At what age did your skateboarding progression stop...

[goodatmeth]

Expected to get sad reading this topic but I fucking love you guys. That's some really great happy information about progressing at any age.

I'm 28 and also progressing more than ever. I learned bs tails on pretty high ledges this year. Never felt this good

[Steely Daniel]

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I lived in the middle of nowhere for a bit... that killed my progress. It wasn't an age, but a location that halted my progression.

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I've always thought of what effect this has on someone's development in skateboarding. Truly naturally talented people seem to thrive in any crusty shithole they come up in but I wonder if us average mortals who reside in areas with little to no spots and a bad skatepark if we'd be any better than we are if we had the perfect California-type setting.

[close]

I actually did move from rural Australia to Southern California in my mid-20s and went from a very limited skater to a 'decent' skater pretty quickly. I actually still suck but at least I'm not embarrassingly bad like I was when I first moved here.
Having the access to sick spots and skateparks and wanting to at least hold my own amongst other skaters here led me to progress so much quicker than I ever did back home within just a few years. That's just my experience but yeah, living in California does wonders for your skating, ha.

Well there you go. Hypothesis proven. Now I can start my car in the garage and possibly escape without any interruption.

Gross I don't even remember posting this. What a fucking idiot. Shut the fuck up clown

[Texas_Tone]

I’m 36, I am still learning stuff, I grew up in a smaller town before moving to Austin, I also too a seven year hiatus after my son was born because I was not motivated to skate whatsoever in the small town I grew up in, all my friends had quit skating and we had a shitty arc skatepark, but I just never used it, I had more fun moving around with my friends and skating stuff in the streets, since moving to Austin I’ve found a clique of like minded people to at least keep the fire going, i usually skate the park during the week and try and meet up with some bros during the weekend for some kind of street skating, I am getting older and I’m scared what’s gonna happen when I can’t skateboard anymore though, I’ve given everything I have to skateboarding, I don’t have a career, no retirement, no savings, nothing, I work a shitty job barely scrapping by, but I’m having the most fun I’ve had on a skateboard since I’ve started when I was 6, I guess I’ll just keep going til I can’t then worry about all the other stuff

[Ourladyoftheflowers]

About to hit 35. My partner is a skate rat so we skate almost every day (which I’m extremely grateful for). Learning new stuff all the time. The only thing I lost is stairs and handrails. As I got older it’s more risk assessment and wanting to skate more as opposed to doing gnarlier tricks (I’ll still heel scrape a noseslide down a hubba any day that shit will never get old).

I can’t skate transition like the other older people I know and I just can’t wrap my head around slappies so for me it was learning wallrides. They helped me approach skating in a different way that kept it challenging and fun. Also trying to do simple grinds faster/longer on ledges.

As I get older I’ve gotten more control but also more scared of injuries. I have real life responsibilities and frankly don’t really care if the teenagers at the park think I’m good. So I’d say progression never ends but you just have to adapt how you skate. If your goal is trying to do the same stuff kids are doing in videos you’re gonna get bummed but you can always find new ways to ride your board.

[Willie]

40 1/2.

Got to 40 and was like “Hey, this isn’t so bad!”
Dislocated my elbow and fucked up my back within the next 6 months.

Elbow wasn’t great for my confidence but it healed. Back hasn’t been 100% since and it affects every physical activity you do. Sometimes it’s fine but it doesn’t take much to set it off.

[Getty]

I lived in the middle of nowhere for a bit... that killed my progress. It wasn't an age, but a location that halted my progression.

I'm experiencing this right now. I'm 50 and many tricks and particularly tricks on obstacles have come and gone, but I am definitely still progressing, mainly in the area of switch skating and flatground.

But I just moved to rural mississippi and for the first time in my life I'm really having trouble finding a place to skate. I've lived in very crusty places but there was always at least a parking lot or a curb or a shopping center - nada here. Zero smooth ground.

Fortunately I have a barn on my property that could easily fit a miniramp. Working on that... but the lack of spots is definitely slowing my progression way down.

[Hubba Bo-Tep]

I still suck, but I’m sucking at new things, too.

Haha, truth.  I just turned 50 but I'll pull something new out of the hat every once in a while.  The most important thing, though, is that I'm finally feeling really comfortable on my board again and I'm more hyped about that than anything else.

Just got to accept what's feeling good during the session and don't get stuck in a battle with something that just isn't going to happen that day.

[stephop]

20+ years ago..randomly doing a trick you never did before is not necessarily progression because I've skated random stuff at parks that I've never skated before when I didn't actually suck.

[Skatebeard]

38yo here and it hasn't stopped yet, got very very close to landing my first proper BS heels a few days ago, and tres feel doable if I man up this summer.

[JamesFardy]

35 here, would say overalll, probably 22-23. But I find that I’m still doing stuff I never did at that age. So it depends. I was kinda “known” for skating down fairly big gaps/stairs and doing flip tricks. And these days I do way more grinds/transition kind of stuff so it depends. I have more fun now tho.

[switchfakie]

24 - met a skater gorl & ended up talking to her instead of skating hard whenever i went out to go skate

now i just do tricks i already know & new transition tricks

also im not tryna get hurt skating as ive aged out of skating at 26 - ik im not that old, but its so hard for me to chill with 18-23 year olds, i might as well be 40

[Bupstop]

I’m 45 and I’m still progressing. Im not doing anything super hard but I’m actually progressing faster than I did in my 20s. I think I’ve finally realized that I was wasting my time trying to do tricks my friends did on things they liked. I’ve lost a few tricks for sure and my body is stiff and sore a lot but I’ve learned to pace myself more, be more forgiving to myself and give myself recovery time. I can’t skate everyday for hours like I used to but I make good use of the times I do skate.

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

Just as a reference point, there is a lot more to skating than just getting better at it.....

[SneakySecrets]

19

[lilboosie]

25. I think it was a combination of depression and self medication. Oh and fear of getting hurt to where I can’t work.

I’m too much a lil baby to try shit now

[OhioGuy]

Started last year at 35. And I feel myself getting better with each session. I tell myself the good thing about starting late is I have YEARS of progression ahead of me. Probably won’t stay getting bored until my 40s lol

With that said, I’m not trying to learn every trick. I skate alone, don’t care about impressing anyone, and my body can only tolerate a few hours of skating per week.

I try to focus on little things. Like I’m amazed that I can push switch comfortably now when months ago I’d fall off.

[OhioGuy]

25. I think it was a combination of depression and self medication. Oh and fear of getting hurt to where I can’t work.

I’m too much a lil baby to try shit now

I fear getting hurt too, which keeps me in check. Kids are at a major advantage cause they don’t have to think about supporting themselves and families, so they can do dumb shit. Me, I’m like, “Even if I know I can do this—is it worth the risk?”

It’s why I’ve decided to never learn transition. IMHO, it looks more dangerous than flat ground for a newer skater.

[modern life is war]

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25. I think it was a combination of depression and self medication. Oh and fear of getting hurt to where I can’t work.

I’m too much a lil baby to try shit now

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I fear getting hurt too, which keeps me in check. Kids are at a major advantage cause they don’t have to think about supporting themselves and families, so they can do dumb shit. Me, I’m like, “Even if I know I can do this—is it worth the risk?”

It’s why I’ve decided to never learn transition. IMHO, it looks more dangerous than flat ground for a newer skater.

Mini ramps are the spice of life, couldn't hurt to learn a few basic tricks in there that you can keep doing even when you're like 50. I see far more 50+ guys skating transition than I do skating flatground or just street in general so there must be something to it.

[Perforated Opinions]

fuck fuck fuck.
i dont want to label a time when my progression stopped. because i may have done a bad ass trick but now i have a general better together style of just being.

like i did a flip trick yesterday on the hip. but this time i pulled up on a fly moped. so isn't that progression.

[SatanicPanic]

I’m still learning new stuff and haven’t really forgotten a ton (mostly flip tricks). I just can’t do anything as high.

[The night listener]

27. That was the last time I learned anything. I'm 36 now.

[The night listener]

Expected to get sad reading this topic but I fucking love you guys. That's some really great happy information about progressing at any age.

I'm 28 and also progressing more than ever. I learned bs tails on pretty high ledges this year. Never felt this good

This is exactly what I want to learn but I feel I can't

[Logic]

Usually it's the case of I continue to progress, begin to gain confidence and try more difficult tricks (or variations of them), then take some sort of injury that leaves me unable to skate for a bit or rattles my confidence. Had nearly two years off the board and just decided to focus on the gym instead, hoping that helps with injury prevention.

[mj23]

my progression hasn't stopped, it's just changed direction. i haven't learned anything new down a gap or on a ledge in 10+ years, but i'm still learning new stuff on curbs and small qps. i should have spent more time skating little stuff when i was younger, but that wasn't where my head was at

[whale]

Turning 39 very soon, and like many others have said haven't really stopped progressing despite my age.
You just need to have the drive to push yourself to try things out of your comfort zone. And keep your body (somewhat) healthy.

[rawbertson.]

i stopped progressing around ~25, took a bit of a break from skating from like 2012-2017. i still skated it was just on the back burner, i couldnt jump down stuff anymore was the first thing i noticed after even just like 1 year off. then i started skating more and more after that to the point and i think i got back on slap aronud that time and now i am skating almost every day again and still progressing, turning 37 on wed

[Septa Bus]

hasn't (yet)

my back pain be progressin' exponentially though.

[IpathCats]

I feel like the older i get, the better i am at learning/improving on my skateboard.

I understand my body and the process of learning better than i ever did when i was younger.

I'm also better at managing fear now, i was kind of a poosey when i was younger.

I don't huck or anything now, i just have a good barometer for what i can/cant do and know how to push it sometimes while remaining confident

I can feel my body starting to age (31 in a couple months) for sure but, as far as my progression goes, i just try to learn shit that is within my physical ability to learn. I wont be jumping down big shit, but learning new tricks on transition or smaller street obstacles is still totally within reach for me.

I see myself doing a lot of mannys and transition skating the older i get. I was never really great at either, so the bar to improve is pretty low haha. and they arent as hard on the body as other types of skating.

[GrayCellGreen]

I'm 36 and I've been pretty fortunate in terms of being able to keep my progression going. Granted, I still deal with the that ever present fear of getting hurt but I think that is just a product of my age. I've mentioned this before, but I find it easier to learn new tricks now than it was in my 20s. I attribute that to developing more patience and to being more analytical towards tricks. Over the last couple years, I have put an emphasis on stepping out of my comfort zone which is something I didn't focus on in the past as much as I should have.

[Getty]

Skated since I was a little kid and by 30 I reckon I learned all the tricks I felt like I wanted to do.

Now I am 49 and though I skate several times a week I hardly do any tricks at all. I for sure don't battle anything. To be honest I feel like I skate lousy now. But I still enjoy skating too much to stop. Like others said I am also super careful these days, broke my wrist twice in my early 40s skating mellow stuff I could have run out of in my 20s. Tony Hawk is just a few years older than me and he is breaking bones and losing tricks. So I feel like if its over soon for me I am ok with that.

My current comfort zone is real shallow.

This is true love. When you get old enough that all the ego kicks of being "good at skating" are gone and all that's left is the pure joy of it.

Cheers, brother.