Longboarding Tips For Beginners – Step By Step

New sports and hobbies are springing up; with the tumultuous situations hotting the world, longboarding has become one of the most exciting things to try out this year.

For teens and adults, it is an enjoyable experience to start. Many people often look at the process as grueling to begin, but if you have the right teacher and techniques, you should be riding in no time.

However, the journey to becoming skilled in longboarding is a step-by-step process. It is more or less like going to school; you cannot get promoted to the next level without passing a class.

Here are ten tips for beginners looking to explore the longboarding landscape of fun and excitement.

Get The Right Longboard

When you watch longboarding videos, it can be enticing to pick up a board and start riding. Although, the prospect of riding in the wind is beautiful.

You have to start the right way. The first thing is getting the right board like the other sports that involve riding, such as roller-skating, biking, and others. 

The boards have different designs and styles that are exclusive to appropriate skill levels. Choosing a board depends on your skill level and riding goals. For beginners, you should get a beginner longboard that is created for stability.

Get Your Stance

If you are familiar with sports, each player, whether it is a team sport or an individual game, has their way of doing things. Suppose it is shooting three-pointers or playing a penalty in soccer. The same thing applies to beginners when learning how to ride a longboard.

Finding the right stance is important in riding as it determines everything you want to do while longboarding. Here is how to get your stance.

Stand with your two feet to the ground and ask a friend to nudge you off balance slightly. Naturally, you will stumble, placing one foot in front of the other. Consequently, the foot you place in front will be what foot you put forward when riding.

Practice Standing On The Longboard

The mistake many beginners make when starting in longboarding is going straight to moving rather than practicing their stance on the board.

Since you have got the perfect stance, the next thing you need is to practice it on a static board. Do not attempt to move yet; if you can perfectly practice this stance on the board, then moving becomes simpler.

To know if you are comfortable with that stance, you will not need to step down too often to adjust your feet.

Learn How To Turn

Turning is mostly about the ability to shift your weight around while riding the longboard. However, it also has to do with your legs, especially the ankles.

Here is how you turn. You will need to lock your ankles and shift your body weight forward and backward so that the board deck will lean on its front or back edge.

This is how you roll back and forth on the board to make the deck tilt to either side. Your heels and toes come to have huge roles to play when turning on the longboard; they determine how well you turn or do not turn at all.

Try To Brake

Most teachers instruct that their students learn with a balance board first before taking on the longboard. Although this is great, beginners can also learn without a balance board.

It is all about following the instructions. Applying brakes is an intricate aspect of longboarding, and without it, therein be dire complications.

When moving at a slow speed, you should apply pressure on your back foot so much that the board will brush the ground, which will create some form of friction. Eventually, you begin to slow down until you get to a final halt.

For braking, you want your back foot to put enough pressure on the board to cause friction. The opposite of braking is pushing.

This entails your front foot putting pressure on the board to gain momentum while riding. You need to bend your back leg slowly and shift the weight to that area for applying the brake.

It’s Time To Roll

The moment you have been waiting for, it is time to set this board in motion. However, you have to tread with caution when moving. Ensure that you have a safe practice area for rolling.

You can find an empty parking lot. When you move, you have to consider the basic leg movement and techniques to turn, push and brake.

But for you to roll, you will need to put the push stance into practice. Adjust your shoulders and the front foot to give the board the same momentum.

Wear Protective Gear And Practice Turning

Remember, as a beginner, it is imperative to have your protective gear on. Understand that there is a probability of you falling sometimes.

But that should not deter you from riding since you know how to break and have successfully practiced rolling.

You can try turning the same way you were instructed, lock your ankles, and shift your weight to turn left or right. You will realize it is different when you are in motion, and it feels great getting it the right way.

Learn How To Carve

Now, you can move freely and turn also. Carving will also help you slow down when you are moving at a faster pace.

This is when longboarders make turns in an S shape on the surfaces. As they make this shape, it helps them slow down not completely but gradually when they are on a slope or moving fast.

Learn How To Fall

This might sound counterintuitive as all we have tried to establish is not to fall. But it is somewhat inevitable, and it is better to be prepared when it happens.

Most beginners, when they fall, end up breaking their arms or other body parts. However, there are some effective ways of preventing nasty injuries when longboarding. First, if you feel you will fall while riding, you can lay low on the board.

Then, try to tuck your hands so that you land on your forearms and roll sideways when you fall. Most people will spread their arms and cause damage to themselves.

Learn How To Slide

When you see riders go low on their boards and touch the ground with their fingers, you ever watch in awe.

It looks pretty cool, but far from that, it helps to slow down when approaching a bend. Beginners need to learn how to control their speed, as it can be devastating if you lose control.

Conclusion

Finally, it is important to follow these step-by-step instructions in learning how to ride a longboard. It takes time but perfecting each step guarantees mastery of the next.