People say we should practice while moving. But why does it feel different when you practice while stationary and moving? It's not just a matter of perception. There is a clear physical difference. I hope the content of this video will help you practice while moving a little more easily.
Summary
Physical Differences Between Stationary and Moving Practice
When stationary, balance correction relies solely on muscle control, requiring constant effort to stay upright. While moving, inertia assists in correcting tilts, reducing muscular demand. This automatic self-correction changes the sense of balance, and without adaptation, beginners may overcompensate, tense up, and lose stability.
Field of Vision and Its Impact on Trick Execution
Beginners often focus on their feet, leading to tunnel vision. While moving, attention must expand to monitor surroundings, splitting mental resources between safety and trick performance. This divided focus increases difficulty, as the brain must process both foot positioning and environmental hazards simultaneously.
Psychological Factors and Fear-Induced Movements
Fear of falling or board instability causes instinctive hip retraction. This shifts the center of gravity toward the heels, often triggering unintended board rotation. Such fear-driven reactions disrupt trick mechanics, making mental control and gradual confidence building as important as physical technique.
Physical Perspective
Let's first consider it from a physical perspective. When practicing while stationary, what happens if you lower your toes? Your body will naturally begin to lean forward, and if you continue, you will inevitably fall over. Therefore, you will have to pull your body backward to stay over the board. In other words, you will have to use your muscles to maintain balance.
On the other hand, when moving, the "Automatic Self-Correction" comes into play. Let's look at a skateboard moving straight ahead from above. When you lower your toes while moving forward, the board tilts, and it will try to turn forward. However, the inertia acting on your body, which is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its motion, will automatically correct the tilt of the board and the angle of your body to an extent, as it seeks to maintain motion in the same direction.
You can easily experience this sensation in a Manual. Have you ever felt that you often get wheelbite when doing a Manual while stationary, but when moving, it doesn't happen as often? While stationary, correcting forward or backward tilts relies solely on your strength, but when moving, if your body tilts, inertia automatically pulls your body back to its original position.
If you try to maintain balance with your muscles without getting used to this characteristic, you may end up applying too much weight and losing balance. Additionally, because the sense of balance when moving is different, your body may tense up, making it harder to fully extend.
The Impact of Field of Vision
Next, let's consider the impact of the field of vision. Beginners tend to look straight down so that both feet and the board are within their field of vision. What's problematic is the phenomenon known as tunnel vision, which occurs when your brain focuses only on what you want to concentrate on.
Unfortunately, when moving, you can't just focus on your feet; you also need to pay attention to the direction you're heading, as you must be aware of obstacles like pebbles and cars. By shifting your field of vision from your feet to the direction you're heading and expanding the range of tunnel vision, your brain's resources become strained, increasing the difficulty of the trick.
Body Orientation
As your field of vision shifts toward the direction of travel, your upper body also opens in the same direction. Doing an Ollie with your body fully facing sideways resembles the motion of jumping on flat ground. But doing an Ollie with your body open is something we don't experience very often in our daily lives. In that sense, it might be beneficial to practice with your body slightly open, even when stationary.
Psychological Perspective
Finally, let's look at it from a psychological perspective. Performing tricks while moving involves a series of fears, such as the possibility of injury or uncertainty about how the board responds. When people feel fear, they instinctively pull their hips back.
The problem is that pulling the hip back may cause the board to rotate. By doing so, your center of gravity shifts toward your heel side, followed by your front foot, which supports your body weight, causing the board to rotate.
