How Long Does It Take To Learn Skateboard
- Ed Riley
- November 24, 2022
Skateboarding is a fun game once you become a master at it. It’s not very difficult to learn, but can be technical.
Many people do it wrong by jumping directly on learning the tough tricks at the very beginning. It is natural as the passion for the game thrives them to be a pro skater sooner. But the right way is to start learning from the basics. Moreover, a guide to the path of skaters’ world can be your best friend as you learn skating. Keeping that in mind, we have gathered all the tips & tricks to learn skating faster for you. Keep reading!
How Long Does It Take To Learn Skateboard?
Learning the basics of skateboarding takes between 4 and 6 weeks. A regular practice schedule for 1 to 2 years will make you a proficient skater. As you master advanced tricks, you will become a pro.
How Long Does It Take To Learn Basic Skateboarding
Basic skateboarding means learning how to ride a skateboard, how to balance yourself on it. It also includes making turns and curving your way out on a skateboard & pushing occasionally while riding uphill. If you skip investing enough time to learn all these, you will take a lot longer to learn the tricks later on. Even if you manage to master one or two in the beginning, in the long run, the basics of skateboarding cannot be replaced or compensated for.
To learn the basics accurately, you must practice long enough to pave the way for improvement. Before you start learning advanced tricks like ollies, kickflips or Shuvits, I recommend you to practice riding on your knees, pushing, or only learning to take turns for 4-6 weeks. That should be enough to learn the basics.
How Long Does It Take To Learn Manual Skateboarding
Manual skateboarding is learning the basics with your help. You may ask a friend for help in initial balancing. You may also hire a guide. Some prefer to learn through tutorial videos and some take classes. However, none of these can ensure you a timeframe unless you invest heartfelt dedication into learning.
Manually learning to skateboard usually takes longer than learning it in any other way. The good news is that the novice turns out to be a better skater if taught manually as he gets first-hand experience of the tricks being performed. He learns through mistakes. It might take 1-2 months for a beginner to become pro in skating by manual learning.
How Many Hours A Day Should I Practice Skateboarding?
Let’s talk about time!
Skateboarding can be challenging if you look at it from difficulty quotient. You’ll find yourself on the verge of giving up a lot of times, when your board smashes against something every five minutes or when you fall from it, failing to balance. But don’t let these limiting thoughts stop you from getting to that one spot where you shock the audiences with your performance.
To tell you the truth, there is no alternative to a skatepark in the beginner skaters’ life. You are required to spend 5 to 6 hours daily on the ground, practicing to skate, irrespective of whether you are a beginner or a stunt freak.
Presently, your work life, school or any other commitments might get in the way. Some days you might need to take a break. It’s alright to take days off to regain better balance and focus. But do not prolong the breaks. Practice as you need to.
There is a ten thousand hours rule that the professionals follow. According to this, you must have to spend ten thousand hours learning & practicing the basics before you switch to the stunts.
How Long Does It Take To Learn The Tricks Of Skateboarding
Skateboarding is nothing without performing tricks. But before you start, ask yourself, have you got what it takes? You must be fit, in a good weight & height, you must have good balance, confidence in your riding, flexible and fearless to fall.
The time span of learning tricks depends on the difficulty level of the trick. Of course it matters that you practice it longer enough. However, easier tricks take one to three months of consistent practicing.
How Long Does It Take To Learn Advanced Tricks
For refined tricks such as kickflipping, rolling on the mini ramp, and many edge tricks, it may take about two to three years of regular exercising.
To get there, it is a difficult path of refinement and constant labor. It’s better that you start with learning with easier tricks.
Easiest Tricks That You Can Learn
Once you have mastered basic skateboarding, it’s time to move on to some stunt techniques. The easiest are the Ollie, Flips, the Hippie Jump, Bomb drop etc.
Here are the beginner level tricks described for your ease:
The Hippie Jump
This is so easy of a trick that you can learn even before “The Ollie”. Simply start by learning to jump up on your skateboard, land on the board & instantly balancing.
You can tell someone around you, a friend or guide, to hold a stick or your board for initial assistance in balancing. Work yourself up on your own and jump up and down on your board without popping it.
Next, try it with a little push. Push the board a but further and jump on the very place. Once you have practiced this enough times, try it with a skating rail. Let your board pass under the rail as you jump and hop pass the obstacle. Keep exercising until you cannot jump any higher. Remember, for hippie jump, the higher the jump, the better the performance is considered.
The Ollie
Ollie is the succeeding level of the hippie jump. Instead of just jumping on the board, you sweep off the board with your feet in the air before landing.
The foremost step is to learn the position of performing Ollie. The perfect positioning of the front foot behind the frontal truck and the back foot on the rear end of the board is the basics of an ollie. Then when you have rolled your board a few meters, you put just the required amount of your weight on your back foot to jump up in the air.
Make sure you are not pushing the board too hard on the ground causing it never to jump and instead smash harder. As you jump, you use your front feet to sweep the board still tucked at your feet.
As you reach the highest point of your jumping curve, you get ready for a handsome landing. Make sure your both feet are at both the truck bolts and you let gravity do its job. Roll a few inches once you touch the ground to regain balance.
The Acid Drop or The Bomb Drop
The Bomb Drop is a gutsy trick but easy to work up with. Once you’ve mastered the ollie, you can add up the bomb drop technique to enhance your skating experience as well as the showcasing.
Simply hold on to the nose of your board as you jump up with it in the air. Give it a little swing and prepare to land. Avoid landing with your both feet in the middle to snap it in half. Make sure to land on both trucks first.
How Long Does It Take To Get Good At Skateboarding
Remember what I said about the Ten Thousand Hours Rule? That still implies.
Three to six hours of practice every day is a necessity of course but to get to a pro-level, you must carry true passion and dedication towards the sport. Only then you can practice until your legs snap or you get drenched in sweat from head to toe.
You must become flexible enough to ride and jump and perform tricks, be fearless in falling and landing from heights & not hesitate to face obstacles in the way. In addition, when you’ve ridden ten thousand hours+, you can rest assured to be called a good skater.
What Helps You To Learn Skateboarding Faster
Besides your efforts, there will always be some exogenous factors that can break you or make you a great skater in no time. Here we tell you what those are:
1.A pair of quality wheels, bearings, trucks & deck is only found in a properly graded skateboard. Practicing with a cheaper one will slow your pace of learning. You will get frustrated far earlier dealing with regular breakage of the parts of your plaything than your game.
2.The shoes you wear during riding play an important role too. You must be wearing skate shoes or at least shoes that let you feel the board under your feet to keep the grip. Canvas shoes are always a good option. Running shoes or basketball shoes are not.
3.Your Circle of skaters matters. You must surround yourself with people who lift your spirit and want to see you succeed. Plus they affect your skating etiquettes as well as help you with pointers on how to improve your game. Especially if you learning manually, you need guiding principles.
4.Remember your protective gears are your best friends. Not only do they protect you physically, but also the injuries may kill you morally. Wearing proper gears will not let you get tired of failures easily and you will keep trying.
5.Internet or the web proves to be a great assistance for they provide you with all the queries and videos. You can watch tutorial videos made by others to learn. You can also make your own videos and upload them to get constructive criticism.
Bag It Up
Skateboarding is challenging. But with the right guidelines and efforts, anything can be mastered.
Stick to the basics as you learn. Even if the tricks tempt you to skip basic riding & balancing, don’t give up. You’ll reap your sweet fruits in no time. There are no shortcuts to success.
Do Share our content with beginners who are looking for guidelines on how to learn skateboarding faster.
