When I was a kid, I had trouble learning how to ride a bike. It was big and daunting and being pushed down a hill without warning by my dad was not my idea of a fun time. So instead, I turned to inline skating. Strapped to my feet, I felt a little bit safer and in more control, and eventually got the hang of it. There's something about zipping down the street in super stylish roller blades that just can't be beat. While my friends were on bike, I was the cool kid with the inline skates.
Inline and roller skating is a great physical activity that will build your leg muscles and give you a great cardio work out. You can skate on over to your local park or even take them for a spin at a roller rink. They come in all sorts of styles and sizes for the littlest kids to skating pros.
Roller Skates
Roller skates are the quad-wheeled old school skates. They are great beginner skates for kids, because it's much easier to keep your balance with the layout of the wheels. But there are still plenty of great styles for adults. They have a break on the front of the skate, so pointing the toe forward would break the skater. Roller skates are often used at roller rinks, especially for dance competitions. They are also used for roller derby competitions, which is a contact sport around an oval ring. It's scored based on how many times certain players lap the pack.
Inline Skates
Inline skates are skates with the four wheels in a straight line. The break on these is usually place at the heel. Inline skates are used for a variety of reasons, other than just recreational skating. Different skates are made for different uses, like aggressive skating, which is an extreme sport full of tricks like grinds, slides, and aerial tricks. Skate parks are perfect for this kind of skating. Free skating is similar, except the goal is to get from one place to another as quick as possible which means taking short cuts over obstacles on the street.
Accessories
The important thing to remember when skating is safety. There are a couple of things you'll need to keep yourself harm free.
* Helmet: A helmet is always important, especially if you are going to take on rough terrain are attempt any tricks on your skates.
* Knee Pads: Keep those knees from getting scraped and banged up if you fall.
* Elbow Pads: Another way to keep yourself from getting cut up in case you hit that branch on the pathway.
* Wrist guards: It's common during a fall to hurt your wrist, and possibly break it. Protect them with wrist guards.
