Learn to Skateboard: A Beginner's Guide
Skateboarding is genuinely hard for about two weeks and then it is not. Almost everyone who gives up does it in that window, and usually for one of three reasons: the board is wrong, they have not learned to stop, or they are afraid of falling because they have no protection on.
All three are fixable before you start.
The short version
- Learn to stop before you learn to go fast. Foot braking first, always.
- Find somewhere flat, smooth and empty. Not a skatepark, not yet.
- Wear wrist guards. Falling forward onto your hands is how beginners get hurt.
- Order: stance, standing still, pushing, turning, stopping, then tricks.
- Timeline: rolling in a few sessions, turning and stopping in two to three weeks, ollies in one to three months.
- Frequency beats duration. Twenty minutes four times a week beats two hours on a Sunday.
What we cover
Regular or goofy · Standing and balance · Pushing · Turning · Stopping · Falling · Where to practise · How long it takes · FAQ
Are you regular or goofy?
Regular means you ride with your left foot forward. Goofy means right foot forward. Roughly two thirds of people are regular, and neither is better or worse.
Three ways to work it out:
- The push test. Stand still and have someone give you a gentle shove from behind. Whichever foot steps out to catch you is usually your back foot.
- The slide test. Run at a slippery floor in socks and slide. Whichever foot goes forward is your front foot.
- Just try it. Stand on the board both ways. One will feel obviously less strange.
If it is genuinely ambiguous, pick one and commit for a few weeks rather than switching. Your body sorts it out.
Getting comfortable standing
Start on grass or carpet so the board cannot roll. Sounds unnecessary. Is not.
Feet go roughly over the truck bolts, shoulder width or slightly wider. Front foot angled slightly forward, back foot close to across the board. Knees bent, always. Straight legs is the single most common beginner mistake and it makes everything harder, because you have no way to absorb anything.
Rock gently side to side to feel the trucks turn. Shift your weight forward and back. Get used to the board moving underneath you while you stay still, because that is what skateboarding is.
How to push
Front foot on the board angled forward, back foot on the ground. Push off with the back foot, then bring it up onto the board and turn your front foot across as you settle into your riding stance.
Two things people get wrong:
- Pushing with the front foot while the back foot stays on the board. It is called mongo, it works, and it makes almost everything later harder. Learn it the standard way from the start.
- Standing up straight after pushing. Stay low. Bent knees, weight centred.
Practise pushing once and rolling until you stop. Then twice. Do not chase speed, chase being comfortable.
How to turn
Leaning is how you steer. Press your heels down to turn one way, your toes down to turn the other. The trucks do the rest. This is why bushings and truck tension matter so much: if the board will not turn, that is a setup problem, not you.
If it feels stiff, loosen the kingpin nuts a quarter turn at a time until it responds without feeling unstable.
Kick turning is the next step. Press down on the tail to lift the front wheels slightly, swivel the nose to point where you want, set it down. This is how you make sharp turns and it is the foundation of most tricks. Practise it standing still first.
How to stop
Learn this early. People who cannot stop confidently never relax, and people who never relax do not progress.
Foot braking is the method. Shift your weight over your front foot, take the back foot off the board and lower the sole flat onto the ground, then increase pressure gradually until you stop. Flat sole, not the toe. It wears shoes and that is fine, that is what shoes are for.
Tail scraping works as a backup: press the tail to the ground and let the friction slow you. Wears the tail and is less controlled.
Bailing is the last resort. Step off the front, run it out. Better a controlled step off than a fall.
Practise foot braking at walking pace before you need it at speed.
How to fall
You will fall. Making it boring is most of the battle.
- Do not put a straight arm out. It is the instinct and it is how wrists break. Go down onto forearms, or roll.
- Try to fall along the ground, not into it. Rolling spreads the impact.
- Wear wrist guards. They make the whole question much less important, which is exactly why beginners should have them.
- Knee pads let you bail deliberately. Once you can drop to your knees and slide, falling becomes a technique rather than an accident.
More detail in our protective gear guide.
Where should you practise?
Flat, smooth, empty. An empty car park on a Sunday, a quiet tennis or netball court, a wide stretch of smooth footpath.
Avoid skateparks for the first few sessions. Not because anyone will give you a hard time, most skaters are fine about beginners. Because a park is full of people moving fast in different directions and you will spend the entire time watching them instead of learning.
Once you can push, turn and stop, a park is the best place to be. Go at a quiet time, watch for a few minutes to see how people are flowing, and stay out of the main lines until you have the rhythm.
How long does it take?
| Stage | Roughly | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Standing comfortably | First session | Balanced, knees bent, not rigid |
| Pushing and rolling | 1 to 3 sessions | Push, glide, ride it out |
| Turning and stopping | 2 to 3 weeks | Confident foot brake, controlled leaning turns |
| Kick turns and tic-tacs | 3 to 6 weeks | Steering sharply, generating speed on flat |
| First ollie | 1 to 3 months | Both wheels off the ground, landed rolling |
These are averages and the spread is wide. What genuinely predicts progress is frequency. Twenty minutes four times a week beats two hours once a fortnight, every time.
Learning to skate FAQ
How do you know if you are regular or goofy?
Have someone give you a gentle push from behind while you stand still. Whichever foot steps forward to catch you is usually your back foot. Regular means left foot forward on the board, goofy means right foot forward. Neither is better.
How long does it take to learn to skateboard?
Most people can push and roll comfortably within a few sessions, and turn and stop reliably within two or three weeks of regular practice. Ollies typically take one to three months. Progress is much more about frequency than talent.
How do you stop on a skateboard?
Foot braking is the method to learn first. Keep your weight over your front foot, take your back foot off and drag the sole flat along the ground until you slow to a stop. Learn this before you build up any real speed.
Where should a beginner learn to skateboard?
Somewhere flat, smooth and empty. An empty car park, a quiet tennis court or a wide footpath. Avoid skateparks for the first few sessions, not because anyone will mind, but because you will spend the whole time avoiding people.
How do you fall safely on a skateboard?
Try to go down on your forearms or roll rather than putting a straight arm out, which is how wrists get broken. Wrist guards make this far less relevant, which is why they are the piece of gear beginners most often should have.
Is skateboarding hard to learn as an adult?
It is harder to start than as a child, mostly because adults are more cautious and have further to fall. The learning itself is no slower. Protective gear helps more than it does for kids, because confidence is the actual bottleneck.
Come and talk to someone who skates
Everyone on our floor rides. Come to 435A Bridge Road, Richmond and tell us what you are trying to do, and we will set a board up that suits it rather than selling you what is on the wall. Nobody here works on commission.
Free shipping Australia wide on orders over $90. Call 03 9421 2293.
Keep reading: How to Choose a Skateboard · What Size Skateboard Do You Need? · Skate Protective Gear · What Size Skateboard for a Kid? · How Much Does a Skateboard Cost?
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