You can get away with not warming up when you are younger, but warming up will let you avoid unnecessary injuries. The older you get, the more important it is, but you should start with good habits when you are young. Learning some skateboarding stretches will make you more flexible and prevent tearing.

Warming up takes a short amount of time and is easy to do anywhere; unless you are trying to catch a bus, you really don't have an excuse not to warm up

Skateboarding is a very demanding sport. It is possible to skateboard without being in good shape, but you progress much faster when you are in shape.

You don't need to be ripped or swole to be fit for skating, but having good core muscles, legs, and arms will help you a lot. Having a healthy body gives you a better foundation to start skating, and you will notice a huge difference if you're willing to do exercises for skateboarders.

Let's look at different exercises that target qualities you need to improve your skating.

Why you should warm up before skateboarding

Warming up should be an essential part of your skateboard session if you

want to prevent falling injuries or pushing yourself too hard. Warming up will prepare your body for physical activity and make you perform better; this can be the difference between landing a trick or hurting yourself.

A proper warm-up should be at least 5-10 minutes to ensure the best result. Target every muscle group, but focus on the muscles you will be using the most. It is also important to stretch, but you need to do both if you want to get results. You should include a warm-up on your skateboard, skate around and get comfortable before you attempt any tricks; this will make you a lot more confident and loose before you try anything advanced.

You pump your muscles with oxygen-rich blood when you do a proper warm-up as your heart rate and breathing speed up. 

You increase your body’s core and muscle temperature when you warm up; this makes the muscles lose and less likely to suspend injuries. You can fall into awkward positions and get away with it if you start doing skateboarding stretches; being flexible can save you if you have the discipline to work on your flexibility.

How to Warm Up Before Skateboarding

You need to warm up before you start skating or working out if you want to avoid injuries. I used to never warm up before I skated, but I got tired of getting hurt easily. After warming up, I only hurt myself when I fell hard, which also felt much better.

Estimated time for this warmup is 7 minutes

Touch Your Toes

You have probably done this warm-up many times before. You simply need to bend over while keeping your lower back straight and touch your toes; if you can't, you will be able to over time.

This focuses on stretching your hamstring and back. Every trick where you jump uses your hamstring, so it's important that they are loose and warmed up.

You should do between 5 and 10 repetitions and try to hold your positions for at least 10 seconds on your last rep. When you don't warm up, you risk tearing something, so make sure you include this before training or skating.

Quad stretch

Stretching your quads are good to make them used to natural pressure; you probably won't tear your quads, but it is easy to stretch them. Grab your foot and push it into your butt. You only need to hold it there for 3 to 5 seconds and repeat this for both legs three times each. Skateboard stretches won't warm you up, but they prevent injuries by making you more flexible.

Asian Squat

The Asian squat can stretch out your lower back, quads, and hamstrings at the same time. You need to squat down to your feet while you're hamstrings touch your calves. If you can't squat down, go as far as possible, you will be able to go further over time. Do this exercise 4 times and hold it for a few seconds. Remember to keep your feet flat with your knees bent.

Knee Tuck

The knee tuck warms up your core and will help with all tricks that involve getting your knees up, like in a kickflip or ollie.

Lift a leg and pull it towards your stomach. Hold the position for 5 to 10 seconds and do it for both legs at least three times.

Cruise around on your skateboard

Before you start doing any tricks or even an ollie, you should cruise around the park and get used to being on the board. Push around and cruise; try to bend down on your board and have some movement to feel loose and comfortable on the board. Ride for 5 minutes, and you should be ready to go.

Start a Skateboarding Exercise Routine

The hardest part of an exercise routine is not starting it but maintaining it. You need to be able to stick to the exercise routine if you want to see any improvements at all. Make a plan that isn't too challenging in the beginning; if it is too much, you have a higher chance of getting discouraged.

You need to commit to going through with the plan twice a week; after you are used to exercising, you can up the number of days you do it. Your skating muscles will grow naturally if you already skate daily, but it's the refinements of something good that make it great.

You won't be able to notice any improvements at the start, but you will notice them in around three months if you trust the prosses and stick to your plan. You won't be building any big muscles from these exercises, but you will notice that your skating abilities will improve greatly.

Your technical abilities won't improve much from training, but you will improve your foundation for learning. If you practice, you can do all the tricks you want.

What is Important to Train for Skateboarding

When you train for skateboarding, you should focus on your legs, core, balance, and arm/wrist strength. If you train these groups, you have the best foundation possible to learn skating. It is important to target all muscle groups, and if you leave a muscle group out, you will only regret it later.

Some are more important than others, but you need every last one to cover all you need. Let's look at the different exercises for skateboarders that strengthen these areas.

Coordination Exercises for Skateboarders

Having good coordination is extremely important when skating. Don't worry if you have 

bad coordination, you will improve it over time, but you should probably wait to try more advanced tricks.

With good coordination, you will make fewer silly mistakes that can trip you up; pretty much all aspects of skating will become easier if you train this.

Jump Rope

Working out with a jump rope is a fun way to improve your coordination. It will improve your endurance and stamina while strengthening your wrists, ankle joints, and knees.

The hardest thing about using a jump rope is getting the rhythm down while coordinating your arms and legs. If you focus on doing smaller skips, you will find it easier, but if you want to do more advanced tricks, you often need more air time.

Jump Rope With Variations

Jump roping is much more versatile than it seems at first; there are many different tricks and variations you can try to have more fun while jump roping. Advanced tricks are also more straining, so you will get more effective training by having more fun. I strongly recommend learning jump rope variations if you think it is fun; regular jump roping will be tiring after a while, but it can be intense when you add variations like double jumps.

Box Jumps

The box jump is an excellent way to train for skateboarding; it translates well to skating in the sense that you squat down and jump up, as you would in almost every trick. You don't need to jump onto something high just jump as high as you can. A tall obstacle might motivate you to jump higher but start small if necessary.

If you don't have a box, you can use park beaches or any elevated surface, and some stairs might work.

Strength Training for Skateboarders

These exercises tend to be more of a hassle, but you also get a reward equal to the pain. If you focus on these muscle groups, you will be able to stretch out your skating sessions for a much longer time.

If you can skate longer, you will also improve faster. You get a fantastic feeling when you can have a long productive skating session.

Push-ups

You don't need much upper body strength when you skateboard, but it is nice to have when you fall. People who don't know how to fall correctly often injure their wrists; this is why I recommend strengthening your arms by doing push-ups.

When you do push-ups, you strengthen your arms and wrists, which is perfect for when you fall; you need to be able to push yourself away from the ground, and you need strong enough wrists to take the impact.

If you have wrist pain like me, you can try to do knuckle push-ups instead; it will be less effective for strengthening your wrists since you take much of the weight off, but you need to avoid damaging them. If the exercises hurt in any way, you should lower the intensity to make sure you keep your body healthy.

As a bonus, you can get a more muscular body and increase shoulder width if you do push-ups correctly.

Forward Lunges

You need a lot of leg strength when you skateboard, and forward lunges are a great way to target several muscle groups in your leg at the same time. First, start in a standing position and slowly lunge forward with one foot in front of your body, ready to take the weight. Don't go past the ball on your foot, as this will strain your joints unnecessarily. Next, push yourself up to a standing position and repeat the steps on your right and left leg. I especially like how this exercise hit my calf muscle.

Plank

Doing the plank will greatly improve your core strength, and strengthening your core is essential if you want to feel as comfortable as possible on your board. The plank is easy even if you have no training; it is okay if you can't hold it for long. However, as long as you have it in your training schedule, you will be able to hold it for longer.

Having a solid core is recommended by many athletes from almost every physically demanding sport out there. For example, if you want to do a good plank, lay on the floor, lean your upper body on your forearms, place your elbows beneath your shoulders, and stretch out your legs.

You should add the side plank to your plan if you want to target even more core muscles.

Balance Exercises for skateboarders

Having a good balance is essential to staying on your board. You will feel uneasy on your board until you find your balance. Skating will greatly improve your balance, but training your balance outside of skating will give you a nice edge.

Lateral Leg Raise

Lateral leg raises can improve your balance if you do them while standing. First, start in a standing position with your feet and hips facing forward, and lift one of your legs up to the side while keeping your pelvic static. If you have a hard time doing this, you can try to hold on to a chair until you get the technique down. Then, after some repetitions, do the same on your other leg. This will improve your single-leg balance, which is important when pushing. Balancing on one leg can be hard at the start, but it's worth learning.

Kettlebell

For this exercise, you can use a kettlebell or anything heavy that is easy to hold. Balance on your right leg while you hold the kettlebell in your right arm. Lean down towards the ground from your hip with the kettlebell following. You can raise your left leg to balance easier as well as your left arm; go back to the starting position and do the other side after some reps.

Conclusion

You should train your Balance, strength, and coordination. It will come naturally if you skate a lot, but you have a much better starting point if you train these areas outside of skating.

It is important to stretch before you start training or skating. You reduce the risk of tearing anything, and you will feel more comfortable on your board.

Remember to cruise around before you start skating, don't try anything advanced before you are warmed up and ready to go; this takes about 5 minutes.

If you learn how to warm up before skateboarding, you will make a good habit for when you get older that will reduce injuries.