Longboarding is as fun as it is challenging. It is easy to feel stagnant and struggle to get better at longboarding if you don’t know where to shift your attention to. So, what are the best tips to get better at longboarding?
Practice your stance on grass and smooth pavement to get better at longboarding. It also helps to loosen your front truck so that you can turn and shift your weight. Work on braking by shifting your weight and switch to hard wheels if you struggle to maintain control when longboarding at high speeds.
It’s a great idea to try longboarding on different surfaces, such as sidewalks, streets, and skatepark pavement. This will help you become a more well-rounded longboarder that can adapt to different settings. Lets get into the top 9 tips to get better at longboarding.
How To Get Better at Longboarding
Practice makes perfect, and that applies to longboarding. However, it is hard to see progress even if you practice if you don’t focus on the right things. Let’s take a look at the top tips to get better at longboarding.
1. Loosen Your Trucks
It may seem intimidating, but loosening your trucks can work wonders to help you get better at longboarding. Start slow, however, as it is quite difficult to longboard with overly loose trucks. I recommend loosening your front truck at first and leaving your back truck intact.
This will make it easier to pump and carve. Your back truck can stay tight to give stability and make it easier to turn quickly. However, front and back trucks that are both overly tight make you have to “tick-tack”.
“Tick tacking” is when you have to lift the front truck off of the ground each time that you turn. This makes it much harder to ride your longboard. That isn’t a problem if you loosen your front truck, however, as you can change directions by simply shifting your weight. I recommend loosening your trucks in small increments to see what you are most comfortable with.
Over time you will get better at controlling turns and your balance gets better. You can then choose truck tightness that suits your riding when your balance is better.
2. Swap Wheels
There is lots of debate on whether hard or soft wheels are better for longboarding. It ultimately varies between peoples personal preference and the type of longboarding you choose to do. For beginners I recommend you figure out if you like soft or hard wheels, or you like small or large wheels as each impacts your riding.
Hard longboard wheels make it easy to skate fast. This is a great option if you are interested in fast speeds but when the wheel is really hard it can make control difficult as the wheel will want to slide and not grip the ground. You may experience problems if you try hard wheels on a cruiser board.
Soft longboard wheels slow you down, they are perfect for cruising and performing tricks at lower speeds. Also your control on the ground is better as the wheel grips and will not slide. Softer longboard wheels are often used for downhill riding.
Longboard wheel hardness is measured by durometer and they range from low 70As up to 100A rating, higher the number harder the wheel.
Smaller longboard wheels in diameter mean faster acceleration, slower top speed, and less control. Larger longboard wheels in diameter mean slower acceleration, faster top speeds, and better stability/control.
3. Practice Your Stance
Your stance is everything when you ride a longboard or skateboard. Foot placement determines how easily you can control your longboard or perform tricks. Ideally, you should place your back foot on or behind the back truck and your front foot on or before the front truck.
I find that it helps to place my back foot on the tail (or near) and my front foot an inch or two behind the front truck angled. This is an all-purpose foot placement position and makes it easy to pump, carve, push, and land tricks. However, stance and foot placement are subjective and there are many schools of thought.
For example, downhill longboarders and longboard dancers often place one foot facing forward with their back foot over the bolts and slightly arched. This is inadvisable for cruising on the street but it helps for riding at high speeds.
Read our full post Longboarding Foot Placement and Stance Explained article here.
4. Find a Smooth Surface
Your longboarding progress goes hand in hand with the surfaces around you. It can be much more difficult to get better at longboarding if you frequently have to ride on cracked and damaged pavement, you’ll never get to practice your balance for longer durations. Consider visiting a skatepark if you have one in your vicinity.
I wouldn’t recommend attempting ramps or bowls, but skateparks have the perfect pavement for learning how to roll. You can also find sidewalks with smooth pavement in many cities, but there will be more obstacles, such as pedestrians, animals, and bicyclists.
Once you get used to rolling on a smooth surface, you can take your skills to rougher streets and sidewalks.
5. Practice in Grass
Practicing in the grass is a great way to get better at longboarding. Of course, you won’t be able to roll in the grass, but you’ll be able to practice your stance. Work on your stance and shifting weight on your longboard in the grass.
You won’t likely get hurt when if you fall because the grass is much softer than concrete. This is especially a great idea if you are new to longboarding or switched to a new setup that you aren’t used to.
When I got my first skateboard when I was around 7 years old, probably from Walmart, I remember heading to our family cabin/cottage and we had no paved roads nearby. This didn’t stop me from throwing on my wrist guards and knee pads on, then my skateboard on the grass, then slowly trying to ride it down the grassy hill. It really helped me get my balance on a board and understand how it works. – Jamie
6. Prepare to Fall
Falling is an unavoidable part of longboarding and skateboarding. It isn’t always fun, but falling teaches you how to learn from your mistakes and approach longboarding differently. With that said, it’s important to prepare to fall in the safest way possible to avoid injuries.
Never stick your hand out to brace the fall. This is an easy way to snap your wrist or break your hand and fingers. Ideally, you should tuck your elbows close to your body and protect your head. Wearing safety equipment is a must as a beginner! Choosing longboarding gloves, knee pads, helmet, and wrist guards are a good start.
Avoid high speeds as those wipeouts are typically more serious, get used to cruising and slowly get into tricks, eventually get into higher speeds and other more challenging riding styles.
7. Change Your Scenery
You won’t become a well-rounded longboarder if you don’t ride in a variety of settings. The feeling and experience of longboarding largely vary based on where you ride. You may be a great park skater, but will you ever get better if you don’t ride on gravel and asphalt?
Longboarding on streets is different than riding on smooth sidewalks. I recommend putting in as much time at the skatepark as you would on a sidewalk or parking lot. You may prefer one surface or setting over another, but it’s important to learn to ride everywhere.
8. Practice Braking
There are several ways to brake when longboarding, and some are harder than others. Any novice longboarder can brake with their foot, but it takes practice to slide to a stop. Foot-braking involves placing your foot on the ground to slow down and stop.
You can also slide your tail on the ground and pivot to brake. However, this doesn’t work too quickly and will strip the graphic and wood on your longboard deck over time. Sliding your tail and foot-braking are the best options for beginners.
However, you can get better at longboarding if you learn how to slide and stop. When rolling, shift your weight to your back foot and kick it forward without taking it off of the board. At the same time, you should shift the weight of your front foot in the same direction as your back foot. This takes quite a bit of practice, but you will become a better longboarder in the process.
9. Learn Tricks
The best way to get better at longboarding is to learn tricks. You can become a great longboarder without trying tricks, but tricks will make you more well-rounded. Start with simple tricks such as the no-comply.
Not all skateboarding tricks work with longboards, but there are many fun variations of them. The circus flip is a great place to start once you get used to landing no-complies. Contrary to popular belief, you can even perform an ollie on a longboard if the deck isn’t too long.
Read our post on 9 Longboarding Tricks for Beginners (And How to Do Them) here.
Final Thoughts
Loosen your trucks to get used to shifting your weight to get better at longboarding. Experiment with hard and soft wheels to see which ones help you maintain the most control over your longboard. Work on your stance and get comfortable with each foot on or before the correlating truck.
Work on braking by dragging your foot or longboard tail on the ground. Once you get used to that, you should practice shifting your weight to brake. This is a more advanced technique and it will help you get better at longboarding.
Nick Durante is a professional writer that primarily focused on action sports. Skateboarding and Longboarding are his particular areas of expertise. When he isn’t writing about action sports, he is catching up on the world of skateboarding and spending time outside.