Starting Off
Decide what you are looking for in a board. Are you looking for a board to cruise on around town? To hit the skatepark with? Or are you looking to rip down big hills? Different sized longboards have different advantages and disadvantages. Shorter longboards are more agile (meaning you can turn more) but less stable (meaning it's easier to fall over). Longer boards are more stable but less agile. Beginners should stick with longer boards.
Get some protective gear. You may not think it's the coolest way to longboard, but especially when you're practicing, it's a good idea to be padded up. If you're doing more extreme versions of longboarding, getting padded up is essential. For gear, be sure to get: A good-fitting helmet Skateboarding shoes (flat bottomed) Elbow pads (optional) Knee pads (optional) Slide Gloves (depend on the board you have)
Figure out if you are goofy or regular. Do you skate with your right foot forward? That's called riding "goofy." Do you skate with your left foot facing forward? That's called regular. To find out whether you ride regular or goofy, have someone shove you from behind with no warning. Whichever foot you put out to catch yourself is the one you want to lead with on the skateboard. If it feels wrong, try switching to the other foot. Another way to find out is to slide on a smooth surface in socks or lay on the ground; whichever foot you use to get up with will be the foot you want to lead with on your longboard.
Try riding it around a couple times on a flat surface. Try to feel the smooth flow as it rolls over the concrete. The lower you keep your center of gravity, the better you will feel. Make sure you feel comfortable before moving on.
Get the basic stance down. Stand with your feet between the trucks (the bearings that hold the wheels), a little longer than shoulder-width apart. Angle your front foot slightly forward, at about a 45 degree angle. Have your back foot be pretty much sideways, perpendicular to the direction the board is traveling in. This is just one stance that you can use. After getting comfortable with your longboard for a little bit, you very well could find that other stances work better for you. Go with what feels comfortable.
Practice balancing on your board by finding a gentle slope and going down it on the longboard. Get the hang of what it feels like to be on a longboard. Use your arms for balance and bend your knees a bit.
Balance yourself. If you feel out of control, make sure you focus far in front of you using your peripheral vision to guide you. This will allow your body to naturally gain control or balance.
Longboarding Basics
Practice moving yourself forward. Take your back foot off the board and use the ground as something to push off of. You can go for one big push, or several smaller pushes. Try to keep your body loose as you push off; the stiffer your body is, the harder it will be to keep your balance. If you want to use your front foot to push off, give it a try. Most boarders don't do this — it's called "mongo" — but it's more important do ride comfortably than do what other people do. After you get the hang of it, practice generating more speed by doing harder kicks. You'll find that, after you've gotten to a certain speed, one good push will keep you going for quite a while.
Practice turning, or carving, on your longboard. You'll need to practice turning on your board if you want to ride around. Turning is quite easy. All you have to do is put pressure down on one side of the board, leaning in that direction, and you'll turn: Heel edge carving: you move your heels downward and you turn to your inside. Heel edge turns for people who ride regular give you left turns. Toe edge carving: you move your toes downward and you turn to your outside. Toe edge turns for people who ride regular give you right turns.
Find a way to stop your skateboard or to slow down. Foot-braking, where you drag one foot on the ground, is probably the most reliable way to stop or slow down: you're creating a lot of friction with your foot, thereby slowing the momentum of the board down. Other ways that you can break include: Carving: snaking down the hill by leaning from side to side pushes on your wheels and will help keep speed down. Air braking: at high speeds, simply standing up and putting your arms out can slow you considerably.
Practice sliding after you've mastered these concepts. If you ever want to go faster than you can run, save yourself some road rash by learning how to slide. In order to slide, you should either buy slide gloves, or attach squares of cutting board (find it in the supermarket) to work gloves. Once you have your gloves, you're ready to go learn to slide! In order to slide: Point your front foot forward while bending your knees; shift your weight to the front. Slide your back foot off your board, flexing your front knee to make contact with the ground. Apply gradual pressure to stop Try not to use your toes or heel to touch the ground; instead, opt for the middle of your sole. It is also very important you don't put weight on your back foot. Doing that will almost ensure you will slip backwards. Try to keep more weight on the foot you have in front, leaning forwards is much safer than leaning back.
Save yourself some road rash and learn to slide with gloves before you get going really fast. Start slow, and work your way up. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Don't worry if your board doesn't look like the one in the videos. Everybody has different preferences. Getting comfortable with a board takes time and the techniques work for almost any shape and size board. Hard wheels (durometer of at least 86a) break traction easier, making learning to slide easier.
Have fun but be careful. Longboarding is a ton of fun, but pushing it too hard can cause serious injury. You never think it'll be you until it actually happens to you. Be mindful of potentially dangerous situations and prepare accordingly or take yourself out of them before it's too late. That being said, have a blast cruising on your new toy!
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