Beginner roller skating
The Heel Brake Fix Nobody Explains: Use Your Boot as a Lever
The heel brake has an unfair reputation, usually from two fixable habits: not enough knee bend, and weight on the back of your foot instead of the front. The fix for both — push your shin into the boot cuff, using it as a lever, brake pad in front of your back skate's front wheel. Most who "hate" this brake never tried it. (I'm not fully sold on it forever — see my other post — but if you use it, this version works.) Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
The heel brake has a reputation for being unreliable, and almost every case of that traces back to one of two fixable habits rather than a flaw in the brake itself.
Habit one: not enough knee bend. A straight leg shortens your stance and destabilizes you the instant you press down. Habit two: weight sitting on the back half of your back foot instead of the front, which is exactly where you do not want it when you need control.
The fix that changes both at once: push your shin into the front of your boot cuff and use it as a lever, with the brake pad landing in front of your back skate's front wheel rather than directly underneath it. Most skaters who say they "hate" the heel brake have never actually tried braking this way.
I am not fully sold on keeping the heel brake forever myself — see our companion page on that — but if you are using it, this is the version that works. 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.
Choosing gear for this? Skate Brakes: Heel Brake, Toe Stop or Jam Plugs? — What 13 top skaters and coaches say about heel brakes, adjustable toe stops and jam plugs for beginners, with named sources, dated prices and Amazon links.
Keep going: this is one section of the full Roller Skating for Beginners guide — sizing, gear, stopping, and where to skate, in one page. Free, no sign-up.