Just go back to what you've been riding most of the time in those 16 years you skated. That might be the only way out of this. Stick to one setup that worked great in the past. You've been posting the same problem for months now, it's time to stop thinking about gear and actually skate. Don't do this to yourself. But if you do, I don't think anyone on slap can help you, but therapy might. And this isn't an insult, absolutely everbody could gain a lot by going to therapy. I sure did
Honestly, the most important thing is to have fun for me. While progressing is fun in it's own way, being way too in your head about random stuff like your style and bag of tricks isn't. Some sessions are good, some are better, and other are just horrible, and that's OK.
I'm definitely not the best skater in my town, but whenever I go, I have fun. That's all that matters for me. I like to go fast, do the tricks I can do as well as I can, and work on some tricks I think I could get, which doesn't always work out.
I always see dudes who are really freaking good at skating freak tf out, getting super mad because they didn't land their crazy flip in/flip out trick or something, and they don't look like they're having the best time. Unless you get paid to skate, there's no reason to take it this seriously. On the contrary, I spend a shit ton of money on skate stuff, so I might as well enjoy it otherwise what's the point?
As for your question about "does the setup have an effect on your progress", I'd say changing your setup constantly is gonna have a negative effect on your progress for sure, while getting to know your own setup and adjusting to it is gonna make everything much easier, at least for me. There is no mystical, magical setup that's gonna make someone a better skater, otherwise everyone would be skating the same shit. It's all about preference, influence and the type of skating you do.
In short: have fun and don't be too hard on yourself. Just go skate.
First of all. Mad props that you can talk so open about that. And I totally understand you. I am skating for 20 years now and there are days, where I feel absolutely terrible about my skills (check my signature under my post if you are interested). Anyway, you come off as really passionate and skateboarding is very important to you.
But, bad sessions are a part of that all. We all have those from time to time. We might have these expectations in our head, how we would like to do certain things.
I had a long talk yesterday with my homies, the key is, to let go of these expectations. Try to push yourself BUT always keep it fun. We all tend to be our own worst critic sometimes. That's where my feeling comes from, to never be happy with the things you do. It sucks and I need to work on that mentality.
These are my personal thoughts about that all, others might disagree with me here, but..
The best influence on personal progress is to stick with a specific setup which you feel comfortable on and ride that most of the time. Of course, try different things if you see a reason why you should change something. But no matter what, there just isn't one exact perfect setup for someone. My advice would be, to either stick with the Ventures or the Indys and try different foot placements for example. Ventures and Indys are very different trucks and I personally would tend to the Indys but that is for you to decide where you feel more comfortable. Skateboarding is mad difficult and will always be. Most people on this planet can't even ride one without falling.
Keep your head up mate and remember why you started skating. Because it is the most fun thing in the world.
Much love. <3
I read through this the other day when it was posted, but just couldn't reply at the time.
Now reading through it all again and having a minute to reply, I have this to add.
I have seen lots of people come and go in skateboarding, even felt the frustration and anger at myself getting the better of me often enough, even recently when things just didn't work out whatever I was trying, but for some people who are struggling for whatever reason, having a meltdown and breaking their board or taking out their frustrations in other ways, it is only going to make things worse.
I know at times like that I just have to take a breath and even take a break, then either leave whatever it was for a better time, or just find somewhere to roll around without needing to make myself do anything much, even though I might be more keen to try a whole lot more than I should at the time. Lots of things get to me, be it a bad night sleep, not eating right, or the best one, a negative interaction with my other half (and she knows just the right buttons to push as well) so then if I think I just need to skate and those things are already bugging me, then chances are things are going to go bad, more so than get better.
If something is not working with the board, try to figure out what it is, but don't put too much into it, as in that exact point of a bearing making a little noise, or a truck squeak or whatever else that can send you over the edge, compared to tightening or loosening trucks a little, or something with the shoes or deck getting old, or too new or whatever it is. Seen people take apart their whole board and rebuild it in the middle of a session, which might have helped but sure did look a bit weird, but whatever works to help take your attention off a specific issue is a good thing to do sometimes.
Having "Gear Madness" is a real thing - sometimes trying out too many options will make things way worse, but more often than not, you might also find what does work best for you, so can fine tune things from all those experiences into something that means keeping a certain brand of truck, or a height of truck, or even combinations of truck bushing, board, wheelbase, or whatever will usually lead back to a stable point, or something that you can rely on at least to restart things and build on that, before going down a rabbit hole or worse.
At least I will always have a skateboard and a place to go in some form or other, just to have a roll and forget about everything else, which has always made it so appealing and accessible to me, compared to almost anything else, or dealing with anyone else, where you need specific things, locations, other people or places you have to rely on. This is just me on my own, doing what I want, when I want to. Some days, or even up to a week sometimes, I just don't feel like rolling, but other times and days, I am very keen, even with injuries, I can still get out somewhere for something, not pushing myself if I don't need to, or taking it easy if I know I can't go too hard for whatever reason, so with that I would like to think I never take this for granted, given everything else that could be going on.
Leaving it at that for now, but remember, you are never alone with this - there are always lots of other people, skaters, whoever, that are all at some point going through the same things.
Topic: Gear madness support thread (Read 369237 times)