Getting Better at Skateboarding is About Mind and Body

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There are 3 aspect to consider if you want to progress in skateboarding:

• Positive mindset: positive thinking is a powerful tool
• Patience: Work on your skill set, slowly build up according to your skill level.
• Training: work on muscle activation, speed of muscle contraction, elasticity, and reactivity of muscles, as well as the strength and functionality of hip flexors.

How To Become A Better Skateboarder

Skateboarding is not just about physical skills but also about mental strength. To be good at skateboarding, you need to overcome fear and negative thoughts.

Patience is another key factor. Sometimes it’s best to slowly build up to a challenging tricks, skipping the basics can seriously slow down progression.

Lastly, for those who are serious about progression, think about working on your overall strength by going to the gym. Not only will you be able to increase your pop, it will also help you in dealing with slams.

1. A Positive Mindset

I used to get angry a lot when I couldn’t nail a trick or just had a bad day. Sometimes I took it out on my board and threw it around our local park out of pure frustration. That didn’t help and made me look like a fool.

Mental toughness helps you try new things and face challenges in skateboarding, just like in everyday life.

You need to be aware of your thoughts and feelings, especially when skateboarding feels hard. Training your mind in easier situations can help you handle tough thoughts and feelings better when skateboarding.

Thinking positively is very important. If you think negatively about yourself, it can make skateboarding harder.

But if you imagine doing well, like professional athletes do, it can improve your skateboarding and make it more fun.

Getting better at skateboarding involves both your mind and body, and you need to work on both to overcome challenges and excel.

Negative self-talk about one’s skateboarding abilities negatively affects performance, we’ve all been there. Focusing on what you don’t want (e.g., failing a trick) can bring down energy and increase stress.

Instead, adopting positive thinking, similar to techniques used by elite athletes, can improve performance and enjoyment in skateboarding.

So instead of telling yourself you can’t do it or letting fear take over, visualize a trick from start to end and the thrill of landing a trick.

2. Working on Your Skills

Many make the mistake of not learning how to ride properly and skipping steps. I remember trying to learn an ollie and kickflip before I could even properly ride a skate park. It made me progress slower.

Get Back to Basics: If you skipped learning basic skateboard skills, like pushing properly or doing a Caveman, it’s important to go back and learn them. Mastering the basics helps you progress faster and get creative with your skateboarding.

Slowly Build Up: If you’re struggling with a trick, don’t rush. Build up to it gradually. For instance, with a drop-in, start by tapping the tail near the coping of a mini ramp before committing fully. Getting used to the feeling of a trick makes it easier to commit.

There are many tricks related to one another, check out some beginner tricks which will help you get better faster.

Stop Obsessing and Step Away: If you’re stuck on a trick, take a break. Your brain and muscles might need time to catch up, and trying again later can often lead to success.

Need Inspiration? Watch Videos: Skateboard videos can be motivational and educational, helping you learn correct stances and techniques.

Start Practicing Switch Stance: Learning to ride in a switch stance will improve your skills, though it may feel awkward at first. It’s okay if it’s too difficult; you can start with fakie and progress from there.

Learn from Your Peers: Skate with friends or others at your local skatepark. Be open to their feedback and advice. Skateboarders often enjoy helping others learn.

Skate with the Best: Try to skate near more skilled skateboarders. You can learn a lot from them, and they’re usually willing to offer tips and advice.

Leave Your Comfort Zone: Try different skateboarding styles, like street, bowl, or vert. Getting out of your comfort zone can significantly improve your skills.

3. Training: Get Stronger

I’ve been training with a personal trainer for a while now and it has greatly improved my ability to skate. Longer sessions, easier to deal with impacts, and not feeling sore the next day makes it all worth it.

Skateboarding is incredibly demanding physically, even though skaters might not always think of themselves as traditional athletes. It’s one of the toughest things you can do, needing serious athletic skills.

The main way to get better at skateboarding tricks is just to keep practicing. But, there’s something else that can really help: resistance training. This kind of training can boost your skateboarding abilities.

It makes you stronger, more enduring, and better at handling the physical demands of skating. This means you get tired less quickly, recover faster from any aches or pains, and generally feel better when you’re on your board.

Resistance training doesn’t just make you tougher; it also improves specific skateboarding skills. For example, it can help you jump higher, land tricks from higher places, and do better slides and grinds.

The idea is to make your muscles work more efficiently and quickly, like increasing how much of your muscle you can use and how fast it reacts.

A key part of skateboarding is how high you can jump, or “pop.” This depends on things like how strong and flexible your hip muscles are, as they’re the ones that lift your knees up when you jump.

Working on these muscles can not only make your jumps higher but also help prevent or ease hip pain.

No matter how much you train, you also need to keep skateboarding obviously. The best way to improve is to combine both the physical training and actual skateboarding practice.

Final Words

To get really good at skateboarding, you need a mix of strong mental game and physical fitness. Mentally, it’s about building your inner strength to beat fear and negative thoughts.

This kind of toughness is something you can work on in everyday life, and it really helps with your skateboarding too.

You’ve got to be aware of what you’re thinking, especially when things get crazy while skating. Thinking positive and focusing on what you want to do, instead of what scares you, can make a huge difference in how well you skate.

On the physical side, skateboarding is tough on the body, so doing exercises like resistance training is super important. This kind of workout makes you stronger and helps you not get tired so quickly.

It also helps with jumping higher and landing tricks smoother, and more strength makes slams less painful.

You can’t just lift weights; you’ve got to mix this training with actual skateboarding to really see your skills improve.

So, combining this mental strength, positive attitude, and physical training is the best way to get better at skateboarding and handle challenges in and out of the sport.

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