8 Expert Habits From Elite Skateboarder Nyjah Huston to Stay Calm and Face Your Fears

The pursuit of his next internet-breaking skateboard trick guides many of Nyjah Huston’s decisions. What to put in his body, how to move his body, and how late to stay out punishing his body are all part of his constant mental equation. Because when it’s competition time—Huston has 20 Summer X Games medals, 12 from the World Skateboarding Championship, and one from the 2024 Paris Olympics—one teensy slip-up can be the difference between leaving with hardware or going home empty-handed.

Beginning right when he wakes up, all the way to the time his head hits the pillow, the 31-year-old skater is operating on a level-headed frequency that keeps him from getting too freaked out about all the inherent dangers of his profession. Part of it is his natural, laidback disposition—Californian words like “homie” and “bro” seasoned our conversation—and part of it is understanding things like the power of a long walk, the circadian rhythm, and four-on-the-floor beats. Or, as he puts it, “things that help me clear my mind throughout the day. My mind is just always going.”

Huston’s increased emphasis on his health as of late has also led him to a new business endeavor. Last week, he launched his performance-driven deodorant line Out There, which is available online and at WalMart. Available in both stick and spray form, Out There is aluminum free and inspired by the natural smells like pinewood and bergamot. “The brand is very outdoors vibes, inspiring this generation to spend more time outside, not locked in on a screen all the time,” Huston says. In addition to keeping his pits smelling fresh, Huston, a self-described overthinker, has a list of methods to also prevent his brain from getting too out of control.

Stretch in the morning

Nyjah Huston: “Stretching really helps me wake my body up. I wouldn’t say I’m that much of a morning person, so it helps me wake up a little faster. It’s something I started doing religiously, starting probably 10 years ago. I was dealing with a lot of knee pain and stuff, and I was like, “Alright, I got to try something new.” So it was a New Year’s resolution. I’m going to stretch every single day. [I’ve] been doing it ever since, and it’s helped me so much. If I’m not in a rush or anything, then it’ll probably be about 10, 15 minutes, nothing that crazy. Then I’ll mix in some little workouts in there just to help my body warm up a little bit.

Full body—ankles, calves, hamstrings. I mean, we get so sore skating every day. It’s so jacked. And always sore in the most random, weird spots too. If you don’t stretch, you’re going to be struggling so much. There’s just a lot of ways you can fall where, if you’re not flexible, you can get really messed up. For example, if you stick a trick—this happens actually somewhat often—if one foot lands on the board and then your back foot’s off the board, and then you just basically do the splits. If you’re not prepared for that, you’re going to get so hurt.

We don’t really have coaches and stuff. If anything, we just got homies that are also pro skaters that’ll be like, “Oh, it’d be sick if you tried this trick.” It’s not like you have an actual trainer. So, it’s really on you. Like I said, we get so sore skating to where you can’t spend that much time in the gym and doing things that aren’t on the board. I still think to this day, one of the best ways to train and practice for skating is just doing things that you’re not used to doing, trying new tricks, or even skating places that you’re not used to skating. Street skating—which means it’s rough ground, it’s outside elements, it’s windy—it makes skating a skate park or a contest that much easier when you’re used to skating things that are hard to skate.