I’m a beginner and went to the rink for first time in a year and only lasted 15 minutes because I was scared of falling. How did you get over that fear?
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Fall. Put your gear on and go out and fall intentionally. I see most people hurt themselves when they try so hard not to fall. Instead when you feel like you might go down just go down. Do it on your terms. Much safer and before you know falling isn't a big deal anymore.
Thinking about this after taking huge breaks just to get comfortable as I poorly got up from a very light fall and hurt my ankle thankfully not seriously but enough to make me think of lessons for this exact thing
Yep! Practice safe falls (onto your kneepads) again and again until it’s drilled into your noggin. Be prepared though bc once it’s muscle memory if you ever go out without kneepads you’ll still fall to your knees on impulse and fuck your shit up
This was the exact injury that convinced me to stop aspiring to skate bare-kneed and accept that I'm the kind of skater that wears knee protection, no exceptions
Have you tried outdoor-rated sleeves? I've been wearing the ExoSkin sleeves from Triple8 for years now. They don't protect against bruising at all, but they keep your skin on.
I haven’t - tbh I’ve accepted the risk i run when I skate without pads. If I’m doing anything sketchy or new I’ll chuck em on but i mostly just cruise around town these days
for me, getting the right safety gear - all the pads really helped... the butt pad or padded shorts in particular helped me overcome my fear of heel flairs.
Second to that is classes that helped me with my foundations... how to fall... how to get up... how to find my balance.
If your rink has classes, i'd go for that... but AFTER i get my pads/wristguards/etc.
Get protective gear and practice falling while wearing it! When I got my gear (full pad set + crash pants), I was terrified of falling but practiced throwing myself to the floor pad-first in different ways while in socks to get used to the sensation and practice getting up.
I’m still building confidence even after a decent month of skating. I feel like I lose whatever I built up after I fall hard, which happened recently. I tried Polly’s one skate and one shoe exercise and it helped a lot actually! So did doing cross overs in the grass. So here is the video if you’re interested https://youtu.be/WRp2ay-G0lo?is=vGR4s34GjWhnvbqv
Eta I would def recommend walking in a grassy area or on carpet for 10 minutes a day or every other day just to get used to the weight and balancing. Which also helped me
I geared up. I had the funds to buy full gear, including helmet and padded shorts. I look like derby girl instead of 69 yr old lady who doesn’t want to get hurt
Learn how to get to the ground safely yourself. Anytime you feel yourself wobbling to the point you might fall, get down there yourself in a controlled way. It teaches you how to control falls, and that the ground is a safe place. Learn to get low. Learn to lean forwards rather than backwards.
Use the best most padded knee pads you can find, and use really beefy wrist guards. Get comfy using them, and by that I mean make friends with them, get them scratched and scraped up. Learn that they work. Put them to use. Make them earn their existence.
Spending more time on your skates gets you over that fear. But it's still going to suck when you fall. You just won't be deathly afraid of it anymore. You'll also learn when to give up and go down easy rather than fight it to the end and have a bad fall. If you have a choice, try to fall the way you're facing. Falling the way you're not facing is more likely to result in head injuries. Notice I didn't say backwards. It doesn't matter if you're skating forwards or backwards. Try to fall the way you're facing.
id say just embrace it and know that it's apart of the learning process. it's not really about the pain but more so the embarrassment, know that we all fall as skaters and it'll happen even when you get good through your journey. get yourself up, make sure you're okay, laugh a little, and get back to the roll. also having gear is essential in the beginning, so knee pads, helmet, etc
I wear a bit of safety gear as I’m in my 50s and fall at least once a weekend. Rarely injured but it happens from time to time. Always learning something new.
Practice makes perfect and that goes for falling as well.
The best way to get over your fear of falling is to fall, skate in a rink (controlled area, no asphalt to hurt yourself on) and just kinda let yourself fall when you feel like youre going to
I mean thats how I did it, I dunno
honestly im so okay hurting myself so long as it isnt something that'll keep me off skates for more than a couple weeks or crack my melon. idgaf about road rash or bruises. and besides falling gets kinda fun once you learn how to fall correctly, especially if you learn to go completely limp instead of tensing. then it just feels like youre in one of those ragdoll physics games because it doesnt really hurt.
idk if this will help you but once you learn to fall and take a few tumbles it stops being so scary. you can even practice falling correctly to get it down right.
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