The Best Place To Buy A Skateboard
The best place to buy a skateboard could be your local skate shop. However, not all skate shops are built equal and some are definitely less for the sport than others. My local skate shop for example, other than the Zumiez a couple miles down the road, is primarily a head shop and the employees are less than helpful. I typically avoid going there and Zumiez because of the high prices. Skateboards are definitely less affordable when you buy them at a skate shop because in addition to the cost of goods sold, the shops need to generate enough revenue from skateboard sales to keep the lights on and pay the rent or property taxes for the shop space. That’s why when I first really got into skateboarding, I started to buy boards and equipment on Amazon. They say support your local skate shop, but when you are a skater, you are often looking for the most affordable option, and that happened to be the case for me.
However, now I try to never purchase skateboards on Amazon. There are a number of ecommerce brands and companies in the skateboarding industry that are on the rise where you can get a potentially better deal on all kinds of skateboarding equipment. In my opinion though, the best place to buy your skateboards online is howtoskateboards.com. And that’s because that is the ecommerce brand I just launched this summer while I was recovering from a broken fibula. To be honest I am just getting started on How To Skateboards LLC, so although I would like to consider my brand to be the best online skate shop, it is a work in progress. But there are many other websites out there where you can find skateboards at a good price while supporting a small business.
Skate Warehouse is a good one I used to buy from often and I know a lot of people that shop on CCS. Whatever you do though, just avoid Amazon and any big box retailers like Target or Walmart. You are more likely to get better quality skateboards from a legitimate online skateboard company that specializes in a variety of skateboard equipment. Also, by buying from these online skate shops you are supporting relatively small businesses that fuel the skateboarding industry, compared to publicly held companies that will always be around for things other than skateboarding.
Who is Rodney Mullen?
“The Godfather of Street Skateboarding.” If you don’t know Rodney Mullen, you probably don’t know skateboarding.
Rodney Mullen is arguably the architect of modern day street skating. Credited for inventing tricks such as the flatground ollie, the kickflip, heelflip, treflip, and many others, Rodney Mullen essentially created skateboarding as we know it today. Without him, who knows where skateboarding would be now.
Rodney was always my favorite skater growing up because of how unique his approach to skateboarding was. Creativity was always his thing coming from a freestyle background. If you watch clips of Rodney Mullen skating, many of the tricks you see him doing are essentially freestyle tricks which he has brought into a street skating context. That is by far what made him stand out and is the same thing that makes skaters such as Jonny Giger and Andy Anderson so unique. It is that creativity and that freestyle approach to street skating that really distinguished Rodney Mullen from other skaters. In the modern day, there are now a good amount of skaters out there that skate like Rodney, bringing primo or casper slides to street obstacles as opposed more traditional freestyle skating you would see skaters like Mike Osterman doing. In his time he really was the first of his kind as a freestyle skater to start bringing his tricks to street as freestyle skateboarding became less and less popular. Rodney really did not have a choice but to adjust and become one of the best street skateboarders of all time.
But it is not just his unique style and approach to skateboarding that made Rodney Mullen the legend he is today. Before really distinguishing himself as a street skater, Rodney invented an insane amount of tricks in his freestyle days. In the 1980’s he invented the flip tricks I mentioned earlier, as well as many others including the gazelle flip, impossible, and half cab kickflip. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that he really began street skating and from there the tricks he invented went beyond the everyday tricks you see today. This was the time where he truly distinguished himself both as a street skater and inventor. This was when he invented and perfected tricks such as the kickflip underflip, the casper slide, as well as the half flip to darkslide. Skateboarding was really picking up at the time and Rodney was showing that he was still far before his time.
Nowadays, Rodney Mullen goes down as a skateboarding legend. At the age of 55, he still skates to this day and there seems to be nothing holding him back. There was even a point in his career where he had a hip injury whereas he had to relearn skating entirely in the opposite stance, becoming equally as skilled switch. There really is no talent in skateboarding quite like Rodney Mullen and it is thanks to him that skateboarding has come as far as it is today.
The Core Skater
The core skater almost always skates the hardest out of anyone and is always super low key about it. What is a core skater? A core skater is somebody who skateboards and all they care about is the skating. They are the true O.G. skaters and typically don’t care too much for anything other than getting out and shredding.
It’s rare you find a core skater with over 1,000 Instagram followers - they are super low key people and not the type to post on TikTok or YouTube because they don’t care about making content about skating. They care about skateboarding and nothing other than doing it. The core skaters that I know are the best skaters by far. There’s a core skater at my local skatepark who is by far the best skater at the park. He is super low key, doesn’t go out of his way to get clips, and personally told me he would never post his clips on Instagram Reels.
I’ve encountered many other core skaters as well. One core skater I started skating with last summer who absolutely shreds is Dale. I met him at the Greenport Skatepark last summer in Long Island, and he is probably the most talented AM vert skater I have ever encountered. Watch Dale skate in my most recent YouTube video where he teared up my local skatepark earlier this month. Dale is not one to go out of his way for clips, but I enjoy filming a skater whose talent should get out there. That is the common thing about core skaters is they keep it low key and therefore it is clear that there are a lot of under rated skateboarders out there, specifically core skaters.
Darkstar Skateboards Review
Darkstar Skateboards
With the height of popularity in the early 2000’s, Darkstar is a skateboard brand owned and operated by Dwindle Distribution. I heard a lot of bad things about Darkstar skateboards, so I wanted to give them a try. From what I can understand, the reason that Darkstar gets a bad rep is because they have boards sold in Walmart, however those boards are a different make than one you would buy from a skate shop or online retailer.
Testing A Darkstar Skateboard Deck
After seeing a sale online, I picked up a Darkstar deck for just under $40 and skated & reviewed it in my most recent Youtube video here. Here are my thoughts after 2 sessions:
Overall it skates quite well and seems very durable
The Darkstar skateboard deck I’m riding is super light
Board has great pop - ollies felt amazing
The deck is super flat and has almost no concave but that did not have a negative impact on my skating
The nose on this Darkstar deck is super steep, making it harder to initiate noseslides, nose manuals, and nollies, however the steep nose makes your ollies level out very clean.
Overall I give this deck an 8/10.
Best Way To Warm Up Skateboarding
There are a variety of ways you can warm up before a skate session. A warmup for skateboarding will typically consist of some light stretching followed by the completion of a bunch of basic tricks. I for one have a list of tricks I run through for every warmup to not only get me ready to be pushed out of my comfort zone, but also to reinforce some basic and advanced techniques. That is one good way to warmup, but even better is a game of S.K.A.T.E.
Every time I go to the skatepark with a friend I almost always warm up with a game a S.K.A.T.E. This past weekend we played a couple warmup games here in my most recent YouTube video. Here are just some of the many reasons why we play a game of skate to warmup and why I believe it’s the #1 way to start a skate session with the homies:
Forces you to fully commit to every trick
Makes warming up fun
Enforces consistency by making you practice tricks you already have down
Leaves you no choice but to try and learn new tricks when playing defense
These 4 elements of the game of S.K.A.T.E. make for a great warmup because lets be honest, warming up isn’t always fun and when you don’t have the mental capacity to power through a comprehensive warmup, you won’t commit to every trick attempt and therefore will take a long time to warm up. The game of skate overcomes this because it is fun, fast-paced, and makes you commit to every trick. Not only that but the game will call on you to practice tricks you know well, and try tricks you may have never tried before. So next time you pull up to the skatepark with the homies, get warm with a game of S.K.A.T.E.
Are Slip-On Skate Shoes Good For Skateboarding?
I never thought I would be skating in slip-on skate shoes, but after doing some research, I decided to give them a shot. Currently I am riding a pair of Osiris slip-ons, very similar in style to Vans slip-ons. They skate quite well I must say, and I discuss this in further detail in my most recent YouTube video.
Slip-on skate shoes are great for skateboarding, and they break in very quickly. They skate almost exactly the same as any other skate shoe, except for one key difference. The only thing that really sets apart slip-ons from regular skate shoes is the lack of laces. Laces are a pain in the ass in the sense that they rip/break all the time from skating. However, without laces you have no ability to tighten up your shoes. Therefore, when choosing a slip on shoe, it is crucial that you pick a size that is snug to your feet. Osiris shoes run a bit bigger than Vans, therefore my typical size 11 is a little loose in my current slip-ons. In my situation, I would probably go down half a size in my current shoe so that my feet aren’t constantly at risk of slipping out. That is my #1 recommendation for slip-on shoes is to make sure you pick a size where your feet are locked in. Otherwise, slip-on skate shoes are great for skateboarding!
What Skateboard Bearings Should You Ride?
The market for skateboard bearings is dominated by a few key players with Bones being arguably the most reputable company in the game. Often at your skatepark you will see people riding Bones Reds bearings because they are affordable and get the job done quite well. Regardless of what bearings you ride, it probably doesn’t have that much of an impact on your skateboarding. Honestly, bearings are probably the least important part of your skateboard setup so long as they last long and are not slowing you down. There really only is so much marginal acceleration that a pair of Bones Swiss bearings can provide as apposed to a pair of Bones Reds and so long as you are taking care of your bearings and cleaning them every so often, you probably won’t feel that much of a difference in the bearings you ride. Therefore, I would not find it necessary to drop $50 or more on a set of skateboard bearings. Rather, I would recommend staying in that $20-$30 price range as you can definitely get some good bearings for that price. I personally ride Bones Reds, but I have heard a lot about other bearings in that price range being just as good and if not better. Here are some suggestions on strong, fast, affordable bearings based on the feedback I have gotten on TikTok:
Bones Reds (of course) - don’t bother with super reds!
Bronson Speed Co. - people are saying these are a lot better than Reds (I will be trying these next).
Shake Junt Triple OG’s
Shortys Black Panthers
Spitfire Cheapshots
You don’t need to break the bank to get a decent set of skateboard bearings. All the above options are great for any skateboard setup and will definitely save you some money while giving you the speed you need. That is not to say that a $100 pair of bearings isn’t great, but you simply don’t need to drop that much on bearings when a $20 set will definitely keep you rolling!
3 Reasons People Quit Skateboarding And How To Overcome Them
There are several reasons people quit skateboarding and many of these can easily be overcome. If you’ve worked this hard to get this far in your skating abilities, quitting is not worth it whatsoever. Here are 3 reasons people quit skateboarding and how to conquer each:
It’s difficult and you’re not getting better
A couple things can help you overcome this struggle. First, remember to always have fun when you are skating. Skateboarding is all about having fun so if you are not doing it for that reason, you are not skating for the right reason. Second, you probably are getting better but you just don’t realize. For example if you are just practicing the same tricks and aren’t learning new ones, you are still likely getting better and more consistent at that same set of tricks you are practicing. And if that isn’t enough to give you some piece of mind, just try learning some basic things that you have never tried before - it will unlock a new skillset I promise!
No friends to skate with and keep you motivated
If you don’t have friends to skate with at the moment, they will come eventually. The more you go to the park and skateboard in your local community, the more friends you will make. Therefore, put yourself out there. If it isn’t your local community where you are making friends, post your skating for the world to see. You can make lots of skateboarding friends on the internet!
Fear: scared to get hurt
Falling is part of skateboarding and a lot of the time if you are experienced enough and know how to fall, you shouldn’t have much to be afraid of. However, remember YOLO. Seriously, you only have so much time in your life to ride skateboards, so if you don’t go for that trick you’ve been dying to hit, you will only look back at it later in life with regret. That being said, do not feel the need to go full send today. Ease your way into more intense obstacles or tricks by leveling up one step at a time. Keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in a safe manner until the uncomfortable is comfortable.
How To Make Skateboard Wax
Making your own skate wax is super easy and cost effective! Not only that, but skateboard wax can be used for multiple sports such as skimboarding and surfing. Therefore, if you use a lot of skate wax, it’s a great idea to make your own as you will save a lot of money. It’s also an easy and fun process so today I will be breaking it all down for you.
Materials
Paraffin
Beeswax
A Stove
A Pot
Molds
The process should take about 20 minutes of your time depending on the batch size:
In the pot, combine a mixture of beeswax and paraffin with a ratio of about 60% paraffin, 40% beeswax
Turn on the burner to a low setting to begin melting down the wax - it’s just like melting butter!
Stir the wax as the melting process continues, ensuring that all the wax melts down but does not burn.
Once it is all melted down, pour your wax into the molds and throw it in the refrigerator. It can take a few hours to fully solidify and you can put it in the freezer for a portion of the time to speed things up.
As mentioned, making your own skateboard wax is super easy. If your are skeptical on the process, watch my TikTok Tutorial Here.
Do People Actually Ride Braille Skateboards
When you go to your local skatepark or skate shop, one well-known skateboard brand is typically missing from the mix. That is Braille Skateboards. I have never seen anyone riding a Braille deck at the skatepark and never hear anybody talking about their boards. The only thing people talk about regarding Braille nowadays is Mogely, the professional skateboarder from the San Francisco Bay Area, along with his Australia sidekick who defaults to darkslides over boardslides any day. That made me wonder: Do people actually ride Braille Skateboards?
I asked the TikTok this question and got an array of responses. Here is what some people commented:
“Braille made skateboards?”
“My friend had one for his first board it’s so bad”
“They are not good or bad”
“They’re only good for beginners”
“The pop is great will break in under a week if you actually skate”
“They don’t exist”
“It’s a skate cult, Scientology is recruiting followers via Kyro”
“Yeah it’s good”
Overall, the bulk of responses indicated that the boards are of good quality, however they are definitely best for beginners. I did receive a few comments regarding the Mogely board which sounded like a great deck for a skater of any skill lever. Therefore, if I were to ride a Braille deck, that would likely be my first choice. Until then, I will just have to wait until I meet somebody who rides Braille Skateboards.
Trick Tip: How To Varial Kickflip On A Skateboard
The varial kickflip is a combination of the backside pop shuvit and kickflip. This trick looks nice if done well and is easier than you may think. If you can kickflip, then I promise you can learn this trick if you have not already. For a full tutorial watch my video on YouTube here. Otherwise, here are a few quick pointers to help you get it down:
If you’ve never done this trick before, note that the back foot is less involved than you probably think. In fact, the front foot drives a a decent portion of the 180 rotation that is the shuvit, therefore the back foot is supposed to pop with this trick more than it does scoop. Your back foot should be setup in the toe side corner pocket and all it does is pop down at a slight angle to start the pop shuvit.
The flick is different for this trick in comparison to a kickflip. With a normal kickflip you want to avoid flicking down as it leads to a poor rotation, however you do want to flick down with a varial kickflip because of the 180 rotation that you need to finish.
The front foot does most of the work on this trick. The flick is fairly aggressive in the sense that it is downward and to the side, creating the flip and finishing the shuvit that your back foot started.
Last, I must say that this trick is very underrated and hated on too often. Therefore, go learn it and do it everywhere!
How To Impossible On A Skateboard
Today I am going to teach you how to impossible on a skateboard. This is my favorite and probably most consistent flip trick; it definitely looks very cool. In this article, I am going explain some key things to learning the impossible, but if you don’t feel like reading, full tutorial is here on YouTube.
The first step to learning this trick is to figure out the scooping motion. This trick is 100% a back foot flip trick, therefore like the pressure flip, it is important to understand how to scoop the board with your back foot before attempting the trick. To start, stand there with your front foot on the ground and back foot on the tail. Practice scooping the board by digging your foot into the pocket, pushing forward, up, and back all in one motion. This motion is circular, almost like pedaling a bike as you wrap the board around your back foot in a full 360. Once you have figured this motion out standing, it is time to put your front foot on the board.
Foot setup is pretty similar to a treflip. Make sure that back foot is in the corner pocket with some toe hanging off to guarantee a good scoop. Front foot should be in a place where you can get it out of the way easily, but generate quick weight-shift and leverage for the back foot scoop. The impossible is a very quick motion where the majority of your weight starts on your front foot, and all at once shifts to your back foot as you jump and scoop the board. The main difference between scooping the board standing compared to skating is the drastic weight shift from front to back as well as the need to jump as you scoop. This is a big transition, but my #1 tip is to really focus on scooping forward with your back foot as you jump as opposed to sideways as you would with a treflip. Ideally the board should stay wrapped around your foot for the majority of the 360 spin, and looks best when done in a more vertical fashion.
5 Things Skaters Can Do When It Rains
A skateboarder’s worst nightmare is a rainy day. Today it is raining and when this happens you really can’t skate at all; there is no way around it. For all you skaters out there, here is a list of things you can do when it rains to keep you occupied and moving in the right direction:
Watch trick tip videos! Today I watched Jonny Giger's Hardflip Tutorial in hopes that I can nail one tomorrow when the sun comes out. Trick tips are a great way for you to stay engaged and thinking through your progression on a day off from a skate session.
Carpet Boarding! To be honest, this one is tough given the lack of pop that a carpet has to offer, however it can definitely help you by allowing for some practice on a rainy day.
Edit and upload your clips! That’s right, now that it is raining, you have time to edit all the clips you filmed throughout the week. Last weekend it rained and I was able to put together my longest Youtube video to date.
Fingerboarding! Believe it or not, fingerboarding is indeed a professional “sport." I have not done this in years, however it looks like a blast and from what I understand, the technique for each trick is the same as on a regular skateboard. Therefore, fingerboarding can be great practice in some sense!
Play Skate 3! Or any skateboarding video game out there. They’re all fun and will kill some time until you can skate again.
Skateboarding: Why Practicing Consistently Is Key To Skating
This week I got to the skatepark 4 consistent days in a row. That’s right, 4 consistent days of 2+ hour sessions! What I learned this week is that if you want to get better, the only way to do so is through consistency. Previously, I discussed how a skateboard trick checklist will enable you to land tricks consistently. That is consistency in practice with a goal to become consistent at tricks you already know well; a slightly different but similar concept. However, today I am going to explain why consistent practice is vital to learning new tricks and progressing at those you are currently uncomfortable with.
Imagine skateboarding just once a week versus 5 days a week. Now imagine how a warm up would look and feel that one day you skate each week versus the third day in a row that you skated. By that third day, on your first run you can likely jump right into the challenging tricks you left off with the prior day. Meanwhile, if you hadn’t skated for a week, you would likely need to spend quite some time (maybe an additional 30 minutes to an hour) warming up and getting a feel for the basics before you can jump right into the more challenging tricks you aren’t quite comfortable with. This is why to me, skating just once a week is almost a waste of time (unless you have been skating for several years). If you are in a learning stage and aren’t skating consistently, then you are going to spend too much time trying to ensure you get in those tricks that you typically practice, leaving no time to progress. Not only that, but it will take a while for you to land the tricks in your warm up routine if done once a week versus daily, relating back to the checklist concept in the sense that any trick can be done first try if practiced consistently.
But to me, that is not the main purpose of skateboarding on a frequent cadence. The main purpose is so you can get that warm up done quickly, leaving plenty of time for learning new tricks and iterating on them each day. For example, if I ran through my warmup checklist of skateboard tricks in 5 minutes versus 45 minutes (thanks to consistent practice), I would have 40 additional minutes in that session to work on learning a new trick versus trying to land some tricks I already know how to do. Not only that, but by skating day after day, you can pick up exactly where you left off the prior day. For example, if yesterday I learned how to throw a lazerflip, today I know where I left off and can jump right into trying to land it. If I had learned how to throw the trick and didn’t practice again until a week later, I would likely have to spend the first 20 minutes relearning how to throw the trick before I can spend time trying to land it. As a result, it would likely take me over a month practicing once a week to get the trick down versus a week if I went at it each day. Therefore, although practicing consistently does take up a lot of time, in some sense it will save you time, making you a better skateboarder in a shorter period of time. With that being said, it is a no brainer that you should try to skateboard each day. I definitely try to and trust me, it pays off!
Skateboard Trick Checklist: The Only Way To Consistency
A year ago, I could never grasp the concept of how a skater could master a trick to the point where they land it with every attempt. Consistency with skateboard tricks simply did not make sense to me in my early learning stages, especially with flip tricks. This was of course a few months after landing my first kickflip and starting to explore a variety of new tricks that this hopeless thought came to my mind that landing skate tricks consistently was not possible. Today, consistency only makes sense to me through constant repetition by creating a checklist of skateboard tricks you must land each session.
Your checklist will start out small. For example, my checklist once consisted of landing an ollie, shuvit, heelflip, and kickflip by the end of each skate session. As you ensure to use your trick checklist each time you skate, the tricks will get easier and take far less attempts over time. Eventually, you will be landing each trick on your checklist multiple times per session, hitting many first try as you develop a stronger mind-muscle connection between you and your skateboard. This is where the consistency begins, but you can’t just stop there and be satisfied after completing your checklist in under 5 minutes each sesh. Once the checklist of tricks is easy, you need to grow it. Add in those tricks that you land inconsistently, and one day they will become easy.
Adding tricks to your checklist may be a battle for some time. For me, I had to commit to doing a treflip each day for 100 days straight to get it consistent to the point where I could manageably add it to my checklist. At that time treflips were the checklist, but I was able to use my prior checklists of tricks as a warmup before each daily tre. Now my list has grown to 8 tricks as shown here on TikTok. Growing a checklist may be challenging, but creating one to use each day should be easy. Regardless of what skill level you are at, I HIGHLY encourage you to create a skate trick checklist to improve your consistency. I promise that this strategy will pay off!
Varial Heelflips – Is it worth it?
Varial heelflips to me are one of the most unnatural tricks in skateboarding. Not only is the heelflip the far less popular option than the kickflip, but on top of that you need to combine the heelflip with the notorious frontside shuvit to complete the rotation. To me heelflips come more naturally than kickflips, however a front shuv is like doing everything backwards; the trick is not natural to me and definitely not to most people. Therefore, I can confirm that the varial heelflip is far more difficult than the varial kickflip. And from what I can understand, the varial kickflip itself is one of the least respected flip tricks in skateboarding. I love varial kickflips, but this makes me wonder, are varial heelflips worth the battle?
Here is my most recent Youtube video where I try to conquer the varial heelflip. It takes me a while to land this trick versus the varial kickflip which is a first try trick for me on most days. Therefore, this only leads me with one question – do people truly respect the varial heelflip? Is it recognized by the general skateboarding community as the difficult trick that it truly is? I will keep practicing this trick myself and when I do have it on lock, I will just have to whip it out and see for myself.
Skateboarding: 3 Things They Don’t Tell You About Skating
First, falling is the name of the game. To learn a new skateboard trick, you must fall; there really is no other way to progress! I would actually define skateboarding as 90% falling and 10% landing. The truth is, if you are only landing things, you are only practicing tricks you have already mastered for consistency. The 90/10 ratio is key to progression in getting better at tricks you have recently learned but not yet mastered. With that being said, the ratio will eventually flip for tricks that you practice consistently, so it is important to stay persistent out there, even if it means putting up 20+ tries a day at a trick you only land once each day.
To go off that, the second thing they don’t tell you about in skateboarding is the insane process that is learning a new trick. Some tricks may come in a day, some may take weeks, and some months depending on the level of difficulty as well as the time and thought you put into each session. To learn a new trick, you will need to be patient, persistent, and stay motivated. However, the biggest key to learning a new trick is through analysis and optimization. You need to constantly ask yourself: What did I do wrong with my last attempt and how can I make it better? If you are not thinking this way, it will take far longer for you to learn a new trick because to improve at anything in life, you need to identify the mistakes you are making and fix them. With that being said, don’t get discouraged when working on a new trick because it will come eventually. What helps for me is either working on multiple different tricks at once, or carving out only a portion of time in each skate session to learn something new.
The last big thing they don’t tell you about skateboarding is that your shoes will get DESTROYED!!! Grip tape as you know is not very smooth and over time, your shoes will start to fall apart. Whether it be the worn-out soles or the massive holes you created from doing flip tricks, your shoes will quickly become your skateboard’s punching bag. Therefore, when buying skate shoes, I recommend skating shoes that are a bit thicker, with more layers for your grip tape to chew through. Shoe Goo is also a reliable option for increasing the lifespan of your shoe. As soon as I see a hole in my shoe, I patch it up with Shoe Goo immediately and almost never have to worry about it again.