The devastating injury that changed Tony Hawk‘s perspective on fitness could’ve been avoided, he told The Post, had he made the choices he’s making now.
“I am working out at least two times a week and that is not something I did, to be honest, until I hit my 50s and I probably would have benefited from it much sooner,” said the legendary skateboarder, who’s now 58.
“You know, I went through some pretty significant injuries … I feel like had I been more well-tuned, stronger, more warmed up, maybe that wouldn’t [have] happened, but [you] live and learn.”
Hawk said that it was one injury that was a “catalyst” to rethink how he stays active — breaking his femur in 2022.
“That was the day I realized ‘You’re not Peter Pan,’” he said. “You can’t just do the hardest tricks on a dime.”
The fracture that changed his life
In March 2022, Hawk was attempting a McTwist — a 540 degree turn in the air — when he fell and snapped his right femur.
A femur fracture is brutal. It’s the longest and strongest bone in your body, and you need it to stand, walk and move. It requires surgery to correct and takes months to heal from.
Generally, a surgeon needs to realign the bone and set it in position with a metal rod through the center. They may secure bits of bone with screws or wires if it broke in more than two pieces.
Hawk had to go through this twice.
He says he returned to skateboarding too quickly after the first surgery, preventing the bone from healing properly. So he had to go back to the surgeon to correct it.
“I was too cavalier in my approach to skating shortly after my injury, ignoring all warning signs – pain, mostly,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s gonna be a slow, delicate process in the coming months but I plan to emerge stronger, wiser and more thankful than ever.”
How Tony Hawk changed his fitness routine
Nowadays, Hawk is back on the vert ramp and still skates as his primary way of staying active.
“I still try to do it as much as I can. It looks a little different these days in terms of the kind of tricks and the risk factor and the impacts that I’m taking, but I’m still doing it, I think, on a professional level,” he said. Depending on the season, he’s also surfing or snowboarding.
But he says that breaking his femur was a “catalyst” to diversify his workouts to “stay fit, stay flexible, to stay strong.”
Now, he makes sure to do strength training.
“It really depends on the day because if the day consists of also skating, upper body work, and more stretching,” he said. “If I’m not skating, then it’s more overall and strength training and lower body.”
Tony Hawk’s tips for staying active
Hawk is passionate about encouraging others to stay active as they get older, and partnered with Qunol for their Move Like a Champion campaign.
He doesn’t believe people need to strive to be as active as he it.
“It’s more just getting out there and staying in motion like keeping it moving,” he said. “That’s the key especially to when you get older — it’s so easy to be idle and it’s so easy to have sort of your muscles you take for granted.”
He suggests walking around the neighborhood, or chasing kids (or grandkid, in his case).
“When I look at it, especially people my age, the ones that I’ve known for a long time, a lot of them don’t skate anymore, but they take [their health] seriously in terms of, ‘well, I gotta go swimming,’” he said. “I’ve got a friend who… He just plays Pokemon Go endlessly so that he can be walking and staying in motion.”
