Some people make riding a skateboard seem amazingly easy. Unfortunately, it's not too easy to ride a skateboard - the people who make it look easy have probably been skating for years. If you're interested in learning how to skate, read this guide and you will be riding down the the streets on your skateboard in no time! Also take into account that this guide will not be teaching the more advanced sides of skating, such as doing tricks. Rather, it will cover the simple basics of getting on a skateboard and propelling it forward.
Many new skaters ask the question, "Which foot goes on the front of the skateboard?" An easy method to find out which foot goes on the nose is to set your skateboard down on an area of grass or in your house on some thick carpet, so it can't move around. If you leap onto the skateboard, your feet should naturally arrange themselves on the board. If this doesn't work, then you can instead just pick which foot you want to go first. Picking a foot position is a lot like choosing the hand that you write with, simply choose what feels good to you.
Now you will need to know the name of the way that you're skating. Skaters divide the styles up into two groups: the 'regular' skater, and also the 'goofy' skater. Skateboarders that skate 'regular' place their left foot first. Skateboarders that skate 'goofy' put their right foot first. There's not really a wrong way to skate, and 'goofy' isn't a bad term, it's simply the way it is in the skating
world.
Be sure to wear all safety equipment before actually trying to ride a skateboard. As a novice, you are many times more likely to fall whilst skating. At the very least, you will need to get a helmet to protect your head. This should be a skateboarding helmet and not a bicycling helmet. While a biking helmet is safer than no helmet, it doesn't give as much safety as a skating helmet will. Once you have made yourself a little safer, you're ready for the next step.
Now that you can identify your style as goofy or regular, and also own some safety equipment, you are ready to do some skateboarding training. The best way to practice is to jump on the board and go for it. Stand on the board, and do your best to maintain your balance. Hold your arms out if you need to. If you are still getting a bit of trouble balancing on the board, try crouching. Crouching gives you a lower center of mass and should help you balance better.
Some people have difficulties staying on the board because their trucks are very loose. The trucks on a skateboard are the pieces of steel that are bolted to the base of the board to hold the wheels in place. Loose trucks will allow you to turn more easily, but will make balancing more difficult for a beginner. If you are having trouble balancing, tighten up your trucks. Just turn the board over, and turn the large nut to the right one or two turns. Do not that lugnut to the left, or you will loosen the trucks! Test the trucks, and adjust the trucks to your preferred position.
Once you have mastered balancing yourself on the board, start skating down slight slopes or inclines to get a feel for what it is like to move whilst on the board. If you are practicing on a sidewalk, be sure to keep an eye out for cracks where the sidewalk meets the asphalt. A novice skateboarder will often get thrown off the board by such cracks, and could get themselves hurt. After mastering the small hills, take the show out
to the street and integrate a few tiny pushes into your routine. Some people have difficulties pushing, but this is just another issue of practice. The more often you practice, the better you get.
Keep practicing those tiny pushes until they get larger and larger. Someday, you will be a skating professional! Until then, however, you will need to get ready for many disappointments, failures, and embarrasments. You will probably fall quite a bit as a novice skateboarder, but don't let that stop you. Just get back on the board, and try again.
The Author has been skating for quite a long time. He enjoys longboarding, trickboarding, and everything in between. If you're looking for an online skateboard shop after reading this article, please check out www.the-skateboard-shop.com/
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