ESPN recently ranked skateboarding at number 37 on their list of the hardest sports, just under swimming.
Yeah that’s right, according to ESPN, swimming is harder than skateboarding. Who would of thought?
Regardless of what ESPN says, anyone who’s actually skated for more than a few minutes knows just how hard it can be, and for most people, it takes several years to get to even somewhat decent.
For anyone who’s new to skating, or just wants to get better at skating, it can be frustrating to experience firsthand just how hard it is to improve. Even after years of practice, a lot of people still aren’t that good at skateboarding.
With that said, there are things you can do to progress at a faster rate, even if skateboarding isn’t something that comes naturally to you.
Today, we’re going to go over how to get good at skateboarding fast.
Now it’s worthing mentioning that skateboarding isn’t about how good you are, it’s really just about having fun. With that in mind though, progressing is one of the funnest parts about skateboarding, and let’s be honest, everyone loves learning new tricks, and if you can learn them faster, that’s always a good thing.
If you have any tips of your own, go ahead and leave them in the comments so you can help out other people.
Work On Things You Aren’t Good At
To get good at skateboarding fast, you need to make sure you’re working on tricks and obstacles you aren’t good at.
This sounds like a no brainer, but people naturally shy away from things they aren’t good at, which will definitely make it a lot harder to get better at skating.
A great example of this is skating switch.
If you want to get better at skating switch, you have to practice doing it.The same goes for getting better at skating rails, or getting better at skating stairs, or getting better at skating anything.
If you only skate certain obstacles or only do certain tricks, you’re limiting your progression and it’ll take you a lot longer to see any big improvements in your skating.
Everyone has a few tricks that just don’t work for them, which is completely fine, but you should at least try to make an effort to skate things you aren’t good at, and try tricks that are hard for you.
If you only skate transition, then try to skate more ledges, or if you only skate rails, then try to skate more manual pads.
It might be hard at first, but once you get used to it, being able to skate a variety of things will make skateboarding a lot more fun.
The same goes for actual tricks. If you can only do a handful of flip tricks, or grinds, or slides, you should work on the ones you aren’t as good at so you have a bigger variety to choose from.
Learning how to do tricks and skate things outside of your comfort zone will open up more possibilities of things for you to skate, which will lead to you getting a lot better, a lot faster.
Make A Trick List
A great tip for getting good at skateboarding fast is to always keep a trick list.
Keeping a list of the tricks that you want to learn or work on is a way to set goals and hold yourself accountable.
Every skateboarder knows the feeling of showing up to their local park and not knowing what to try, so they just go to their same default tricks and do the same runs they always do. This might help you get good at a handful of tricks, but eventually you’re going to plateau unless you try something new.
Everyone should always be working on at least one new trick, so just for fun, leave a comment on what trick you’re working on and let’s see what people say.
Thinking about the tricks you want to learn and just keeping a list in your phone will help you get good at skateboarding a lot faster, because every time you skate you’ll have clear goals to accomplish.
It’s a lot easier to learn new tricks when you already have them listed, rather than getting to the park and trying to think of something new to try.
This doesn’t mean every trick you do needs to be planned out, it’s more so about keeping an active list of tricks you want to learn or work on so you don’t forget them and go back to doing the same tricks over and over.
Skate More
It might sound simple, but one of the best things you can do to get good at skateboarding fast is to just skate more.
A lot of people will only skate once a week, or a few times a month, and wonder why they aren’t getting any better.
Realistically, the more you do something, the better you’re going to get at it, so if you want to get good at skateboarding fast, you need to be skating a lot.
Skating once or twice a week might allow you to learn a new trick here or there, but chances are you aren’t going to progress that much.
If you really want to get good at skateboarding, you should try your best to skate a few days a week, or even every day if you can.
Go ahead and leave a comment on how many times a week you skate.
Chances are the majority of people are only skating once or twice, which is also why for the majority of people, it takes years to get good at skateboarding.
Now for some people it can be hard to skate because of where they live, or because of other responsibilities, but there’s always a way to make it work.
If you live in a place where there’s a lot of bad weather throughout the year, you can always try skating in your garage, or finding a place that’s covered.
If you can’t really find time to skate, chances are there’s something else you can cut out to make time, whether that be watching Netflix, playing video games, or hanging out with friends outside of skating.
The point is, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and if you want to get good at skateboarding fast, you need to be doing it as much as possible.
Watch Skate Videos
One of the easiest ways to get good at skateboarding fast is to watch skate videos.
Even if you don’t consciously realize it, watching skate videos will help you think of new tricks, see how tricks are done, and hype you up to go out and skate. Every skateboarder knows the feeling of watching whatever new skate video is out, and getting hyped up to go out and skate right away.
Nowadays new videos come out almost everyday, so there’s always plenty of fresh skate footage out there to watch. Not only is there tons of new videos coming out daily, but there’s also a massive variety.
There’s full lengths videos, there’s youtube videos, and apparently there’s even skateboarding clips on tiktok.
Aside from watching actual full length skateboarding videos, there’s also a ton of other videos like trick tips and how to’s that will help learn new tricks a lot faster.
Not too long ago, people had to watch the same skate video over and over again on a vhs tape, and try to figure out to land new tricks based off of sequences in magazines, so now that there’s so much skateboarding content out there, you should definitely take advantage of it.
Watching skate videos is a great way to progress, and it’s also entertaining, so there’s really no downside to it.
Film Your Skateboarding
Another great tip to get good at skateboarding fast is to get a clip every time you skate.
Now skateboarding isn’t all about getting clips, but making a point to film more will definitely help you improve faster.
When you’re filming a clip, you naturally want to do the best tricks you can do, and you also want to do the tricks as clean as possible. This helps force you to work on doing harder tricks, and work on getting them consistent and clean.
Filming tricks also gives you a chance to see what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong, because a lot of times it can be hard to tell if someone doesn’t point it out to you.
Again, skateboarding isn’t just about getting footage, but working towards filming a video or even just getting a clip every time you skate will for sure help you get better faster.
Buy Better Gear
Some people may disagree with this, but if you want to get better at skateboarding you need to have good skateboarding gear.
It’s a lot easier to learn new tricks when you’re skating a fresh board and fresh shoes then when you’re skating an old waterlogged board with razor tail, and shoes that have more shoe goo than actual shoe material.
This isn’t to say you need to have fresh gear at all times.
There’s plenty of stories of people getting really good just skating hand me downs, but it is a lot easier when you have fresh stuff to skate.
Whether or not you realize it, even small things like bad bearings, wheels with flatspots, razor tailed boards, or just worn down shoes can make it a lot harder to skate.
If you’re unsure of what to buy, there’s a recommended gear page with everything you’ll need. It’s also good to check out your local skate shop as well.
A lot of skateboarders really just can’t afford new stuff, which is completely understandable, but if you’re spending a ton of money on video games and going out to eat, then you can’t really complain about not having a fresh board or shoes.
If you can afford it, it’s definitely beneficial to skate new stuff, but if you can’t afford it, you can still get good at skating, just using whatever you have available.
Skate New Places
One of the best ways to get good at skateboarding quick is to skate new places.
This tip kind of ties in with some of the other ones. Skating new places will allow you to get more creative and skate with new people, which will help you learn at a faster rate than if you skated the same places over and over.
Going to new parks or new spots will force you to try new things, or practice doing tricks on new obstacles, and it will also expose you to some of the different styles of spots.
For example, places in the midwest have a lot of banks and ditches, vs places in the North East where things are a lot more urban and tech.
Even if you can’t go that far, you’d be surprised how different spots and parks can be just within driving distance of where you live.
Traveling to new places to skate is one of the best parts about skateboarding, and it’s also one of the best ways to get better.
Skate With Friends
If you want to get better at skateboarding fast, skating with friends is a great way to do it.
Not only will it help you get better, but it’s also a lot more fun than skating by yourself.
Now skating alone does come with its own benefits. You can skate whatever you wan’t and you don’t have to wait for anyone else, but overall skating with others will usually help you learn new tricks a lot faster.
When you’re skating with friends, you’re more likely to try new tricks, and because you’re with friends, it’s easier to get hyped up to try tricks you normally wouldn’t do.
Skating with friends is a great way to progress more, especially if they’re better than you.
Skating with people who are better than you will help you get more creative and try harder tricks, and a lot of times it happens subconsciously. Just seeing someone do something can make you want to try it, and having someone else there helps you stay hyped up to keep trying it until you get it.
Also, if someone is better than you, chances are they can help teach you new tricks, which will definitely make you get better at skateboarding a lot faster.
The best part about this tip is even if you don’t get any better at skateboarding, you’ll at least have some fun memories skating with your friends, which is really what skateboarding is all about.
How To Get Better At Skateboarding Fast
Skateboarding is arguably one of the hardest things you can learn how to do. It seriously takes years of commitment to even get to a somewhat decent skill level.
For some people, it can come a lot more naturally and they can learn things right away, but for most people that definitely isn’t the case.
Even though skateboarding is really hard to learn, there are ways you can get good at skateboarding fast, it’s just something you have to work at.
If you have any of your own tips on how to get better at skating, go ahead and leave a comment so you can help some other people out.