What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?

[cky enthusiast]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

training like a pro athlete fucking sucks

[close]

Dude just said to practice a few manuals, don't be such a bitch about it. Either way everyone here will need some type of extra exercise with time(to the ones that don't already need them), unless the plan is to stop skating at 40 or become one of those older dudes that are all stiff and shit.

[close]

to clarify: i don’t mean strength training or conditioning is bad (i do both regularly)

[Willie]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

training like a pro athlete fucking sucks

[close]

Dude just said to practice a few manuals, don't be such a bitch about it. Either way everyone here will need some type of extra exercise with time(to the ones that don't already need them), unless the plan is to stop skating at 40 or become one of those older dudes that are all stiff and shit.

[close]

to clarify: i don’t mean strength training or conditioning is bad (i do both regularly) i think singularly focusing on being “the best you can be” or whatever takes away a lot of the joy in skating. your skating, trick selection etc will be a reflection of who you are regardless- you’re gonna do and learn the tricks you like to watch.

i used to train religiously when i was racing bicycles (like 12-15 hours a week on the bike doing over under drills, sprint work etc) and all it did was make me hate cycling and give me a fucked up endocrine system. i don’t think it’s worth it just to be the best at benihana fly outs in iowa or whatever

[close]

You know what really takes the joy out of skateboarding? Not being able to land tricks because your legs are all fucked up. I get what you're saying, but it's not really the case here, at least in my opinion.

[close]

This guy fucking gets it^^^. Lebron spends millions of dollars a year on his body because it's what enables him to be a pro until his 40s at the highest levels of competition, or Brady for that matter. Skaters currently do not do this, don't have the funds too, and we don't have athletic trainers that have studied that stuff specifically within skateboarding except for maybe a handful of guys in our history. You can talk about skaters taking stuff from other sports like jocks, but who is the real jock? the guy with the novel approach that has solved the problem, or the cool guy who doesn't have a pro career because he blew out his ACL trying to compete in the modern skateboarding environment?

I appreciate the quote in bold.

I mean, sure, if you’re getting paid to skate why not although I’m not sure training makes a huge difference in blunt force trauma injuries.

[chrisskates808]

Everyone goes through a bad day. Happens to the best of us.

[wormtape]

don’t limit your progression because your friends are getting jealous. they should be hyping you up not talking shit.

[applejuice]

One thing I really regret is not going to skateparks or street spots and meeting any other skaters when I was younger. I pretty much only skated alone in my driveway for my first three years because I had super strict parents and I feel like it really limited my progression. I eventually ended up quitting for a while because I got sick of skating alone and didn't start again until I made some friends that skated.

[Lame_Nigga]

More due to the era I started in (2005) but you don't have to find the biggest shit or the gnarliest spot. I spent years, to no avail, to get good at staircounting and hucking.

Also don't feel self conscious about people watching you. I grew up across from halfway homes and they'd heckle me so often I could never skate in front of the house.

[dime a dozen trend skater]

I don’t know if this is fully correct buts it’s helped me. When you are popping a trick you are really only jumping off tour popping foot, the flicking foot/leg just drags/flicks/gets out of the way. On ollies this has been muscle memory for me forever but on a lot of flip tricks I used to kinda do a two footed jump and my tricks would be rocket or go behind me. This really helped me get nice catchy kickflips because I got so much more flick and friction with my front foot as opposed to just kind of tapping the nose on the way up.