How to Ride a Skateboard

Whether you’re a total beginner or an accomplished skater, learning how to ride a skateboard is a fun activity. Skateboarding can be used for transportation, recreation, and competition. To get started riding your new board, it’s important to have the right gear and basic knowledge of skateboarding technique. Once you have the essentials—a sturdy board and protective gear like helmets and elbow/knee pads—it’s time to learn the basics of balance and control so you can start cruising around on your skateboard with ease.

First, place your feet evenly on the middle of the board and begin by pushing off with one foot. Try rolling slowly at first as you become accustomed to balancing on top of the moving surface; focus on keeping your back straight as you push off from each foot in succession to keep up momentum.

From picking the right skateboard for beginners to riding over it on sidewalks will learn all here. Let’s proceed with reading.

How do you ride a skateboard for Beginners step by step?

Are you interested in reading up on how to ride to skateboard? Follow the below-given steps.

1-Stepping on the skateboard

The initial merchandise is to learn how to step up on the skateboard expertly. For this, you can put your skateboard on the carpet of your room and grass on the lawn and start practicing by stepping and even jumping. Try to place and balance your feet on the front and rear wheels accurately. Besides that, move your feet in varying positions when standing on the skateboard.

2-Regular vs. Goofy stance

Firstly, you have to sort out whether your stance for standing on the board is regular or goofy. It can be your personal preference. Similarly, some are comfortable putting their right foot on in the front position, whereas some are easy with placing their left foot on the forward position. If you do not know what you’re by default stance is, then you can undergo the following tricks to figure out.

• The friend trick
• The ball trick
• The step trick

3-Push the skateboard

You are ready to take your skateboard outdoors once you have learned the basics. Pushing the skateboard compels you to take it outdoors because you can not practice this part at home due to limited space. Moreover, the desirable skating surfaces are sidewalks, driveways, parks, and blank swimming pools. In case you are living in the city center then you can also choose a parking lot as your practice locale.

Now start rolling your board while ensuring these steps:

• Firstly, get used to the practice location by riding on the skateboard randomly
• Secondly, step on the board with your front foot in such a way that your toes are a little behind the top of your board
• Thirdly, with the use of your backfoot push to begin the rolling of the  board and then also place it over the deck
• Additionally, if you feel the speed is going down, you can again push the skateboard with the help of backfoot
• Most importantly, if you want to turn, you have to lead forward to that direction you want to take a turn, but by doing so, the speed will become slow

4-Stopping the skateboard

You have learned to ride on a skateboard does not mean you know how to skate. You also have to learn to stop it as well. There are four pathways to stop the skateboard which are:

Foot braking

Foot braking is the perfect technique for the novice to stop the board. To execute this break, you have to take off your back foot from the board and make it drag on the surface. By doing so, you will be able to successfully stop the skateboard by employing friction.

Heel drag

Heel drag is a well-known method to stop the skateboard from going at high speed. With some skating experience, it will not be a big deal for you to perform this type of break. Place the back foot heel in such a way that it is dragged on the surface behind the board. But it is essential to have ½ of your foot on the skateboard to maintain balance.

Power slide

As a newbie, it is good to stick to the first two methods of stopping a skateboard because of their low learning curve. If you are an expert, a power slide is tricky and fascinating to apply breaks to the board. Moreover, to master power slides, you must have a solid balance and experience of skating

Bail

If the first two ways are insufficient to stop the skateboard, you need to jump off it but with proper alignment simply. With appropriate alignment, I mean your knees are bent before you do it. Amazingly, your board will stop if you perform a forward direction jump. However, the only disadvantage of this method is you might break your board, but it is much better than going to a doctor for treatment.

5-Carving the skateboard

Carving means making the skateboard turn in what direction you want which involves leaning heel or toe side. The procedure to perform it is to push the skateboard and put the maximum weight on the toes or heels during the ride. That way, the board will turn slowly towards the direction you like. Interestingly, this technique is going to be very handy when you roll with the skateboard.

6-Overflow

The curvy and sloppy sections of the skatepark are commonly regarded as overflowing. Skating up and down slopes, overflow, and ramps are absolutely difficult and not intended for newbies. While performing it, the best method is to put bodyweight on the front foot and maintain balance. Keep your relax mode on during this whole exercise.

Safety Gears: To protect yourself from an unwanted mishap while skating

Usually, people think that the only thing they need to skate is a skateboard and composure about how to play skateboard. Wearing safety equipment is essential to minimize the blow of a lethal accident while riding on a skateboard. The following things are necessary to get started:

1-Skateboard

Many variations in skateboards are available in the market, and all of them are formulated for different activities. Select the skateboard wisely according to your style and objective for the best experience. Similarly, if you want how to learn how to skateboard on a mountain, you will be better off with a downhill longboard. If you want your skateboard to last long, then you maintain and care for it properly.

2-Helmet

Protective helmets come in various forms, like some are meant for motorcycles, some for skating, and some for engineering works. You only have to buy the helmet for skating because it is designed for this particular undertaking. Always check that the helmet you are getting has an ASTM F1492 sticker, indicating that it has undergone all the safety standards requirements.

3-Shoes

For proper balance and posture on the skateboard, you need to wear shoes. Ensure that the shoes you are wearing are closed and made of leather for a better skating experience. The reason for suggesting closed shoes over open ones is they absorb moisture, so there will be no chance of getting your feet sticky.

4-Wrist Guards

The whole hand working mechanism is dependent on wrists, and these wrists are prone to wound when skating. Using wrist guards ensures that you get damage with minimal intensity in case of any blow. Apart from that safety point of view, the wait guards also look stylish when a skateboarder performs captivating stunts.

5-Others

After getting all the safety stuff for skating, you can use other equipment to make the safety foolproof, including jackets, hip guards, and gloves. For safeguarding your face and teeth from getting fatalities, you can utilize mouth guards for that purpose. Notably, the jacket insulates the rider’s core area from gashes and injuries.

Final Words

Skating is not problematic if you follow the basics mentioned above. Learn how to balance on a skateboard before you start to display your skating skills in front of others. By doing so, you will benefit in the later stages and headway much faster than expected. Moreover, the equipment plays a significant role in how to skate because cheap skateboards are very annoying.

Newbies usually start their skateboarding quest with a low-quality skateboard for beginners. The result will be in their loss of interest in skating. Do not be embarrassed to take advice from others and take step by step to master riding a skateboard. We hope that you have now learned how to ride a skateboard after reading this article thoroughly.

FAQs

Is riding a skateboard easy?

riding a skateboard can be easy or difficult depending on the individual’s physical abilities, prior experience, and the style of skateboarding they choose to pursue.

How do you stay straight on a skateboard?

The two main components in staying balanced while riding your skateboard are stance and posture. Make sure you’re standing properly on the deck by distributing your weight evenly between your feet; you should also keep your legs slightly bent with one foot slightly ahead of the other as if you were walking or running.