T-Stop
After trying toe stop and plow stop, I wanted to learn something that sits a bit in between, more controlled than toe stop, but less “wide” than plow.
So today I worked on the T-stop. At first, it looked simple: one foot in front, the other dragging behind.
In practice, it’s mostly about balance on one leg.
Finding My Side (Again)
Just like with toe stop, there’s a preferred side.
After a few tries, it became clear again, standing on my left leg and dragging the right felt more natural.
So I stayed with that.
The Real Requirement: One-Leg Balance
I first tried this statically, keeping about 80% of my weight on my front leg, knee bent, while the back leg hovered behind in a T shape, occasionally tapping the ground. Even this part alone felt surprisingly difficult to balance.
I realized something important, if I can’t glide comfortably on one leg, the T-stop won’t work.
So I spent some time just doing one-leg glides.
Standing on the front skate, lifting the other foot slightly, trying to stay stable.
This part alone already felt like a full exercise. Even just holding the back leg in the air while moving felt unstable.
The 80–20 Weight Shift
The key idea is similar to toe stop, but even more critical here. Most of your weight needs to stay on the front skate. Around 80%, maybe even more.
If that doesn’t happen:
- the back skate becomes too heavy
- it doesn’t slide
- and the stop doesn’t really work
I noticed this immediately. Whenever my front knee straightened even a little, everything fell apart.
What the Back Foot Is Doing
The back foot is not there to carry weight.
It’s there to slide and create friction.
At the beginning, I tried just lightly touching the ground with it, almost like testing how much pressure I could apply without losing balance.
Even getting a small, controlled slide felt like progress.
Upper Body and the “Spinning Problem”
One issue that came up quickly: my upper body started rotating during the stop.
This felt very similar to what I experienced with the toe stop.
The cause seems to be the same: when the back foot becomes too heavy, it pulls the body out of alignment.
One suggestion is to use the arm on the same side as the back leg as a stabilizer.
So:
- right leg behind → right arm forward
- left leg behind → left arm forward
I tried it. It didn’t feel like a huge change immediately, but it did make the movement feel slightly more organized.
Sliding: Easier Than It Looks?
Not really. At first, I couldn’t get a proper slide.
Either:
- the skate just stuck
- or it bounced instead of sliding
Which, again, comes back to the same thing: not enough weight on the front leg.
Once I focused more on bending the front knee and really committing my weight forward, the back skate started to move more smoothly.
When I tried to slide, I noticed that instead of all four wheels, only the two wheels closer to me were touching the ground. That made the movement feel unstable and often pulled my foot back instead of letting it slide.
Different Positions
I also noticed that the back foot doesn’t have to be perfectly in a “T” shape.
It can be:
- directly behind
- slightly to the side
- at a small angle
As long as it’s sliding and not carrying weight, it seems to work.
How It Feels
Compared to other stops:
- more controlled than toe stop
- less stable than plow (for now)
- more dependent on balance
It feels like a “precision” stop rather than a “safety” stop.
Day 11 Takeaway
The T-stop is not really about stopping.
It’s about:
- balancing on one leg
- keeping weight forward
- keeping the back foot light
Right now, it still feels a bit unstable. But I can see how this could become a very useful stop once the balance improves.
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