The Physics of Pumping on a Skateboard - Fully Explained + Easy to Understand!

I have been wanting to make this video for a very long time now, and finally here it is! A full, accurate, explanation of how to pump on a skateboard and exactly why it works, complete with experimental proof (actually showing my explanation from 5 years ago to be incomplete)
This video was a lot of fun to make, and I'm excited to get the ball rolling again on uploading skateboarding videos now that my foot is finally starting to feel good enough to actually go skateboarding.
Thanks for all of the support in the meantime, and just know that all of you guys make the long hours I put into these videos way more than worth it!
...and as promised at the end of the video, here is a link to the video on skating bowls: • How to Skate Bowls - G...
If you're interested in what gear I use to skate and film my videos, here are some links to the equipment I use:
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🛹 SKATE TOOL: amzn.to/3u3mPZh
🎥 A-CAMERA: Sony a6400 - amzn.to/3KFIUD7
📷 LENS: Sigma 16mm f/1.4 Lens - amzn.to/33ItMo5
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Never Stop Improving!
#skateboarding #physics #neverstopimproving

[@lancelovecraft5913]

Physics major here. Excellent video. Ppl at the park often talk in terms of speed, not wrong, but I think the conservation of energy is a far more effective conversation. Great use of normal vectors and vector components in ur explanation of forces as well

[@polarproductionsofficial]

This is the best pumping tutorial I’ve ever watched

[@cryptictyga8426]

The legend is back 🙌

[@dwaipayandattaroy9801]

🤟

[@Mistytario]

As an engineer and begginer skater, this was what I needed to understand how to pump. Great video!

[@thesodathief]

bro no way Justin Lauria thE GOAT IS BACK 2020 might not be so shitty after all

[@danfromzr3289]

I’m a big time big bowl skater and you just changed my life. I know the muscle memory and have the strength to maintain solid speed. However I think understanding this in depth is going to help so much. In my head I see it almost as jumping off of a slanted wall into flat ground. If you can add that factor you will go even faster than just standing up at the bottom.

[@SunriseSessions]

After watching tons of instruction video's and trying to remember all the actions I had to execute.... It took about 10 seconds in this video to actually understand the physics and now I don't have to remember anything because I simply 'get it'. Best tutorial ever. Thnx heaps

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Love hearing that! Keep up the good work!

[@maiochka]

This is terrific, especially the experimental part 'No pumping Vs. crouching only Vs. pushing off only'. Thanks Justin!

[@maiochka]

I've got one question: should I push off equally with both feet or should I press more with the back foot? Thanx for your time!

[@datukalex]

So cool that you’re back. I’ve learned so much from your older videos. Really hoping this is the start of more. And on this topic-I was just figuring our that the push was as important as the crouch a few days ago. Still working on my pumping, but I think you just handed all of us the keys.

[@dereksilva1523]

Ur back!!! I really missed ur content, ur my favorite skating KZbin channel so keep up the skate content!

[@memorysometimers3067]

Glad to see ya back bro!! You definitely in the best state possible right now.

[@domingosprudencio3498]

Duude I just learned how to pump today because of your videos. Coming back home after successfully pumping in a ramp at my local skatepark and seeing a new video of yours about how pumping physics works is truly satisfying

[@ViniciusFortuna]

From what I understand, the physics is about angular momentum. On a circle L = mass * velocity * radius. Because L is constant, you can increase the velocity by reducing the radius. You reduce the radius at the top curve by compressing and at the bottom curve by extending. I think switching between compressed and extended when going straight doesn't affect your momentum, so it's important to change position in the curved parts of the ramp or bowl. More details and math at www.real-world-physics-problems.com/physics-of-skateboarding.html

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Yes!!! Thanks fellow accurate physicist, you've said it all, this it the correct explanation.

[@hosoiarchives4858]

Yes

[@justindavisphotography]

Good to see you posting a skate video again Justin. Good to see some local spots too. Interesting topic. I’ve often wondered about the physics of pumping. I do it, but I don’t know how / why it works. Good explanation.

[@jayduf9054]

This is so awesome , yesterday I did my best pumps ever and after watching this video I’m going to do even better today 😄👊🏻

[@adeeter]

Great video, thanks for sharing. I was looking for a physics-based explanation for biking a pump track and I think this is a good parallel.

[@edbisdee]

for ages i've been looking for a tutorial that explains pumping properly, i've been thinking to myself 'I don't think i can trust a tutorial that doesn't explain the force vectors'. and this is spot on for it! Also, great hat!

[@michaelowens2501]

Good to see you are back, hopefully this is a start of you making skating videos again. 🤙🤙

[@eqvbohsds8955]

Bro!!!!! You!!!!! You are the one!!!! THEEE ONE!!!!! Pumping finally makes sense to me!!!! Cant wait to try it out after healing from my ankle injury! Bro! Love you man!!!!!! #muchlove #suchappreciates

[@MrZuludemidog]

Thanks 🙏🏽 -always wanted an actual break down of how n why “pumping” works!

[@RamManNo1]

Finally a video that truly explains pumping! I just learned this technique on a 4 ft half pipe. Finally able to go top to top. Slammed hard and got some wicked burn on my elbow and a bruised hip. But damn it was awesome! Hopefully be able to drop in soon.

[@Xsuperkraft]

Thank you for this very helpful video - you are the first, who really made me understand the concept and practice of pumping!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

I appreciate you saying that! I think it's so cool how it works

[@morozom91]

Great video! Exactly what I was looking for, with the scientific explanation for pumping.

[@thelankgod8073]

THE KING RETURNS!!!!

[@BadBBilly7]

Woohooo!, your back Justin, we missed your awesome tutorials bro, yessss, this is a good day

[@emresongur721]

I am an engineer learning to skate. That was exactly what I needed. Very clear explanation. Onece I know how it works then I do not think but do.

[@Skylarka]

This is the best pumping tutorial on the internet. Great work, thank you!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Thanks very much Sky!

[@noahyenerich9509]

I can’t believe he is back. Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@1tonyjaa]

Nice its great to see you back :D

[@bugnut82]

I was just thinking today that I wish there was a video that explained the physics, and here it is!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey I'm really sorry to disapoint but this isn't the actual physical explanation of how pumping works :/ There's a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" that explains (in a pretty poor way unfortunately) how it actually works.

[@thndr_5468]

Thank you for the video, can't wait to give these a shot next time I skate!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

I spend a majority of my time skating just pumping around endlessly at the skatepark. It is so dang much fun.

[@RegularFootisChris]

Great Video! Thank you for speaking slow and clear! Back in the 1990's we Called it Compressing!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Really?! Compressing? That is so cool to learn!

[@termitedidge]

Great video, really enjoying your content.

[@TheMeepitFeepit]

So excited to see this in my notifications!! 😍

[@BadBBilly7]

same here, i was like...oh yeah the GOAT is back online.

[@Remolhunter97]

thanks mate. best video out there

[@bluetetanus]

wonderful video!

[@RYOkEkEN]

great vids always

[@guangruli4486]

love the correction you did

[@fidddd_]

It's a good thing that you are 'not stopping imporving.'

[@VividSkateboarding]

So awesome!

[@AN-vs5pb]

YES HE IS BACK LET'S GOOOOOO

[@MrEpic-nr4oi]

i've watched a lot of these tutorials, and this one is best of all. It combines every possibility in one video, thanks for creating this

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Thanks man!!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@garretteverett2613]

Hey Raphael, maybe spend more time making the video and less time copy-pasting your comment into every other reply on these videos. I'm sure you have valuable things to say but I've encountered doomsday evangelists with more reserved and tactful output.

[@ct96]

@@raphaelpoitou8609 I wouldn't be so quick to discount this explanation with statements like "the way it actually works......". What you have described is the Curvilinear motion explanation of movement around a curve which describes forces on an object in a reference frame tangential to the path it is travelling, at any instance of time that motion can also be analysed using Rectilinear methods which use the resultants of forces acting on an object during its motion in a rectangular reference frame. Of course I still can't guarantee this explanation is correct without breaking out my old Dynamics textbook and doing a few problems both ways and then comparing the directions of forces etc to his explanation but these problems can definitely be solved in both ways with both explanations being the way it works, just using different concepts.

[@dougkalagian]

really great explanation, thank you!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Aww man I'm glad you enjoyed it, always nice to meet a fellow skate nerd 😝

[@vitorstipp3498]

jezzzz you are awesome! Hugs from Brazil!

[@Bahomar]

great video, thanks so much, cheers

[@lucasthompson8765]

This video fixed my inability to tic tac. I wasn't utilizing the friction of the wheels and pumping to generate momentum in the direction I wanted to go. I have never heard it explained like this. Thank you and keep up the great content. +1 sub

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Rock and roll sir, thank you for the comment!

[@jacksoncarter6352]

Great video I don’t even skateboard I was just wondering this question and surprisingly there aren’t a whole lot of videos that go over the actual physics

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@eleme88]

My man your work is good. Please keep it up!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Rock and roll brother! 🤜🤛

[@tattd_snw_wht]

Longboard newbie here. Gotta get the muscle control gains 😅 thanks for the tips!

[@lightning3605]

Welcome back Also 1:58 is really satisfying

[@GeorgeAustria]

Free body diagrams 👀 nice job! They're a great visual

[@allisonpeet1469]

this video is great!

[@talbrott]

great lesson, this is a habit I must cultivate

[@DDRaHolic]

Between this and your other video, I finally pumped after a few days of trying. If anyone else is having trouble pumping, my issue was that when I would ride back down fakie, I wasn’t bending my knees enough and sucking my knees into my chest as I started to pump.

[@over40texasskater817]

Welcome back!

[@estebanlopez5372]

I love your videos SO MUCH ! Thanks a lot for teaching us

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Rock on Esteban!!! 🤘

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@raphaelosorio4388]

The surfing community needs someone like you! Trying to apply what I learned here to surfing

[@ProgressSkateboarding]

Nice one, champ!

[@matthiasvoigt1380]

Hey Justin, thank you for the video. The explanation is better than the old one, but i think still not accurate. I believe that the key point is that you have do work against the centrifugal force (~v*v/r, where v is speed and r the radius of the transition). That is why it works good on smooth transitions and less good an sharp angles.

[@OMNIPHEAST]

Banks and transitions both require us to do work, so he wasn't wrong, just not as thorough as possible. What I might call "wrong" is saying the total energy of the system increased. Actually, he only looked at gravitational potential energy and not the chemical potential energy which we convert into kinetic energy by pumping.

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

And so since you seem to know a bit more about physics, the exact equation that explains everything is L = I*omega and since I = mr^2 (where r is the radius so the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the ramp) and omega = v/r, L = m*r*v, and m (your mass) is a constant, L stays constant for an isolated system (in this case the you-skateboard system) and since r gets smaller, v (your linear velocity aka your speed) has to get bigger in order to compensate for r getting smaller so that L stays constant.

[@bryanzen300]

this was a great video

[@indiasuaujunca]

Great video! Still can't get to carve endlessly in the bowl. I guess it's not a thing One practice session... And I find the backside carve more difficult. Like I'm gonna fall on my face!

[@jkou5549]

Great video thank you. I’m 56 and learning to skate a bowl and your tips are awesome!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Nice! and thank you!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@patximendizabal5150]

That skatepark looks awesome

[@margorwylm]

Thank you so much! This helped me a lot with my pumping strategies

[@professorwolverinebeardsan470]

Former physics student here who was just wondering about this...This is so great!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) By the way just wanna throw that out here, same thing for me, I was a former physics student who wanted to understand how it worked but the explanation in this video just isn't correct, as you can easily see by the fact that you could gain speed by only pumping when going "up" the transition and never down the transition, and when you go up the transition, you can obviously not "push on the ground" since, as his vectors show at some point in the video, if the thing creating speed was pushing on the floor for it to react, it would push you *backwards* and not forward, slowing you down instead of accelerating you. I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@The0rbiter]

I'm geeking out over how you increased the kinetic energy as you pushed forward at 1:50. Gotta admire the attention to detail.

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Well, I appreciate YOUR attention to detail

[@quandary23]

lmao my physics teacher should show this to his classes to show how physics matters in the real world - love the video, nice job!

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Haha that would definitely be epic! Thank you 🙏

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner. So basically if your physics teacher showed this to his classes to illustrate anything else than kinetic energy turning into potential energy and vice versa (which was the correct part of the video) then he would be incorrect as well.

[@fanbulma8879]

as always good video 😀 ! i need fly out video 🙂

[@OMNIPHEAST]

Same

[@TheBluesmon]

I've been bowl skating to improve my surfing. This really helped me understand why I have so much trouble generating speed on my backside. Thanks! BTW from the background in the videos are you in ATX?

[@SacTimonWild]

gr8t video!

[@DeniseNepraunig]

My inner engineer is happy watching this! Really great video and explanation 👍

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Thanks a ton! 💪

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@jstoppa]

great explanation! thanks

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

You're Welcome!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@scorpio2t]

You know Arnold’s talkin bout that pump! 🤣 Great video 👍

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Thanks brotha 😉

[@Skinnyriver]

Wow just wow

[@jadranlee5440]

This is great. I feel like the speed boost you get in the “just crouching” scenario is from the fact that your crouching motion stops *before* the end of the ramp. At the moment when you get to the bottom of your crouching motion, your body ends up pushing against the earth to decelerate the downward crouching motion. So the pure crouch is really like a stealth push. If you had a shorter ramp and your crouching down movement ended on the flat ground rather than on the ramp, you probably wouldn’t get the speed boost.

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

I completely and totally agree with you

[@jadranlee5440]

@@NeverStopImprovingSBThanks for responding and for putting out these awesome videos!

[@glueckstierranch]

Nice vid 💪🏻

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Thank you 🤜🤛

[@aliem0matic]

So that is way I couldn't get the hang of pumping, Thanks!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@jasonnacionales6745]

HOLY CRAP HE UPLOADED

[@maxoliver1083]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jaysahunter256]

"We're just gonna ignore friction and air resistance for now" That's how I really knew this guy was legit

[@BigMeechBurns]

This video is excellent and I believe it kinda disproves rockets, since in space they have nothing to push off of..

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

that's like if you were holding a bowling ball and standing on a skateboard and you threw the bowling ball behind you

[@stef84]

Back!

[@riazkhandvk]

Nice Skate Park Set UP.... Can you send the Design plan

[@pandacinnamon]

Skateboarding is for nerds! Thank you for this

[@jayherrick3353]

I've been searching KZbin for this exact video

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Awesome man, I hope you found it helpful 🤙

[@rosariopatricialopezmagana316]

Gracias. Estaba muy confundida con las demás explicaciones que solo dicen "empuja". :)

[@Hotdogwaters]

Tibees, 3brown1blue would be fucking proud. Thank you so much for this

[@yooowazzam9782]

yep i totally know a lot of algebra and science🙄

[@OMNIPHEAST]

Good news. This requires zero algebra, just arrows. If you look at an introduction to vectors, it doesn't really require numbers, the visual is pretty intuitive. From there, if you find vectors interesting, you might learn some algebra or science. In fact, a vector is a first order tensor, and Einstein was said to be unsure about his tensor algebra and had it checked by other mathematicians.

[@yooowazzam9782]

@@OMNIPHEAST yup i understood this 😅

[@ansborromeo7470]

how about for the consecutive humps on the pump track?

[@tyizzle80]

What's crazy is I thought it was impossible to gain speed by pumping then as I started riding I notice that I just started to do it on my own. You can't tell when you are doing it right because you Wheels and Board makes a different type of sound as you pump along.

[@JesusL0vesY0u]

Dude why you no upload in so long.

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Oh and btw I'm adressing this comment directly to you Never Stop Improving, since I know you might end up seing all of my kind of "copy paste" comments : your video was really well done, looked good and you sounded really convincing, I'm just trying to bring the correct explanation to people who want to learn the actual physics behind this incredible phenomenon that is pumping, as you thought you did by correcting yourself from your own older video. I hope you will understand and not delete all of my comments. Kindly, Raphaël

[@dontblamepeopleblamethegov559]

Oh so it's basically "apply upward force to reduce the pressure of your weight on the board so it doesn't slow down". Cool, thanks!

[@kidzbop38isstraightfire92]

I don't understand any of this but it's cool regardless

[@saulsevilla1077]

👑

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

🙏🙏🙏

[@jaywilt420-_-2]

Hey he’s got 70K now congrats man. Oh yea and just wondering WHERE IS THAT SKATE PARK I DONT GOT ANY GOOD ONES WHERE I LIVE MAN

[@NeverStopImprovingSB]

Umm they're in Pflugerville, Texas. Where do you live where there isn't anywhere to skate?! That sounds awful 👎

[@jaywilt420-_-2]

Well there’s stuff to skate but I’ve already done everything there a hundred times except the bowl at the bottom there is a drain pipe that pops out so if you hit it then you’ll slam into the floor

[@briansobb19]

He scienced the shit out of this!

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@NALOvs]

In my opinion (which...is just an opinion xD i'm no physics student etc) the crouching part does help as long as you do a sort of 'little jump' just before entering the downhill part of the transition. I try to explain my self better: the higher the transition is, more speed you gain. So if you raise yourself by pushing with the legs towards the floor (while still standing with the feet on the board, not like an actual hippie jump) just before you hit the downhill, you DO increase your potential energy, thus increasing the resulting kinetic energy (because you fall from an higher point). Then, with the proper timing, adding the crouching just after you hit the downhill will increase the drop/fall even further and give you more speed. This is valid only if you are already moving towards the downhill transistion...I don't think it work if you try staying still on the top of it and dropping in (like in the experiment with the timers in the video). Dunno, just an opinion :D does it make sense to anyone?

[@OMNIPHEAST]

It helps also. Like, going down a bank, you'll go faster if you sort of acid drop from the flat to the bank. This way, a portion of your weight is not applied to the downward vector until you already have cleared some of the bank. This way you lose less momentum to friction. Then, pump out of the bottom, take advantage of both.

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.

[@johnO21]

Noice!😃

[@alphainfinitum3445]

he has explained it using proper physics.

[@raphaelpoitou8609]

Hey, the way it actually works is not as shown in this video but really by shortening the distance between your center of mass and the center of curvature of the curved part of the ramp :) I will try to make a video myself to illustrate exactly how this works more clearly but this guy called Garrett Milliron made a video called "The physics of pumping a longboard" which shows the correct explanation in, unfortunately, a less understandable manner.