The Plough Stop

In this video, you are going to learn how to do a plough stop.

It is a very useful technique for when you need to stop slowly and smoothly.

To master the plough stop you need to follow two steps: getting into the scissors stance, and then stopping gradually.

Firstly, getting into the scissors stance.

Gather some speed and then get into the 'rolling position'.

To remind yourself about this position, see our video, "Starting and accelerating."

To get into the scissors stance, push a little more on one of your feet so that it moves about half a skate's length in front of the other.

Make sure that your legs stay in the 'ready position' - shins pressed against the tongues of your skates - and that your body stays in line with the direction of movement.

The reason for getting into this position is that it makes it easier for you to move your feet apart before beginning braking.

Secondly, stopping gradually.

Push on the outside of both your feet whilst keeping them parallel so that your skates move outwards to a distance wider than your hips.

Bend your knees slowly and keep your pelvis in line with your feet.

Make sure that you keep your upper body straight, whilst facing the road and looking forwards, with your arms bent and your wrists raised.

Stay in this position to decelerate slowly until you stop completely.

Practise the plough stop several times in order to master it.

Now it's over to you!