How to Gain Momentum on a Skateboard Ramp

Successful skateboarding involves knowing when to gain momentum and when to back off your speed. Ramps or bowls provide excellent opportunities to gain speed before doing an extreme trick like a boardslide on a rail or a big stair set jump.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Stand at the top of a ramp or bowl with the tail of your board resting on the coping (ramp edge) and your back foot on the tail. The remainder of your board, from the back trucks to the board's nose should be off the ramp, sticking out from the ramp like a diving board.
2. Position your front foot on the board over the bolts of the front trucks but with your weight still leaning predominantly on the tail of the board.
3. Lean forward slightly to allow the tail to come off the top of the ramp and as your front wheels start down the ramp, continue to lean forward into the direction of the board. You will begin to gain momentum
4. Pump your knees up and down slightly as you near the bottom of the ramp or as you near another ramp you want to skate up in order to increase your speed and maintain the momentum. This is especially true if you head down into a bowl from the ramp.

Tips & Warnings

• Whether a fixed object in a skatepark or a portable ramp for street skating, ramps are frequently by skaters to gain speed for skateboarding jumps and other tricks.
• The pumping motion used to gain speed is similar to the motion you use when swinging to gain momentum to swing higher on a swing set.
• The pumping motion is especially crucial and can be used over and over when skateboarding in a bowl. Doing so enables you to continue your path around the bottom and sides of the bowl, to gain speed so that you'll have enough momentum to go back up the opposite side of the bowl from where you started.