If you’re new to skateboarding, your first step is to learn how to stand on a skateboard correctly. It’s impossible to ride the board further without knowing to stand with proper foot placement.
However, if you simply try to stand on a skateboard without knowing how to stand, you’ll lose your balance. Skateboarding is all about proper balance and your control on the board, which only comes when you stand correctly.
Hence, this article is all about how to stand on a skateboard for beginners. As soon as you learn how to stand correctly, you can quickly learn further, like pushing, riding, and turning the board.
How To Stand On A Skateboard
Beginners usually make mistakes by coying other riders blindly. Some riders prefer to push with their right foot while keeping their left foot on board, while others are the opposite. As a result, this is all about your comfort. Instead of copying others, you should use whichever foot you feel most comfortable with.
No worries, let’s go in depth and clarify how to stand, where to stand, and how to push the board with a suited foot.
Decide Regular Or Goofy
There are two terms used in skateboarding to describe the standing position of a rider: regular and goofy. Every rider standing position falls under these two terms.
A regular stance puts the rider’s left foot on the front side of the board, whereas a goofy stance keeps the right foot on the front side of the board.
Even though most riders have a regular stance, you should try both by standing on the board and pushing slightly with the other foot. This way, you can easily clarify which foot is comfortable for you to put in front of the board and what to push the board. You may also be able to identify your comfortable stance by considering whether you are left-handed or right-handed. Likewise, if you’re right-handed, your best stance will be regular, while if you’re left-handed, your best stance will be goofy.
You should use the same stance every time you ride the board after you discover the most comfortable one for you.
Proper Foot Placement On Skateboard
It is not enough to know what foot is comfortable for you. It is also essential to learn how to place your foot to avoid losing balance when pushing the board and getting your foot on the deck. In short, you should set your foot such that when you put your back foot on deck after pushing and then get it down for more pushing, you maintain your balance.
Thus, before you start riding, learn how to stand on a skateboard with the right foot position.
Maintain The Same Foot Width As Your Shoulder
Firstly get yourself with the board on flat ground and stand on a skateboard without riding them. Observe now the distance between the positions of your feet. Place your foot the same width as your shoulders so that your body weight is distributed evenly on both ends of the skateboard.
Afterwards, get up and down on a skateboard again and again until you are comfortable with this foot position. As a result, you won’t easily lose your balance while riding because you’ll have a habit of the right foot position.
You should also not put one leg at the end of the board and the other between the boards, as this will cause the board to rise from one side, and you will lose balance.
Bend Your Knees And Look Forward
When standing on a skateboard, slightly bend your knees to get your body weight in the middle and lower your center of gravity. With the right foot position and body structure, you’ll be able to control your skateboard perfectly. Furthermore, bending your knees increases your riding speed.
Bend your knees and look to the front of you where you’re riding. As a result, a regular stance rider will look at the left shoulder while the goofy stance rider will look at the right shoulder. These are all advanced standing positions to increase your balance on a skateboard.
How To Stand On A Longboard
On a longboard, you stand and position your feet the same way as if you were riding a skateboard. Due to their extra-wide deck, longboards are easier to ride and balance, which makes them an excellent choice for beginners.
If you are riding a longboard, you should avoid placing your foot on the deck part above the trucks and wheels. Since longboards are designed as drop throughs or drop downs, you will get a wheelbite if you put pressure on the deck part above the wheels or trucks.
Up to this point, you have learned to stand on a skateboard; now, you have to learn about pushing and turning. You can read an article about how to ride a skateboard that will be helpful for you as a beginner.
Do not forget that skateboard quality matters as well. If you own a cheap quality skateboard, you will have a hard time standing on it because they are difficult to balance. Having a low budget doesn’t mean you can’t skateboard. In order to find affordable and quality skateboards, such as the best skateboard under 100 dollars, you have to do more research.
Does it matter how you stand on a skateboard?
It might not seem like it, but how you stand on your skateboard can make a big difference in your skateboarding.
For example, if you’re trying to do a trick that requires you to jump, having your feet in the right position will help you get more height and rotation. Additionally, proper foot placement can help you keep your balance while skating.
So, if you’re just starting out, it’s important to learn how to stand on your skateboard. With time you’ll develop your own style and learn what works best for you, but in the meantime, you should follow the rules.
FAQ’s
Depending on your comfort level and body type. When you’re left-handed, you’ll put your right foot first on the deck and use your left foot to push the board. Likewise, right-handed riders will put their left foot on the deck first and use their right one to push the board.
It’s all about comfort. It’s fine to stand in any stance, as there is no good or bad. In a goofy stance, the rider put the right foot on front of the deck and the left on the back of the deck. Thus, if a goofy stance makes you more comfortable, you should go ahead with it.
Conclusion
So far, we have explained how to stand on a skateboard in detail, and we assume that you have mastered standing correctly.
Please feel free to comment below if you have any problems related to skateboarding. We will cover them in our next article.
I am James Buckridge, the founder of skateboardidea.com. Skateboarding is my passion, and I have years of teaching experience in this field. Our vision and mission is to provide you with accurate information on everything related to skateboarding. Catch me on Twitter & Pinterest.