How To Slow Down On A Skateboard?

Put your back foot on the ground right in front of the bolts on the back of your board. Don’t move. The bottom of your shoe should be able to stop you. Let the ball of your foot run along the floor as you push down harder and harder to control.

A skateboard can go very fast. So, you need to know how to slow down or even stop it before something bad happens.

Skateboards sometimes roll faster and faster, whether you’re going down a hill, on a flat surface, or even when it’s windy. So, as a skater, especially if you’re starting, you need to know how to slow down your skateboard so you don’t fall or hurt yourself badly.

So, these tips will help you safely slow down your skateboard, whether you’re hitting a hill, riding the bowl, or cutting around your local park.

Five ways to slow down

Each of these ways is listed in order of how well it works, from best to worst. Remember that each course will be harder or easier, depending on how comfortable you are on your board.

1- Put Your Foot Down

Put Your Foot Down for slow down your skateboard — source: pexels

You can drag the foot you use to push along the ground to slow down or check your speed if you feel like you’re getting out of control. The good thing about foot-dragging is that it doesn’t hurt your skateboard and is easy to learn once you know how to push.

To stop skating this way, turn your front foot on the skateboard so your toes point forward. This will get you ready to get off your back foot.
Next, put your weight on your front foot to lift your back foot off the skateboard. Put your pushing foot, your back foot, flat on the ground.
Start putting more weight on your foot, which is now lightly resting on the ground. When you feel resistance, slowly put more weight on that foot until you stop.

Also, you can put less pressure on the ground if you don’t want to stop completely but want to slow down. When I’m coming up with a feature too fast and need to speed check, I often do that.

2- Jumping Off Or Getting It Over With

Jumping Off Or Getting It Over With, a way to skateboarding slow down — source: pexels

Now, a less elegant way to stop on a skateboard is to give up and leave the ship.
If you bail out this way, you’re more likely to do it accidentally than intentionally. But there is a little trick that will make it easier to run out of tricks.

When you want to quit, take your back foot off first and put it in front of you as if you were about to do a big push.
Then, instead of trying to push through, use that foot as the first step of your run out. Once that foot is in place, take your front foot off the board and start running to bail off easily.
At first, you’ll have to match the speed of your skateboard, which will make your step speed come easily. After the first couple of steps, slowing down will be much easier.

Still, getting out can be dangerous at very high speeds. It’s almost like you’re jumping on a machine at top speed, and your feet are fighting to keep up. So, before you race down a big hill on your skateboard, you should first get used to stopping like this at slower speeds.

3- Drag The heel

Drag The heel, A way to slow down your skateboard — source: pexels

Beginners may have trouble with the heel drag, but it should be practiced. One of the most common ways for intermediate and experienced skaters to stop is to drag their heels.
You don’t drag the tail of your skateboard along the ground. Instead, you put your heel just off the bottom. So, when you walk, your shoe will drag on the floor instead of your deck.

To get ready for a heel slide, turn your front foot so that your toes point toward your skateboard’s nose (front).
Then, turn your back foot just a little so your heel hangs a few inches off your tail. You don’t have to worry about how far your heel is from your seat. The only thing that counts is that your heel is on the bottom. At this point, both of your skateboard feet will be facing forward.
Once your feet are in place, shift your weight to your back foot to raise the front of your skateboard. Keep putting your weight on your foot until the heel of your shoe touches the ground.

4- Slides with power

Slides with power: A way to slow down or stop your skateboard — source: pexels

A powerslide is when you kick out and weigh your back wheels to make your skateboard slide sideways. This can be hard to do on rougher pavement or with wheels that need to be stronger. But it’s a great way to stop your skateboard quickly after going down a hill or bank.
On a longboard, you pull your hands when you power slide. On a skateboard, all you have to do is put your weight on your back foot and turn your hips to turn the board. If you push hard enough, your back wheels will turn around, making your board slide sideways on the ground.
How long you can hold a powerslide depends on how fast you’re going and how smooth the ground is. For example, you can save a powerslide much longer in a parkade with soft, polished concrete than on the street.

To get out of a powerslide, you must take the pressure off your back wheels and lean in the direction you want. After your back wheels slide back around, your skateboard will roll back into place on its own as you move forward.
Many skaters, especially newbies, need help figuring out how to do this move. Instead of doing a full-on powerslide right away, try sliding your back wheels just a little while you’re going. As you get used to how your back wheels slide, you can push them around more and more until you can do powerslides easily.

5- Tail Hangs

Tail Hangs, A way to slow down your skateboard — source: pexels

The last way to stop on a skateboard is the last one you should try, but it could be better. When you do a tail drag, you slow down by hitting the back of your skateboard against the ground, like pulling a brake lever on your skateboard to slow down.

As you add more weight to the tail, the pressure between the bottom and the ground will slow down and stop you. Even though this sounds good on paper, it’s the quickest way to mess up your tail.
When your tail wears down, your board will have much less pop, making it harder to do tricks or get onto features. Also, the smaller seat makes the levels of your deck weaker, so if something hits the bottom, it is more likely to chip.
Beginner skaters often stop by pulling their tails, but you should try to stop in other ways. If not, you’ll be buying skateboard decks faster than your pocket can pay for them.

How to slow down while riding downhill on a skateboard?

The best way to slow down on a skateboard going downhill is to have harder wheels. Even though it sounds strange, harder wheels let you slide out the back end of your board, like on a snowboard.

By leaning back a little and bending your knees well, you put all your weight on your back foot and push it up until your board is parallel to the direction you are going. If you stay on that slide long enough, you’ll stop, but if you move your back foot back to where it was, you’ll get going again.

Good luck with this; you’ll need a lot of speed to make it work. Check Stability Skateboards to see if their gloves offer good safety for going downhill.

Can a wheel slow you down on a skateboard?

Skateboard speed is affected by the wheels. The bigger the wheel, the more drag it will make, slowing your board down. But a well-made board can reduce some of this drag and make too-small wheels move faster.

So make sure your skateboard has the right size wheels.

1. Pick the right wheel size for your skateboard

When skateboarding, it’s important to consider the size of the wheels you choose. Larger wheels will slow you down and make it harder to turn, while smaller wheels will make you go faster and make it easier to turn.

It would help to find a mix that works for you to have fun on your board.

2. Big wheels mean going slower and making tighter turns

Large wheels are great for moving around town or in softer areas, but they usually slow down and make it harder to turn your skateboard. This is especially true if you want to do tricks like ollies or grinds on a big board.

3. Smaller wheels mean going faster and turning more easily

On the other hand, smaller wheels are faster and easier to turn than larger ones. This makes them great for street skating or freestyle sessions where you want to take more chances.

But small wheels can become shaky on rougher ground or when doing harder tricks, so it’s important to pick the right size for the board based on how you plan to use it.

Bottom line

Most of the time, you drag your back foot on the ground to stop on a skateboard. But stopping with your back foot can be hard on your shoes and should only be done on flat areas so you don’t trip or fall.

On a skateboard, you can also stop by cutting or turning, rolling, or using a foot brake, which is when you drag your front foot on the ground. Try different techniques to see which works best for you and how you ride.

If you can consistently stop safely with both the foot and heel brakes, you’re on the right track to riding your board without getting hurt.

You can’t be sure of anything, but your skills will help you stay safe on your skateboard. Pushing, cutting, and stopping should be practiced on flat, obstacle-free areas until you feel relaxed.

You can also stay safe by staying in shape and having the right skateboard safety gear. If you can master all of these, you’ll spend more time on your board and less time washing your scrapes and bruises.

FAQs: How To Slow Down On A Skateboard?

Q: How do you stop fast on a skateboard?

Exert effort to pull. You can stop faster and better with the bottom of your shoe than with the tail of your skateboard. This will also keep your board from getting a razor tail.

Q: How do you stop while riding on a skateboard?

The tail scrape is one of the most basic start methods. This is how you would think to stop if you didn’t skate. This is also how skaters stop on the mainstream.

Q: Why does the skater stop in the end?

You know that the friction force between the skateboard and the hill would finally stop a roller. Friction is a force that slows things down because it slows things down.