Strength and Conditioning for Skateboarding

[rocklobster]

http://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2019/08/30/jocks-guide-skateboarding-gym-exercises/

Recently picked up skateboarding again after being off the board for 4 years. Between that I've been keeping active with 10k runs, kickboxing and surfing.

Got some resistance bands over the weekend to work specifically on my ankles and strengthen my ankles. I lost my kickflip years ago and haven't been able to get them back, probably due to a bad rolled ankle (folded trying to skate stairs) and lack of proper rehab.

Anyone have any more strength and conditioning exercises specific to skateboarding?

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

Jumping rope...agility ladder?  I actually think too there's prolly some good warm ups and excercises while skating...the one thing that I wrestle with is trying to stay light footed.  You just kinda get grounded and stop jumping as you get older...

[DotGuru]

Squats. Calf raises. Various leg lift things while laying down (single, alternating, sideways, etc.) for hips and knees. Some Tai Chi balance type stuff for ankles. Various stretches (including some yoga) plus typical pushups, jumping jacks, etc. It kind of needs to be a full body workout, really, since your whole body works together.

I'm not sure about any of the stuff in that article. I've never used resistance bands.

[rocklobster]

Jumping rope...agility ladder?  I actually think too there's prolly some good warm ups and excercises while skating...the one thing that I wrestle with is trying to stay light footed.  You just kinda get grounded and stop jumping as you get older...

I jump rope regularly when I'm doing kickboxing; great for overall endurance but so-so for the explosive bursts you need for popping the board. I get a light stretch in before doing my warm up tricks; no more gaps or stairs, only flatground, ledges and flatbars for not.

I'm going incorporate box jumps into my workout sessions. So far the ankle flicking exercise seems promising, been doing it for 2 days and my ankle definitely feels a little more sturdy. I do notice when I'm practicing the 180 jumps I'm more aware of my head and shoulder position when turning, essential stuff that I overlooked when I first started.

[HyenaChaser]

@drkylebrown

Physical therapist to the stars. Or at least Walker Ryan and Sebo Walker*

*How humorous both of his most well known clients have “Walker” in their name. Hilarity ensues. Golly, what a time to be alive.

[rocklobster]

@drkylebrown

Physical therapist to the stars. Or at least Walker Ryan and Sebo Walker*

*How humorous both of his most well known clients have “Walker” in their name. Hilarity ensues. Golly, what a time to be alive.

started following him on IG, lots of great stuff

[Sila]

Calf raises with or without weights. Don't neglect your hips either. Strength based yoga is really helpful for keeping your whole body toned and balanced too

[iKobrakai]

Olympic weightlifting. Which is almost as hard as skating, so don't bother.

[Sundaynuggets]

I had the same question about another sport I participate in and a friend of mine who is a PHD in exercise science recommended that I keep it simple and do squats, deadlifts, bench press and weighted pull ups. I think the same idea would apply for skating.

Then, for specific goals (a higher ollie for example) he said I could do lightly weighted explosive jumps in addition to the heavy lifting.

I think the idea is that you want to do what you can to be generally strong, without cutting into your skating time and allowing for recovery time. The bulk of your conditioning would come from doing the activity itself (skating).  Then auxiliary training would be more for specialized goals. So I do those lifts twice a week in a periodized program and make sure I have proper recovery time and deload weeks.

[50mm]

Body weight squats and pushups along with stretching can do more than you would think.

[HyenaChaser]

Body weight squats and pushups along with stretching can do more than you would think.

Fuck is that true? Like you got facts on that? I mean it makes sense but I’m just curious if it really makes that big of a difference. Those are in my meager “workout routine” so this would be reassuring

[S.]

http://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2019/08/30/jocks-guide-skateboarding-gym-exercises/

Recently picked up skateboarding again after being off the board for 4 years. Between that I've been keeping active with 10k runs, kickboxing and surfing.

Got some resistance bands over the weekend to work specifically on my ankles and strengthen my ankles. I lost my kickflip years ago and haven't been able to get them back, probably due to a bad rolled ankle (folded trying to skate stairs) and lack of proper rehab.

Anyone have any more strength and conditioning exercises specific to skateboarding?

You can do most of these exercises while skating. Instead of the box jumping you can try to increasingly ollie higher. Why do exercises that simulate 180 and kickflips if you can do 180s and kickflips with your board? You can also do a ton of tricks on your board that increase your balance and your strength.

Anyway, the jock in me is kind of interested in how serious contest skaters like hoefler or Nyjah "train". I am shure they do some form of strenth training, but I would think it is mostly exercises to balance out the onesided exercise that is doing alot of skatepark street skating. So they would do alot of core and rehab type exercises and also alot of stretching.

[Vintagebody]

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[rocklobster]

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[S.]

Expand Quote

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

[HyenaChaser]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude

Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

That dude Alex Honnold who Free Solo’d El Cap’ had a similar opinion. Someone asked him how many pull-ups he can do and he was like “that actually has nothing to do with climbing.”

@8:09



He also felt that smoking crack at EMB was the pinnacle of professional skateboarding.

[rocklobster]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

I really regret not know this earlier on in my life and wondering how much better I could have been had I not tried to brute force my skateboarding and instead focused on being relaxed and loose. I spent years learning to do FS tailslides and only picked them up after discovering that I didn't have to smash my tail into the ledge; you glide it into place while maintaining the forward momentum. Even the pros with the highest pop or flip tricks aren't doing a full squat to get the maximum pop; they are jumping while guiding a piece of wood with their feet.

I've been trying to skate more relaxed recently (only 3 weeks back) but it's difficult trying to unlearn 10 years plus of muscle memory. Growing up skateboarding I wish there were more pros or videos actually teaching this aspect of skateboarding. Early trick tip videos (I'm looking at you Willy Santos) were completely useless; you really needed a more experienced skater to each you the minutia of each trick while making adjustments to your own body type and range of motion.

That's probably why people like Ben Degros can feel the small differences in their setup (deck width, wheel size, truck height) while it wouldn't make as much of a difference for weekend warriors. They have finely tuned their body to work with a specific setup and can feel when things aren't just right.

While we will always love the underground / outsider vibe of skateboarding, I would have loved to have access to the resources to teach the ins and outs of skateboarding. In many ways skateboarding is like golf or martial arts, where a small adjustment to your form can have a large impact on your game / session.

Shout out for the Henry Cejudo video! Great last fight with Marlon Moraes!

[Dr-Feelgood]

I really need to get in the habit of stretching before and after skating, im coming to realise im not 16 anymore, if im not stetching before skating, i wake up super sore the next day, pretty bad at doing this but im trying to bring it into my routine

[Sundaynuggets]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

[close]

I really regret not know this earlier on in my life and wondering how much better I could have been had I not tried to brute force my skateboarding and instead focused on being relaxed and loose. I spent years learning to do FS tailslides and only picked them up after discovering that I didn't have to smash my tail into the ledge; you glide it into place while maintaining the forward momentum. Even the pros with the highest pop or flip tricks aren't doing a full squat to get the maximum pop; they are jumping while guiding a piece of wood with their feet.

I've been trying to skate more relaxed recently (only 3 weeks back) but it's difficult trying to unlearn 10 years plus of muscle memory. Growing up skateboarding I wish there were more pros or videos actually teaching this aspect of skateboarding. Early trick tip videos (I'm looking at you Willy Santos) were completely useless; you really needed a more experienced skater to each you the minutia of each trick while making adjustments to your own body type and range of motion.

That's probably why people like Ben Degros can feel the small differences in their setup (deck width, wheel size, truck height) while it wouldn't make as much of a difference for weekend warriors. They have finely tuned their body to work with a specific setup and can feel when things aren't just right.

While we will always love the underground / outsider vibe of skateboarding, I would have loved to have access to the resources to teach the ins and outs of skateboarding. In many ways skateboarding is like golf or martial arts, where a small adjustment to your form can have a large impact on your game / session.

Shout out for the Henry Cejudo video! Great last fight with Marlon Moraes!

It would be interesting to see more technical discussion in skateboarding. Body mechanics, leverage, weight distribution, stuff like that. I teach Brazilian jiujitsu and one of the things that appealed to me when I started in 2003 was that it reminded me a lot of skateboarding in that it (at that point) still had a kind of underground fight club sort of vibe to it while still being a very technical art.

Its been interesting to watch Bjj and Skateboarding follow similar paths in how their different cultures progress too in the Sport vs street kind of way.

A lot of the intelligent training practices sport Bjj has been importing from exercise science (lifting programs, sports psychology stuff like visualization, game planning) are things I see 30 and over Bjj folks and some 30 and over Skaters taking an interest in. The things which give an edge to a competitor are also some of the things (in less extreme doses) which allow for longevity in any physical practice for recreational folks.

[S.]

Expand Quote

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For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

[close]

I really regret not know this earlier on in my life and wondering how much better I could have been had I not tried to brute force my skateboarding and instead focused on being relaxed and loose. I spent years learning to do FS tailslides and only picked them up after discovering that I didn't have to smash my tail into the ledge; you glide it into place while maintaining the forward momentum. Even the pros with the highest pop or flip tricks aren't doing a full squat to get the maximum pop; they are jumping while guiding a piece of wood with their feet.

I've been trying to skate more relaxed recently (only 3 weeks back) but it's difficult trying to unlearn 10 years plus of muscle memory. Growing up skateboarding I wish there were more pros or videos actually teaching this aspect of skateboarding. Early trick tip videos (I'm looking at you Willy Santos) were completely useless; you really needed a more experienced skater to each you the minutia of each trick while making adjustments to your own body type and range of motion.

That's probably why people like Ben Degros can feel the small differences in their setup (deck width, wheel size, truck height) while it wouldn't make as much of a difference for weekend warriors. They have finely tuned their body to work with a specific setup and can feel when things aren't just right.

While we will always love the underground / outsider vibe of skateboarding, I would have loved to have access to the resources to teach the ins and outs of skateboarding. In many ways skateboarding is like golf or martial arts, where a small adjustment to your form can have a large impact on your game / session.

Shout out for the Henry Cejudo video! Great last fight with Marlon Moraes!

As a kid I watched Tony Hawk's trick tips with Eric Koston. As his main advice Eric says "Stay loose!" for pretty much every trick. The video is kind of silly but a little better than the one with Willy Santos.

[Vintagebody]

Your loose when your comfortable. If skateboarding is new to you, or something you dont do frequently, your body might find it uncomfortable. This will cause your body to tense up, because its movement its not used to. It doesnt know how the board nor the body will behave or react in certain situations.

So although its important to stay loose, its tough for a beginner to be exactly that. Its just something that will come over time.

Alot of injuries happen duo to the body and your brain "panics". Leaving you with no control over the situation. Easly seen on snowboard videos with beginners trying a big jump. They technically, and their bodies/brain is not used to handling such, and therefore they eat shit. It's something that really cant be learned. You kinda have to get outofyourcomfortzone/movement pattern to learn, unfortunately.

[rocklobster]

Expand Quote

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Expand Quote

Expand Quote

For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

[close]

I really regret not know this earlier on in my life and wondering how much better I could have been had I not tried to brute force my skateboarding and instead focused on being relaxed and loose. I spent years learning to do FS tailslides and only picked them up after discovering that I didn't have to smash my tail into the ledge; you glide it into place while maintaining the forward momentum. Even the pros with the highest pop or flip tricks aren't doing a full squat to get the maximum pop; they are jumping while guiding a piece of wood with their feet.

I've been trying to skate more relaxed recently (only 3 weeks back) but it's difficult trying to unlearn 10 years plus of muscle memory. Growing up skateboarding I wish there were more pros or videos actually teaching this aspect of skateboarding. Early trick tip videos (I'm looking at you Willy Santos) were completely useless; you really needed a more experienced skater to each you the minutia of each trick while making adjustments to your own body type and range of motion.

That's probably why people like Ben Degros can feel the small differences in their setup (deck width, wheel size, truck height) while it wouldn't make as much of a difference for weekend warriors. They have finely tuned their body to work with a specific setup and can feel when things aren't just right.

While we will always love the underground / outsider vibe of skateboarding, I would have loved to have access to the resources to teach the ins and outs of skateboarding. In many ways skateboarding is like golf or martial arts, where a small adjustment to your form can have a large impact on your game / session.

Shout out for the Henry Cejudo video! Great last fight with Marlon Moraes!

[close]

It would be interesting to see more technical discussion in skateboarding. Body mechanics, leverage, weight distribution, stuff like that. I teach Brazilian jiujitsu and one of the things that appealed to me when I started in 2003 was that it reminded me a lot of skateboarding in that it (at that point) still had a kind of underground fight club sort of vibe to it while still being a very technical art.

Its been interesting to watch Bjj and Skateboarding follow similar paths in how their different cultures progress too in the Sport vs street kind of way.

A lot of the intelligent training practices sport Bjj has been importing from exercise science (lifting programs, sports psychology stuff like visualization, game planning) are things I see 30 and over Bjj folks and some 30 and over Skaters taking an interest in. The things which give an edge to a competitor are also some of the things (in less extreme doses) which allow for longevity in any physical practice for recreational folks.

We used to scoff at the idea of a skate "coach" but I can definitely see the value in it if they apply the same sports science to it to help improve. I think of all the time spent working on 1 trick and how much sooner I could have learned it if I had a expert review the footage and correct my technique. This seems to go against everything that skateboarding is built upon - a rejection of sports and jock meat heads, but for me I would have enjoyed my sessions more if I was constantly progressing rather than hammering the same trick out for months on end.

Your loose when your comfortable. If skateboarding is new to you, or something you dont do frequently, your body might find it uncomfortable. This will cause your body to tense up, because its movement its not used to. It doesnt know how the board nor the body will behave or react in certain situations.

So although its important to stay loose, its tough for a beginner to be exactly that. Its just something that will come over time.

Alot of injuries happen duo to the body and your brain "panics". Leaving you with no control over the situation. Easly seen on snowboard videos with beginners trying a big jump. They technically, and their bodies/brain is not used to handling such, and therefore they eat shit. It's something that really cant be learned. You kinda have to get outofyourcomfortzone/movement pattern to learn, unfortunately.

That's the difficult bit isn't it? Every fiber of your being telling you to tense up when it's counter-intuitive to the action.

[Sundaynuggets]

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For conditioning I like cycling. Why? Hits the legs good, low impact (obviously) and you can do it for hours, which you most likly have to do anyway. When you skate, you use your legs for hours.

Strength? Most have been said. Explosiveness is key to increasing vertical jump.
Put in some one legged work on unstable surface to aid stability and balance.
I like make sure my core is fully activated before skateboarding, so I do planks, sideplanks and good mornings, or something else to active the lower back/back.

Stretch is a must. Good ancle mobility logicly helps with flicks. In general, a body with good mobility will have better balance, stabilty and less prone to strain injurys, which we all know can last awhile as you age.

[close]

Was thinking of getting a bike to cycle to skate spots and for some conditioning aside from running.

I've been thinking: aside from strength (for pop) and flexibility, one aspect that is overlooked is being nimble / light-footed, like being graceful and having control of your body movements. Like most sports, you perform them best when your body is relaxed and the more you try and force a motion, the worse you end up doing.

I can only speak from my experience with Muay Thai kickboxing where the harder you try and kick or punch, the worse the end result. The best strikers are the ones who are relaxed all throughout the motion and only flexing on the very last step with fast twitch muscles.

I think it applies to skateboarding as well, like with kickflips (the flick). Even for ledge tricks; obviously you need power to pop up high enough on the ledge, but you need to control the amount of pop so you aren't slamming hard on the ledge and don't get thrown abruptly off the ledge.

Balance and kinesthetic awareness is just as important too, knowing how your head, shoulder, torso and legs are in relation to each other.

TLDR: being good at skateboarding requires more than just having strong calfs, a lot of less talked about skills and physical awareness makes a difference.

[close]

I agree completely. I did Karate for a little while and the instructor would have us do exercises for strength and speed but also would do exercises targeted at training the nervous system: Endless repetitions of the same techniques and doing different combinations of kicks and punches and blocks, an also occasionally just train doing weird movements.

A huge part of skating is to stay loose and be explosive and on point at the same time. I am shure some of the techniques of martial arts training would transfer well to training for skating: Endless repetition, only occasionally go to complete exhaustion of the muscles, train often rather than go for a very long time, always repeat the basic techniques and only try new ones once you have a solid base in the basics. You could even try to optimize the training by using neuroscience like this mma dude



Haha, I wonder if in a few years some of the olympic skate athletes will be training like that. I am fascinated by that shit, but I kind of hope that side of skating will die again and we will be back to top Pros smoking crack at inner city street spots.

[close]

I really regret not know this earlier on in my life and wondering how much better I could have been had I not tried to brute force my skateboarding and instead focused on being relaxed and loose. I spent years learning to do FS tailslides and only picked them up after discovering that I didn't have to smash my tail into the ledge; you glide it into place while maintaining the forward momentum. Even the pros with the highest pop or flip tricks aren't doing a full squat to get the maximum pop; they are jumping while guiding a piece of wood with their feet.

I've been trying to skate more relaxed recently (only 3 weeks back) but it's difficult trying to unlearn 10 years plus of muscle memory. Growing up skateboarding I wish there were more pros or videos actually teaching this aspect of skateboarding. Early trick tip videos (I'm looking at you Willy Santos) were completely useless; you really needed a more experienced skater to each you the minutia of each trick while making adjustments to your own body type and range of motion.

That's probably why people like Ben Degros can feel the small differences in their setup (deck width, wheel size, truck height) while it wouldn't make as much of a difference for weekend warriors. They have finely tuned their body to work with a specific setup and can feel when things aren't just right.

While we will always love the underground / outsider vibe of skateboarding, I would have loved to have access to the resources to teach the ins and outs of skateboarding. In many ways skateboarding is like golf or martial arts, where a small adjustment to your form can have a large impact on your game / session.

Shout out for the Henry Cejudo video! Great last fight with Marlon Moraes!

[close]

It would be interesting to see more technical discussion in skateboarding. Body mechanics, leverage, weight distribution, stuff like that. I teach Brazilian jiujitsu and one of the things that appealed to me when I started in 2003 was that it reminded me a lot of skateboarding in that it (at that point) still had a kind of underground fight club sort of vibe to it while still being a very technical art.

Its been interesting to watch Bjj and Skateboarding follow similar paths in how their different cultures progress too in the Sport vs street kind of way.

A lot of the intelligent training practices sport Bjj has been importing from exercise science (lifting programs, sports psychology stuff like visualization, game planning) are things I see 30 and over Bjj folks and some 30 and over Skaters taking an interest in. The things which give an edge to a competitor are also some of the things (in less extreme doses) which allow for longevity in any physical practice for recreational folks.

[close]

We used to scoff at the idea of a skate "coach" but I can definitely see the value in it if they apply the same sports science to it to help improve. I think of all the time spent working on 1 trick and how much sooner I could have learned it if I had a expert review the footage and correct my technique. This seems to go against everything that skateboarding is built upon - a rejection of sports and jock meat heads, but for me I would have enjoyed my sessions more if I was constantly progressing rather than hammering the same trick out for months on end.

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[close]

It’s funny because when I started Bjj I didn’t want to compete because I still had the anti jock mentality from skateboarding drilled into my head. Then I started competing and gained an appreciation for the value of exercise science approaches, though I still hated some aspects of jockishness.

Now I get a lot of benefit from applying my experience as a Bjj competitor, Instructor and Coach to my skateboarding. I’m not very skillful, but I improve much more quickly than I used to by studying my own and other peoples footage and using an organized approach to studying tricks than I used to when I was younger and just trying shit until I got bored or hurt. I also enjoy skating a whole lot more because of it

[rocklobster]

Do you film yourself skateboarding? Haven't found any good videos on YouTube that offer good insights to tricks.

[Sundaynuggets]

Do you film yourself skateboarding? Haven't found any good videos on YouTube that offer good insights to tricks.

I do film myself if there is something I’m working on so I can see if I can figure out what I am doing that is getting in the way of me doing my tricks the way I want to. For example, I never realized that my rear shoulder tends to travel forward when I do backside grinds on ledges both when I first ollie onto the ledge and also as I am grinding. So I tend to get my body twisted up so I either miss with my front trucks sometimes, or as I’m grinding I get a little too twisted so I can’t pop off comfortably. Same on nose slides and crooked grinds. Opposite problem on kickflips. I never noticed this until I watched video of myself and now I cue myself on those ledge tricks to keep my rear shoulder pulled back during those problem points.

On more complicated stuff, that is beyond my current ability but I am working towards, I’ll try the trick and see what parts pose the biggest problems for me, then (if i can’t figure it out on my own) I’ll watch video of skaters who can do the trick really really well and try to see how they solve those problems and understand how the truck works in a physics sense.

Yeah, there aren’t many good trick tips out there which is kind of similar to the problem I had for years in Bjj where the instructional materials weren’t great (until relatively recently) so I spent a lot of time watching competition footage (the equivalent of peoples video parts) and reverse engineering what they did, how it worked and why they were successful when they were.

[rocklobster]

Some observations from my last session yesterday:
1) Ankle strengthening exercises are effective! I've had bad ankles for years and could't do kickflips for years without feeling a sharp strain in the ankle area. Dragging my foot at the upwards angle and flicking out caused an unnatural pulling sensation in the ankle, so I avoided kickflips for my first few weeks on board. Used the resistance bands and the flicking exercise shown in the Jenkem article for around 2 weeks, 2-3 times a week. Tried some kickflips yesterday and actually managed to do them (40% mob flips, 40% rocket flips, 20% proper ones). Had the ankle strength to drag and flick. Coupled with properly popping the board, hearing the pop (skating without earphones) and jumping to follow the motion of the board, I was landed more kickflips yesterday than I did in the past 5-6 years. Next thing to do would be to work on foot positioning and shoulder rotation since my board is going off at a slight angle while doing this.

2) Our energy levels to skate aren't what they used to be. I could see my performance dip throughout the session when doing flips or ledge tricks. I couldn't pop as high, my board control was dipping and my body positioning was all over the place. I keep a regularly healthy lifestyle (regular runs, kickboxing) as well, didn't think the fatigue would hit me as hard.

3) Angle of approach for ledge tricks is way more important than I realized; especially for FS tailslides. Going parallel is more difficult and I stick on the ledge more but its easier to come out regular.

4) Thinking of the direction of movement is really important too. When I was warming up with 5-0s grinds, I noticed i was too focused on getting my back truck on the ledge, so I would end up sticking on the board shooting out from under me. It dawned on me that the eventual motion I wanted was parallel with the ledge, so I focused on not just getting my back truck on the ledge, but also a forward momentum, if any of this makes sense. Was able to them more consistently and without my tail dragging on the ledge.

Not sure If I'm overthinking skateboarding but I definitely had a more relaxed and fun session yesterday. When I knew my legs or ankles were tired I told myself to call it a day; where in the past I would have kept trying till it was time to head home. I plan to do more session in the week, but shorter ones. Can't afford the time or energy to skate for 8 hours in the day like in my youth.

[rocklobster]

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Do you film yourself skateboarding? Haven't found any good videos on YouTube that offer good insights to tricks.

[close]

I do film myself if there is something I’m working on so I can see if I can figure out what I am doing that is getting in the way of me doing my tricks the way I want to. For example, I never realized that my rear shoulder tends to travel forward when I do backside grinds on ledges both when I first ollie onto the ledge and also as I am grinding. So I tend to get my body twisted up so I either miss with my front trucks sometimes, or as I’m grinding I get a little too twisted so I can’t pop off comfortably. Same on nose slides and crooked grinds. Opposite problem on kickflips. I never noticed this until I watched video of myself and now I cue myself on those ledge tricks to keep my rear shoulder pulled back during those problem points.

On more complicated stuff, that is beyond my current ability but I am working towards, I’ll try the trick and see what parts pose the biggest problems for me, then (if i can’t figure it out on my own) I’ll watch video of skaters who can do the trick really really well and try to see how they solve those problems and understand how the truck works in a physics sense.

Yeah, there aren’t many good trick tips out there which is kind of similar to the problem I had for years in Bjj where the instructional materials weren’t great (until relatively recently) so I spent a lot of time watching competition footage (the equivalent of peoples video parts) and reverse engineering what they did, how it worked and why they were successful when they were.

I'll look to setup a go-pro or camera for my next session. I only get 1-2 session in every week, got to make all of them count.

[DotGuru]

Some observations from my last session yesterday:
1) Ankle strengthening exercises are effective! I've had bad ankles for years and could't do kickflips for years without feeling a sharp strain in the ankle area. Dragging my foot at the upwards angle and flicking out caused an unnatural pulling sensation in the ankle, so I avoided kickflips for my first few weeks on board. Used the resistance bands and the flicking exercise shown in the Jenkem article for around 2 weeks, 2-3 times a week. Tried some kickflips yesterday and actually managed to do them (40% mob flips, 40% rocket flips, 20% proper ones). Had the ankle strength to drag and flick. Coupled with properly popping the board, hearing the pop (skating without earphones) and jumping to follow the motion of the board, I was landed more kickflips yesterday than I did in the past 5-6 years. Next thing to do would be to work on foot positioning and shoulder rotation since my board is going off at a slight angle while doing this.

2) Our energy levels to skate aren't what they used to be. I could see my performance dip throughout the session when doing flips or ledge tricks. I couldn't pop as high, my board control was dipping and my body positioning was all over the place. I keep a regularly healthy lifestyle (regular runs, kickboxing) as well, didn't think the fatigue would hit me as hard.

3) Angle of approach for ledge tricks is way more important than I realized; especially for FS tailslides. Going parallel is more difficult and I stick on the ledge more but its easier to come out regular.

4) Thinking of the direction of movement is really important too. When I was warming up with 5-0s grinds, I noticed i was too focused on getting my back truck on the ledge, so I would end up sticking on the board shooting out from under me. It dawned on me that the eventual motion I wanted was parallel with the ledge, so I focused on not just getting my back truck on the ledge, but also a forward momentum, if any of this makes sense. Was able to them more consistently and without my tail dragging on the ledge.

Not sure If I'm overthinking skateboarding but I definitely had a more relaxed and fun session yesterday. When I knew my legs or ankles were tired I told myself to call it a day; where in the past I would have kept trying till it was time to head home. I plan to do more session in the week, but shorter ones. Can't afford the time or energy to skate for 8 hours in the day like in my youth.

I make a point to quit before I get too tired. So far I've avoided major injuries and I always feel like I'm cheating.

I also find that certain things are easier or less scary than before. The main struggle is with pop and general energy levels.

[S.]

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Some observations from my last session yesterday:
1) Ankle strengthening exercises are effective! I've had bad ankles for years and could't do kickflips for years without feeling a sharp strain in the ankle area. Dragging my foot at the upwards angle and flicking out caused an unnatural pulling sensation in the ankle, so I avoided kickflips for my first few weeks on board. Used the resistance bands and the flicking exercise shown in the Jenkem article for around 2 weeks, 2-3 times a week. Tried some kickflips yesterday and actually managed to do them (40% mob flips, 40% rocket flips, 20% proper ones). Had the ankle strength to drag and flick. Coupled with properly popping the board, hearing the pop (skating without earphones) and jumping to follow the motion of the board, I was landed more kickflips yesterday than I did in the past 5-6 years. Next thing to do would be to work on foot positioning and shoulder rotation since my board is going off at a slight angle while doing this.

2) Our energy levels to skate aren't what they used to be. I could see my performance dip throughout the session when doing flips or ledge tricks. I couldn't pop as high, my board control was dipping and my body positioning was all over the place. I keep a regularly healthy lifestyle (regular runs, kickboxing) as well, didn't think the fatigue would hit me as hard.

3) Angle of approach for ledge tricks is way more important than I realized; especially for FS tailslides. Going parallel is more difficult and I stick on the ledge more but its easier to come out regular.

4) Thinking of the direction of movement is really important too. When I was warming up with 5-0s grinds, I noticed i was too focused on getting my back truck on the ledge, so I would end up sticking on the board shooting out from under me. It dawned on me that the eventual motion I wanted was parallel with the ledge, so I focused on not just getting my back truck on the ledge, but also a forward momentum, if any of this makes sense. Was able to them more consistently and without my tail dragging on the ledge.

Not sure If I'm overthinking skateboarding but I definitely had a more relaxed and fun session yesterday. When I knew my legs or ankles were tired I told myself to call it a day; where in the past I would have kept trying till it was time to head home. I plan to do more session in the week, but shorter ones. Can't afford the time or energy to skate for 8 hours in the day like in my youth.

[close]

I make a point to quit before I get too tired. So far I've avoided major injuries and I always feel like I'm cheating.

I also find that certain things are easier or less scary than before. The main struggle is with pop and general energy levels.

I feel the same way. I used to always skate until I was completely exhausted or I got hurt. Now I try to stop before I get too tiered. Sometimes it kind of sucks, because I want more, I need to tell myself that that's a good thing and that I can continue in the next session. Some tricks have gotten way easier and I am 34 years old now. It is weird sometimes, because I used to think that to get ahead with any activity it is manditory to suffer.

[rocklobster]

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Some observations from my last session yesterday:
1) Ankle strengthening exercises are effective! I've had bad ankles for years and could't do kickflips for years without feeling a sharp strain in the ankle area. Dragging my foot at the upwards angle and flicking out caused an unnatural pulling sensation in the ankle, so I avoided kickflips for my first few weeks on board. Used the resistance bands and the flicking exercise shown in the Jenkem article for around 2 weeks, 2-3 times a week. Tried some kickflips yesterday and actually managed to do them (40% mob flips, 40% rocket flips, 20% proper ones). Had the ankle strength to drag and flick. Coupled with properly popping the board, hearing the pop (skating without earphones) and jumping to follow the motion of the board, I was landed more kickflips yesterday than I did in the past 5-6 years. Next thing to do would be to work on foot positioning and shoulder rotation since my board is going off at a slight angle while doing this.

2) Our energy levels to skate aren't what they used to be. I could see my performance dip throughout the session when doing flips or ledge tricks. I couldn't pop as high, my board control was dipping and my body positioning was all over the place. I keep a regularly healthy lifestyle (regular runs, kickboxing) as well, didn't think the fatigue would hit me as hard.

3) Angle of approach for ledge tricks is way more important than I realized; especially for FS tailslides. Going parallel is more difficult and I stick on the ledge more but its easier to come out regular.

4) Thinking of the direction of movement is really important too. When I was warming up with 5-0s grinds, I noticed i was too focused on getting my back truck on the ledge, so I would end up sticking on the board shooting out from under me. It dawned on me that the eventual motion I wanted was parallel with the ledge, so I focused on not just getting my back truck on the ledge, but also a forward momentum, if any of this makes sense. Was able to them more consistently and without my tail dragging on the ledge.

Not sure If I'm overthinking skateboarding but I definitely had a more relaxed and fun session yesterday. When I knew my legs or ankles were tired I told myself to call it a day; where in the past I would have kept trying till it was time to head home. I plan to do more session in the week, but shorter ones. Can't afford the time or energy to skate for 8 hours in the day like in my youth.

[close]

I make a point to quit before I get too tired. So far I've avoided major injuries and I always feel like I'm cheating.

I also find that certain things are easier or less scary than before. The main struggle is with pop and general energy levels.

[close]

I feel the same way. I used to always skate until I was completely exhausted or I got hurt. Now I try to stop before I get too tiered. Sometimes it kind of sucks, because I want more, I need to tell myself that that's a good thing and that I can continue in the next session. Some tricks have gotten way easier and I am 34 years old now. It is weird sometimes, because I used to think that to get ahead with any activity it is manditory to suffer.

It's always tempting to tell yourself 1 more try again and again, but I've learned to put a hard stop at a certain time; there's always another session.

As we get older our muscular strength increases so we can pop higher but we lose the dexterity and nimbleness needed for flip tricks, at least for me. I dissect each attempt of a trick a lot more too.

I shared the same mentality, progress = suffering. I had a real love hate relationship on the board but I've told myself to let it go this time around. I'm older and can't afford to do stuff that I don't enjoy. It's an internal struggle for sure, but giving up the "suffering" aspect of skateboarding has allowed me to be lighter in my feet, more relaxed and less prone to injury.