10 Slackline Mistakes Beginners Make

Slacklining involves utilizing a number of skills and traits. Some of them may come naturally to you whereas others might need a bit of practice.

Then there’s the whole dominant and non-dominant leg thing, which we’ll discuss more below.

Here are 10 slackline mistakes beginners make that you’ll want to avoid plus a bonus tip at the very bottom to help you slackline better.

Not bending while on the slackline

Slacklining involves a number of skills including balance. The best way to balance on a slackline is to use your hands, arms and body. This includes bending slightly at the knees.

When you lock your knees in many sports or activities, it limits your movements and makes the task more difficult especially ones that involve balance.

Solution: Watch some videos of experienced slackliners that teach you how to stand and walk properly on the line. If you notice in this linked video, the slackliner really uses his arms in an exaggerated way to keep his balance but it works.

And he bends his knees.

Once you’re experienced, it’ll be second nature but learning it might take a bit of time.

Falling off the slackline on the same side every time

Humans are often creatures of habit. Most people are right-handed and the majority of the people remaining are left-handed. Few people are ambidextrous and equally skilled with both hands.

So we tend to have a natural bias when it comes to our hands and feet. We tend to write with one hand. We tend to have a dominant leg that we lead with. Next time you run up the stairs, see which leg you naturally lead with!

If we fall off the slackline on the same side each time, it may be in indication that we are leaning to one side – our dominant side – rather than keeping a center of balance which is ideal.

Solution: When practicing, climb on the line and then deliberately fall off (gently of course) to your non-dominant side to get some practice. Once you are able to climb on the slackline and remain balanced, try climbing on the line with your non-dominant foot too and see how that feels also.

Standing on the slackline with both legs rather than one

How many times have you seen a still picture of someone slacklining on one leg and think to yourself “they’re losing their balance and are about to fall off!”

That might be the case.

Or if it might be that they know what they are doing and are using their free leg as a counterbalance to maintain their balance on the slackline.

Which is what you should do, too.

In actuality, while it may seem intuitive to balance on both legs, try to balance on your dominant leg first and use your free leg as a counterbalance to maintain your balance.

Solution: When starting out, do this: Try to balance on one leg and use your free leg and your arms to maintain your balance. This will have a more positive effect on learning slacklining and keeping your balance since you really will be using your entire body – arms, legs and body itself – to stay on the slackline without falling off.

Looking down at your feet while walking on the slackline

Don’t. Look. Down.

Looking down at your feet or at the ground will cause you to lean forward and the weight of your head and upper torso will undoubtedly cause you to lose your balance.

There is no need to look down because you’re not walking in that direction. You’re walking straight ahead and that’s where your eyes should be. Let your legs guide you while looking straight ahead.

Solution: Pick a spot near the end of the slackline in the direction you’re walking towards and focus on it. Make sure it’s at eye level and doesn’t cause you to lift or lower your head too much.

Thumbs down while walking on the slackline

Giving someone the thumbs down in any aspect of life is a bad thing. Same with slacklining. You want your thumbs pointing upwards instead.

When you have your thumbs down, it tends to lock your shoulders.

When you have your thumbs up, it opens up and loosens your shoulders and helps your body become more relaxed.

Solution: Just remember that it’s always better to get a thumbs up than thumbs down. Do this with your slacklining too. Walk with your thumbs pointing upwards while using your arms for balance.

Thinking that less movement on the slackline is better

When you climb on the slackline for the first time(s) you might think that less movement is better. You might try to stand straight up and remain as still as possible.

Remember that balance is an important part of slacklining. But if gaining your balance is important, then learning how to maintain it is also important.

Solution: You will learn more quickly how to get and maintain your balance by using more expressive balancing movements rather than being stiff and trying to stay still.

Speaking of which…

You do shifting movements on the slackline rather than circular ones

Take a look at experienced slackliners and you’ll often see their arms waving to each side to maintain balance as opposed to using smaller less pronounced movements.

More specifically you’ll see that they move their arms in unison more like a pendulum back and forth over their head rather than back and forth down near their waist.

Solution: Keep your arms over your head to maintain your balance rather than keeping them down by your sides. Use circular movements left and right rather than shifting movements of your arms.

Maintaining a hollow back rather than standing straight up

Rather than hunching down and forward with a tucked pelvis, lift your shoulders back to activate your pelvic floor. Slacklining activates and works your core muscles among others. It’s important to remember how to properly stand when slacklining and among other things this involves maintaining a good stance.

A good posture while slacklining involves standing up straight with a lengthened and flat spine, tipped pelvis, slightly bent (not locked) knees and chest that is in line with your abdomen.

Solution: Remember to keep your knees slightly bent but pull your shoulders back and continue to look ahead rather than hunching forward, slouching and looking down. Don’t arch your back either.

Dropping your arms when you start to get tired

What happens when a boxer drops their arms in a fight when they’re tired? They tend to get hit more often and get knocked out.

Fortunately no one should be punching you while on a slackline but that doesn’t mean that dropping your arms is a good tired.

Solution: You arms will start to feel tired after holding them above your head after awhile but you need to keep moving them over your head to maintain your balance. Work through the burn and fatigue.

Dropping your arms to your sides will cause you to lose your balance and fall off the slackline.

Pretending you’re on a balance beam when trying to maintain your balance

A gymnast on a balance beam will hold their arms out to their sides like the letter T to maintain balance. They can do this because a balance beam is a solid object that doesn’t move or sway.

A slackliner cannot do this because a slackline moves and sways. A slackline doesn’t remain stationary. Slackerliners need more fluid, exaggerated, loose motions to maintain balance.

Solution: Keep your movements loose and remember what we spoke about above: Move your arms in a circular motion to keep balance and don’t be rigid like a gymnast.

Final thoughts

Other than the 10 slackline mistakes beginners make that are mentioned above, there is another mistake you should avoid and we kind of alluded to it above:

Don’t just use your dominant leg.

If you only climb on the slackline with your dominant leg and always balance on it, you’ll never improve the non-dominant leg and will always rely on your dominant one.

If you believe that anything is only as strong as its weakest link, it makes sense to improve your weakest link when you can.

For most people who are right-handed, their right foot is their dominant one.

Not sure about your dominant leg? Walk up a flight of stairs and see which foot lands on the first step. That’s likely your dominant foot.

Now you can focus on working on your non-dominant foot too.