How you train on inline skates depends on what you are learning to do. If you are just learning to skate, for instance, you will need different exercises than if you are learning to play roller hockey or training for a marathon. Regardless of your training mission, you will find that inline skating is great way to burn calories and get an aerobic workout.
Basics
If you're just learning to skate, you'll want to master the basics first: posture, gliding and stopping. Posture is awkward at first, though becomes more natural. Keeping your feet straight, bend your knees and ankles slightly; keeping your back straight, lean forward just a bit. Make sure to keep your head up and eyes forward. Gently start pushing one foot out to the side; this will make you glide forward. To stop, extend the skate that has a brake on it--usually the right foot--and gently lift that toe off the ground, putting pressure on the brake.
Falling
No matter why you are training on rollerblades, there is always the chance you will fall. This is why safety equipment--knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards--are essential. Even with safety equipment, learning how to fall properly will prevent you from seriously injuring yourself. You can practice falling simply by bending forward, arms out, first landing on your knees, then finishing on your wrists. Falling backward is a bit more of a challenge. If you feel yourself falling backwards, roll with it; rolling with a backward fall will give you less impact--and less chance of injury--than if you try to land backwards on your wrists.
Swizzle
A beginning exercise, swizzles work your butt and quad muscles. In this exercise, you need to get into a squad position with your arms in front of you. Push both feet out until they are just wider than your hips, then pull your feet back together. This pushing and pulling will make you move forward. As you get more familiar with this exercise, you can do it more consistently--push, pull, push, pull--or you can alternate by first moving your right foot out and back, then moving your left foot out and back.
Marathon Training
Marathon training is just as challenging for inline skaters as it is for runners. To determine if you have the skill to skate a marathon, ask yourself two questions: can you brake effectively, and can you easily skate a mile in seven and a half minutes or less? If so, you can prepare for a marathon by doing LSS--long slow skate--sessions in which you skate slower than usual for a longer amount of time, building your endurance. Skating up and down hills will prepare you for any sort of hills you may encounter during the marathon. You can also do Fartlek training, which is the skater's version of interval training; skate as fast as you can for a short distance, then follow up with a long slow skate. Continue alternating between speed bursts and LSS.
Hockey Drills
Hockey has its own specific inline skating drills centered around a roller hockey rink and designed focus on technique, cardio conditioning, speed, control and stamina. Some drills are relatively simple, such as figure eights across half of the rink. Others, such as the Torture Drill, are more in-depth, taking you across the rink lengthwise, back almost to where you started, then forward again to pick up a puck and shoot at the opposing goal. For more detailed inline hockey drills and diagrams of each drill, see the In-Line Hockey Drill Book in Resources.
Fitness Benefits
A half hour of inline skating at a comfortable pace will burn upwards of 285 calories and can boost your heart rate to 148 beats per minute, providing exercise that is as beneficial as cycling or running. And the rule is simple: if you skate harder and faster, you will drop more calories. Inline skating helps develop your hamstring muscles with less impact than running, and also helps strengthen your butt, hip, and lower back muscles as well.
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