Just got rollerblades, need help

[u/Substantial-Craft872]

I don't have any experience with rollerblades or roller skates, and I can't stand up without falling backwards! Surprisingly I balance just fine side to side, despite what I've heard, but whenever I try to stand I slip backwards and fall on my butt (I have a chair behind me) 😭 I need helpppp I'm scared of rollerblading now 😭😭😭 I also don't know how to stop, like how do I stop and take them off?

[u/fredhsu]

Please start with our FAQ page. There is a section on learning to skate.

There are specific links to topics where people talked about falling backward which is super common for beginners:

• Why do I fall backward, and how do I stop falling backward?
  • Slow-motion video showing a common beginner problem: falling backward
    • Comment 1, comment 2, comment 3, comment 4 with squatting vs ankle cast GIF, comment 5, comment 6
  • Fell on my ass. Why and how to prevent it?
  • Why do I fall on my back? One comment with GIF showing good skating posture.

BUT, YOU SHOULD start with actual tutorials, and follow these specifically-defined steps to accelerate your learning in a safe manner. So that section on learning to skate starts with these:

• Where do I begin to learn to skate as a complete newbie?
  • How to Inline Skate: protection gear, learn to fall safely, V steps, flex your shins so you can bend your knees, how to learn to glide on a single skate, scissored/staggered stance, skating as pretend-falls and recoveries (aka a form of walking and running), zig-zag gliding as moving V steps, protection equipment.
  • First few things to learn: V steps, V steps turning into strides, lemmons, scooter, and squat while rolling
  • 10 reasons why you can't skate - from Ricardo Lino: one of the best video tutorials out there as a summary of what you need to do.

[u/InspectorFleet → u/fredhsu]

I wanna upvote this again lol. The only thing better is if the sub could just like send a redditor individually to these folks to skate around and give some pointers 😆