Skateboard Protective Gear - Learn How To Pick The Right Skate Pads - Helmet

Skateboard Protective Gear - Learn How To Pick The Right Skate Pads - Helmet
By Jim Bartlett

What Skateboard Protective Gear Do I Need?

1. A Good Quality Skateboard Helmet

The consequences of a serious head injury make skateboard helmet safety your first priority. Skateboarders fall a lot, especially as you learn new moves and tricks. Depending upon your speed, distance to the ground, ground hardness (a wooden ramp vs. a concrete barrier), and other factors, you can suffer a serious head injury.

Important skateboard protective gear notice: there is currently no US law that requires manufacturers to meet a specific safety standard for a skateboard helmet. The ASTM certification is voluntary, not mandatory. So, a skateboard helmet may or may not carry the ASTM certification.

If you are in the market for a skateboard helmet, look for these features:

• Buy a helmet from a reputable manufacturer, such as Bell, ProTec, SixSixOne or Giro. The established companies have the resources to design and warrant their skate helmets.
• Check to see if the helmet is ASTM F-1492 certified, as proven by an ASTM certification sticker on the inside of the helmet. Although not required, this is nice to have.

For additional protection, you may want to look for a helmet that is dual certified to both the ASTM F-1492 skateboard and the CPSC bicycle standards.

Don't mess with skateboard helmet safety. Get yourself a good quality skateboard helmet. Make sure it fits well, feels good, and looks good. Then, WEAR IT!

2. Skateboard Knee Pads / Skateboard Elbow Pads

A good pair of skateboard knee pads and skateboard elbow pads will help absorb impacts and prevent nasty abrasions from sliding on rough surfaces. Skate Pads Combo Packs are an inexpensive way to outfit yourself with knee and skateboard elbow pads, and several also include skate wrist guards.

3. Skate Wrist Guards

Skateboard injury statistics show that wrist injuries are the most common skateboarding injury. When you fall, your natural reaction is to reach for the ground. This places large impact forces on your wrists and causes lots of injuries.

Good quality skate wrist guards will help prevent a wrist injury. The two basic types are:

• Skate wrist guards with no fingers
• Skateboard gloves with integrated wrist guards

Both types have splints underneath the leather that absorb the impact and reduce the chance of a wrist injury.

4. A Pair of Padded Skate Shorts

Padded skate shorts help protect your butt, tailbone, hips, and thighs from impact and abrasions. Padded skate shorts are very popular with our customers, as they make falling much less painful and reduce soreness. Trust us, you'll really appreciate padded skate shorts after a day on the street or at the skate park! Plus, you can be covert and hide them under your shorts, so no one will know...

5. Skateboard Ankle and Shin Guards

If the plan is to ride hard at the park near rails, structures, or other inflexible objects, consider some ankle and shin guards to prevent big black and blue spots from appearing all around your lower legs.

This checklist will help you select the right skate pads and skateboard protective gear. Before you drop in...get protected!

Jim Bartlett is the president of XSportsProtective, a leading online retailer and expert on skateboard protective gear, including skateboard helmets, such as Bell, Giro, SixSixOne and ProTec skateboard helmets; skate pads, skate wrist guards and much more. Find out more at http://www.XSportsProtective.com.

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The Skateboards of Past Periods for - FYI Parents

The Skateboards of Past Periods for - FYI Parents
By L. Winslow

No doubt if you have kids you might be a little considered about them getting hurt and when they say that they want a skateboard, it might concern you. Perhaps you might like to know a bit about the history of skateboarding.

You see, there have been some reports that the first skateboards were literally 2 X 4 Boards strapped to wheels back during the turn of the century of the 1900s in the US. Roller Skates, which are a much older concept were used for the wheels, which were removed and re-mounted to the boards.

In the 50's there were actually people who put clay wheels on boards and attempted to ride them in places like California. Street or Sidewalk Surfing it was called. Sometimes people would take food crates and put wheels on them and go for it down paved roads and hills. It is hard to figure out who is the first person to put wheels on a straight board or plank.

Who knows maybe Leonardo da Vinci invented such a thing and it just never made it into one of his sketch books which was actually salvaged?

By the early 1960s skateboarding was becoming pretty popular and there were down hill racing contests like down hill skiing. Kids would practice and look forward to these things. There were free-style contests also and folks would do tricks and there were judges like ice skating. Of course their level of tricks were nothing compared to what kids can do today. Some of these home-made or rudimentary made skateboards were dangerous compared to today's surfboards.

The rubbery-plastic urethane wheels did not become available until the early 70s and in the late 70s skateboarders saw the first curved tails to help in pivoting tricks and maneuvers. The first skateboard parks also came into existence and gave the kids a place to practice and try-out new tricks.

In the 80s skateboarders would use video cameras to record their trick maneuvers and many of the free-style moves got more progressive and difficult. By the 90s it was totally out of control and extreme skateboarding helped increase the popularity. All of this fueled custom skateboard sales, shoe sales, sportswear and accessories. The industry was growing up and getting serious.

Today the modern skateboard is an engineering marvel with racing parts, exotic alloys, awesome graphics and specially designed components worthy of the latest fighter planes. Of course this is still only the beginning, as now there are high-tech skateboard video games and next comes Virtual Reality skateboarding simulators.

All these new technologies will add safety and fun for kids and so you as a parent should support your local skateboard park, the sport of skateboarding and your kid's new favorite pastime.

L. Winslow is a Technology Writer, Futurist Advisor to the Online Think Tank and a retired entreprenuer. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=L._Winslow

Skateboarding Tricks

Skateboarding Tricks

Skateboarding is more than just the outfits; it's more than just using your board to get around the town. Skateboarding is about the stunts. There are so many skateboarding tricks, and some are easier to master, some are harder. How do you take your skateboarding to the next level and start performing some skateboarding tricks? Here is some advice.

First, you need to purchase the right gear. Experts advise against purchasing a board from the department store because you can find good deals at skateboarding shops. And, this may not be fashionable, but you may want to purchase safety gear. If you are a beginner, you will probably fall a lot, especially once you begin to do your first skateboarding tricks.

Once you find your skateboard, your shoes, and some safety equipment, its time to start learning how to balance and move on the board. It will seem easy to balance while the board isn't moving, but once you move, it can be a challenge to sustain your balance. Moving fast may also take some getting used to.

When you master that, you can start visiting the parks to start learning some skateboarding tricks. The first tricks you may want to learn are "grinds," "board glides," and "gaps." If you need some help learning the skateboarding tricks, you can ask a knowledgeable friend or maybe find someone to give you lessons. There are also a lot of resources online.

To learn skateboarding tricks, you first need to find the proper equipment. You'll need skateboarding shoes, a board, and safety gear. Next, you'll want to learn the basics. Once you master the basics, you can start to learn more complicated skateboarding tricks.

Skateboarding provides detailed information on Skateboarding, Skateboarding Shoes, Skateboarding Tricks, The History Of Skateboarding and more. Skateboarding is affiliated with Skateboard Ramps.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcus_Peterson