New Slider Needs Help

[N.Fantom]

Hey everyone,
Next year I will be taking a break from my home haunt and working a professional one. I have been doing some research and found out that they ask you if you have any special skills. I have always been fascinated by the sliders at professional haunts so I thought that I might begin to practice and possibly be good enough by Halloween 2013 . Does anyone have any tips or advice? How to make your own equipment? Any help would be great. Thanks in advanced!

[BruiseMuse]

I've been sliding since 2002; so here's some things I've learned over the years:

Stretch & warm-up: Do this anytime you plan to slide (whether it be practicing or performing at the haunt); this helps avoid pulled muscles, aches, and sprains. Also, do some cool-down stretches at the end of the night to avoid cramping.

Practice: train your body to get comfortable with falling (sliding is essentially falling with style and tricks); this is actually really hard for many people. Create mini obstacle courses to perfect your stopping ability and maneuverability (you don't want to end up sliding into a customer). If you know of other sliders, practice with them and work on double-tagging tricks and synchronized moves.

Gear: Every slider will give you a different response for their favorite brand; I prefer thick industrial kneepads over the thinner skater kneepads (I find they cushion my knees better and almost never shift), but that is all a matter of preference. Steel-toe boots/shoes are a must (you will destroy anything that isn't). There are spark gloves available for sale and tutorials online for making your own.

[Badger]

www.slidergearonline.com is a good starting point for information and gear. However if you start now, you should be ready to slide by the time this season rolls around.

[spong8]

Make sure you have medical. Nah but do anticipate botched slides or generally just feeling the hurt.

[Frightener]

Hey bud. Glad to see more talent looking to getting into sliding. It seems when I ask around, more and more folks are not going that direction.

First off, the industrial / construction pads are MUCH better. Why? Skaters pads aren't meant for continual use. You're not suppose to fall during skating! Now, construction pads ARE! You'll see a roofer for example be on his knees 100x's more than any skater. So they're designed to be more comfortable and take the abuse. these things are meant to be used on asphalt, roof materials, concrete, rock, chat, you name it. Just don't skimp on these! Get a good name brand, go to your local hardware store and ask for the best ones.

Now for hand gear, I'd highly recommend visiting Allen H's youtube page. Just go to youtube and search Stiltbeast Studios and look in his upload library. He's got a great tut on spark gloves.

Me personally? I'm too fat anymore to slide. But yeah, I became a pretty good slider back when I was skateboarding haha.

Start out with typical Knee Slides first. Get very comfortable on this one first. I'd recommend a surface like a kitchen floor that you won't care about the finish on. Slides easier with less speed. Then work your way up. When you get good as a slick surface, then hit the asphalt and again, start small till you get the feel for it.

And as previously stated. If you've not done anything like this before, start small. Always stretch prior and afterwards. Do a few slides for a few minutes on your first day or two. then rest and see how your body takes it. Once your soreness loosens up, do it again. Ease into a heavy practice session. If you jump right into it, you'll spend more time moping around than doing anything else lol. You're gonna work out more muscles than you probably think.

That's all I got that I'm comfortable in saying w/o taking you the wrong direction. I don't slide anymore and it was years ago that I played with it. If anyone has any corrections /additions to my post, please feel free to say so. this is just my 2 cents worth from the past experiences I've had.

[BruiseMuse]

Hey bud. Glad to see more talent looking to getting into sliding. It seems when I ask around, more and more folks are not going that direction.

First off, the industrial / construction pads are MUCH better. Why? Skaters pads aren't meant for continual use. You're not suppose to fall during skating! Now, construction pads ARE! You'll see a roofer for example be on his knees 100x's more than any skater. So they're designed to be more comfortable and take the abuse. these things are meant to be used on asphalt, roof materials, concrete, rock, chat, you name it. Just don't skimp on these! Get a good name brand, go to your local hardware store and ask for the best ones.

I'm happy to hear from someone else that swears by industrial kneepads. I finally cracked one of mine after over 6 years of use and abuse; whereas I know many sliders that will burn through a pair of skater kneepads every weekend during season.

[N.Fantom]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm definitely going to invest in some industrial knee pads as suggested. Now i have another question to some "retired" sliders, how is it on your knees later in life? Has it caused any pain or problems? Oops that was two questions, guess I need to learn to count before I learn to slide haha. Thanks in advance.

Noah

[BruiseMuse]

While I'm nowhere near ready to hang up my kneepads yet; I know from spending over a decade doing gymnastics & dance that you always need to look out for your knees. Always stretch and make sure there is enough padding in the kneepads (I don't feel any pain in my knees when I drop straight onto them in my pads). If your knees stop hurting, stop for the night and take some aspirin to help with any inflamation. There are also plenty of over the counter joint support medications that can help releive any pain.

[Allen H]

I have no knee issues from sliding....roller blading however is a different story.
and...

[The Forsaken Crypt]

This was my first year doing it and my knees got pretty banged up during the season. Mostly due to my pads wearing down. Other than that it worked great! Ready to do it again next season!