Beginner roller skating
You Can Stretch Your Sides Without Taking the Skates Off
A certified coach's side body class is done on skates, while rolling. Simple movements reach the flank muscles that are hard to get at standing still, and they strengthen those muscles at the same time, because the skate is moving underneath you. Done at the end of a session rather than the start, it is aimed at the stiffness you are about to feel, not the one you already have. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Stretching, as everyone teaches it, happens standing still. A certified coach's side body class does not: it is done on skates, while rolling.
Simple movements reach the flank muscles that are hard to get at when you are stationary, and they strengthen those same muscles at the same time, because the skate is moving underneath you and your body has to keep managing it.
Doing both at once is the whole advantage. A stretch that also loads the muscle is worth more than a stretch that does not, and it costs no extra time because you were going to be on your skates anyway.
It belongs at the end of a session rather than the start. Used that way it is aimed at the stiffness you are about to feel tomorrow, not the one you already have today.
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.
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