Skateboarding and going to the gym?

[exlurker]

ride a bike to work, ride a bike to the skatepark, ride a bike to spots.  try to go fast as you can.

[_UniversalTruth_]

"A healthy mind needs a healthy body" and so does skating.. so I normally do some workout at home everyday for a few weeks then pause. I also run through the park or go swimming when there's really a lack of exercise.

[Blue Fescue]

Do a martial art.

Alongside skateboarding,. I've done kickboxing for around 6 years. It helped me loads with balance, fitness, strength, etc...and you get the same adrenaline from sparring/fighting as you do skating.

And it's not like joining a conventional gym which are pretty much hamster wheels for humans.

Same.  I do kickboxing and boxing plus some strength and conditioning through the gym and running in the mornings a few times a week.
I don't have any interest in a normal weights type gym I don't think but a good boxing gym is a fun place to be.  It can be hard to find a good one though.

[Wall of Nausea]

Usually hit up these bad boys after a hard day's skate:





Then this when I want to diversify my routine with extra cardio:



some dude hit his head while we were getting our swell on and his mom started bugging out hard. he had a concussion from being attacked by bees while hanging upside down on one of these gnarly fucking things.

[EXTRA SPICY]

I always figured pushups were good for your wrists, i usually slide out with my hands often and it helps a bit (i think?)
As for bike riding, when i was riding a lot i didn't skate nearly as well. I was always sore from riding and the more i rode the less i skated. Now i don't ride a bike at all and skate more often and have better days on the board. I see it too with a lot of the people i used to skate with in the area. They all ride bikes real hard and maybe skate once a week if that.

I like running though for that stamina, and gip said it best. Just go skate, let skateboarding be your work out, fuck the rest.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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I just got a job offer to be a crossfit trainer.  It's pretty expensive to get certified and I am not where I need to be, physically, to train others but it pays really well and the gym is owned by a friend.  Never thought I'd have something like this on the table but I am considering it.

[close]

Cross fit and boot camp will get anybody into shape.  That shit is super tough and is also trendy right now as well... at least in my neck of the woods.  Might be worth it to get certified.  I took 3 months of it at an MMA training facility last spring and was in the best shape of my life.  

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got that p90x thing for free and i'm going to give it a shot. i'm not over weight, but i'm out of shape. i think being in decent shape is pretty essential if you want to prolong your ability to skate into your older years.

[close]

P90X is pretty hard core.  The parent company that does P90X comes across as really corny but most of the programs are really good.  I've done Insanity and really like it.  You can just do it at home, no weights, just you and your body weight.  I don't do the full program (6 days a week) anymore.  I just do the 3 most advanced discs every week in the mornings to stay in shape.

The older  I get, the more beneficial I find exercising.  At 37, I don't get to skate nearly as much as I'd like.

Maybe if you didn't waste all your fucking time on trendy exercise programs you'd have more time to skate?

[sebastian]

I started going to the gym in the winter as I couldn't skate (as some of you already mentioned), but now it's transformed into a 4/5 times a week thing. I still get to skate 3 times a week, and even if I didn't go to the gym I wouldn't be able to increase that amount due to fucked up university schedules.

I've been training 5 times a week for about 8 months now, and recently cut it down to 4 times a week, and the first thing that I noticed was that you get a lot more power into your skating. Don't use the machines that constrict your movement but use free weights and pull up bars and different kinds of things you can work your balance on (i.e. one leg squats with weights on a bosu ball). It's awesome when you feel more solid and balanced, and obviously skating becomes a tad easier when you gain strength throughout your body. Also I figured I should get my arms a little stronger, especially my forearms as I always have a phobia of breaking my arm again.

I'm also doing a bunch of bodyweight exercises (abs/ pushups/ etc.) at home every night, even though this might be a little excessive.


And for general knowledge, as said to me by a trainer at my gym, abs (and for that matter all of the body) start in the kitchen. Eat some good shit and feel better instantly.

[ciaran]

Haven't been to a proper gym since I left uni in 2000, but what I did like using was the rowing machines - top notch for all round cardiovascular fitness, no impact on injured ankles and kness, along with being excellent for rehabilitating mid-level to serious ankle injuries.  

Started running a few years back when I broke my wrist, couldn't skate, ride my bike (no strength to pull the brakes) or do yoga, with the result that my fitness just plummeted.  Obviously enough, the morning run has really helped my fitness in general but also vastly increases stamina & endurance with skating which lets me skate longer, just have to make sure to stretch loads before and after each run, take a cold shower as it helps with minimising cramp & stiffness and go for a short walk afterward/before skating to loosen up a little.   If it's pissing wet, I'll do circuit training at home with some weights, I've found the Spartacus workout pretty good.  I'll go for a run one morning, yoga the next, training/running the third day, yoga on the fourth and so on - gotta start every morning with a vigourous workout or else I'm slow and useless for the entire day.

Yoga's badass, been doing that for over 10 years, highly recommend it for overall waking up your body and stretching out all the muscles that get no attention & those you need for skating - all skaters will benefit from doing the cobbler/bound ankle pose, hip opener pose, seated & standing forward bend, wide legged forward bend (great for the inner thigh & groin area), kneeling shine stretch (also works the ankles) spinal twists & wheel pose.  Look up power & ashtange yoga on Youtube and you'll find tons of relevant classes, routines & breathing exercises , anything from 30-45 minutes every day or two will do it for you - if you do any martial arts, a lot of your warm-up stretches will be the same.

[j....soy.....]

Skateboarding inevitably builds some pretty gnarly inbalances and stuff like yoga and other exercises help even things out....

I always thought wheel was bad news hyper extending your back like that....

[ciaran]

Depends how you do it.  For some folks who treat it as a party trick where you start standing up and lean backwards, that will fuck up your lower back in more ways than you can imagine, largely by your lower spine taking all the impact when you drop back.  Lying on the floor and pushing your body off the ground and you'll be fine. 

Best rule of any yoga or stretching routine is simple - if it hurts, don't do it.  It should at worst be uncomfortable or awkward to do, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.