Doing PROPER Heelflips

[I Can't Think]

You all probably have that one trick in your bag that you can never really master. It's not a particularly hard trick, you just happen to have the hardest time keeping you're shit straight when doing it. For me that trick is the heelflip. I've done it off of a few sets, over some things and I can do heel flip variations. But I've never felt like knew exactly what I was doing right when I landed one. I always just sorta fandangle them and learn them at the spot, honestly I've never even landed one flat in a game of skate, yet I do inward heels regularly. So how do you heelflip?

[Will Easley]

I'd definitely consider heelflips my forte so i guess ill try to help you out

set your feet up like in the picture below, with your front toes somewhat grabbing the side of your board with your back foot bent slightly upwards, resting on the the ball of your foot. then from there you do an ollie motion except you wanna roll your heel off the board just BARELY past where you see your wheel. think straight up like an ollie at first, then at the top of the ollie motion, youthe bottom of your heel should feel like it sorta "punches" your board into flipping (i say punch because flick really isnt the right word for it). you can get away with kicking your foot straight off but all my very best heelflips down gaps n shit feel more like a slight diagonal motion, once it reaches past the wheel. be sure to keep your back straight and shoulders even & lined up with your bolts. ill post a video with a good example below the pic. there's like 3 heelflips in the but the first one is probably the best angle to learn from

[dillanharp]

I have to agree with Will. Especially with that foot placement.

[art hellman]

I'd definitely consider heelflips my forte so i guess ill try to help you out

set your feet up like in the picture below, with your front toes somewhat grabbing the side of your board with your back foot bent slightly upwards, resting on the the ball of your foot. then from there you do an ollie motion except you wanna roll your heel off the board just BARELY past where you see your wheel. think straight up like an ollie at first, then at the top of the ollie motion, youthe bottom of your heel should feel like it sorta "punches" your board into flipping (i say punch because flick really isnt the right word for it). you can get away with kicking your foot straight off but all my very best heelflips down gaps n shit feel more like a slight diagonal motion, once it reaches past the wheel. be sure to keep your back straight and shoulders even & lined up with your bolts. ill post a video with a good example below the pic. there's like 3 heelflips in the but the first one is probably the best angle to learn from

after seeing Will heelflip everything in sight in Davenport, I'd heed his advice

[JB]

everything will said is good. i keep my front foot a little closer to the bolts though. i think the best thing to remember is once you pop, lift your back foot straight up so your board doesnt turn. and the timing is just like an ollie, but you kick out right as you would be evening the ollie out. they give me problems from time to time, but when i get them, i can pop them and catch them way better than kickflips.

[burl chung]

Did any of you ever do a heelflip and shred skin off the side of your ankle? It happens all the time to me right through the sock it even bleeds sometimes. My jeans always get shredded from them too.  I wear janoskis so thats probably it but i was just wondering.

[Turtle Boy]

Did any of you ever do a heelflip and shred skin off the side of your ankle? It happens all the time to me right through the sock it even bleeds sometimes. My jeans always get shredded from them too.  I wear janoskis so thats probably it but i was just wondering.

It happens a lot to me, but specially on Fs Heel and varial heels. This is the reason I can't skate lows anymore, I ended up bleeding a lot session after session 

[nylin]

Expand Quote

Did any of you ever do a heelflip and shred skin off the side of your ankle? It happens all the time to me right through the sock it even bleeds sometimes. My jeans always get shredded from them too.  I wear janoskis so thats probably it but i was just wondering.

[close]

It happens a lot to me, but specially on Fs Heel and varial heels. This is the reason I can't skate lows anymore, I ended up bleeding a lot session after session 

I love heelflip tricks but damn do they rip the shit out of the bottom of my pants.

[Kinch]

I had a bit of an awakening recently regarding heelflips so I thought I'd share. For the longest time I've just sucked at them so bad; switch or nollie heels were no problem but I couldn't even consistently regular heelflip on flat and if I did get one it would be disgusting.

I thought about what was different in my switch ones and realised that I had my weight much more over the front foot for them than I would for reg ones. Having realised this I started trying it regular with my weight largely going through the front foot and suddenly I can do them clean and consistent both regular and fakie. Anyone struggling with them give it a go, just make sure your weight is through your front foot and good luck!

[Radbloke]

I've always found heelflips much easier than kickflips, so I spent a good 6 months focussing on kickflips. Consequently, I lost heelflips. In the re-learning process, I've noticed the one big difference for me between the timing of a kickflip and a heelflip is the flick with the front foot needs to be much earlier with a heel than with a kickflip.

That being said, my foot placement looks nothing like these other guys. Isn't it weird how such a massive difference in foot position, weight distribution and movement between different people can end in the same result? I love you, skateboarding.

[BuddyPal]

I had a bit of an awakening recently regarding heelflips so I thought I'd share. For the longest time I've just sucked at them so bad; switch or nollie heels were no problem but I couldn't even consistently regular heelflip on flat and if I did get one it would be disgusting.

I thought about what was different in my switch ones and realised that I had my weight much more over the front foot for them than I would for reg ones. Having realised this I started trying it regular with my weight largely going through the front foot and suddenly I can do them clean and consistent both regular and fakie. Anyone struggling with them give it a go, just make sure your weight is through your front foot and good luck!

samesies. i switch heel almost everytime but ive never landed a regular heelflip. can varial heel easy too but im trying to learn heelflips cause everybody i play skate against know its my weakness

[Kinch]

Expand Quote

I had a bit of an awakening recently regarding heelflips so I thought I'd share. For the longest time I've just sucked at them so bad; switch or nollie heels were no problem but I couldn't even consistently regular heelflip on flat and if I did get one it would be disgusting.

I thought about what was different in my switch ones and realised that I had my weight much more over the front foot for them than I would for reg ones. Having realised this I started trying it regular with my weight largely going through the front foot and suddenly I can do them clean and consistent both regular and fakie. Anyone struggling with them give it a go, just make sure your weight is through your front foot and good luck!

[close]

samesies. i switch heel almost everytime but ive never landed a regular heelflip. can varial heel easy too but im trying to learn heelflips cause everybody i play skate against know its my weakness

haha same. it got pretty annoying having everyone getting me letters so easily.

[j....soy.....]

I've found that I gotta keep my weight centered or even back a tiny bit when I'm setting up....then jump forward.....

[paraquat]

The toes off the board stance never worked for me. Come to think of it, nothing works for my heelflips anymore.. gone...

[Daylin Jamier]

My foots in the back pocket except, my front foot is right behind the bolts maybe about less then a cinti meter of space between the two.

[Hannity]

watch how wide furby sets up for heelflips, dude pops them proper. diagonal motion is definitely key. and i agree that weight distribution should be pretty much equal between both feet, i have to feel my front toes gripping the edge of the board

[gaunting]

It's not heelfips I have a problem with, it's nollie heels and switch heels, I've never landed either one, every time I flip it, the board goes behind me, don't know how to correct that.

[Niko Katavainen]

It's not heelfips I have a problem with, it's nollie heels and switch heels, I've never landed either one, every time I flip it, the board goes behind me, don't know how to correct that.

Try to "tweak" it like a backside heel, it feels wierd but keeps it straight

[EPetrov]

For me I put my feet a little behind the bolts with toes an inch off. When I pop I'm notreally even trying to flip I pretty much just do an Ollie . And they usually pop high and slow so it's easy to catch