Here's a list of tips to help you learn skateboard tricks. These tips will have you learning skateboard tricks much faster.

Tip #1: Warm Up

By 'warm up', I don't mean Pilates - I mean take the first 10 - 15 minutes of your skate to concentrate your body and mind on what you're doing.

Warming up helps you work up to your harder tricks gradually. Don't expect to pick up your board and instantly learn skateboard tricks. To learn skateboard tricks you need to be warmed up.

Some people like to roll around for a while practicing balance tricks, others like to pop a few good ollies to make sure their ollies are solid for the rest of their skate session. Do whatever works for you, but to learn skateboard tricks, take that first 10 minutes and let yourself get warmed up.

Tip #2: Be patient

Patience, padawan. To learn skateboard tricks takes time and you will move on gradually.

To learn skateboard tricks, be patient and happy with any advance you make.

You may have to try a trick tens (or dozens) of times before you are able to land it consistently. This is normal - learn to live with it. To learn skateboard tricks, you'll need to put in the effort and your efforts will be well worth it.

Tip #3: Skate with people more skilled than you.

Whether you know them or not, being around more skilled skaters can help you learn skateboard tricks as well as motivate you to improve. To learn skateboard tricks, don't be afraid to ask for advice from other skaters.

Skaters are mostly happy to help and will often feel good about their skating when someone compliments them and asks for advice. Their advice will help you learn skateboard tricks, as they've probably already learnt the tricks you're trying.

Skating with more skilled skaters will also help motivate you to try bigger, more skilled or different tricks.

Tip# 4: Vary your skate spots.

It's natural to have a favourite spot, but if you skate it all the time you run the risk of feeling stale after a while.

Give ramp, pool, street, flat ground, skate parks and any other skate spots a try. This will help you learn skateboard tricks, because you'll rapidly find that skills and experience from one piece of skate spots will help your overall skating improve.

The old saying 'Variety is the spice of life' applies to skateboarding too :).

Tip #5: Set Goals.

Working at a trick consistently will help you learn skateboard tricks faster.

The saying: "If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter how you're getting there" is true for skating.

Working at a trick consistently will help you learn skateboard tricks, and sometimes this will require a bit of perseverance and committedness.

To learn skateboard tricks, write some goals for tricks you want to learn and then work at some of them each time you skate.

Do this for a while and you'll find the trick easier and easier.

Tip #6: Commit!

To learn skateboard tricks, sharpen on landing the trick, not avoiding slamming.

The main reason I people take a long time to learn skateboard tricks is because they're just not committed to landing the trick.

They're too busy worrying about hurting yourself rather than trying to learn skateboard tricks. If all you're focussed on is not slamming then you're going to have a hard time learn skateboard tricks. Just focussing on 'not hurting yourself' mean you'll end up bailing out of the trick even when you've got a good chance of landing it. To learn skateboard tricks, you need to centre on landing the trick and have a clear picture in your mind of what you'll do and concentrate on doing it.

You will fall sometimes, but slamming is rarely as bad as we imagine it to be and injuries are pretty uncommon. The only way to learn how to do tricks on skateboard is to be committed to actually landing the trick!

Tip #7: Work up to it.

Don't try to land 360 flips if you can't even ollie up a curb or 50-50. This sounds crazy, but I see people doing it all the time.

If you really want to learn skateboard tricks, you need to build up your skills from basic tricks to the more advanced ones.

To learn skateboard tricks, you need to treat it like building blocks - tricks build onto each other. The more basic, foundational tricks you learn, the easier the advanced tricks will come.

Take the time to centre on getting the basic tricks right and the more challenging tricks will come much easier.

Tip # 8: Have fun.

There's nothing worse than being unhappy while trying to learn skateboard tricks, and chances are you won't learn it if you're angry or impatient.

To learn skateboard tricks, make sure you're having fun - if you aren't, try something else and come back to it later on. Skateboarding is supposed to be fun - that's why we doing it.

If it's not fun for you, you're doing it for the wrong reason :).

Tip # 9: Get tips from Pro skaters

There are some great products on the 'net for helping you learn skateboard tricks.

One of them is 'Secrets of Skateboarding' - it shows you how a skateboarder mastered in 8 weeks what takes most skateboarders many months (or even years) to master!

This guide comes with loads of free bonuses, and has received great reviews:

"I took your advice and did the exercises and techniques them and saw incredible improvements in my skateboarding.

I learnt the varial flip in 3 days! It is the perfect step-by-step skateboard guide. I am so excited about using it to learn more tricks."

• Fred C.