"When I'm jumping stairs, the only thing I'm thinking about is how it actually feels to land the trick."
Paul Rodriguez
A LEG WORKOUT FOR SKATEBOARDERS
Looking for a complete leg workout for skateboarding that you can do at home with absolutely no equipment? Look no further! Scroll to the bottom of the page to go straight to the exercises!
These leg exercises for skateboarders are designed to work on building a solid base of strength, stability, and the ability to absorb force; things that are essential for the explosive movements we do when we skate. This program is designed for someone with no experience doing exercises before, but, someone who has been skating frequently for a while, so they're already at least slightly conditioned for the kind of exercises we're going to be doing.
JEDI SKATE TRICKS: CONTROL YOUR POWER
Imagine going down to pop a trick - you flex at your hips, knees, and ankles and bend down towards the ground, charging your body with energy. At the bottom of this movement you stop for a split second, before shooting back up, sending that energy into the ground and projecting your body (and hopefully your board, unless you got stuck on a pebble) into the air.
In a perfect world you would be able to use 100% of the energy your body charged up and turn it into pure pop energy. But the world is far from perfect (just look at the Blobfish) and some energy is always going to be lost. However, we can minimise how much of that energy is lost by training our bodies to handle it better with certain skate related exercises.
If you can't first control the energy your body creates you're never going to pop as high as you could, you're going to fatigue faster and skating will take more effort; as inefficient movements require that you spend more energy for the same power output. They also greatly increase your chances of running into regular aches, pains and injuries over time as well.
On the other hand if you increase your strength along with learning to control and stabilise this strength and the energy your body creates, you'll be able to use it more effectively, you'll stay energised for longer, and you'll be popping like Tiago Lemos in no time. Building this foundation of strength, stability, and good movement is absolutely essential if you plan on staying committed to doing exercises for skateboarding, but it will also massively improve your skating and how you feel on your board as well.
THE TRIPOD FOOT
Your foot massively influences the alignment and stability of the rest of your body so you've got to consider what your foots up to when you're training.
Throughout these exercises you want to maintain a "tripod" with three points of your foot, meaning equal pressure distributed between the ball of your big toe, your little toe, and the heel of your foot, so you maintain the natural arch in your foot. Sorry for making you look at my toes but the picture below shows you the tripod.
THE EXERCISES
I recommend doing this program 2-3x per week, evenly spaced throughout the week, and ideally on days that you don't skate or on days you have more of a chilled session. You've always got to keep in mind the total stress placed on your body, and whenever you increase the amount of exercise you do, make sure you're recovering properly too.
You can combine this workout with the core training for skateboarding exercises done on alternate days.
Also make sure you're applying these fundamental training principles to any exercises you're doing.
Work with me to prepare your body for the intensity of skating and progress faster than ever before. Even if you're feeling old, or lacking time, motivation or discipline.
THE EXERCISES
0. DYNAMIC WARM-UP
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Start off with a dynamic warm-up like the one from the video: eg 30 secs of star jumps, 30 secs of side star jumps, 5 hip openers, and 10 double sided lateral lunges
1. LATERAL LEG RAISES
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Slightly flex your knees, hinge forwards at the hips, and shift your weight onto your left leg
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Raise your right leg out to the side as far as you can before you start to move at the pelvis
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Don’t move anything other than your leg!
sets: 2 reps: 10 rest: 30 sec
2.DOUBLE LEG ABSORPTIONS
sets: 2 reps: 5 rest: 60+ sec
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Come up onto your tip toes with your hands above your head
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Throw your arms down shooting your body into the ground as fast as you can – “attack the floor!”
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Catch yourself in a half-squat trying to absorb and stabilise the force and hold for a second or two
3. SINGLE LEG ABSORPTIONS
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Come up onto your tip toes with your hands above your head
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Throw your arms down shooting your body into the ground as fast as you can – “attack the floor!”
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Catch yourself in a single-leg half-squat trying to absorb and stabilise the force and hold for a second or two, don’t let your knee cave in
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Introduce this one after a couple of weeks of the double legged one if you don’t skate or exercise on a regular basis
sets: 2 reps: 5 rest: 60+ sec
4. JUMP SQUATS
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Find something to jump onto that’s almost at your max jump height (if you’ve got nothing high, a sofa/chair is ok)
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Maintain a good squat technique and jump up fast, trying to create as much power as you can – try and shorten the time between the downwards and upwards phase as much as possible
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Land with good technique and hold for 1-2 secs
sets: 2 reps: 5 rest: 60+ sec
5. SPLIT SQUAT HOLDS
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Start from the bottom position with your foot at/just below knee height, & your knee your ankle
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Come up to a standing position and then lower yourself back down so your knee is just above the floor, hold for 5-10 secs pushing your front foot into the ground
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To get up, come up fast using just your left leg, maintaining a tripod foot
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If this is too intense, put your back foot on the floor & bring your back foot to your front one on the way up
sets: 2 reps: 3-5
hold: 3-5 sec rest: 60 sec
6. GLUTE ISO MARCH
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Rest your shoulder blades on something at about knee height (not on your elbows)
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Put your feet directly below your feet (knees at 90)
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Lift your right leg up without dropping at the hips and hold for 3-5 secs, squeezing hard your left ass cheek
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If you feel it in the hamstrings, make sure your stance foot is below your knee or a little bit behind
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If you feel it in the back, you’re arching up too much
sets: 2 reps: 3-5
hold: 3-5 sec rest: 60 sec
7. HAMSTRING ISO MARCH
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Lie on the floor with your heels on something at about knee height and your knees slightly flexed
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Lift your pelvis up so you’re in a straight line from the knee to the shoulders
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Lift your right leg up without moving any other part of your body and hold for 3-5 secs
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If this is too intense, come closer to the sofa and flex your knees more
sets: 2 reps: 3-5
hold: 3-5 sec rest: 60 sec
8A. SINGLE LEG SQUATTER'S RIGHTS (option 1)
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Put a pillow on a sofa/chair so you don’t have to come down so far and round at the back
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Shift your weight onto your left leg and squat down slowly touching your ass to the pillow (3sec descent)
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Come up fast maintaining your tripod foot
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Don’t let your knee cave
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If this one is too easy, do the next one instead
sets: 2 reps: 8-12 rest: 45 sec
8B. SINGLE LEG SQUATTER'S RIGHTS (option 2)
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Stand on something at about knee height or less
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Shift your weight onto your left leg and squat down slowly touching your toes to the floor (3sec descent)
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Come up fast maintaining your tripod foot
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Don’t let your knee cave
sets: 2 reps: 8-12 rest: 45 sec
9. LATERAL LUNGE
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Get a piece of paper or something that slides across the floor (might not work with socks on)
sets: 2 reps: 8-12 rest: 45 sec
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Don’t go so far down that you start curving at the back and come up fast using your left leg
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Squat down slowly (3secs), sending your ass back, and sliding your right foot to the side
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Shift your weight onto your left tripod foot and maintain your centre of gravity over this foot throughout the exercise
10. MF TOE EXERCISES
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With your feet flat on the floor try and lift your big toe up whilst pushing your other 4 toes into the ground
sets: 2 reps: 3-5
hold: 3-5 sec rest: 30 sec
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If you can’t do it, hold your other toes down with your hands and practice like this. You should get it within a couple of weeks of practice
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Hold for 3-5 secs and then swap over so you’re lifting your 4 toes whilst pushing your big toe into the ground
