It is completely normal to be sore after a workout, but why do you feel sore after skateboarding?
You feel sore after skateboarding because it is a workout. You are exercising multiple different muscle groups in your body when you push off, turn, and do tricks. If you haven’t built up these muscles then you will likely feel sore after skating.
Even if you are an experienced skater, you will feel sore after skating if you took a long break. You need to keep using these muscles to keep them conditioned.
I’m going to go into more depth about certain body parts in this article. So let’s just get started.
Why Do I Get Sore After Skateboarding?
Have you just started skating and you feel beat up or sore the next day? Or are you sore from skating after taking a couple of weeks off?
Any sort of exercise that puts excessive or unusual strain on the muscles causes soreness. This is because the exercise creates micro-tears in the muscle itself during the exercise. Skateboarding, like any other exercise, can cause this type of soreness. As long as the soreness is a dull ache or pain then it is natural and healthy. Any sharp pains could be a sign of injury and you should consult a doctor.
This really is natural. If you skate more often, then your body will adapt and you won’t get as sore. Getting sore from skating means your body hasn’t really adapted yet to the physical stresses of skateboarding. Though, even if you are skateboarding frequently, an intense or long skate session can still make you sore.
Just don’t think about it too much. Soreness is a good thing. It means that you got some exercise and your muscles are healing and growing. Just be sure to stretch out these muscles to help the blood flow.
Is It Normal to be Sore After Skateboarding?
Usually, if I go skate after a long break, the backs and front of my legs are sore the next day. These are my hamstrings and glutes.
It is normal to feel sore after skateboarding or any type of exercise. The soreness should be a dull ache or pain that occurs with movement. If there is any sharp pain, then you should consult a doctor as this could be a sign of a serious injury. You are more likely to be sore after skateboarding if you are a beginner or if you haven’t skated recently.
Usually, soreness from skateboarding isn’t so intense as compared to weightlifting or exercise that deliberately targets muscle groups. That being said, if you have never used the muscles needed for skateboarding then you might be in for a surprise when you’re stiff and achy the next day.
Why Are My Legs Sore After Skateboarding?
Skateboarding uses your legs to push, pop, and flip the board. Not surprisingly, after using your legs during a skate session, you often will have sore legs.
Skateboarding activates a few major muscle groups. One of these muscle groups is the legs. Your glutes are worked when you crouch and jump. Your hamstrings and calves are worked when you push and pop your skateboard. It is common to have sore legs after a skateboarding session.
Remember that dull, achy pain from soreness is ok, but sharp pain is a sign that you might have injured yourself.
If you get knee pain after you skateboard, check out our guide to the reasons why and how to prevent it here.
Why Are My Feet Sore After Skateboarding?
This is a bit strange when it happens. How can your feet get sore from skating?
Skateboarding can cause feet soreness from the impact force of tricks and from the strain of pushing off and turning the skateboard. Additionally, feet soreness can be caused by ill-fitting shoes and other factors such as flat feet. If the soreness from skateboarding doesn’t go away after a few sessions, you can consult a doctor.
Honestly, this sounds weird, but when I first started cruising my feet got sore. This was from cruising on rough pavement with hard, skateboard wheels. The amount of shaking just made my feet sore. When I switched to longboard wheels, this went away.
Also, when I started cruising switch to practice riding switch, my front foot also got pretty sore at first when I used it to steer my skateboard. I think this was because I hadn’t built up the muscles in that foot yet. This went away with time.
Why Is My Lower Back Sore After Skateboarding?
This one can seem a bit weird to people who first start skating. If skating only uses your legs, why is my back sore?
Skateboarding activates a few major muscle groups. One of these muscle groups is the lower back. When you crouch down to pop an ollie or another trick, you are working your lower back. When you lean to turn your skateboard, your core and lower back are activated. For these reasons, it is common for the lower back to be sore after skateboarding.
Again, this really isn’t something to be concerned about. Your core and lower back are actually often used while you skate. This surprises some people who aren’t so familiar with muscle groups.
If you move your lower back and feel any sharp pain or pulling from the muscle, then you might have injured yourself. If this is the cause it is best to consult a doctor.
Can I Skateboard While I’m Sore?
You might be a bit hesitant to go out and skate if you’re already sore. So should you rest instead of skate?
You can skateboard while you’re sore, but need to be careful to warm up your muscles. Stretch for a good 5 to 10 minutes, before skating and start off slow. Don’t skate too intensely when you’re already sore as your body might have a hard time recovering from extra stress on the muscles.
That being said, a healthy body can adapt pretty quickly and you can often push through the soreness and be totally fine. I have done this quite a bit with skateboarding and other sports. It helps the body recognize that it needs to adapt to the exercise.
Resting is important, but you don’t need to cancel a skate session just because your legs are a little sore.
How To Stop Feeling Sore After Skateboarding
Skateboard More Often
Your body adapts to the stresses it encounters often. That sentence isn’t meant to be confusing or cryptic. I just mean that if you skate often then your body will adjust to the stresses of skating often.
This means that if you want to start feeling less sore after skating, you need to skate more frequently. Instead of skating once or twice a week, starting skating three or four times a week. Increase your number of sessions until it becomes a regular part of your routine. You’re skating ability will improve and your body will stop getting sore when it adapts.
For many people, skating three or four times a week is not possible. Some people have kids and jobs and other commitments that take away their time. This is okay. Just skate as much as you can.
Skateboarding is amazing, but certain things like family come first.
If you want to exercise to get more conditioned for skateboarding, check out our guide to exercises that will improve your skateboarding here.
Stretch Before You Skate
Stretching before you skate will help your muscles get looser and ready to take on the jumps, falls, and twists of skateboarding. Remember that soreness is really micro-tears in the muscles themselves. When your muscles are cold and not loose, you are much more likely to tear them and they become sore more quickly. You are also more likely to completely tear a muscle like an ACL or hamstring.
Stretching before skating is a preventive measure that everyone should take. This is especially true if you are an adult skater. Walk before you run.
The good news is that it doesn’t take so long to warm up. Just do some light stretches for five to ten minutes and then cruise around for a bit. Start doing tricks by popping a few ollies first.
Stretch The Day After You Skate
To be honest, stretching the day after you skate won’t stop you from feeling sore, but will help you recover. Blood circulation is proven scientifically to increase muscle healing and reduce soreness. There was an experiment where half of some soccer players had leg massages after working out and half did not. The differences in reported soreness and pain were incredible.
Getting a massage is a bit different from just stretching, but both increase blood flow which is the key principle here. So even though it’ll probably be sore and hurt, stretch out your lower back and legs the day after you skate. You’ll be glad that you did.
If you think skateboarding is hard, we agree! Check out our guide on why skateboarding is the hardest sport here.
Conclusion
In conclusion, skating intensely or after a long break will make you sore. Skateboarding is exercise and activates quite a few large muscle groups. You can avoid getting so sore by skating more frequently, stretching before skating, and stretching the day after skating.
Regardless, don’t worry, getting sore after skateboarding is completely normal. You will not die. Just rest up and get back out there to skate in a day or two.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and look out for more articles from Board and Wheels.
