Start Skateboarding Today! » Trick Tip

How To Heelflip

dave — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:24:32 +0000

Happy Holidays guys! Today we’re going over the heelflip. This trick is much like the kickflip, except you flip it the opposite way…The flip comes from heelside of your foot. One of the biggest differences in doing this trick is the foot placement. You want the toes of your front foot over the board, so that you can better flick the board with your heel when you pop it. The picture to the left will better explain the foot placement and flick of this trick. View the video below for a step by step instruction on how to do the heelflip…very descriptive and very helpful…enjoy!

How to Kickflip.

dave — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:56:06 +0000

This is probably the most requested and asked about trick of all time, everyone wants to kickflip. Well, in case you don’t know what a kickflip is, it is when you jump up in the air and your board does a barrel roll underneath you 360 degrees, and then you land back on it when it comes around. This is a fairly difficult trick to learn…it may be the one that requires the most time and effort.

You should DEFINITELY know how to ollie before even trying this one out.

First thing to think about is your foot placement on the skateboard. You want to have your back foot set up like an ollie, but your front foot should hang off a little more to the side and point up a little, towards the bolts. Having your foot pointed will make it easier to flick and make the kickflip happen.

Alright, once your feet are set up you can begin the trick. Pop the board like youre doing an ollie, and when you go to slide your front foot up like an ollie you want to kick it off to the side and flick DOWN, this will make the spin happen. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR SHOULDERS STRAIGHT DURING THE TRICK. If you turn your shoulders at all, you wont stay on top of the board during the trick and it will make it harder to land.

Once you pop the board and get the kickflip started, watch the board spin underneath you and watch for it to turn all the way over so you can know when to stomp down on it to land. You want to aim for landing both feet on top of the bolts…this is the best way to land so as not to break your board.

Like i said, this is a very difficult trick to learn, but once you do it, you can use it to learn all sorts of other related tricks such as backside flips, frontside flips, fakie flips, etc. Check out the video below for more help with this trick.

How to Backside 180.

dave — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:36:29 +0000

Well, the backside 180 is pretty much just like a frontside 180, only you turn the other way. The principles are still the same, you want to do the ollie and whip your shoulders around hard, except backside not frontside. Turn your shoulders and ollie and you should hopefully go all the way around. Check out the video below for more tips…listen to Jeremy Wray, he knows what he’s talking about.

How to Frontside 180.

dave — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:57:51 +0000

Frontside 180s are simply an ollie with a 180 degree turn. The key to this trick is turning your shoulders the way you want to go. The harder you throw your shoulders, the faster and harder you will turn. Your body generally follows your shoulders. Check out the video below for a full explanation of this trick

How to Pop Shuvit.

dave — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:23:26 +0000

After learning ollies, the pop shuvit is probably the next trick you should work on. The pop shuvit is probably the easiest trick in the eyes of most skaters, it is simply a 180 degree turn of the skateboard, without you turning…so you pop the board, jump, the board turns 180 and you land back on it.

There are 2 different ways to do a pop shuvit, frontside and backside. Backside is when you kick the board back with your back foot, and frontside is the other way…you kick it in front of you with your back foot. Backside shuvits are a bit easier to learn, so we will concentrate on those for now. See picture to the left for example.

So, when you do this trick you want to have your back foot on the edge of the tail, and your front foot in the middle or close to the front bolts. Your front foot doesn’t really do that much during this trick, it just sort of gets out of the way. When you have your feet set up, bend down like you are going to do an ollie, pop the board but sort of scoop it and kick your back foot behind you…don’t do anything with your front foot, just try to keep it out of the way. Hopefully your board will turn 180, when it does try to catch it with your front foot to stop it from spinning and land back on your board on top of the bolts. This is a bit easier when you can have it explained visually, so watch the video below for more explanation of this trick.

How To do an Ollie

dave — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:43:04 +0000

Alright, this is the most important thing to learn in skateboarding, it is basically a jump in which your board stays with your feet. The ollie is the foundation for pretty much every other trick, so you must learn how to ollie in order to keep progressing. This trick takes a while to learn and some definite practice to get down, but once you get it, you’ll have it. This is a very hard trick to explain through words, so I will let the video below explain. Listen to Reese Forbes kids, he probably has the best ollie and highest pop out there…suck those knees up.

How To do a Manual on a Skateboard

dave — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:05:40 +0000

A manual is essentially just a wheelie on a skateboard. This trick involves riding on two wheel instead of four. If you ride on the back two wheels, that is called a manual, if you are on the front two wheels, it is called a nose manual. Nose manuals are quite a bit more difficult than regular manuals, so for now we will stick with regular manuals. In order to learn this trick, I recommend starting out inside on carpet or on the grass outside, not even moving…just simply trying to balance stationary on the back two wheels is a good way to get used to the feeling of the trick.

This is how you want to set up your feet for the trick. Your back foot on the tail and your front foot right on top of the front bolts of the board.

In order to start the manual, you need to push down slightly on your back foot to make the front two wheels come off the ground. Once they come off of the ground, you need to hold your balance by keeping your weight centered over the back two wheels.

Keep your arms spread out so that you can more easily adjust your weight and keep your balance. This trick is much harder if your arms aren’t spread.

Once you learn how to ollie, you can ollie into manuals, but for now since we are just starting out, just perform the manual on flat ground and get used to the feeling and keeping your balance.

Check out the video below for more information and tips on learning this trick.

How To Turn On Skateboard

dave — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:26:13 +0000

Alright, you learned how to push and roll on your skateboard, now you need to turn so you can avoid obstacles and get to where you are going. Turning is all about leaning and distributing your weight…it also depends on how loose or how tight you prefer your trucks to be. The tighter your trucks, the harder it is to turn; this is because the tighter the truck is, the less it allows the axle of the truck to move against the bushing. Tighter trucks tend to be more stable, but really don’t allow you to lean and turn. Also, if your trucks are too loose, they become wobbly and turn to easily. You must find a happy medium between loose and tight trucks.

Once you have your trucks tightened to your comfort, all you have to do to turn is simply lean and distribute your weight in the direction you want to go…either lean over your toes, or back on your heels depending on what direction you’re turning. Lean harder to increase the sharpness of the turn. Check out this video below, for a visual explanation of turning.

Where Do I Learn to Skateboard?

dave — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:59:19 +0000

Many people battle with this question when starting to skateboard. First of all, there are many different places to skateboard…that is one of the great things about it, you can do it pretty much anywhere: skateparks, parking lots, the street, your driveway, even your house if you don’t mind breaking a few things. However, if you are just starting out, I personally recommend an empty, abandoned parking lot; it is much safer for you and other skaters. Here you can learn the basics: learning to roll, push, turn and control your skateboard…all of which are necessary in order to progress.

One thing I cannot stress enough is DO NOT GO TO A SKATEBOARD PARK IF YOU CANNOT CONTROL YOUR SKATEBOARD. This is dangerous to both yourself and also other skaters. If you are not ready for a skateboard park, do not go there. Learn the basics somewhere else, and when you are ready, try out a park. If you are not ready, you will most likely get in other skaters’ way and cause accidents; this will not make you very popular with the other skaters. Take your time and learn the basics first!