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Smooth walking techniques

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This section offers some basic "smooth walking" technique borrowed from ballroom dance. It transfers perfectly to longboarding. This section will be quite technical and rigorous to work through. The preceding sections are enough for a basic command of walking the board. This section will take you to another level of smoothness.

The foot steps are broken down into a number of individual body details of movement that make a fully articulated step. The more articulate the step, the smoother it is. After a while you memorize the technique and take smooth steps without even thinking about it. Just don't walk like this away from your board. People will think you're sneaking up on them.

Lowering

Bending the knees is the most important element. Keep the knees bent to the same degree all through the steps. The head will stay at the same height. Imagine a bunch of low tree branches over the road you're skating on, above your head, and make sure you don't stand up straight and get clobbered.

Knee lead

This two shot sequences shows a left knee lead pretty well. The idea is to start the step with the knee while the foot stays back. Knee leads give lots of control, because the toe stays on the board a long time. Start the step with your knee poking forward. Take it slow. Your foot will bend at the ball, your toes staying on the board.

Toe lead

Toe leads are useful for walking forward with a lower chance of stumbling or losing control. Swing your foot past the other leg. Reach for the board with the toe or ball of the foot. Place the toes and ball of the foot down first, gaining some control, then lower the heel. Toe leads are great for walking backwards. Think of shooting that toe back like an antenna, feeling for the spot.

Heel lead

The heel can lead the cross step. It has a couple of uses. When you're trying to keep weight on the heelside rail, all steps have to be heel leads. The foot is flexed so the heels can press on the rail. This is useful for surfers who want to practice walking on backhand waves.

The heel lead can also be a good way to get a big step that is in control, not a leap. Bend the knee on the standing leg so you get real low and push the crossing leg's heel way forward. It's a solid step, and looks cool as well.

Instep lead

The instep or side edge of the foot can lead a step. Think of a soccer style kick. With the foot turned out, the arch or instep edge of the foot leads, the back (or outside) foot edge comes down first, then the inner edge hinges down. This fact that the outside part of the foot hardly leaves the board makes for a very controlled step.

Weight transfer steps

Controlling weight on the board

Weight transfer steps are two-step exercises that emphasize weight placement. These patterns allow you to step off the tail and approach the nose without throwing your board off balance by overweighting the ends. The basic idea is to keep your weight toward the middle of the board even if your feet are all the way on the tail or all the way on the tip.

Longboard surfers will benefit from this. These two sequences put together would be one four step walk to the nose on a long surfboard. The first skating exercise is the way to weight transfer off the tail, and the second one represents the two steps that approach the nose.

Weight change step, leaving the tail

Weight is pushed forward

My feet are in a narrow tail stance. From here the board can easily be turned. But with the weight near the tail, it's pretty loose. Moving forward a lot will stabilize the board for a downhill run.

Next I take a cross step forward, in a fairly large step.

Here I transfer my weight forward, evenly and strongly, putting my weight on the new front foot. The effect is that the board stabilizes and settles down. The idea is to get off the tail and give up the looseness for some stability, or trim. In surfing, this step would flatten out the tail rocker and the board would accelerate, or trim.

Weight change, approaching the nose

Weight is held back

This sequence has the opposite intention as the last sequence. Here the object is to move forward, while keeping the weight back. I start on the tail, as before.

Lowering

My first move is to lower my weight, straight down over the front foot.

Next I cross step forward while continuing to lower. My weight is held over the left foot which bends deeply. The right foot is extended forward.

Now some weight is transferred forward onto the cross step, but an effort is made to hold it back. This is done by assuming a sitting position, like sitting in an imaginary chair in the middle of the board. My left foot uncrosses forward. Note I'm leading the uncross step with the knee, keeping the toe on the board as long as possible.

Toe lead

I swing my left foot forward. This is a toe lead. The toe shoots forward, which makes the step quick and sure. It should be possible to do this without transferring the slightest bit of weight forward. In fact, it should be easier now to hold the chair position, because the left foot coming forward has some counterbalancing effect on the weight of the seat being held back.

I'm pressing backwards with my arms to keep more weight back. So the stance has changed from tail to nose stance, but very little weight has moved forward.

It's a solid hang five, that will not tip forward.

You can put in your mind the ideal weight transfer, which is to move your legs forward while your weight actually draws back. This may be impossible in reality, since you are putting weight on the legs up front. But the imaging helps the reality a bit.

In surfing, this weight change approach would be used to come off the trim spot into a hang five. In the hang five, no weight would be placed on the left foot, which hangs off. Some stalling might still occur, unless your board is a real nose rider. These boards do not stall until the weight is on the tip, ahead of the nose.