Your Knees Are Your Best Inline Skating Friends

Bend your knees while inline skating, and they will become your best skating tool. Knees are important because when sufficiently bent, they keep your center of gravity low for better stability. Bending your knees adds power to your skating by forcing your wheels to maintain contact with the surface for a longer time with each stroke, too. When a skater is standing upright, each stroke is a only about one foot wide. Bending knees deeply will double or triple the stroke width, depending on the length on your legs.

Just be sure to bend the knees instead of breaking at the waist. Pushing your face down and your hips out is not an attractive or useful skating stance.

Learn More About Stroking and Striding:

• Duck Walking is a Beginner's Stride
  
  
• Scooter Push to Develop Your Inline Stride
  
  
• Move Your Stroking to the Second Level

Image © 2007 Carlesa Williams, licensed to About.com, Inc.