery skating surface and unweighting your skates as they slide sideways across the skating surface. You still need skill and practice, but a slippery surface or slippery wheels is the key.

Larry O and good luck

Slippery conditions will have better results for those learning to slide wheels, be it T stops, plow, power, or hockey stops. Since they wont have to use a lot of power to invoke a slide. The stickier it gets the harder you have to kick out for a slide to happen. The more force needed, the harder it is to maintain good form. So with little practice acquired with newer skaters, or newly learned skills, the more likely a bad scenario will happen.

[MANY_SkatingDave]

Hi

First note before I read the other replies

Originally Posted by FrizzleFry

Hi, I'm really good at T-stops, but I want to be able to stop on a dime at nearly any point in time while skating. I have watched many videos but I still cant seem to get my tall and lanky body into the right position to powerslide or hockey stop. It's more like a turn and that's not what I want. It's like I'm so tall that the angle required would be too drastic for me but logic tells me being taller should mean I don't have to lean as much. Did anyone have a similar issue but overcame it? I could use some advice.

You are right as far as I have seen young kids learn this move. Long legs should be better if you know how to use them. It is a little harder for the small to get a good power slide, yet they finally get it. Practice practice continually and get your buddies involved was their secret.

Prepare to fall and slide would be my advice. Since you are older not a kid use some protection. Make sure your wheels are a little bit grip pier like outdoor wheels .

OK time to read other replies.

Yours in Skating, MA/NY Skating Dave

[MANY_SkatingDave]

Originally Posted by FrizzleFry

Do my skates need to leave the ground to turn them? Or do you just turn as fast as possible? I am not sure I'm getting the actual movements correct.

Turn, place at a perpendicular angle a the forward stopping skate

[MANY_SkatingDave]

Hi,

First off I find the plow stop on quads or inlines to be fun and easy. So I will work on how to tell you what I think might work

Originally Posted by FrizzleFry

I have a really hard time with plow stopping. How do people turn their legs in that much to do it? My legs don't seem to have the ability to twist in far enough to do plow stop.

As boys and then men you play with your body. I used to walk on poles like the great sky walkers just because I could. I would fall sometimes, yet not get killed. And I loved Charlie Chaplain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svih10EdWe4

So at home walk like a duck is one idea. If you really have problems with your hips turning this might help you. Years ago in talking to some young art skaters that wanted to side surf they told me they loved wall work as a training exercise. In wall work you turn your body like a dancer sideways spreading your hips. Eventually they got pretty good at the Spread Eagle and some Side Surfing.

Yours in Skating, MA/NY Skating Dave
and Old enough 68 to still love Charlie Chaplain and that Gal
on the Rail Road tracks needed to be saved by a Night.

[HIWATT]

Want to learn to power-slide without falling, or twisting an ankle? Try doing it with a hockey stick, you can use the hockey stick as a balance point to help stabilize your body and keep your feet in the correct position. As time goes on rely less and less on using the stick as leverage.

[MANY_SkatingDave]

OK,

Had to post one idea and go back to other work.

Kids works great together teaching each other these moves. It was fascinating watching them work and work the power slide including the very youngest of them.

I too have learned being in the presence of other great skaters that have had moves I had never seen or could not even imagine every doing. For Example
Side Surfing - Two Jasper Indiana Farm sisters
Gosh dang those gals could side surf, and I wanted that move
Backwards Cross Skating - A buddy from Haverhill, MA who did it
so easy and so fast. Took me a long time to learn that one.
BTW I do not remember the proper name for this style.
Shoot the Duck
Hey you got to learn to go under the limbo bar with all those kids.
Shoot the Duck Bent Sideways flat to the ground.
Fast Game with the teens in NewHampshire at Granite Skate

My point is I learned a lot by being with others that were already masters of certain skate stuff I found fun. Now the kids sometimes copy me except for the fast double tap going forward.

SO SO SO

Find someplace you can skate where some others are already masters of the Power Slide and YOU YOU will grow and have a blast.

Yours in Skating, MA/NY Skating Dave

[Trixton]

Once you get the plow stop down (you can do those backwards as well, looks cool if you do a backwards crossover out of it), try doing a one-foot plow on what would be the hockey stop lead foot side with emphasis on the sliding part of the stop, starting with maybe 10% of your weight on the plowing foot working up to 20-40% of your weight on the plowing foot. This will help you gain confidence, balance, and weight transfer to assist in learning (or advancing) your hockey stop. If you modify this technique slightly, you can also do a low slide around a curve like the derby guys/gals do.

[FrizzleFry]

I have been practicing a bit but it's been raining like crazy. Often too much rain and I don't want to destroy my bearings. I found that I could finally get one leg to slide, my left leg slides and my right leg is perpendicular to it. I keep most of my weight on the right leg. I have a lot of trouble with the transition and ending. I find that I am not sure exactly how to control it but I can make it slide a very short distance and stop somewhat quickly. I need to figure out the motion of getting my leg from a skating position to way out in front sliding. After that, my inertia wants me to continue moving whether it be backwards or in a circle. The reason I'm trying to learn this is because I skate around downtown Cincinnati and I have a lot of speed and can T stop pretty quick but I want a stop that is instant and controlled. I watch several YouTube ers and see that they can do slides that lead to abrupt stops to help them in the city.

Maybe some background can help, I'm 6 feet tall, 145lbs and have 2 setups I use in city, a 4x80mm wheel frame with 85A durometer and a 3x110mm frame with 87A. I like the bigger wheels a lot more for urban and have had the most success with them as well.

[AZSHOT]

This thread convinced me; I need to learn some better stops. So did running into a gaggle of 5 roller derby skaters the other night, when I couldn't find a gap and was closing fast. I'm a very good skater, just always used turning to avoid obstacles.

In 40 years of skating (a long hiatus in the middle raising kids) I've never even done a plow stop. I can do a sideways slide on snow skis, but that seems very easy, no traction if you keep the skis flat. With roller skates, you have the MOST traction if your wheels are flat.

I saw a youtube video teaching slide stops. They practice doing very sharp turns around some shoes put in a semi-circle. Then they'd move the shoes into a tighter circle. Finally, people would start to slide, and get it. I need to try that, tighter and tighter turns, right?

[Mort]

Originally Posted by AZSHOT

I saw a youtube video teaching slide stops. They practice doing very sharp turns around some shoes put in a semi-circle. Then they'd move the shoes into a tighter circle. Finally, people would start to slide, and get it. I need to try that, tighter and tighter turns, right?

Yeap, pretty much. After you learn how to invoke a slide with a good deal of repeatability, you can start to modulate it.

It doesn't matter how fast one can skate, or turn, its all about how fast you can stop.