Do you want to accelerate longboarding without making your feet leave the longboard? For this, you need to learn this technique known as Longboard Pumping. This technique is known as LDP ( long-distance skateboard pumping. For long-distance riding, longboard pumping is mostly the widely accepted approach.
Well, this is a newly discovered technique, and thus you may not have heard about it, but the longboarders who are aware of it have it as a hot topic.
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Simple Longboarding vs Longboard pumping
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While longboarding, you need to push yourself forward from one foot in order to get going. But, in longboard pumping, you don’t need to do much hard work to move fast or ride precisely.
What is Longboard Pumping?
Well, it is not difficult to master. In longboard pumping, you just have to sway your body forward and then backward, then shift your weight in a way that will make your longboard gain speed. This is just like riding a swing without anyone pushing you.
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This way, you can gain more momentum and leverage the centripetal force without even touching your feet to the ground. Longboard Pumping will also help you balance yourself more accurately on the longboard. Moreover, the momentum created by longboard pumping propels your longboard forward and helps to attain speed.
All this process needs a bit of practice and demands nothing else. Lastly, Longboard pumping is basically relying on gravity for moving fast.
HOW TO DO LONGBOARD PUMPING?
Longboard pumping is not as hard as climbing a mountain. Instead, it is just a rhythm matter. You just need to learn the different movements of your body and practice them.
Set up your longboard first and then you can easily do pumping over a longboard. Before learning the steps, one should ensure that their equipment is correct, i.e., the one that really fits their pumping style.
Longboard Pumping Technique – How to learn?:
Learning longboard pumping is more accessible than describing its techniques and ways. Many longboarders have tried explaining this technique to others, but still, people couldn’t understand it clearly.
However, if you see a person doing it in front of you practically, you may understand it in a better way. All the descriptions remain abstract until a person experiences it on his longboard by himself.
Otherwise, all the written explanations are of no use. You can also watch videos but remember that practice is the key to excelling at longboarding.
Longboard Pumping Guide – Things to Remember
- Rhythm
You should consistently swing yourself from left to right and right to left. This factor shall keep your body in a rhythm and will make you able of building speed and maintaining momentum.
- Dig
At every carve, try to dig in and then push your body so that you can experience a better ride. Otherwise, it’s just like roaming on your board and not doing enough of it.
- Pressure
You have to put pressure on your feet and especially the toes in order to get your board turns hard at every curve. Doing this shall direct your weight as well in every direction.
- Leadfoot
Let your front foot lead for the momentum often comes from the front.
- Practice
Everyone knows that practicing is what will make them perfect in anything they want to be. However, this is all about how a person feels about something. Learn the skills first and then practice practice, and practice.
Best Setup for Longboard Pumping
You can choose any of the two Setups for the Longboard Pumping Technique
1. You can go on with a highly specialized setup. Such a setup is precisely built for longboard pumping.
2. Either way, you can select a setup that is not highly specialized. This setup still proves to be decent for longboard pumping.
If you already have a setup but that is not working best for the pumping skill, you can make it better and suitable for longboard pumping. You can do so by obeying the following steps;
1. Get the wheels of 70mm size and with square lips. These maintain momentum properly, and pumping is more accessible with them.
2. Get huge risers for your longboards. These huge risers will increase the distance between decks and trucks. Consequently, which will give you a tighter turning.
3. If you want to get deeper turns of your trucks smoothly and in a much better way, you should apply softer bushing.
How to get Pumping?
1: Position – Longboard Pumping
- Select a suitable standing position for longboard pumping just like that position for coasting.
- You should stand sideways.
- Make your feet stand at a width according to the width of your shoulder.
- Keep your feet close enough at the center of the longboard so the deck can be bent in the middle.
- Experiment with different positions and find your comfort zone.
2: Learn to Carve – Longboard Pumping
- You should learn how to carve before you start attempting to pump.
- Remember that an exaggerated carving motion is known as pumping.
- Carving is when you lean into a turn.
- Keep your weight balanced when you tilt the board to turn left or right.
- Centrifugal force shall prevent falling only if you put your weight in the center of the board, even when turning or leaning.
3: Diving – Longboard Pumping
- Diving into a turn will execute a perfect pump.
- A perfect pump requires leaning hard, diving into a turn, and bracing yourself against the deck.
- Turn your shoulders in the turning direction whenever you want to turn.
4: Weight – Longboard Pumping
- Unspringing your weight is a tricky part, but it can be the key to the success of the whole process.
- While you subtly push the board forward, spring off the board vertically.
- Spring upwards till you feel weightless.
- Remember to keep some part of your foot in contact with the board all the time.
5: Dive back in – Longboard Pumping
- When gravity pulls you downwards, try placing much weight on opposite sides of the board.
- Always compress your weight on the middle of the board when diving back in.
GET GOING NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Now it is time for you to show what you’ve learned and what you are skilled in. However, once you have learned the skills and basic techniques, you can get excelled at longboard pumping by practicing as often as possible. Figure out your setup and keep pumping on it properly. Lastly, don’t get too fast and twitchy.
Conclusion
Pushing yourself while longboarding probably gets too tiring. Giving a try to longboard pumping shall prove worthy. This shall prevent muscle stretching and tiredness. Also, pumping offers you to gain speed more efficiently and with significant momentum. In pumping, you just have to lean a bit downwards and push your body.