Beginner roller skating
Body Up, Knees Down — It Is Not a Squat
The skating stance is not sitting back. Your shoulder stays over your hip, your chest stays upright, and it is the knees that travel forward, until the front of the kneecap covers your toes when seen from the side. Your backside finishes directly above your heels, never behind them. Four words to hold while you skate: body up, knees down. Almost everything else follows from that one shape. Inline technique, from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
"Bend your knees" is the most repeated instruction in skating and one of the least useful, because it does not say how far, and it does not say in which direction.
Here is the version that does. Body up, knees down. Your shoulder stays over your hip. Your chest stays upright, not tipped forward. And the bend happens by the knees travelling forwards, until — seen from the side — the front of your kneecap is covering your toes.
Check it from behind as well as from the side: your backside should end up directly above your heels. Not behind them. The instant it drifts back, you are in a different position doing a different job, and it is the one that puts you on the floor.
The distinction that makes this click is that it is not a squat. A squat sends the hips back and the chest forward to counterbalance. This is a mini-squat that stays upright, which is a harder thing to hold and a much better place to skate from.
It is worth the effort because almost everything else follows from it. Weight over the front half of the skate, a knee that can absorb a bump, and enough range to push from. Inline technique, from Asha Kirkby of Skatefresh, an instructor certified by the Inline Certification Program. She teaches inline skating, and that is the discipline this page is about.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page.