Beginner roller skating
The V Is for Starting, Not for Cruising
Toes out, heels in, the pizza slice shape: that is how everybody gets moving, and it is correct. It is also only for acceleration — standing starts, hills, headwind, broken tarmac. Once you are holding your speed, each skate should set down pointing straight ahead. Most skaters never make the switch and stay in the V the whole way, which gives very short glides and, at speed, becomes a sideways zigzag. Inline technique, from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Toes out, heels in, the shape of a slice of pizza. That is how every skater on earth gets moving from a standstill, and it is completely correct. It is also how you get up a hill, how you push into a headwind, and how you cross broken tarmac.
What it is not for is cruising. The moment you are simply holding the speed you already have, each skate should be setting down pointing straight ahead, and the push should be going out sideways from there.
Most people never make that switch. They open into the V to get going, and then they stay in it, angling out on every single step for the rest of the session. It is one of those faults you cannot see on yourself, which is why it survives for years.
Two things it costs you. A skate set down at an angle cannot glide for long, so your rolls stay short and choppy and the skating stays effortful. And at higher speeds it stops being merely inefficient: you are throwing your weight from side to side on every step, which is a zigzag, and a zigzag is not a stable place to be.
The fix is not to abandon the V. It is to know which of the two you are doing at any moment, and to stop doing the first one once the second one is what you need. 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.