What is Pushing Mongo on a Skateboard? [Briefly Explained]
Pushing mongo is the wrong practice of pushing a skateboard with your front foot. The entire time you will have less balance and less stability.
There are two ways to stand on the board when it comes to skateboarding. One is regular, and the other one is goofy. First, let me clear you what those stances mean,
- In a regular stance, your front foot is your leg foot. Then you push the skateboard with your right foot.
- In a goofy stance, your front foot is your right foot. Then you push the skateboard with your left foot.
So, suppose you’re regular. Then if you’re pushing your skateboard with your left foot, it is called pushing mongo.
Usually, when someone is new to skateboarding, he doesn’t know much. He then starts his journey by pushing mongo. Pushing mongo is challenging to balance because the weight distribution is not proper. Initially, the back foot is there on the skateboard and takes all the weight while the front foot pushes to gather some speed. Major accidents can happen during this time.
The sport of skateboarding is not easy. Before getting the right momentum, one may fall a lot of times. And this initial training is the foundation of future skating. If the initial training is wrong, the entire skating fun goes away.
While it’s risky with pushing mongo, many pro skaters do this while skating. Such as Eric Coston and Gino lanucci.
You may wonder where the mongo word came from. It’s European slang. It means a mentally disabled person or retard. While many people hate pushing mongo, it’s still not clear why. I mean, for starters, it’s not safe, but other than that, I don’t see any problem with that.
Many skaters try mongo when they are skating switch or just goofing around with a trick.
The thing about mongo push is many skaters don’t even realize they are pushing mongo until someone points it out. Beginners step on the skateboard and try to be comfortable. Many find that pushing the skateboard with the front foot is more manageable during this time. Maybe they haven’t even tried pushing with their back foot. Once they start pushing with the front foot, they keep doing that.
When you’re pushing your skateboard normally, you can pull your back leg and enjoy the ride once you get the speed. But in mongo push, you have to rotate your body more than usual to maintain your balance. As a result, the stability in mongo push is low as well.
So are there any advantages of pushing mongo? Well, you may find one or two tricks easy to perform, like riding fakie and switch. But you have more cons than you have pros when you’re mongo pushing.
Did you start your skating journey with mongo pushing, but now you want to be normal? Then there are a couple of things that you can do.
First, find a smooth pavement or road that you can practice on.
Second, try to move slowly and keep your weight on your knee and front leg. Try to balance yourself.
Third, As you’ve been pushing mongo for a long time, you may find it hard to push the skateboard. Don’t worry. Every time you start mongo pushing, get down from the skateboard and get into the proper position. Then try again.
Don’t get discouraged if people laugh at you in the skate park. If you don’t feel like pushing normal, then it’s completely fine but keep in mind that mongo pushing is far more dangerous.
If you want to change the style and you’re somehow unable to do so. Don’t lose hope, and don’t stop practicing.
You know the skater from Braille Skateboarding. Aaron practiced doing ollie for six months before he could land an ollie. And now look at him. He has reached his destination, reaching millions of fans worldwide with his youtube channel and teaching tons of young fellows. He could do this because he never gave up on his dream. And you shouldn’t either. Practice every day.
Suppose you meet any new skater who’s new to skateboarding and doing mongo pushing, then it’s your responsibility to correct them. Because chances are he’s building a bad habit without even knowing. And rectifying that in the future will be way more complicated. It’ll be learning the sport from scratch for a lot of them.
Many skaters laugh seeing someone doing mongo pushing. While the number is deficient, it should still not happen. When someone is mongo pushing, he must be new to the sport. When he sees people laughing, it immediately breaks his confidence.
And later, he doesn’t feel like going back to the skatepark. So it’s really important to make the new guy feel welcome to the skatepark and teach him everything that will help him in the future.
Often, skaters run for a while to get the initial speed. Then throw the board and places their front foot on the skateboard. It’s effortless when you’re normally pushing.
However, if you’re pushing mongo, you will find it very hard to do this trick. After throwing the board, you have to step on your back leg first. It will feel bizarre.
Another thing that you may notice is when you are turning your skateboard while pushing. In normal pushing, your front foot will manage weight distribution evenly, and you’ll be able to turn the skateboard very quickly.
But in mongo pushing, you won’t be able to do this easily. As a result, the weight distribution won’t be accurate.
It’s up to you how you want to enjoy the ride. But if you wish for proper safety and balance and want to do tricks with your skateboard, I’d suggest going for the normal pushing instead of mongo pushing.
You may see many pro skaters pulling off mongo pushing, but most of the time, mongo pushing is just a tiny part of their entire tricks. So let me know what you prefer?
Normal or mongo pushing?
You may want to take your skateboard with you if you’re traveling. Do the airlines approve skateboards? Can you take your skateboard on a plane? Find out in this article.
Also, Can you skateboard in the rain?
