Why the Soul Slide Is My Most Used Speed Control and Stopping Technique on Inline Skates 

Awesome video! Surprised you didn't mention the A stop as an approach to help learn the soul slide. I'll watch your other video now. :)

@@RandallLewis whats "A stop" ?

@@0x70cb "A" stop or "pizza" or "snow plow" just like on skis. It's the two-sided version of the soul slide. It's great on sidewalks and other settings once you figure out the balance.

@@RandallLewis Ah, thanks, I never heard this called "A stop"!

@@0x70cb , yeah, maybe I'm weird. Working with kids they seem to understand: V means go forward/faster, A means go backward/slow down (when going forward). It can be used stepping or plowing.

Awesome, I’m glad you got it sorted out! I’ve seen other tutorials emphasize putting weight on the sliding skate, but I think it’s the opposite. At least to learn to slide, you need less weight on it. Once you get better, you can experiment with putting more weight into the sliding skate earlier. Happy sliding :)

​@@rerollinginline And when you perform a magic slide, the most of the weight should be in the back feet right? When I try to do a magic slide I feel pain on the front knee and on my adductors. Maybe I put too much weight on the front?

@@danielemacchini6541 The magic slide is a bit different. Your back foot in a magic slide can't be as supportive because it's also sliding. You can enter a magic slide from a soul slide. In fact I encourage it and it's how I learned the magic. But once I turn the rear foot to begin sliding, I usually lean a bit more on the front foot. It's more evenly balanced than a soul slide. Keep in mind though that I put emphasis on weight on the supporting foot for soul slide in my tutorial to help you learn how to do it. Once you get more competent/confident with the soul slide, you'll probably begin putting more weight on the sliding foot.

I know, right?! I found myself naturally using it all the time after I accidentally discovered it. It's like a T-stop buy much more powerful. I don't see it used enough. To each their own, of course, but for me personally it's my go-to as a general speed control technique.

By sliding plow do you mean magic slide?

@@wheelsonfire1982 A sliding plow is when you soul slide with both feet. Its super easy to learn and engages both feet with breaking.

the reverse sliding plow is my favorite stop, great for hockey since it lets you get back on the power quicker. I discovered I could do it playing pick up and I did the reverse plow instead of a normal reverse hockey stop. It's a little scary leaning forwards while going backwards and not having a leg under you, but man it feels good if you nail it.

I love hearing when things help or inspire people. Thank you for watching and especially for letting me know it helped!

Yes, I use it that way all the time. I can “pump the brakes” with this slide, like you can with a drag-stop. The difference is the soul gives a lot more stopping power than drag stop.

@@rerollinginline i see, great insight!

You’re welcome, I hope it can help some. Every stopping technique has its upsides, downsides and situations where it’s good or bad, so having more at your disposal never hurts. Good luck!

Great! It can take some time and practice to be able to use it in narrow areas, but I can use it on sidewalks.

Thanks! Hopefully the soul slide will be easier to try than magic, and then knowing souls makes magic much easier.

Thanks so much, I hope they help! Yes, inline skating is an awesome low-impact (unless you’re doing more jumping etc) way to work your cardio. Happy skating :)

The pleasure is mine, I hope it helps! I obviously find it the most versatile and functional, which is what compelled me to make the video. But everyone is different. I still use power slide and stage stops at times, but the soul is still my most-used technique. I always recommend learning as many techniques as possible.

@@rerollinginline great perspective, thank you so much! ☺️

Thanks for watching!

Pleasure is mine, thanks for watching and I hope it helps!

Many thanks, I'll definitely try to keep 'em coming.

I'm glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know!

Ouch, I hope you're all healed up! Keep in mind that as much as I love the soul slide, it's just one of the tools I use for stopping and isn't ideal in every single situation. Make sure you learn and practice several techniques and skate within your skill level! Happy skating :)

@@rerollinginline Have learnt to respect the skates and many hard lessons for life from these 2 some years of injuries and surgery. Healing well, HalleluYAH, after just having titanium plates and screws removed from my wrist. Very grateful, very blessed. Thank you for the amazing content.

Awesome, I hope it helps!

Awesome, thanks for letting me know!

Thanks for watching, I’m glad you liked it!

Thank you so much, I appreciate it :)

Thanks! I've done it so many times now, it's become second nature. Practice will get you there! I think combining methods is a great way to stop or slow down. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment :)

You’re welcome, thanks for watching 🙏

Awesome, glad to hear it!

The pleasure is mine, thank you!

Of course, thanks for watching!

You're welcome, I hope it helps. Good luck with practice!

You're welcome, thanks for watching and commenting!

You’re welcome! I think it’s underrated and I don’t see many people use it. But it works great for me, so it’s my go-to.

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback! Happy skating :)

I learned power stop -> power slide -> soul slide, in that order. But everyone is different, so I'll be curious to know how it goes for you. Hopefully this video will help with something.

Thank you!!

Thanks so much, glad you like it!

Thanks, good luck!

Thanks so much! More on the way. Stay tuned :)

Thank you!

Glad it was helpful!

Awesome, good luck and stay safe!

@@rerollinginline thanks! Also I'm waiting for my endless trinity frame 🤩

Good luck, hopefully this video helps :)

Thanks for watching and the feedback!

Thanks, I appreciate it!🇧🇷🇨🇿

Give it a shot! Hopefully you’d like it as much as I do

Thanks!

Just keep practicing in your controlled environment and you'll get it! I'm hoping to be able to record a magic slide tutorial this spring. I've been off my skates for 7 weeks letting a sprained ankle heal :( But I think I'm getting close to being back on my skates. I sprained it on ice in my driveway at the end of January.

Agreed, lol. That’s for watching and commenting :)

Thanks! With practice, I’m sure you’ll get to down. Gets easier every time.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

start by angling it more aggressive and just skimming the pavement. Then start to add more weight to it for more aggressive stopping and start to get the angle more upright

That’s a good observation, but any time my feet are pointing that way in this video is just to keep me from rolling as I speak to the camera. I don’t think I have a natural tendency either way

True!

I have used 84A, 85A and 86A. The softer the wheel, the harder it is to get it to slide, but it’s not a huge difference. At least not between those 3 hardnesses. Softer wheels grip more and so you can stop a little faster too. Once you get the technique down well, you can adjust to your wheels pretty easily.

You're welcome, thanks for stopping by! The knee pads are the "Triple 8 Kneesaver" pads. I'll be honest though, I'm not very impressed with them. I actually only wear them because they're not bulky. Unfortunately, bulky = protective and the less bulky, the less protected you'll be. The reason I'm not impressed is they seem to be made of pretty cheap materials, don't have a ton of padding and are only held on by two velcro straps. I've fallen with these pads on and had them slide down and still get some road rash. Then again, I've fallen several times and they've protected me as well. I know they're not the best, so it's just a risk I've accepted. I have 187 Killer Pads knee pads as well, which use better materials and a "sleeve" that covers the knee in addition to straps... but of course they're bulkier as well. Anyway, just thought I'd give my input instead of just listing the pads and you assuming I really like them, lol. Also, they're one-size-fits-all and I'm 5'8" 160lbs for reference. Happy skating :)

@@rerollinginline Thank you so much for the detailed response! I really appreciate it!! Yeah, the 187 Killer Pads were one of the pairs I bought but they were giant on me haha.

Just keep practicing and I'm sure you'll get the soul slide eventually! I don't have a Patreon, or anything similar. Your kindness, views and comments are more than enough to support the channel. I love skating and trying to put a little more skating content out into the world. If anyone enjoys it, that's icing on the cake. I truly appreciate the support :)

Rain is best time to learn soul slide mate. Put on 80a wheels and rustproof bearings u r good to go.. Go out and get sliding. I wait for rain to do my slide practices all the time.

Thanks so much for the kind words, much appreciated. I think stopping in general is always a combination of things. I use multiple techniques every session depending on the situation, but I have found the soul slide is what I use most often as a general tool. However, the power slide is also a great tool that can help and might be easier to pick up before the soul slide. I don't have a tutorial on that, but I'm sure there are many. You can also use techniques to slow yourself instead of needing to "stop" That can be less exciting, but still the most important thing is safety. I don't slide to look cool, I do it so I'm in control. You can definitely use a wet surface to start testing things out, but you may want to limit how much you do. Don't want to hurt yourself or develop bad habits.You'll still eventually have to learn how to do it on dry ground. I think the main key in getting the skate to slide instead of grip is weight distribution and positioning. It's why I put such an emphasis on it in my tutorial.

I hear you. I don't have a magic slide or anything fancy in my skillset. Just T-/drag stop and front powerslide / soul slide. What I predominantly do, is stay beneath my level of skating when gauging hills. I can probably take bigger hills but should I test my nerves? Nah. Some hills I can manage and some absolutely scare me. The second part, is to distribute weight so you naturally begin to inhibit motion. No dragging or sliding necessary. Think about skiers and how they use an 'A' shape (pigeon toed stance) to come to a stop. I mostly 'step' into a stop or spread my legs wide and press outwards to begin to slow down. Once I'm at a manageable speed, I use whatever makes sense for the situation (t-/drag-stop, soul slide, powerslide). There are videos you can watch that are usually labeled along the lines, "Inline skate speed management." More than stopping is knowing how to manage speed x our skill. Try small hills where shifting weight may be enough. Thanks to Rerolling for this content. I learned what I did instinctively was the soul slide. Never stopped practicing with your videos in mind.

When mastered T Stop is incredibly powerful actually. It becomes more of an L than a T. The key is to bring your dragging skate to the front and be on the outside edge on your supporting skate. For long hills I do Alternating T Stop. The main problem with the T stop and hills though is that it is pretty hard on the wheels.

Haha, thanks. Not sure I'm Bill level mastery at anything, but I'll take the reference :) Happy skating.

Appreciate it, thanks!

I’ve only used 84a - 86a. They’re certainly different, and even different wheels of the same hardness can slide differently as well. But, they’re not drastically different. However, I wouldn’t really want to skate outdoors in less than 84a if for no other reason than the wheels won’t last as long. I’d say 78a is pretty soft for an outdoor wheel. Could I soul slide in 78a? I’d assume I could, but I do a lot of soul sliding. It might be harder for a beginner to slide on those softer wheels though. So if I were you, I’d get harder wheels. I find the Rollerblade Hydrogen 85a a great wheel that has good grip, can slide and also last a long time. I also really enjoy my Undercover Team Blank 86a wheels, which slide easier than hydrogens. Just make sure you don’t go crazy the first time you try harder wheels, to make sure they’re not slicker than you expected and you get used to the feel of them. My Dragon frames are currently using 84a FR Street Invader wheels. Thanks for watching and happy skating!

@@rerollinginline Thanks a lot!!!

Thanks for commenting and welcome to the channel! I was actually thinking of doing a review of the different frames I've used in a video in the near future. In short, rocker is more maneuverable but a little slower and less stable. I prefer the rocker for the maneuverability and the style of skating I do. Of course it's all a matter of personal preference, so one isn't "better" than another, just different.

Thank you man, That was a wise comment, and you're totally right, I feel that I like both setups, I like the control and stability that flat gives you for gaining good speed and control at the same time, but also like this insane maneuverability that rocker gives, if someday somebody create a setup that has all this... Gosh, That will be the glory!

Welcome back and happy skating!

As much forward as you can manage. Probably better than 75 front 25 back. Too much weight on the rear tends to send me into a counter clockwise pivot (right foot forward.) And then, instead of casting the magic, the magic casts me!

@@NullHand That's probably what I'm doing wrong. I've been trying it at 50/50 front to back. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

Of course all techniques have their place. I just find that I soul slide more than anything. I also think it's under-utilized and don't see many references to it or suggestions for using it. I still do plenty of drag, power stop, power slide and magic sliding.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much!

Thanks!

I'm honestly not sure. The only skates I've used are my FR1 Deluxe Intuition you see in my videos. You probably can't go wrong with any hard-shell boot with a removable liner (like mine) Known as "urban" skates.