How To Stop On Roller Skates For Beginners [Pro-Tips]

Once you learn to ride the roller skates, you feel accomplished, but the real challenge comes when you have to stop. Learning to break on roller skates is as important as learning to ride them.

Therefore, if you know how to skate but not how to stop on roller skates, you should read this article. We will share different methods and guide you in this article about how to stop quickly on roller skates.

After you learn how to stop the skates, you can skate on roads and around traffic because you can apply a fast break if you encounter any sudden obstacles, such as a car, a wall, or hurdles. Come on, let’s get started.

How To Stop On Roller Skates

As said earlier, there are different ways to stop roller skates, but you don’t need to master them all. We will share all of the techniques that work to stop roller skates, but you must try each one to decide which one best suits your riding style and comfort.

Additionally, most of this technique will work on inline skates, rollerblades, or quads as well. Being a beginner, if you don’t know the difference between roller skates and rollerblades, you can check our previous article.

1. Toe Stop Drag

Despite being the most used technique by skaters, it is one of the simplest and most effective ways to stop on roller skates. Depending on whether the toe stopper is attached, this technique works on quads, inline skates, and roller blades as well.

In spite of being a simple method to stop on skates, it will take some practice to stop on roads or busy areas.

In order to perform this technique, you must first bend your front knee about 80 degrees, then step back about 45 degrees. Once you are in this posture, try to put more weight on your front leg that is slightly bent, and keep your body balanced. Following this drag, your back leg skates should toe stop on the ground slowly and apply pressure as needed.

While doing this, keep your supporting front foot in the same position until you stop completely or reduce your speed as needed.

Note: If you apply more pressure suddenly on your toe stops, you could experience wobbling and lose your balance, which would result in falling. Hence, apply pressure slowly.

2. Heel Brake Stop

Some skates like inline and quad have a heel brake option at the back of the skate. In emergency situations or going downhill, these brakes can come in very handy since they respond quickly.

Performing this technique while riding in a standing position is not recommended because it will give you an unstable position that will throw you off balance. Your first step should be to bend both your knees, get your body weight onto one skate, and then apply force to the heel of the back skate.

You will get a quick stop on your ride if you do this.

3. T Stop

It is also one of the best techniques to stop the roller skates, but you won’t be able to do this as easily on inline skates. Furthermore, if you are just starting to learn roller skating, I wouldn’t suggest this method because it requires good balance and core strength. Only those with experience or those who have been practicing for a long time and know how to balance can do this.

• You should first bend both your knees in order to maintain your balance.
• Then, while riding, place your suit leg in front while maintaining balance and shift your body weight onto that leg.
• Then lift your back foot in the air while focusing and shifting your body weight from the back leg to the front leg. (Getting this posture can be quite difficult for beginners, so make sure you practice as much as you can before moving forward)
• Put your back foot 90 degrees perpendicular in the air and slowly lower it to the ground.
• As you assume this posture, lightly apply pressure to the back of your foot, which is perpendicular to your front foot.
• Keep dragging your back foot until you stop or the speed you desire is reached. After this, you can lift your back foot and set it in the same direction as your front leg.

There are many steps involved in this technique, but you can perform all the steps quickly and stop in seconds depending on your speed once you have mastered the technique.

4. Plough Stop

Another good way to stop on roller skates slowly is with a plough stop. They’re divided into two types, and you can choose whichever suits your preferences.

Sliding Plough Stop

Before you try these stopping tricks, you should note that they’re not the fastest stopping method. While it works slowly, this method can definitely stop you. This method should also be avoided when downhill riding.

In order to perform this, you need to make both of your feet wider than your shoulders. In this posture, your legs should be slightly bent at the knees, and your body should be straight. To stop roller skates slowly, keep applying pressure on heels as you continue doing so.

Steeping Plough Stop

The method is quite similar to the sliding plough stop with the same posture. In this exercise, the only difference is that you keep your toes in the inside position and your heels on the outer side after bending your knees and shoulders.

Both skates get closer together and apply friction between them as you maintain this position. Also, be careful not to perform this method at a very high speed since it could cause you to fall off.

5. Slalom Stop

Using this technique to stop the roller skates is quite advanced and looks very cool. Therefore, only try this method if you have a little bit of experience and can easily balance and ride the skate.

The first step is to keep going forward on the skates and then turn them to one side with parallel feet. Once the skating starts forwarding to the direct, it should switch to the opposite direction and repeat the same process.

You will be able to stop your skates easily if you keep changing directions like this. Just make sure you maintain a good balance as you do this.

6. One Toe Stop Going Backwards

Firstly, you must have a toe stopper on your skates, and you must be skating backwards in order to perform this technique.

You can do this by first going backwards on your skates, then slightly bending your knees like you would when skating forward. You should then touch one skate toe portion with the ground after this. In addition, keep applying force as necessary, and you’ll notice the skates becoming slower and stopping.

7. Two Toe Stop Going Backwards

Another method that is somewhat similar to the above one toe stop method, but it is quite advanced and risky as well. Therefore, before learning this technique, I recommend first mastering the one-toe stopper method.

This is performed by going backwards and bending your both knees the same as when stopping one toe. Push the toe side of the skates towards the surface until they stop.

You can stop your skates faster with this method, but make sure to wear all the necessary safety gear like knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets while you do this.

8. Power Slide

This is one of the most advanced techniques on roller skates, but to perform it, you should be very balanced and comfortable riding backwards.

In order to do this, first, bend your knees slightly and go backwards. Then, turn one foot so that it is a 90-degree angle, and place it behind the front leg that is pressing. In this way, you can stop easily on roller skates.

9. Hockey Stop

A hockey stop doesn’t mean you need hockey to stop. This is one of the safest and fastest breaks to stop quickly, but it is also very difficult to master.

First, keep rolling in the forward direction. Then, stop suddenly and turn your feet in a curve shape. Be sure to keep one foot slightly back and one in front when performing this. This will allow you to stop more quickly.

It might be a bit overwhelming to learn this method, but it’s a lot of fun and looks really cool once you do.

For Starters – Basic Stops

If you’re just starting out roller skating and find the above shared techniques quite difficult, no worries, below are some easy to learn methods to stop on roller skates. Moreover, these techniques won’t work at high speeds, but you will ride slower as a beginner, so it’s a perfect way to get started.

Note: The tips we provided for beginners might also be covered in the above advanced techniques, but we’ve simplified it by skipping some progressive steps.

1. Use Knee Pads To Stop

As a beginner, it’s obvious you need to wear safety gear, including knee pads. If you don’t wear safety gear, you won’t be able to stop your skates using this tip.

As a result, what you need to do is, while riding, bend your one knee, maintain balance with the other foot, then touch that knee to the ground. The knee pad of your one foot will rub on the ground, allowing you to stop easily.

Well, this might finish your knee pads but when you’re learning the basics like how to turn on roller skates you might face sudden hurdles and you need to stop. These stopping methods are great for beginners at that point.

2. Spinout

The method also works perfectly for slowing down your riding speed, but you have to practice it to become proficient.

In order to stop with this method, you place one foot slightly curled and turn completely with the other foot. This will cause your forward direction to go into a circle, and you will not be able to move forward; instead, you will rotate at one place and slowly stop going forward.

Conclusion

These are the different ways to stop on roller skates which you can use to get a stop or slow down on skates. Additionally, we’ve added some techniques that work on inline skates, so you don’t need to look for those if you own those as well.

I hope we have given you a complete answer on how to stop on roller skates with easy steps. We invite you to share your experience in a comment by practicing this technique so that others may also learn from your experience.

Additional Questions

How do you stop roller skates for beginners?

For a novice, the simplest method to halt roller skates is the T-Stop. It involves aligning your skates in a “T” shape, with one foot directly behind the other. Gradually apply pressure to the inside edge of the back skate to create friction, causing you to slow down and eventually stop.**Remember to practice this in a safe area** before trying it out in high-traffic or challenging environments.

How do you stop roller skates without toe stops?

Even if your roller skates do not feature toe stops, you can still safely come to a halt. **One effective technique is the Plow Stop**. This involves bending your knees, pushing your feet apart, and turning your toes inward as if plowing into the ground. This causes your skates to slow down due to increased friction. Do bear in mind that controlling your speed in advance is crucial when using this method.

How do you roller skate like a professional?

Professional roller skating requires hours of practice and a thorough understanding of the basics. Key skills include balancing, turning, stopping, and falling safely, as well as more advanced techniques like crossovers and jumps. **Always ensure you maintain a proper stance** – knees bent, body slightly forward, arms out for balance – and stay relaxed, letting your skates do most of the work. Remember, even professionals were beginners once!

How to do roller skating tricks for beginners?

Before attempting any tricks, beginners should get comfortable with their balance and ability to move forward, backward, turn, and stop. Then, they can start with simple tricks. **A basic trick to start with is the “Shoot the Duck”**. This requires you to balance on one leg while extending the other leg forward as you lower your body close to the ground. It’s a fun trick that improves balance and control, but take it slow and steady, and always prioritize safety.