I'm so glad we didn't have easy video when I was a teenaged skateboarder. Me and all my friends are still legends in our own minds and video would have probably killed that!
I've watched a few of your videos and you're doing great. Don't assume that due to age you won't be able to drastically improve your balance, agility, coordination, proprioception, and whatnot. Granted, these things are harder as we age but can always be improved. How you're learning is also really good. As you subject yourself to different terrain, different ramps, different gradients, some flat, some curved, some moving forward, some moving backward, some turning, etc. you'll increase all the qualities I mentioned earlier and with those comes confidence. As you gain experience and confidence you'll learn to relax more and everything becomes easier including getting yourself out of falls and even the falling itself. Be consistent, take your time, ease into everything, push yourself when you can and compare yourself to no one but you. Just have fun.
All great points. As I am recovering from an MCL tear, I realized I needed to slow down and stop trying to keep up with my 20 year old son. I thought a lifetime of action sport experience would counter any age advantage he had, but I was oh so wrong. I am finally back to the point of resuming strength and mobility training, and taking it easy as I come back into skating. I am 100% in agreement that its still possible to make significant gains, even at almost 63, you just have to be patient and not compare yourself to anyone else, and to always keep it fun!
Try to remember to always look where you are heading. I just got my skates thanks to your inspiration. And I had my first big fall forward skating around the park at night. Hit a big gap in the walkway and flew forward. Definitely the muscles hurt a lot more the older and bigger you get.😢. Keep it up.
Glad to hear you got out there! Yep, it hurts a lot worse and takes longer to heal these days. I have been working on twisting at the hips to look behind me for months and it just seems like I am making 0 progress on that. As I told @sniffski above, I am really going to start working on trying to master the basics and skating backwards over anything with ease and speed is one of the things I want most. Stay safe out there and good luck on your comeback!!
Nice work 👏. I can skate backwards round corners or in circles, including ropey crossovers, but I cannot for the life of me just plain skate backwards in a straight line. All part of the weird world of being a late starter I guess 🤷🏻♂️
Yep same here. Unless I roll up something first or jump to backwards, I just can't generate any speed. Those circles were fun, but you could see I was dizzy at the end and almost fell down, so I had to limit them. My son is able to skate all the way around the park backwards and I try what he does but it just hasn't clicked yet. I am going to really work on that moving forward along with some other basics. I think it will help keep me off the sidelines more if I work to master more of the basics.
That is something I am still grappling with. My body is more comfortable looking over my left shoulder, but my balance is way better looking over my right shoulder with my right foot back. I have tried coming down the transitions looking over my left shoulder with my left foot back and it is just very awkward balance wise. I'll keep trying both ways and hopefully I'll slowly improve.
Yeah, that's good. I think most people just practice one way. Same with doing backside stalls. Most people just go one direction. I want to practice both.@@theaverageoldguy
@@merlebump5328 Now that's an interesting dynamic for sure. Ignoring the fact that I am still scared to try a backside stall on anything but a slant wall, I always turn to the left for those. However, when I transition from backwards to forwards skating, I generally turn to the right, probably because I am looking over that shoulder, though I feel just as comfortable doing that to the left if I happen to be looking over my left shoulder. I think that all has to do with my skateboarding background and what feels most comfortable on that. I am going to start trying that stall in both directions on some easy spots and see what it feels like.
Same. I'm still a bit chicken with the backside stall. If I do a backside stall on a curb or 180 off a curb, I spin left, but if I just pivot around to skate backwards, I spin to the right. i think it's because i skateboard goofy footed. @@theaverageoldguy
The statement "this felt much cooler than it looks" is most of my life 🤣 keep smashing it 🤘🏻
I'm so glad we didn't have easy video when I was a teenaged skateboarder. Me and all my friends are still legends in our own minds and video would have probably killed that!
I've watched a few of your videos and you're doing great. Don't assume that due to age you won't be able to drastically improve your balance, agility, coordination, proprioception, and whatnot. Granted, these things are harder as we age but can always be improved.
How you're learning is also really good. As you subject yourself to different terrain, different ramps, different gradients, some flat, some curved, some moving forward, some moving backward, some turning, etc. you'll increase all the qualities I mentioned earlier and with those comes confidence. As you gain experience and confidence you'll learn to relax more and everything becomes easier including getting yourself out of falls and even the falling itself.
Be consistent, take your time, ease into everything, push yourself when you can and compare yourself to no one but you. Just have fun.
All great points. As I am recovering from an MCL tear, I realized I needed to slow down and stop trying to keep up with my 20 year old son. I thought a lifetime of action sport experience would counter any age advantage he had, but I was oh so wrong. I am finally back to the point of resuming strength and mobility training, and taking it easy as I come back into skating. I am 100% in agreement that its still possible to make significant gains, even at almost 63, you just have to be patient and not compare yourself to anyone else, and to always keep it fun!
Try to remember to always look where you are heading. I just got my skates thanks to your inspiration. And I had my first big fall forward skating around the park at night. Hit a big gap in the walkway and flew forward. Definitely the muscles hurt a lot more the older and bigger you get.😢. Keep it up.
Glad to hear you got out there! Yep, it hurts a lot worse and takes longer to heal these days. I have been working on twisting at the hips to look behind me for months and it just seems like I am making 0 progress on that. As I told @sniffski above, I am really going to start working on trying to master the basics and skating backwards over anything with ease and speed is one of the things I want most. Stay safe out there and good luck on your comeback!!
Nice work 👏. I can skate backwards round corners or in circles, including ropey crossovers, but I cannot for the life of me just plain skate backwards in a straight line. All part of the weird world of being a late starter I guess 🤷🏻♂️
Yep same here. Unless I roll up something first or jump to backwards, I just can't generate any speed. Those circles were fun, but you could see I was dizzy at the end and almost fell down, so I had to limit them. My son is able to skate all the way around the park backwards and I try what he does but it just hasn't clicked yet. I am going to really work on that moving forward along with some other basics. I think it will help keep me off the sidelines more if I work to master more of the basics.
It's good that you are practicing backwards in both directions. I have a hard time looking over my right shoulder
That is something I am still grappling with. My body is more comfortable looking over my left shoulder, but my balance is way better looking over my right shoulder with my right foot back. I have tried coming down the transitions looking over my left shoulder with my left foot back and it is just very awkward balance wise. I'll keep trying both ways and hopefully I'll slowly improve.
Yeah, that's good. I think most people just practice one way. Same with doing backside stalls. Most people just go one direction. I want to practice both.@@theaverageoldguy
@@merlebump5328 Now that's an interesting dynamic for sure. Ignoring the fact that I am still scared to try a backside stall on anything but a slant wall, I always turn to the left for those. However, when I transition from backwards to forwards skating, I generally turn to the right, probably because I am looking over that shoulder, though I feel just as comfortable doing that to the left if I happen to be looking over my left shoulder. I think that all has to do with my skateboarding background and what feels most comfortable on that. I am going to start trying that stall in both directions on some easy spots and see what it feels like.
Same. I'm still a bit chicken with the backside stall. If I do a backside stall on a curb or 180 off a curb, I spin left, but if I just pivot around to skate backwards, I spin to the right. i think it's because i skateboard goofy footed. @@theaverageoldguy
Fruit Boots NEVER look cool... but it is fun.