Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, Welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.

Speaker 2: 0:43

I'd like to welcome everybody to the first episode of how Do you Skate with my guest, the godfather of freestyle inline skating, chris Edwards. So how are you doing today, sir? I'm doing well.

Speaker 3: 0:56

Just putting a long work day, but I'm doing good.

Speaker 2: 1:01

Now does your full-time job, does everything revolve around skating, or do you work outside of skating too?

Speaker 3: 1:07

Yeah, it's been a little while, you know, since I've been able to live off of skating, so I have to do other things in order to feed the mouths that I've created.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Yeah, I definitely know that. So Rollerblades started. They came out with the first commercial inline skate in 1987. So how did you fall into the style of skating that you do? So?

Speaker 3: 1:34

early on in the in the game of skating or inline skating. Well, they actually actually the olsen brothers from minneapolis. They created the skate back in the 70s. It was uh, uh like 78 79 when they first put the skates together and then it was purchased in 81 by Bob Nagley who did a lot of like billboard signs and advertisement and things like that. So he was very smart about how he marketed it. So they took it from the hockey youth that the Olsen brothers were hockey players. They just wanted to create a skate that they could do hockey during the summer. And that's how the Rollerblade was created. And then Bob Nagley bought the company from them. Nagley bought the company from them and Rollerblade was officially up and running as a corporation by 81.

Speaker 3: 2:31

And Nagley started marketing to Cross Fitness for skiing, for hockey racing and then recreational really pushed it hard for recreational purposes. So he created a bunch of demo vans and sent them all over the United States and just started getting people on the skates to try them. The world was first getting introduced to them. A lot of people were like what the heck are those things you know? And people were first seeing them and I was kind of. I was one of the first to see him.

Speaker 3: 3:02

I started, I got my first pair of skates in 1985 because Nagley had sent Chris Morris, a sales rep, out from Minneapolis to California, the sole mission just to get the skates into as many shops as they possibly could. So he was getting them into surf shops, skateboard shops, bike shops, you know sporting goods. Like he was, he was an animal with it. So he ended up getting them into a bike shop that, uh, I coincidentally was the next door neighbor to the owner. Martin was also give North County bicycles in Escondido and the skates got dropped to him in 85. And I saw him and I, uh, I put them on man, I fell in love. And it was in 87 that I actually got introduced to Pat Parnell and Chris Morris of Rollerblade and then joined the team Rollerblade in 87.

Speaker 2: 3:58

And then, when did the freestyle type with the ramps and all that start?

Speaker 3: 4:03

I started doing that right away because I was a socal kid from southern california and you know my friends skateboarded. I was working at a bike shop, I I did a little bit of freestyle bmx and I raced a little bit on bmx and tried riding some ramps and stuff and then, uh, once I got my skate, so my dad was an avid skier. So I guess that's like kind of where I was really attracted to it because my dad had me skiing, since I could pretty much walk Like I, he, we skied every winter. We lived in Los Alamos for a little bit. He was a pastor and he took a church in Los Alamos for about four years when I was between the ages of eight and 12. So I got like like a lot of skiing in in Los Alamos. We skied like every weekend during the winter and sometimes even on a Wednesday he would take me out of school, let us go ski.

Speaker 3: 4:58

So I skied a lot and I I was really attracted to the Warren Miller films back then, you know, with like Glenn Plake and the guys jumping off of cliffs and all that kind of stuff. So I was, I was trying to, you know, as a kid jumping off smaller cliffs, of course you know like making jumps and launching, and so like I fell in love with that aspect of skiing as a young kid. And then we moved back to Escondido where you know the closest ski hill is Big Bear, about like two and a half hours away. You know the skiing like diminished after being so used to it as a kid. And then I saw the skates with some dude with the holding ski poles because Nagley was using it as a cross trainer, and man, I was like, oh man, that looks like I could like ski on the land, like let me try that.

Speaker 3: 5:44

So I did. And then I started just jumping off of stuff right away, jumping downstairs and you know, off a little, off a little ledges. And then next thing, I know I'm like in the backyard with my friends on their mini ramp. They're skateboarding and we're riding bikes on a half pipe and you know I'm just there on my rollerblades. I was like the only kid in my town for quite a while with skates. I was made fun of actually quite a bit, because I would skate to school every day and you know like that was my mode of transportation I just cheap transportation too yeah, so what's that said?

Speaker 2: 6:19

it's cheap transportation. You get through it back and forth a lot quicker than some modes.

Speaker 3: 6:24

Yeah, I mean, I didn't, I didn't care, I loved, I was bombing hills with bombing hills, on the way to the school and from school over to work. And then, you know, like I was, I just I skated everywhere and I, I, just, like I said man, I fell in love with it, and and then one thing just led into another, like I, I, I, I was super attracted to him and I started going nuts on him. And then the owner of the bike shop saw, like how much I, how passionate I was about him and how crazy I was starting to become. So he contacted Rollerblade and told Morris to come down and check me out and I took Morris skating. I took him to my local skate spots and you know, I took some.

Speaker 3: 7:05

Like I mean, he was a grown man, I was only like, like you know, at that time I was like 14 years old and I was taking, I was taking some pretty big, pretty big sets to where he like had to stop. He was like I'm not jumping, that you know. So he was, he was blown away.

Speaker 3: 7:19

So they, they instantly grabbed me and put me on the team. And then Morris started keeping me really busy doing demos with launch ramps and quarter pipes and then getting us a bunch of commercial work. And man, I just I mean I was just in the right place at the right time. I guess it was really just, it was destiny, you know.

Speaker 2: 7:39

Yeah, is that what led into doing Prayer for the Rollerboys and movies after that?

Speaker 3: 7:44

Yeah, yeah, totally, because you know 87, I connect with roller blade. Uh, morris was just a beast at promotion and just getting those skates anywhere and everywhere. And you know, I mean he was like the number one sales sales rep in the in in the the world. Really, man, that dude like was uh, he was a hard worker, he was a great skater too. And uh like was, uh, he was a hard worker, he was a great skater too. And uh, man he was, he was just passionate about rollerblading and and then he, uh, you know, he got me connected with everybody and then I started, you know, hanging out with like like doug boyce and pat parnell and those guys and they like doug boyce was a a surfer skateboarder and then was attracted to rollerblading and he was doing some some pretty cool stuff, uh, you know, with a little more style and flair and wearing the baggy shorts and you know, like being surfer skater dude about it, you know. So that was kind of my, my role model there for a bit, but he, he broke his ankle real bad and just wasn't able to do it. So then he started living vicariously through me. So he was always, always like Edwards, edwards, do this, do that, do this and try that and then put your legs here and do this. So, like he helped create me, you know.

Speaker 3: 8:52

And then, by like 89, we started. We went from launch ramps and quarter pipes into a full-fledged half pipe and Rollerblade built a full-on half pipe like a big vert ramp, and and then they brought in, uh, jess darrenforth to kind of be our team manager and he was a bmx rider, you know. And then, uh, and then he also enjoyed skating as well. And so then, uh, you know, jess started becoming a huge influence angie walton at that time as well, you know. So angie creates angie and jess and, you know, parnell, they create uh daily bread and box magazine, like things were all starting to. You know, we all kind of met up and by uh 1990, we did prayer of the roller boys and then, uh, by 92, we're filming the movie Airborne.

Speaker 1: 9:43

One of my favorites.

Speaker 3: 9:45

Yeah, yeah. So like we knew, we knew that up until that point. You know it was, it was the, it was the early nineties and like lawsuits were a huge thing. All you know, our whole society in the U? S just started getting all crazy lawsuit over everything. You know, like someone won millions of dollars for spilling hot coffee from McDonaldcdonald's on themselves. You know like it was just like anything and everything. It seemed like the lawyers were just having a heyday.

Speaker 3: 10:11

So rollerblade was really nervous. The company was really nervous of, of promoting what we did. So they kind of used us more as, uh, excuse me, as like a circus, you know, like an attraction. So they would do these big shows. And we had, you know they had like Jimmy Tremble was with us, chris Garrett, alan Vano, mark Shays, like through the early 90s there, and we were just setting up this big vert ramp. They had a dance team that was doing like, like, like ice skating style stuff and they it was like you know, jill schultz was uh, incredible, like she she gathered a crew so they would be doing their thing down below us. We'd be flying up above them and like and creating this uh, you know, extravaganza of a rollerblading show just to get people's attention, and then they would let people try skates on afterwards. You know so they were comfortable.

Speaker 3: 11:13

They were comfortable with that. But when it came to promoting what we did, we kind of had to take the bull by the horns and do it ourselves. Uh, you know, morris was all about what we are doing, but we had a hard time selling it to rollerblade as an official statement, you know, because it was kind of it was a newer thing and it was, and it was, uh, you know, at the time they, you know, coined it aggressive, but, um, so, uh, when we got the chance to do the movie airborne, uh, uh, they, they let us do all the stunts and everything. So, like we, we were hoping that the movie would do well and that it would, uh, you know, start getting a lot of kids interested in what, in what we're doing on skates. So we really put our heart and souls into that movie and, like we, we carefully collected the tricks, we kept everything as realistic as possible and, you know, and just tried to make a really great timeless film with that. And it worked.

Speaker 3: 12:12

And, you know, jess and and, uh, um, and harnell and morris and and angie and, and, you know, some of my older brothers and sisters, they were ready, you know. So, when that movie came out, man, the boys from Video Groove we had just got, we filmed, as we're filming, the movie Airborne. We're also grabbing clips for Dare to Air and like we're multitasking everywhere and then taking photos for the magazine. You know, like we were doing a whole bunch of stuff because we were hoping that when that movie came out, man, if we had a magazine and we had a video, and you know that it would at least like like show that, like that there was a community or some kind of culture. It was like we were almost like faking it. You know, and you know the old saying of fake it till you make it.

Speaker 3: 12:58

So like it's kind of what we were doing in a sense, know like we just we really wanted it to happen and so everyone just really dove in hard and then by uh, by 93, like arlo eisenberg moved out uh to california.

Speaker 3: 13:15

We met him in in uh 92 at some point in uh in texas, and then he ends up moving out and giving them a hand as well. So I mean, I mean, like people just started like like making their way to California and the community began, man, it worked because the movie did well and then by 1994, we had the first world championships and roller blade was willing to say, man, y'all did it. There's, like you know, you're now being aired on ESPN and they gave me a pro skate. You know, angie and Jess and Morris and Parnell. Man, they really fought to get my name on the skate so that it it made it like a legitimate, like you know, professional industry and so I got blessed with uh, uh, our community's first pro skate, the tarmac ce, and and the rest is history, as they say in a sense, you know yeah, and then shortly after that, because that was 93 with the movie, but your first x games was 95, right?

Speaker 3: 14:19

right. So 94, we did the nist series and the nist series did so well that espn came to us and asked us if we would be interested in doing the X Games. And then Rollerblade at the time was making so much stinking money, so Rollerblade helped sponsor the first X Games and get the X Games off the ground. That's why in 95, and like 96, rollerblading had such a huge spotlight. We were like the main event of action, of uh, of action sports, which I think is where a lot of the resentment comes from. But but our, our industry and our community helped spark the x games, which is ironic, being that they, once they everyone made it, they decided to throw us to the wayside.

Speaker 2: 14:57

But you know what are you gonna.

Speaker 3: 14:59

What are you gonna do?

Speaker 2: 15:01

I have no, just keep going. That's all you got to do, because you went through 95 all the way through 99, right, it was 99. Your last sex games.

Speaker 3: 15:10

Um, I think the I did 95, 96, 97, and then 98. And then, uh, 98 is when I, uh, um, I started, uh, my tours and just started concentrating on the amateurs and bringing up the next regime and, you know, falling and ended up like meeting, uh, uh, frankie morales, when he was like 14 years old, you know, and I, I became his, uh, I became his legal guardian.

Speaker 3: 15:37

His mother signed legal guardianship over to me and oh wow I uh, took him around the country on my, on my RVs and you know, I was at that point like, for me I was never really big into competition, you know like I skated almost a decade before the first contest, so I just fell in love with skating and I love skating, I love creating, I love landing things that are in my head and making them into a reality.

Speaker 3: 16:01

And, uh, so for me, my, my biggest, uh, my biggest enjoyment out of skating is not not competing, as just it was just literally skating and and creating and landing things. You know so, and at that time, man, I was just like creating a trick a day. It seemed like, you know, like something new every day. And you know, we were just trying to build trick a trick repertoire and, uh, and have a, you know, were just trying to build trick a trick repertoire and uh, and have a, you know, arsenal full of tricks and actually have this, you know, have a an actual thing, you know yeah I mean, I I competed because it was, you know, it was the first ones and, uh, you know, there was big ramps to be able to ride, so it was fun to be able to to do it.

Speaker 3: 16:42

you know, I I enjoyed skating the exchange, but I I was never, you know, like I said, competition was never really my thing and by 98, I was like all right, that's enough of that. You know, I did well, like I medaled in both Street and Vert in the X Games, you know, two years in a row, in 96 and 97. And that was. I felt like that was good. Up to that point I felt like I, that was good. Up to that point no other skaters had pulled off a medal in both. So I felt like, all right, you know I, I'm a good, well-rounded skater. Now I'm just going to go get more kids to skate.

Speaker 3: 17:19

And that's where you're the godfather. But you were also at the X games when Tony Hawk landed the 900 for the first time, weren't you?

Speaker 2: 17:33

Yeah, I still like was at the end, but I started doing like announcing and different things like that.

Speaker 3: 17:35

OK, I wasn't competing as much in 98. I think I competed but like I got, like I made it into the top 10 and I think one of my wheels blew out or something. I think I walked away with like like 10th place in 98. But my, my concentrations in 98, like I wasn't. I was going to skate parks all around the country and riding and like a vert ramp wasn't always accessible to me, so my, my vert skills were, you know, not overly honed in at that point you know, I was, uh, I was just enjoying skating again and uh, watching other others come up.

Speaker 3: 18:08

You know, and uh, you know, I was just trying to help produce better skaters than myself and help help push the the community forward so are you?

Speaker 2: 18:19

are you like coaching now? Do you still like coach kids and help kids get further along in skating, or I mean I have my own kids now.

Speaker 3: 18:29

So like you know, like I guess I I got a couple of my kids Children are skating and my nephew Colby he's skating, so I skate with him quite a bit and but I don't have anything official bit and uh, but I don't have anything uh official. Uh. I've, I've kind of taken a little bit of a break from all of the the hype and everything. And you know, once rollerblading was like kicked from the x games, we, we really went underground and I think that really, at the end of the day, I think it was the healthiest thing that could have happened to us. Like I really I feel like, uh, you know, our community is really awesome at this point and, um, there's it, there's, it's, it's.

Speaker 3: 19:08

it's kind of cool that we don't have all that craziness, though the money is good, you know, but money is only so much and you know, there's just so many great gators that have come through the past handful of decades and man, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's been, it's been pretty. I I've blown out my knee like four times or three times in my in my career. My left, my left knee just was my nemesis.

Speaker 1: 19:37

And.

Speaker 3: 19:39

I in like 2018, like I was still skating quite a bit, but I just wasn't like worried about being in, like trying to be relevant or in the limelight Cause it was like it was my time to come and gone, like it was time for then the the next to come in. You know that's when, like you got happy and aragon and and and morales and broskow, and you know you have some of the greatest uh skaters like to date were in there coming up at that time and there just wasn't a lot of money in rollerblading. So I I felt like I didn't need to go take money from those guys in any way. You know, like it was their turn. I was blessed, I had a great career and you know, I helped create the whole thing and was there from the beginning.

Speaker 3: 20:24

So, like I mean, I was just I was, I was good, but I was also burnt out. You know, the rollerblade had me traveling 50 weekends out of the year. I was almost never home. I lived out of a suitcase for almost 20 years and uh, it was just like I.

Speaker 3: 20:42

I just wanted to kind of sit in one place for a minute, so I settled down, settled down in pittsburgh, I met a, an awesome girl, and settled in Pittsburgh. But then, by 2018, I had a torn meniscus that I didn't even realize that it was torn, but it secreted this golf ball-sized fist into the side of my knee and I would go in and out of being able to even bend my knee. And then, uh, it took a couple years for me to get in a financial position to actually like take care of it. And uh, so I didn't, uh, I didn't skate for like two years. I was not active very at all like I was. I was running my, my at all Like I was. I was running my, my own contracting company, so I was able to work. But, you know, if I didn't have employees, then I I don't know what I would have done, you know, cause I was kind of gimping around everywhere but um, but I, I finally got the surgery and then I could bend my knee and everything again. And but then that was in 2020 and like literally like a week before covid was when I had my surgery. So I never really got to go back into the hospital and like do a full, legitimate rehab because they weren't letting us back in. So I, I kind of pulled like from my memory banks of my other surgeries on the need and started trying to like rehab it a little bit on my own and and then I, uh, you know I tried to, I started skating again, like I was anxious to skate again.

Speaker 3: 22:20

But at that point, man, I just from being idle and older, because that you know, at that point, like I'm 50 now, so like I mean, I was in my, I was in my mid, mid 40sies, you know, past my mid forties, and the weight just came on me so fast that like I didn't even like realize it until like it was time to go skate and I was like I was like 60 pounds overweight, like man. I was like I was like weighing like 215 pounds, like I kind of carried it a little well, but like man, when I look back at the pictures now, I was like god, like I can't believe that I was like that big, you know. But uh, so I I tried to skate in 21 and I, man, my, my body, my muscles, my bones, my joints, like everything just hurt, like it hurt. I was like, man, I don't remember hurting this bad, like I knew that it hurt, but it didn't hurt like this. And uh, and then every time I would skate my knee would blow up and then I'd have to not skate for two weeks. So it was like a real challenging thing. And then, and then I was like I got, I got like scared that I wasn't gonna be able to like really ever like skate again and or really feel that that like charging sensation, you know. So it wasn't about like a again, again. I competition's not my thing, but man, I really get off on just hauling ass on my skates and and doing, doing some tricks, you know, and catching a little bit of air. And uh, and I wasn't able to do it and I just really it kind of depressed me. And so then I was like, okay, I I've, I've got to make a change here.

Speaker 3: 23:52

And I'd moved my way down to Miami and I got introduced to Angel Bahana, who was a rollerblader from New York City who turned bodybuilder and owner of these amazing gyms called Elevation, and he let me come down there, he let me work at the gym, so I was able to work out and work at the gym, and then he introduced me to this awesome, uh, physical therapist, like this awesome rehab doctor, um, a younger dude, but he was like so knowledgeable about the human body and like how it works and is really hands-on, and he was, he was willing to work with me without, like you know, like charging me a lot. I would like help him in his office, we would like trade, like at times, you know, like I said, it worked out really nice and and uh and and we got along really well. And so then he really took me under his wing. I was like, man, we're going to fix you, dude, like, hey, if you put in the work, I can fix you. I'm like, okay, man, I'm ready to put in work, you know. So, uh, I did, man, and uh, I showed him a ton of videos, uh, of you know skating and all the different weird body positions and you know the amount of uh abuse like we really put on ourselves in order to be a freestyle skater. And man, he, he had exercises for all different things. And then he helped me create an entire like program for myself and I did it.

Speaker 3: 25:17

I did it religiously, I did it like like I was disciplined. I said I changed my diet and uh, and I was consistent, and uh, and now I'm, I'm, I'm skating great again, man and I, and I'm loving it and I did it. I can go skate. My knee don't blow up. That's awesome. I still struggle a little bit with the older back, but it'll come and go, but it's not as bad as it was before. Before my back would just hurt so bad when I was done skating. But a lot of times I get through all the sessions. It's just uh. Every once in a while I get too eager and I forget to warm up, and then I like and then I hurt my back. I'm like you're so stupid Like you could have totally avoided that If you just like. Actually, uh, thought like a 50 year old and not like a 20 year old when I put my skates on, you know.

Speaker 2: 26:09

But yeah, I have the same problem. I'm two years older than you and I'm I'm actually on an inline speed skating team now. So getting back into that and what I really noticed is after the whole pandemic, or even during the pandemic, it seems like there was a huge resurgence of skating between quads and inlines. That, yeah, just because you couldn't work out in gyms, so people were buying skates. I had to wait almost six months for my speed skates to come, just because of they were so backlogged yeah, no, it was awesome.

Speaker 3: 26:40

It was awesome. I mean, there definitely was. I think that I think that, like covid, just made a lot of people put, uh, life a little bit more into perspective. You know, I think everyone like, leading up to it, we we had gotten so, so comfortable as a society of like, so much like instant gratification stuff, and you know, and then it's all of a sudden it was all taken away and then it really made you think about what's most important in life. You know, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3: 27:08

And then how easily it can all just be ripped from you, you know. So I think, you know, I think that's. That was the, that was the the good thing of COVID, you know, I mean so much tragedy in it, but the, the icing on the top, though, is that I think it really opened up a lot of people's eyes, and, you know, a lot of us were like, man, I, why am I not being a kid still, you know, like, why aren't I doing the things that I? I love? Yeah, exactly being happy. You know, life's too short.

Speaker 2: 27:41

Yeah, I just picked up skating again back in December after quite a bit of a hiatus, and it was just. I don't know why I ever gave it up. I gave it up because an ex-wife wanted me to, and I will never do that again, for, yeah it's, I'm too passionate about it to to let someone stand in the way of me doing that.

Speaker 3: 27:58

So yeah, no, I, I understand and for me, like I, I, I I got really busy with the, with my contracting company, being an owner of the company, and, like you know, I found myself skating less and less and then uh, and then, and then, by 2018, it was just like I was uh, I was not skating at all and it man, it was, it was. I didn't like it. I felt like I went into like a, it was like a, it was like a two-year depression time you know what I?

Speaker 3: 28:29

mean, it was so weird yeah, and then uh, but now I'm like I my my brains opened up again, like I'm, I'm, I'm full. I feel like I'm more passionate about it now than even when I was a kid, because I think, like as a kid, I loved it, you know. But, uh, you take it for granted when you're younger, you know and now.

Speaker 3: 28:49

Now it's like I I'm so grateful, I feel so blessed to be able to have uh found my way back to it and and to have found my way back to it in a way that uh, like I feel, I feel in some aspects like, even though I'm like not doing uh like a lot of big, crazy rotations, like I I once did, just because I don't want to blow out my knees, and that's like every time I blew out my knee was from a big rotation um just naturally that's like kind of when it's gonna go, if it's gonna go.

Speaker 3: 29:21

so you know I was tossing sevens and nines and you know big, big spins over and like big spins. So, um, like anytime I I lost my knee, it was it was trying to hold on to one of those and so, even though I don't do that, I feel like I skate better now, though in a weird way, like I feel like I like my skating better now.

Speaker 1: 29:40

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:41

I feel like I'm like flowier and I'm having fun too. I'm learning a lot of new tricks with the, with the new skates, and you know like it's uh, it's such a different, it's such a different thing.

Speaker 2: 29:57

Yeah, definitely so. Speaking of skates, so now we're going to get into your, uh, your setup. So what, what's the Bert, the boot you prefer to use?

Speaker 3: 30:04

I'm, uh, I'm, I'm rocking, uh, frankie Morales. I'm with Frankie Morales all day. You know my little brother, uh, he, he's got his own company called Gods and then I've been rocking his pro model from Gods and I love them. It's a carbon boot and it's not a hard shell. I guess it's considered a soft boot, I guess, but it's not really a soft boot because it's not soft at all Because of the carbon and the way that it still has a plastic cuff and you know, but it doesn't have a liner. So it is like it is all built as. It's like wearing. It's like wearing a tennis shoe. It's like the most comfortable skate I've ever had on, like in my entire career skate I've ever had on like in my entire career, and it's I put those on, I just feel like I'm in my shoes and it's, it's light and it's, uh, super responsive and man, I, I absolutely love them and I, I'm, I'm, I'm stoked that I love them because they're it's frankie's.

Speaker 3: 31:06

It's like, it's like a, like a win-win-win you know, so it's like, it's like you know, and frankie's, no joke, frankie's, like you know, one of the best skaters to have ever lived and and he's still going strong and uh, you know, so he's, he's really passionate about it. He's always been passionate, he's never lost it, he's been in the game and he's maintained his uh relevancy, uh, through a good past couple of decades since he blew onto the scene and you know, he's still at it. I'm super proud of the kid and you know, I mean, he's not even a kid anymore but, like you know, but I like knowing that I met him when he was 14 and helped him, you know, escape some troubles in Miami for him to be able to be as successful as he is.

Speaker 3: 31:49

It's such a an awesome like story and and just such a cool, such a cool thing. So I really, I really enjoy those skates. I, I, that's what I'm, that's what I'm rocking Nice.

Speaker 2: 32:01

And then are the frames interchangeable, or yeah? So what kind of frame do you use for it?

Speaker 3: 32:09

I, I like, I like to create original frames and and then I also like the. I like the 50, 50 frames too, 50, I, I like, uh, I like to create original frames and uh, and then I also like the. I like the 50, 50 frames to 50, 50. I can put a little bit bigger wheel in, but, um, my, my, uh, my heart, though, uh belongs to uh, akeem and Brian, so like, create originals is my, is my ultimate setup like create originals is my, is my ultimate setup.

Speaker 3: 32:37

I'm about to get Frankie's newest gate and I I'm about to slap my create originals on it and kind of make it an official thing. But I was playing around a little bit with the 50, 50s at first, cause I was wanting some bigger wheels. But now that I'm back into it I'm like kind of now I'm like kind of liking to go with a little bit smaller wheels. So like it's my preference has kind of changed depending on where I'm at with everything.

Speaker 2: 32:59

Yeah, and now what about wheels and bearings? Because that's kind of where you get the speed and the stability of a skate too.

Speaker 3: 33:07

Yeah, it is for sure. I mean, I've been rocking the 50-50 wheels so I think Lawrence does some really cool things for skating. He's a real passionate dude Just staring forth. One of my older brothers from way back in the day originally created the 50-50 brand, I guess there's probably. I have an attachment to that.

Speaker 3: 33:30

That's my attachment to it even though, like jess isn't as involved anymore, it's still. It's like like for me it's gonna forever be just darren for his brand, like it's just like that's my brother's brand, it's like one of the original brands created yeah I just I have loyalty to it. I guess more more so to jess, even though jess uh has a small part in it anymore, but yeah and then bearings. Uh, man, bearings are, you know, to me like bearings are bearings, you know?

Speaker 3: 34:00

yeah you know now, when I was skating man, abec seven was the shit, but now, like you, got abec nines and you know, I think, as long as you got a abec seven or better.

Speaker 3: 34:08

Then, uh, all bearings burn out. I feel like for me, I burn out bearings quick. So like I haul ass, like I'm just I haul ass everywhere, so, um, my, my bearings will be all nice and new and then, like three weeks later they're like, I guess, like I, I blast through bearings so I don't really have. Uh, you know, 50, 50 makes a bearing, so I've been using theirs, I've been using their bearings.

Speaker 3: 34:35

I know there's a lot of great bearings out there. Bones is always a good bearing. I've received some Bones bearings too, from Isaac over at Eulogy, who's connected with Bones. I love the Eulogy wheels too. Eulogy wheels are amazing, those are incredible. One of my other brothers, eric Shrine legend Eric Shrine, he's uh, those are incredible. One of my uh other brothers, eric shrine, you know, legend eric shrine. He's, he's uh, just recently had a, a pro wheel come out from eulogy that that that wheel's pretty badass and uh, they make, they make great wheels. So nice.

Speaker 2: 35:05

So what advice do you have to new skaters coming up and trying to, trying to be where you're at or where frankie morales is at?

Speaker 3: 35:15

um, man, uh, enjoy the process, like, if you can't, if you can't fall in love with the process, then uh, um it, rollerblading has a way of weeding.

Speaker 3: 35:28

Weeding the week out, so like just definitely strong and I just stay strong because it's uh, you know, sometimes, like you know, our community gets made fun of a lot and like you know, we get put down quite a bit from other action sports communities and whatever. You know, I guess hate's just part of the world. So, number one, ignore that and just know that. Like you know, what we never get recognition for is that, like we're strapped into our, into our apparatus, like there's no running away from it, there's no pushing it away from you, like you're, you're stuck in it. So for the most part with skating, you either land your tricks or you slam and there's no, there's hardly ever an in between. That's either you got it or you're, you're down on the ground. So, um, man, just just stay with it. Just stay with it. Don't get discouraged because of a couple of bails, like if you just keep fighting through and just pick yourself up, get back on the saddle, as they say, and uh, and just keep on rolling, man. Next thing, you know it'll be there and you know, don't chase the the. The biggest thing is, like you know it'll be there and you know, don't chase that. The biggest thing is, you know, don't chase the fame, don't chase the money, because those those things they might not ever come. And and when they do, it's only for a fleeting moment and at the end of the day you're still left with just you and your skates. Like, just do it because it's awesome and it's fun and learn to just love skating and skate to love skating. That's like the biggest thing. And you know when you do that, if you fall in love with it, man, then just stay with it. The rest will follow. As they say, the rest follows. Definitely. Just do your thing and don't be ashamed or afraid to do something different. And you know, that's the greatest thing about skating is that it's a. It's freestyle. Like, like you know, I I never really liked the aggressive inline term. That was like something that like they coined us as for the X games and like that's how we got sold, like that wasn't really by our choice, that was, uh, you know, television and corporations like trying to coin us as that. But uh, it's not really an aggressive thing. Like sure, it's like it's an action sports. Uh, it's part of the action sports and there's definitely some danger to it and you can take it to the ultimate extreme if you want. But you can also, you know, just get out there and do some really nice, flowy fun. You know cruisy kind of things, and you know it's freestyle skating, so it's free, it's freestyle.

Speaker 3: 38:05

You got your style, do your style, do your thing. Do the tricks that make you happy, do the things that make you feel good. You do that and you happy, do the things that make you feel good. Uh, you do that and you will succeed. Uh, whether you end up competing or don't competing, you'll just succeed on your skates and you'll walk away every time with a smile, just doing what you do best and what you feel is good to you. You know, like, if you go try to do a soul grind and it just doesn't feel good but you do a misu and you love it, then be a misu master. Like, just do't feel good but you do a Mizu and you love it, then be a Mizu master. Like, just do Mizus. And then, like you know what I mean Like there's, there's a gazillion tricks out there now.

Speaker 3: 38:39

I created quite a few of them when I was younger, but then there's a whole bunch of other tricks that a bunch of other people created too, and it was their style, it was their, their way of doing it and some of them I like and some of them I like and some of them I don't like. So I do all the ones that I like. What's going on? Okay? Oh sorry, I'm good. I was like trying to be in a spot where I have a light, but I'm like at the gas station, like off to the side, but apparently tonight is when the gas truck comes and I'm and I'm in the way.

Speaker 3: 39:31

It happens, I'm going to come over here, all right.

Speaker 2: 39:39

There we go. So now, how can our listeners follow you if they want to follow you and find out more about you?

Speaker 3: 39:48

So how can our listeners follow you if they want to follow you and find out more about you? I have a pretty steady on Instagram right now, so it's airman underscore CE. I do have a TikTok that I play with a little bit here and there, and we're currently we're really starting to concentrate on our YouTube. We're just, uh, I started throwing a little bit of content up there and I kind of slowed down for a second because I feel like I need to uh be a little more professional on that. So I'm I'm putting some things in order before I really get aggressive on youtube, but for right now, instagram's kind of my, my daily thing.

Speaker 3: 40:26

I do a live workout every Monday, wednesday and Friday and, if you love skating, man, uh come join us. Where people are starting to join us from man all around the world. It's pretty crazy like our lives are starting to get people from from all over Australia, scotland, uh, you know, europe, and then the USS, canada, like it's pretty awesome, like so and people. I've been doing it on Instagram for most of this year so far, so there's quite a few people that got our first session in during the winter and got through three months of it. It takes about three months to really notice a significant difference. You'll start to notice a little bit at first, but you know, like your first month, you're just sore and you're like this is just, this almost sucks, but it it really does work. And if you, if you stay disciplined and you stay consistent with it, it will change the way you skate. I mean, I guarantee it. Like I guarantee it, it changed the way I skate and I've been skating for a long time. You know it's been 40 years of skating and I did work out when I was in my 30s and still kind of trying to hold on to my career and still kind of trying to hold on to my career and I had to start working out in my early 30s.

Speaker 3: 41:51

And this blows it away. It's really simplistic, it's awesome. You don't need a gym, you just need your home, you need a mat, you need a kettlebell and you need a wall to lean on and if you have stairs, then you do the plyometrics with us on the stairs and that's all you need a wall to lean on and if you have stairs, then you do the plyometrics with us on the stairs and that's all you need. And and it is an hour and a half of just human torture, but it is. It is the best torture that you'll put yourself through, because every, every exercise is targeting a specific muscle that we use in skating. Like throughout all my 38 years of skating, I've never seen a workout program that was geared towards skating. There's all these special workout programs. If you're a baseball player, a workout program. If you're a baseball player, workout program. If you're a football player, workout any traditional sport. There's specific workout programs for your football player. Workout any, any traditional sport. There's specific workout programs for it yeah exactly, no one has ever.

Speaker 3: 42:51

And you can't do that workout program and then expect to skate great like you didn't, you didn't address your stride, you didn't address your soul, soul variations, you didn't.

Speaker 3: 43:02

You didn't address your landing and your hopping, like you know, like you, you didn't, you didn't. There's so many things that we actually use and by showing, uh, dr rob, these the videos, and then him specifically going, oh, oh, dang, okay, I see what you did there, do this exercise and that will work, those muscles that you're using, he's like I can see what muscles you're using and like you know, and and, uh, it really works, and it's all balance work too, which is amazing. So you're, we do see what muscles you're using and like you know, and it really works, and it's all balance work too, which is amazing. So you're, we do. You're like, you're constantly on, like we do sets of sets of 10, you know, per leg. So you're on your left leg, standing on your left leg only, doing all these crazy different movements, and then you go to your right leg and you do repeat all the different movements and you instantly at first, like, like, like I tell everyone, just don't get frustrated, don't be ashamed. And like, just like, just stay with it, like you're going to cut your foot.

Speaker 3: 43:58

The ultimate goal is to get a perfect set of 10. And it takes about three months before you're getting perfect sets of 10. But then, by the time you get to that, those perfect sets of 10, you've rounded out your body, you've evenly shaped out your body and, with everything being one leg, when you go to skate and you put both those legs into action at the exact same time, it's it's like, it's like it's almost miraculous, dude, I'm like, I'm blown away by it. And you know, like I'm 50 and I went, you know, I, when I first started getting back in, man, I was hurting so bad when I was skating. And now I'm like I'm doing like, head high airs out of out of out of the ramps. I'm doing all of my grabs again, I'm doing new grabs, I'm doing new, new variations of grinds, like, like, my balance is so, it's so honed in at this point. It's, it's, it's amazing, it's amazing.

Speaker 3: 44:50

And I, I just like I want everyone to be able to experience this. You know, like I saw, I'm, I'm really honored and and and blessed to be able to share it with the community. And, uh, it's there and right now I'm just, you know, I'm giving it away, cause I want everyone to, I want people to to experience it and a lot of our, a lot of the people that have put in the work and stay dedicated man they're. They've got some incredible stories. People are saying, like man, before they they could, they couldn't walk up and down stairs without severe knee pain. Like, just in it, just like it. It helps so much with your joints, it's, it's unbelievable. And now you know people are sprinting upstairs and they're jumping and flying again. I'm in the same boat. It hurt me to walk up and down stairs. Now I charge upstairs every other stair and run up and down them and I'm skating like I'm in my 20s again. It's pretty incredible.

Speaker 2: 45:46

Nice, I will definitely have to add that to my regimen. I'm in the gym five days a week, plus skating, like I think, six days a week. So, yeah, definitely need to add that. So with, do you do flexibility in it too, or?

Speaker 3: 45:58

it's all everything's elongation. So everything, everything is going through the motions of skating and addressing all the balance, it activates your legs in ways that, just like pumping iron doesn't Like pumping iron is going to make your muscles big and stiff. Everything that we do, like the most that we're doing, is a 10 to 15 pound kettlebell or or uh, or dumbbell.

Speaker 3: 46:28

so that's it like there's not really, it's mostly just pure, simple body movements. You'll see, uh, if you, if you follow, you'll see that it's uh, it the way that I don't know, dr rob's a genius, so, like the way that you're. The way these exercises work, it like it. It forces all of the muscles to activate. You almost feel your legs shaking. You feel all the muscles squeezing everything on your leg, from your hip down to your ankle. Everything we do makes all of the muscles work in unity at once, which is what we call for when we skate. We're asking everything to work for us and, uh like, there's, there's uh exercises that that, uh like, enhance your strides. There's exercises that enhance your grinds. There's uh, exercises that enhance your stability. Um, and it's uh.

Speaker 3: 47:23

And then we do, and then we just do simple, uh, upper body calisthenics. So we'll do supermans, for when you eat shit, you know, because when you nose dive. So we do supermans. We do a basic push-up and we do five core exercises that all address launching and jumping. So that way your core is being built to skate. So it's not going to necessarily give you these, uh, a ripped like six pack of, just like, just muscle just sitting there. It's going to actually, you end up with these like.

Speaker 3: 47:58

You end up with, like larger outer obliques, um, like it's the way like my body's been shaping out, so like, uh, because we use like with our strides and everything we're using more of our outside abdomens, and so the exercises, the core exercises that we do, uh really address like, uh like, like you're jumping, like like the mountain climber the mountain climber is very like, you know uh like for jumping and uh, we do like, uh like more of like a jumping jack for the stride, so that works, the outer obliques and like I don't know.

Speaker 3: 48:30

There's like five core exercises we do. We do a little bit of tricep in case you fall backwards and try to reach back, which is, you know, really a no-no, but even still, after almost 40 years of skating, I find myself doing it sometimes. So to have a nice tricep there, just to help you, like, catch it and get you out of it quick. And then we do, uh like, some bridges just to help with the skater back. So the bridges really work for the skater back.

Speaker 2: 48:54

Yeah, but nice it.

Speaker 3: 48:57

It's. It's really nice man. It's a great program. My nephew's 27 and uh, he just started skating a couple years ago and now he's been pretty the. To watch how how much better he skates within only a few months is almost a story in itself like yeah he started.

Speaker 3: 49:15

He started doing the workouts with me, he started being disciplined and then all of a sudden he's just locking in these mean soul grinds. He's like launching off of souls. He's like landing like a, like a, like a pro. The way he stomps his stuff now like everything's all about and that plyometrics is super huge for for, uh, skating, it's it.

Speaker 3: 49:35

I can't like I can't rave enough on plyometrics. So we, we do a lot of those um, and then, uh, you know, I don't know, it's great we do plyo on monday, we do single leg plyomet metrics on monday, and then we do double leg plyo metrics on friday, and then wednesday we call warrior wednesday and we beat the living shit out of our legs. So we add, we add a little bit more. We use weight, uh, we use the weight a little bit more and uh, and I add, uh quite a few, um, like kind of more, like stretching and strength.

Speaker 3: 50:04

It's weird, some of these exercises that rob had me doing was like stretching and strengthening all at once, so like it makes you bend all the way over, and then like squat and then come back up and then like straighten out your leg before you like go out, so you're like you're touching your toes, uh, you know, like, so there's a lot of it. You're, you're, you're, like you're teaching the muscles to remain elongated, which is what a rollerblader really needs. We don't need to be buff. You get buff and then you're not fluid anymore. We need to be fluid. So all this is all about elongation, flexibility and strength and balance. Balance is the biggest thing. Just about everything we do is all about balance.

Speaker 2: 50:48

Yeah, definitely. Well, I'd like to thank you for coming on and being my first guest, so it's truly an honor to actually finally get to talk to you.

Speaker 3: 50:57

My pleasure. I appreciate you. Thank you so much, thank you.