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Skateboarding => Skate Questions => Trick Tips => Topic started by: rocklobster on June 16, 2021, 05:47:37 AM
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Saw a couple of topics come up recently asking for advice, thought a consolidated post for discussion would be great for pooling collective wisdom.
My kickflips have gone from ninja, mobbed, semi decent, decent, mobbed (bad ankle injury), can't do them, rocket, decent, ninja and mobbed. I developed a decent one last year after COVID but lost them and developed lots of excuses thereafter (new shoes, board steepness). Spent a good amount of time last night working on them last night and got some advice from park regulars, finally did a decently caught one slapping the back foot.
Issues:
Board was rotating frontside as I was flicking, I'm way more comfortable with hardflips and FS flips.
Fix:
Drag straight up and flick off the tip of the nose. I was dragging at an angle and flicking off the kick of the nose too early. Locked my shoulders parallel with the board too.
Issues:
Under-rotated flip.
Fix:
Placing my front foot further up the board from center of the board to just behind the bolts. I assumed that having more foot to drag would give me more height to time my flick. But that meant I was flicking prematurely, where the nose kicks up instead of the tip of the nose. Friends also noticed I would shift my front foot back slightly as I was crouching down to pop. Had to force myself to keep my front foot stationary while setting up.
Other things that helped:
Widening my stance especially since I like riding long-ish decks and slapping Ventures on them which widen the wheelbase even more. I've been shifting my front foot further up (just 1-2 fingers behind the bolts) and back foot further on the tip of the tail like Mike Mo explains in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSa1TlAxtkM
Feel free to chime on whatever issues you may have.
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Landing primo about 1 in every 15-20 flips.
I've got a decent kickflip, i can catch them pretty high with back foot... but every now and again I primo one, can be as often as a couple times a week if i'm doing them a lot. It's getting to the point where i sometimes just don't do them as i can't be dealing with jamming my back up.
I almost never primo heels...just kickflips and once in a blue moon on a varial flip.
I've tried different board widths and messing about with my flick, but nothing has outright cured it.
Interestingly I almost never primo fakie kickflips... so yeah, figure that one out. I stuck a vid up in the slap pals heel/kickflip shalom-off, be interested to hear if anyone sees me doing anything obviously wrong.
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Thanks for the post. I've spent the past year, off and on, trying to get my kickflips consistent. They are usually rocketed or I land one footed. When I do land, it feels super sketchy. But, I've been doing exactly what the video said - hanging my foot off and then it screws with my balance. I'll try his foot placement recommendation after work and see how it goes...
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I, like many others, obsess over my kickflip and do whatever I can to improve it. Foot placement and weight distribution are huge considerations, but something i lose sight of at times is timing...
Making sure to slow myself down and really jump-pop-flick in that order always results in better kickflips for me. If I want to get them high, I imagine almost trying to knee myself in the chin with my front leg as I go up and extend it out for the flick.
I think Jordan Trahan has the best kickflips ever, so I try to emulate his approach.
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how do you lock your shoulders
I've been trying to lock mine forever but I always seem to throw my front shoulder back and open up frontside a lot.
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how do you lock your shoulders
I've been trying to lock mine forever but I always seem to throw my front shoulder back and open up frontside a lot.
If I notice I’m throwing my shoulder one way or another I’ll take my arm that’s my front arm and point to something. It don’t have to be crazy noticeable like point at the ground just point a foot or so in front of your board if you feel weird about pointing straight out. But it helped me lock my shoulders
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how do you lock your shoulders
I've been trying to lock mine forever but I always seem to throw my front shoulder back and open up frontside a lot.
If I notice I’m throwing my shoulder one way or another I’ll take my arm that’s my front arm and point to something. It don’t have to be crazy noticeable like point at the ground just point a foot or so in front of your board if you feel weird about pointing straight out. But it helped me lock my shoulders
More than just the shoulders, pay attention to your stance (hips and feet position). All parts of the kinetic chain (shoulders, hips, knees, feet) need to work in tandem, if not part of the body are going to want to rotate in different directions.
What @Peepeeboy69 said it true, it does start with where you are looking / eye point.
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I used to have a pretty decent kick flip and backside kick flip and that was pretty much it so I worked hard on both tricks.
For a good kick flip try the following:
Learn to kick flip over things (milk crates are a perfect size).
When you pop your back foot does not have to go straight up. Pop your back foot slightly back as this will shift some weight to the front foot.
Drag the side of your foot up the board like an Ollie and instead of stopping at the bolts push your front foot straight through the nose like the upturn is not there.
I never had a rocket issue because I learned kickflips at a time when everyone would blast their flip tricks. I feel certain tricks lend them selves to popping hard.
To kick flip good you perform the flick at the height of the Ollie. Then the board cannot rocket.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
Do 'em faster, do 'em over stuff, it will progress naturally if you do it.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
Yo I feel like you have a lot of the fundamentals down. I bet they'd be really fucking good if you extended that flicking leg out in the direction you're moving. You already tuck your knees very high, so if you can get your front leg to extend up and out like an ollie while flicking with your toe like that, they gonna be fiya
Edit: I watch this like a million times a week and picture it when 8 go to do kickflips. Try it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7y6qolC1s/?utm_medium=copy_link
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
Yo I feel like you have a lot of the fundamentals down. I bet they'd be really fucking good if you extended that flicking leg out in the direction you're moving. You already tuck your knees very high, so if you can get your front leg to extend up and out like an ollie while flicking with your toe like that, they gonna be fiya
Edit: I watch this like a million times a week and picture it when 8 go to do kickflips. Try it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7y6qolC1s/?utm_medium=copy_link
Thanks, my brother. I've been skating for a pretty long time and have been trying to correct bad form this past year. My feet just automatically want to do some Wizard of Oz ruby slippers heel-clicking flying-V fuckery on every flip trick.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
The thing that got my kickflips to a place where I'm happy with them is focusing on flicking late. Don't rush the front foot's slide up the board and then focus the flick more towards the center of the nose than you may think. That will get the front foot kicked out more in the direction your moving like Urtripping was saying as well. The slight delay on the flick fixed all my mob issues as well.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
The thing that got my kickflips to a place where I'm happy with them is focusing on flicking late. Don't rush the front foot's slide up the board and then focus the flick more towards the center of the nose than you may think. That will get the front foot kicked out more in the direction your moving like Urtripping was saying as well. The slight delay on the flick fixed all my mob issues as well.
This is the ticket, I'm much more comfortable with Hardflips or FS Flips because you flick off the side of the kick (concave) instead of the tip of the nose. When I really want to focus on doing a good kickflip, I slow down my drag and really delay my flick till its at the tip of the nose. You can feel the tension / resistance as your foot drags up and the toe flicks off. Delaying the drag and flicking off the nose ensures you are dragging straight up the board and not off the side which causes the board to want to turn frontside.
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why i landing all mine so shitty. My consistency is also so low I remember last year I was trying to flip into grinds and shit and now im lucky if i can get like 1/10 on flat.
my shoulder still tweak out and i almost always still have to kickturn away.
https://youtu.be/TMDygm0qLJM
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why i landing all mine so shitty. My consistency is also so low I remember last year I was trying to flip into grinds and shit and now im lucky if i can get like 1/10 on flat.
my shoulder still tweak out and i almost always still have to kickturn away.
https://youtu.be/TMDygm0qLJM
I’ll trade you? Thing was popped! I have nothing to add but nice pop.
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Weight distribution is a really underrated aspect of the trick especially if they consistently go behind you/rocket. I find the best way to get a clean,level well popped kickflip is to have it so your front foot is sort of just lightly resting flat on the board, and most of your weight/pressure is on the back leg.
It’s kind of hard to explain but I want to be clear you aren’t supposed to “lean back” or be off balance in any way. If you stand on two feet and put all your weight on your popping leg that’s how it should feel as opposed to using your whole body to lean backwards. Honestly this helps for pretty much every trick you pop regular but kickflips are the only flip trick I’m really good at so it’s the only one I really apply it to ;D
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Weight distribution is a really underrated aspect of the trick especially if they consistently go behind you/rocket. I find the best way to get a clean,level well popped kickflip is to have it so your front foot is sort of just lightly resting flat on the board, and most of your weight/pressure is on the back leg.
It’s kind of hard to explain but I want to be clear you aren’t supposed to “lean back” or be off balance in any way. If you stand on two feet and put all your weight on your popping leg that’s how it should feel as opposed to using your whole body to lean backwards. Honestly this helps for pretty much every trick you pop regular but kickflips are the only flip trick I’m really good at so it’s the only one I really apply it to ;D
I had some success with getting them popped last weekend by putting more weight on the back foot and shifting my front foot a little further behind the bolts, could really feel the tension and release to get the board more height.
FS and BS flips really mess up with the drag and posture of a kickflip, I lose consistency when I focus more on 1 trick than the other. Last year I had solid kickflips not not much else, this year I have solid FS flips and hardflips but my kickflips are ugly as sin. Had to tell myself to lock my hips and shoulders while dragging straight to flick of the nose instead of the edge of the kick.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dODnfBx_eLQ
Tactics trick tip tutorials are severely underrated.
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Weight distribution is a really underrated aspect of the trick especially if they consistently go behind you/rocket. I find the best way to get a clean,level well popped kickflip is to have it so your front foot is sort of just lightly resting flat on the board, and most of your weight/pressure is on the back leg.
It’s kind of hard to explain but I want to be clear you aren’t supposed to “lean back” or be off balance in any way. If you stand on two feet and put all your weight on your popping leg that’s how it should feel as opposed to using your whole body to lean backwards. Honestly this helps for pretty much every trick you pop regular but kickflips are the only flip trick I’m really good at so it’s the only one I really apply it to ;D
Yes, this is it and this is the thing for so many flip tricks. I would get confused when people would say "put your weight back more" because I'd think "lean over the tail," but it's a little different. It's less like your whole body weight and more "pressure" with the back foot, like you're trying to stamp out a cigarette with some extra force. If you press down with the back foot, really dig in with the ball of your foot as you're getting ready to pop, it lightens the load on the front foot without lifting up the nose and it loads up the tail for a fast pop that makes a clean flick a lot easier.
I think of it like a 360 flip, where that heavy pressure right around the toeside edge of the tail brings the board into contact with your front foot so forcefully after the scoop/pop that barely any flick is necessary to form the trick. Same principle, IMO.
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Watching this thread. Just relearned my heelflips over the nose (ollie + flick 'through' at the top) and i just know kfs are next. Have always just flipped my kick flips away from me or just upsidedown
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Watching this thread. Just relearned my heelflips over the nose (ollie + flick 'through' at the top) and i just know kfs are next. Have always just flipped my kick flips away from me or just upsidedown
Get that Heelflip BS out of here, this is for Kickflips ONLY!!
(JK, I hate on heelflips because I can't do them to save my life)
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Weight distribution is a really underrated aspect of the trick especially if they consistently go behind you/rocket. I find the best way to get a clean,level well popped kickflip is to have it so your front foot is sort of just lightly resting flat on the board, and most of your weight/pressure is on the back leg.
It’s kind of hard to explain but I want to be clear you aren’t supposed to “lean back” or be off balance in any way. If you stand on two feet and put all your weight on your popping leg that’s how it should feel as opposed to using your whole body to lean backwards. Honestly this helps for pretty much every trick you pop regular but kickflips are the only flip trick I’m really good at so it’s the only one I really apply it to ;D
Yes, this is it and this is the thing for so many flip tricks. I would get confused when people would say "put your weight back more" because I'd think "lean over the tail," but it's a little different. It's less like your whole body weight and more "pressure" with the back foot, like you're trying to stamp out a cigarette with some extra force. If you press down with the back foot, really dig in with the ball of your foot as you're getting ready to pop, it lightens the load on the front foot without lifting up the nose and it loads up the tail for a fast pop that makes a clean flick a lot easier.
I think of it like a 360 flip, where that heavy pressure right around the toeside edge of the tail brings the board into contact with your front foot so forcefully after the scoop/pop that barely any flick is necessary to form the trick. Same principle, IMO.
Kickflips and heelflips are more akin to an ollie in terms of pop and timing. Anything that causes the board to shove / rotate 180 (360 flips, FS / BS Flips) I think consider them leverage tricks, getting the weight distribution for the tension / release (as described by @silhouette) is 1/2 the battle.
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Gonna work on a proper flick. Right now I'm doing what I think of as varial flip or switch heel flick. Lotta pressure going into it right now. I want to simply pop and flick like my heels
Atm back foot is in toe side pocket and my front big toe is on the bolts, pointed at a 45 degree angle. My hips are open as if I am going to back 180, but my shoulders have to be parallel to the board or I step off when I land The board flexes between my feet before I pop and it mobs up between my legs. Landed one the other day but lol it is not sustainable.
It's the weird varial/body varial flip zone you see a million kids travel in around early age I think. I'm feeling a bunch of nostalgia for pushing in front of my childhood home in knee pads. Watching Gonz in Video Days
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I know youtube skaters are corny as hell, but I had a shitty kickflip phase when I was focused on doing other flip tricks and ended up having a video from dan corrigan pop up in my recommended on how to kickflip clean. Honestly, it was solid and did a good job outlining the major points to getting a nice, level, backfoot catch sorta kickflip. Here's the vid:
https://youtu.be/jC47GDAPyOs
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I started Working on my regular kickflips because i Hard them proper like a year ago when i Learnt them but Started mobbing later and it pisses me off. They suck Most of the Time and i mob mob, but sometimes i can do pretty good ones even though i flick down(like maybe 1,5 Decks high). Even when i flick off the nose they suck. My foot goes out but my leg goes ninja Kick out and down instead of up. I catch them and i flick Right but i cant flick up because i always Miss the flick like that. Need help dont know and People with This Problem and no Tutorials Adress This Problem. I do have proper switch Flips btw
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My kickflips went to shit about a year ago and it definitely feels like the harder I try the worse they get, very demoralizing. This video got recommended to me yesterday and now I'm convinced its because i'm popping and flicking too hard. Still a little skeptical because its hard to trust random youtubers with science but that backside motion around like 4:30 is almost exactly a mirror image of my kickflips rn.
https://youtu.be/E9B4rAyOgVE
I want to try the fixes he suggest today but its raining :(. Thoughts?
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My kickflips went to shit about a year ago and it definitely feels like the harder I try the worse they get, very demoralizing. This video got recommended to me yesterday and now I'm convinced its because i'm popping and flicking too hard. Still a little skeptical because its hard to trust random youtubers with science but that backside motion around like 4:30 is almost exactly a mirror image of my kickflips rn.
https://youtu.be/E9B4rAyOgVE
I want to try the fixes he suggest today but its raining :(. Thoughts?
I kinda dig how crony the music is(weird YouTube charm) and it’s an interesting way to break it down.
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I stumbled upon the same video a few days ago and was about to post it here. It's a few steps above bro-science since he actually includes physics principles, but doesn't compensate for forward motion which affects how you drag, pop and flick.
My kickflips have been wildly inconsistent for the 2 years back, so I tried getting a gentler tap of the tail instead of stomping down hard they they were much more consistent, controlled and oddly higher (with less force) than before. Quite a fundamental shift in my skating since I always thought you had to stomp the hell of your tail for a solid pop or slam you truck in hard for a solid pinch; maybe a lighter touch equates to more control to maintain forward momentum.
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I look at the half full glass: Better a rocket flip than no kickflip at all. ;D
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My kickflips went to shit about a year ago and it definitely feels like the harder I try the worse they get, very demoralizing. This video got recommended to me yesterday and now I'm convinced its because i'm popping and flicking too hard. Still a little skeptical because its hard to trust random youtubers with science but that backside motion around like 4:30 is almost exactly a mirror image of my kickflips rn.
https://youtu.be/E9B4rAyOgVE
I want to try the fixes he suggest today but its raining :(. Thoughts?
wow thank you for this
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My biggest problem with my kickflips is missing the flick and the board not flipping at all. Usually this looks like my front foot not dragging against the board at all and just going straight up and out. Sometimes it looks like I'm trying a weird, fucked up straight no comply. Is this because I'm flicking too soon?
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Sounds like you're flicking out/sideways to much or too early as opposed to straight forward and through the nose
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If yall like science-based trick tips, there is this channel on youtube that has a bunch of them that I really like. It's been inactive for long periods, but it just started posting again with voiceovers (previously it was all just text, which I prefer anyway.)
https://www.youtube.com/user/nollieskateboarding
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Cannot stand Dan Corrigan, but his kickflip is fuckin perfect. If only I didn't feel compelled to mute his kf tutorial....
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My biggest problem with my kickflips is missing the flick and the board not flipping at all. Usually this looks like my front foot not dragging against the board at all and just going straight up and out. Sometimes it looks like I'm trying a weird, fucked up straight no comply. Is this because I'm flicking too soon?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dODnfBx_eLQ
I've been recommending this video if I want to show a positive demonstration of where to flick the deck - right off the tip of the nose.
A video of yourself attempting them would be helpful too.
https://youtu.be/wSa1TlAxtkM
I used to swear by Mike Mo's popping foot placement but depending on my deck & truck combination I was getting loads of ghost pop. If you're not getting a solid pop of the tail, play around adjusting your back foot placement closer or further away from the edge of the tail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYZ4l6ldakU
Solid pop doesn't equate to stomping the hell out of the tail, that usually results in your nose shooting up faster than you can drag to level out and flick. But making sure your tail snaps against the ground firmly so it can continue its upward motion as you jump upwards.
Did my best kickflips of 2021 by lightening my pop, adjusting my back foot position and focusing on dragging straight forward while flicking off the nose. Kickflips are my last remaining flatground trick and I'm trying my damnest to improve them till I die.
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My biggest problem with my kickflips is missing the flick and the board not flipping at all. Usually this looks like my front foot not dragging against the board at all and just going straight up and out. Sometimes it looks like I'm trying a weird, fucked up straight no comply. Is this because I'm flicking too soon?
I feel like this is happening because you are trying to flick the board right when you pop, versus doing a pre-flick (rolling your ankle) on your flicking foot when you pop the tail. Ideally, we should be flicking at the time we try to slide our front foot for an ollie
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Hey guys, maybe someone can help.
I land my kickflips but I‘m always dragging my back toe on the ground. Like I land with my heel and the rest of the foot catches ground.
I thought I might need to keep my shoulders and hips parallel to the board and maybe not lean to the frontside of the board.
Maybe one of you guys had the same problem.
Best regards
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Hey guys, maybe someone can help.
I land my kickflips but I‘m always dragging my back toe on the ground. Like I land with my heel and the rest of the foot catches ground.
I thought I might need to keep my shoulders and hips parallel to the board and maybe not lean to the frontside of the board.
Maybe one of you guys had the same problem.
Best regards
Share a video to help us visualize it please.
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My biggest problem with my kickflips is missing the flick and the board not flipping at all. Usually this looks like my front foot not dragging against the board at all and just going straight up and out. Sometimes it looks like I'm trying a weird, fucked up straight no comply. Is this because I'm flicking too soon?
https://youtu.be/wSa1TlAxtkM
I used to swear by Mike Mo's popping foot placement but depending on my deck & truck combination I was getting loads of ghost pop. If you're not getting a solid pop of the tail, play around adjusting your back foot placement closer or further away from the edge of the tail.
I actually came here to post that same Mike Mo video. The back foot placement helped immensely in improving my kickflips, as did keeping more of my front foot on the board.
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Gotta try Mike Mos way the next time I skate. I actually tend to have my back foot a tad more toe side so it’ll be an adjustment.
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been working on kickflips again and i’m really overthinking it probably-
when yall kickflip, is the flick a deliberate motion or just an extension of the ollie drag?
i can heel fairly consistently and when i do those its just an ollie with extra power and diff foot position (no ankle finesse at all)
what im asking is do you just drag your toe through the pocket or are you flicking the pocket with a 1-2 motion of your ankle?
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been working on kickflips again and i’m really overthinking it probably-
when yall kickflip, is the flick a deliberate motion or just an extension of the ollie drag?
i can heel fairly consistently and when i do those its just an ollie with extra power and diff foot position (no ankle finesse at all)
what im asking is do you just drag your toe through the pocket or are you flicking the pocket with a 1-2 motion of your ankle?
It's deliberate but delicate if that makes sense. On video / photos it always looks like a ninja kick outward to get the deck flipping. But its more about focusing your drag (deliberate) to where you want to flick off (the tip of the nose or edge of the pocket) gently with the ankle twitch (delicate). Your dragging till just about the pocket / tip of the nose and flicking off, the nose catching your foot during the flick get the rotation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dODnfBx_eLQ
It's timestamped for convenience.
My friend broke it down best - everything similar to an ollie then you flick off the nose. Every time I've thought of kickflips as it's own trick, I get rocket / mob / no flips.
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been working on kickflips again and i’m really overthinking it probably-
when yall kickflip, is the flick a deliberate motion or just an extension of the ollie drag?
i can heel fairly consistently and when i do those its just an ollie with extra power and diff foot position (no ankle finesse at all)
what im asking is do you just drag your toe through the pocket or are you flicking the pocket with a 1-2 motion of your ankle?
I lost my kickflips after rolling my ankle last year and just got them back two weekends ago.
My kickflip is an extension of the ollie drag and not a deliberate 1-2 but there is timing for the extension which makes it a sort-of 1-2. I Gotta extend out diagonally right when I would normally level out/bone the ollie.
The thing that got my kickflips back and better than ever two weeks ago is this: I stopped looking at my feet before I popped.
I had this epiphany after watching people flip over gaps/down sets at speed. Those fuckers aren't studying their feet, they're looking at where they're going to pop and will only look down as they're popping or as they're flicking.
Now I set up for a kickflip like I would set up for an ollie at speed: a quick check that my feet are in position, then look at where I'm going to pop, pop, flick/extend and look down. Took me a second to get used to this but now when I get it right, the board flips straight as an arrow with a back foot catch and I don't have to jump slightly to the heelside like I used to. I was more stoked on the first one I landed than I had any right to be.
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For some reason I can't get myself to commit on kick/heelflips. I can flick both of them fine 9/10 tries, but I'll move my back foot out of the way before I land. I've landed maybe 5 flip tricks after battling them for so long during a session that I get angry at myself and just commit. Can't seem to get that kind of commitment during the first 30 minutes of practicing them. If anyone can give me some tips on keeping my back foot above the board I'd be happy pick kickflips back up again.
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For some reason I can't get myself to commit on kick/heelflips. I can flick both of them fine 9/10 tries, but I'll move my back foot out of the way before I land. I've landed maybe 5 flip tricks after battling them for so long during a session that I get angry at myself and just commit. Can't seem to get that kind of commitment during the first 30 minutes of practicing them. If anyone can give me some tips on keeping my back foot above the board I'd be happy pick kickflips back up again.
it helps me to think about lifting my back leg straight up when I pop, as if taking a large step up onto something.
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For some reason I can't get myself to commit on kick/heelflips. I can flick both of them fine 9/10 tries, but I'll move my back foot out of the way before I land. I've landed maybe 5 flip tricks after battling them for so long during a session that I get angry at myself and just commit. Can't seem to get that kind of commitment during the first 30 minutes of practicing them. If anyone can give me some tips on keeping my back foot above the board I'd be happy pick kickflips back up again.
it helps me to think about lifting my back leg straight up when I pop, as if taking a large step up onto something.
Tried it yesterday and finally landed on my back foot for the first time since probably about half a year. Now it's a matter of getting them consistent, but my hopes of learning flip tricks are starting to come back.
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Any tips to make the board flip faster?
when i was learning my big issue was getting my front foot on, otherwise the board would flip real fast and good and thwap my back foot, so once I learned them I could do them well for a bit. Now the board flips so slow even though I put in so much effort, I rarely if ever get back foot catch, and turn backside like a mofo.
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It's deliberate but delicate if that makes sense. On video / photos it always looks like a ninja kick outward to get the deck flipping. But its more about focusing your drag (deliberate) to where you want to flick off (the tip of the nose or edge of the pocket) gently with the ankle twitch (delicate). Your dragging till just about the pocket / tip of the nose and flicking off, the nose catching your foot during the flick get the rotation.
My kickflip is an extension of the ollie drag and not a deliberate 1-2 but there is timing for the extension which makes it a sort-of 1-2. I Gotta extend out diagonally right when I would normally level out/bone the ollie.
thank yall so much. havent had much time to practice these but i thought about these tips and got a couple kickflips yesterday :)
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Something that I discovered was to point the toes on the back foot straight forward. I noticed I'm mad duck footed and once i switch to pointing straight ahead with the back foot they got more consistent
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I am a firm believer in studying footage of what you want to achieve (as well as footage of your current technique). I know right now I'm focusing on two things to make my kickflips look better (you can see Aiden Olmstead doing both here):
1. Pointing with my lead hand in the direction I want my flick to travel (forward through the nose).
2. Fully extending my lead leg post flick
(https://i.ibb.co/fdtjWXJ/b88f7e7e01b04482900856586dbccc13.gif)
Seeing it is helpful for me because when I go out and skate, I can think back and visualize key details from the sample I studied. Plus, watching a gif like this over and over can help internalize what the timing should be like.
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Adding some notes from the weekend.
1) Pop light
Prior to 2021 I was popping my kickflips off my nose, the added steepness helped me get really lofty ones because I'm always popping way too hard. Struggled with them when I decided to learn popping them off my tail. Cracked my tail yesterday so I was tried them of my nose again and they were most consistent in months i.e. I'm popping way too hard off my tail.
2) Straighten your hips
I would align my shoulders to be parallel with the deck but my deck would still end up going sideways. So in addition to my shoulders I checked my hips to make sure they were aligned with my shoulder too. That helped the deck stay under me too.
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This thread rocks, tons of great advice in there, y'all killing it.
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This thread rocks, tons of great advice in there, y'all killing it.
Still waiting on your 2000 word manifesto on tension / flex / spring on kickflips....
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Ha, I feel like that would be redundant, I've explained them quite a few times on here before and everyone in this thread I feel like already covered everything brilliantly. It definitely made a whole world of difference for my own kickflips when I realized how tension important was for that trick though, you want to feel it before you pop, front foot has to be lodged somewhere deeper in the board most people tend to think for proper response (since you want an actual ollie into your kickflips and then a 'later' flick), and it's mostly your the big toe on your back foot that should drive the tail down so that the concave really sticks then reacts to your flick once at peak height. Sort of like if you were trying to counter a straight pressure flip in theory (but it really doesn't feel that way in practice - you want a straight downwards pop and solid smack of the tail - and so no one should actually follow that logic). Focusing on extending the front leg as encouraged above is also fundamental.
My best advice at this point would be to just watch a lot of Christian Maalouf parts, or Kalis' ender in Peep This is also a good one to study. If anyone remembers the Post Your Kickflip thread, that one was also great to see all the different ways people do that trick.
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not to brag, but my kickflips were never horrible. nonetheless, this helped me get them a lot higher:
-front foot with the toes about a cm behind the bolts, angled between 45 and 90 degrees
-also keep the front foot more in the middle of the board, similar to ollie position
-ball of the back foot on the tip of the tail
-pop hard, flick hard and jump high
-suck your knees up as much as you can
:)
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I can do backside flips, varial kickflip and halfcab flip nearly every try. Somehow I am still unable to do a normal kickflip. I have no clue what the hell is wrong with me. No matter how i adjust I end up underflipping and landing it upside down or primo. The best i can do is a very sketchy rocketed kickflip. All advice on how to unrocket them leads me back to the first underflipped version.
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What does sitting "backseat" mean? I've been hearing that phrase a lot with kickflips
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What does sitting "backseat" mean? I've been hearing that phrase a lot with kickflips
I guess maybe crouching more over the back half of the board when you pop? I do my varial flips like that but regular kickflips i'm pretty centred over the board when I set up.
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Doing lots of popped fakie flips helped my normal kickflip immensely. I basically use the Mike Mo/Ben Degros flick foot position and Mike Mo's rear foot position. Pop a fast ollie and I don't even need to really think about flicking more than "straight through the nose-ish". Basically just ollie'ing and tossing out my front foot a bit harder once the nose is up. The front foot position gets the foot off the board really quick and the foot hitting the nose during the flick stops the nose from rising. The quick pop with the rear foot combined with the nose ceasing to rise helps bring the board up nicely for a rear foot catch.
The reason why fakie helped me was that at least for my fakie tricks I snap quicker than skating regular. I practiced the timing to the point where it was second nature.
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At best, my kickflips look like this. They're usually lower and mobbed. I learned them when I was much younger and I'm pretty sure they never got any better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz59qc0tpso
I've been committed to having a better kickflip for a while now. I mean, obviously something is off, but I really have no idea what it is.
Looks better than mine!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwl8XFSNDI8&list=PLNe6TgpvfUYq66AgyKG1E-jWE2sCrCIZi
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I keep breaking the tail of my boards whenever I start trying to spam kickflips, that's how rocket my shit b
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Am I the only one who lost this trick years ago ? I have 15 years of skateboarding, I put kickflip during my first 4 years and it disappeared .. I had to put without lying, on recent years, 10 Kickflip per year .. Psychologically impossible for me that this trick succeeds.. I can no longer coordinate my legs, whereas before it worked perfectly.. However, no problem for the half cab flip / flip back , hardflip , tré flip, and switch flip / nollie flip haha
Go to hell Kickflip cursed ! ;D
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Don't give up Frenchy.
I thought I lost all my flip tricks in my late 20s but started re-learning them again in my mid 30s to 40s. Lonely flat ground pandemic sessions really helped. I can do more flips now than I've been able to do since my late teens (they look slow, clumsy and terrible but its the personal challenge I dig) Landed my first Fakie tre at age 46. Working on switch tres right now.
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Don't give up Frenchy.
I thought I lost all my flip tricks in my late 20s but started re-learning them again in my mid 30s to 40s. Lonely flat ground pandemic sessions really helped. I can do more flips now than I've been able to do since my late teens (they look slow, clumsy and terrible but its the personal challenge I dig) Landed my first Fakie tre at age 46. Working on switch tres right now.
I worked on it this summer relentlessly .. I must have succeeded in about fifteen ahah Thank you for the advice, it gives hope! In fact, I only skate flatground now, it's my goal to progress in this area and to see that you can do it over 35, that motivates !
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my madness goes do it again, but .. is there a particular truck brand that helps a lot more for the Kickflip ? ;D
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my madness goes do it again, but .. is there a particular truck brand that helps a lot more for the Kickflip ? ;D
Any particular issue you’re having? I find lighter trucks make them easier but it’s not really a dealbreaker
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Saw a couple of topics come up recently asking for advice, thought a consolidated post for discussion would be great for pooling collective wisdom.
My kickflips have gone from ninja, mobbed, semi decent, decent, mobbed (bad ankle injury), can't do them, rocket, decent, ninja and mobbed. I developed a decent one last year after COVID but lost them and developed lots of excuses thereafter (new shoes, board steepness). Spent a good amount of time last night working on them last night and got some advice from park regulars, finally did a decently caught one slapping the back foot.
Issues:
Board was rotating frontside as I was flicking, I'm way more comfortable with hardflips and FS flips.
Fix:
Drag straight up and flick off the tip of the nose. I was dragging at an angle and flicking off the kick of the nose too early. Locked my shoulders parallel with the board too.
Issues:
Under-rotated flip.
Fix:
Placing my front foot further up the board from center of the board to just behind the bolts. I assumed that having more foot to drag would give me more height to time my flick. But that meant I was flicking prematurely, where the nose kicks up instead of the tip of the nose. Friends also noticed I would shift my front foot back slightly as I was crouching down to pop. Had to force myself to keep my front foot stationary while setting up.
Other things that helped:
Widening my stance especially since I like riding long-ish decks and slapping Ventures on them which widen the wheelbase even more. I've been shifting my front foot further up (just 1-2 fingers behind the bolts) and back foot further on the tip of the tail like Mike Mo explains in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSa1TlAxtkM
Feel free to chime on whatever issues you may have.
Solid info, thank you! Glad to know I’m not the only one who has a rocketed, mobbed or non existent kickflip but feel more comfortable doing Fs flips and hardflips. I’m gonna try my foot placement higher up towards the bolts and more of my foot on the board. For fs flips and hardflips my foot is usually lower and pointed.
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Expand Quote
Saw a couple of topics come up recently asking for advice, thought a consolidated post for discussion would be great for pooling collective wisdom.
My kickflips have gone from ninja, mobbed, semi decent, decent, mobbed (bad ankle injury), can't do them, rocket, decent, ninja and mobbed. I developed a decent one last year after COVID but lost them and developed lots of excuses thereafter (new shoes, board steepness). Spent a good amount of time last night working on them last night and got some advice from park regulars, finally did a decently caught one slapping the back foot.
Issues:
Board was rotating frontside as I was flicking, I'm way more comfortable with hardflips and FS flips.
Fix:
Drag straight up and flick off the tip of the nose. I was dragging at an angle and flicking off the kick of the nose too early. Locked my shoulders parallel with the board too.
Issues:
Under-rotated flip.
Fix:
Placing my front foot further up the board from center of the board to just behind the bolts. I assumed that having more foot to drag would give me more height to time my flick. But that meant I was flicking prematurely, where the nose kicks up instead of the tip of the nose. Friends also noticed I would shift my front foot back slightly as I was crouching down to pop. Had to force myself to keep my front foot stationary while setting up.
Other things that helped:
Widening my stance especially since I like riding long-ish decks and slapping Ventures on them which widen the wheelbase even more. I've been shifting my front foot further up (just 1-2 fingers behind the bolts) and back foot further on the tip of the tail like Mike Mo explains in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSa1TlAxtkM
Feel free to chime on whatever issues you may have.
Solid info, thank you! Glad to know I’m not the only one who has a rocketed, mobbed or non existent kickflip but feel more comfortable doing Fs flips and hardflips. I’m gonna try my foot placement higher up towards the bolts and more of my foot on the board. For fs flips and hardflips my foot is usually lower and pointed.
Veering into gear madness a bit - I still have my front foot quite far behind the bolts on my kickflips, only because I have Venture with forged baseplates that push the wheels out towards the tail the most. Ace trucks do the opposite and bring your wheels in and make the board more twitchy, so I'd have to put my front foot close to the front bolts to remain stable.
A lighter pop has really helped my kickflip consistency, harder pop = faster drag on the front foot to level out the board before flicking, so you're more likely to rocket flip.
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My kickflips used to be mobbed and rocket but they’re getting better. A major breakthrough for me was keeping more of my foot on the board, leading with my front knee, and really visualizing kicking my front foot through the nose.
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Set your feet up like this . Next pop and flick , wait until you see the grip tape , catch it and land bolts and roll away 👍🏻
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Does any of yous feel as though overthinking your mechanics can lead to things getting screwy? Sometimes when itry to many methodical tweaks in my technique I end up having a harder time than just letting it flow. But I do feel as though there is a balance To be found.
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can't seem to shake the muscle memory that i've developed by immediately placing my back foot on the ground in fear of falling. Any tips on how to fix this?
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i can switch flip ok, i can nollie flip good but my kickflips are beyond garbage. i've been working on them for like 2 years and atleast im kinda landing them now but they're still horrible. idk what it is, i've put so much time and effort in and nothing changes. seriously about to give up and say fuck kickflips
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i can switch flip ok, i can nollie flip good but my kickflips are beyond garbage. i've been working on them for like 2 years and atleast im kinda landing them now but they're still horrible. idk what it is, i've put so much time and effort in and nothing changes. seriously about to give up and say fuck kickflips
Go with that last sentence. I go through phases where I can kickflip decently and I also use the kickflip as a marker as to whether or not a piece of gear is worthy but in all reality, I ain’t kickflippin shit. Would rather do shove it’s or 360 flips. That being said I understand that it is a staple trick.
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whats going on??? i just cant land on the board and half the time cant flip the board completely
https://youtu.be/QuOP3JrCyp8
You're flicking off the side. Try to flick off the nose more, there are a couple of good pointers for that in this thread already. Flicking off the side takes more effort for the rotation to go full circle, which is why your board often doesn't flip all the way around, and it also makes the catch harder because you've moved your front foot further away from the board.
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People always point at front foot position that is incorrect but mostly, problem comes from the back foot that isn't at the right place.Put your foot more in the center of the tail.
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I dont square my shoulders square with the board like a heelflips. I have them just slightly open like a 360 flip.
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We should name them "popflip" instead of "kickflip", that will help a lot.Due to its name, we kinda subconciensely focus on the flick but to make hem higher and catch hem better key is to squat more and pop harder in the center of the tail.
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people who are good at kickflips do u bend over and crouch down before u pop or do u keep your back straight and then crouch???
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My kickflips used to be mobbed and rocket but they’re getting better. A major breakthrough for me was keeping more of my foot on the board, leading with my front knee, and really visualizing kicking my front foot through the nose.
Been reworking mine for about 4 months now. The idea of leading with your front knee is super important imo. My kickflips are kinda high and very consistent, and I flick with my toe. However, I don't lead with my knee and that causes my front leg to do weird shit to make the flick happen. I watch slomo footage of my kickflips and I kinda have the Gonz mobbed but not mobbed thing happening.
My goal is to flick straight thru the nose and fully extend my front leg, but my body just can't do this if I don't lead with the knee and open my hips a bit.
Edit: come to think of it, I do lead with my knee. I guess I need to focus more on finishing the flick through the nose and extending my leg out straight. Pointing my toe up and heel down and just karate kicking.
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Double posting here, seeking advice. I'm gonna link a kickflip I did below that I'm wondering about... my front arm ALWAYS fails backwards, and I think that's opening my shoulders too much. When I land this kickflip, my shoulders are perpendicular to the board.
I'm wondering if my flick is going so far off to the side frontside because of this, and how I might train shoulders to stay closed.
https://youtu.be/ZIeZgqidGaQ?si=bFvScy4KYEOi367I
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Double posting here, seeking advice. I'm gonna link a kickflip I did below that I'm wondering about... my front arm ALWAYS fails backwards, and I think that's opening my shoulders too much. When I land this kickflip, my shoulders are perpendicular to the board.
I'm wondering if my flick is going so far off to the side frontside because of this, and how I might train shoulders to stay closed.
https://youtu.be/ZIeZgqidGaQ?si=bFvScy4KYEOi367I
i don’t even know what mine look like. i can’t even self film.
that being said, here’s my skoaching: tighten up your back truck. put the ball of your right foot closer to 7 o’clock on the tail. bring your left foot closer to the toe side of your board. the balls of your feet looked like they were in a line, and to me, that is more difficult. by placing your weight in your popping foot closer to the heel side of your board, and having your front foot being weighted towards the toe side, you can build
up some cross tension. pop hard flick hard.
right now i’m posting from the toilet. as i’m looking the toes of my popping foot be maybe two plus inches back, compared to my flicking foot.
@silhouette is the person you need to summon for good advice tho. that person sees it.
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^ That is so kind I'm going to risk showing you wrong, after you've described things well already too. I think Urtripping's 'mistake' is to open up their shoulders frontside flip style which makes me think they probably have a good one whether they already know it or not but kickflip style is different, you want cross tension as Ok put it but you're trying to stay in line with the board so it shouldn't feel like trying to go off axis (at all).
Way I personally like doing kickflips is front foot first serves to keep the board flat so most of it is on the board just below the front bolts and at a very slight angle that's as minimal as possible but just enough so that as soon as you'll pop you'll be able to throw your ankle and instantly get the flip. The flip happens also in reaction to how you pop so while my front foot stabilizes the board my back foot positions itself for the corresponding leverage, at a slight angle inwards just to match and then if you get that balance right you should already feel it that as soon as you pop a straight kickflip will happen.
By open shoulders on kickflip people mostly mean the way you'd open them up on ollies, no more no less, you want some looseness and they matter but it's more of an axis thing and how you set up your upper body in relation to your now in place lower body. Like, how your back as a whole is aligned.
Back foot probably is what matters the most, you want the aforementioned angle but also pop off the center of the tail (not tip) with your big toe, that way feels like the orientation of the knee on your popping leg will assist and secure the stability and direction. Cross tension also comes from there and then all you need to do really is ollie, but prolong the ollie by extending your leg and it should just work. Keep far back on the board and throw the kick in front of you but don't jump through the motion with it.
You'll find your sweet spot for the flick with time but it also changes depending on where your back foot is placed and what it does which usually is what people with inconsistent kickflips do not get. When you start getting good ones, setting up feels like loading a spring and you just know (which becomes part of the fun).
Kickflippers to study: Quim, Donger, Carlos Young, PJ. Maalouf too because he really pushes the technique, you can just see the formula in plain sight with every one he does.
tldr: twisted body, chopped up feet.
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this is so sick thank you!
i tend to ‘muffle’ mine: meaning i initiate the flip too soon, resulting in a lower, but higher percentage of landing (for me) kickflip.
stoked to go watch some quim, and carlos young stuff as i haven’t for a long while. i was watching kien’s maple part last night. and always pj.
thanks again for chiming in with well laid out thoughts.
@Urtripping hope they go the way you want them too, but i forgot to mention that i’d be fine with the one you posted. skateboarding will always be fun to watch, but i enjoy(ed) seeing more distinct styles.
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this is so sick thank you!
i tend to ‘muffle’ mine: meaning i initiate the flip too soon, resulting in a lower, but higher percentage of landing (for me) kickflip.
stoked to go watch some quim, and carlos young stuff as i haven’t for a long while. i was watching kien’s maple part last night. and always pj.
thanks again for chiming in with well laid out thoughts.
@Urtripping hope they go the way you want them too, but i forgot to mention that i’d be fine with the one you posted. skateboarding will always be fun to watch, but i enjoy(ed) seeing more distinct styles.
You kind of want an early flick/flip actually if your goal is to catch the board at or even before the apex (should always be the goal or at least is the game I like to play, regardless of how often one succeeds in practice because that's a variable). Just then your foot needs to be in the right place and body aligned to compensate. It's really like a rather rudimentary equation that just needs to be balanced in order to get the correct result, the more you simplify it the more optimal for efficiency and comfort but at the end of the day you introduce some yin and then you introduce the exact corresponding amount of yang. That's why when one can really kickflip they usually have no problem taking them up curbs or adapting to terrain, they're not just going through a textbook motion that would be the same every time, they understand the principle of the equilibrium of the trick and so they naturally flex it around the settings. Also why you occasionally hear those old stories about Penny spending hours playing the game of forming fat kickflips and then tiny quick little kickflips in every stance. It's the balance that you play with, kind of like when cooking, miss it and you feel it by exactly this much.
People in general shouldn't waste their time flinging tricks at random in hope that one day they magically work, they should look at what they're actually doing in relation to what they're trying to do and study the effects, and notice the (relatively few) patterns, that is if they actually want to be able to eventually do the trick. The board only does what you tell it to do and if you study just the basic geometry of the object (including concave and pressure points) and of your feet/body it's just there in plain sight to tell you everything. It's so basic in principle (until one complicates it) that once you pay attention to the right few things is when you can then go by feel and thus not try too hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFsaT3N8PM8
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Double posting here, seeking advice. I'm gonna link a kickflip I did below that I'm wondering about... my front arm ALWAYS fails backwards, and I think that's opening my shoulders too much. When I land this kickflip, my shoulders are perpendicular to the board.
I'm wondering if my flick is going so far off to the side frontside because of this, and how I might train shoulders to stay closed.
https://youtu.be/ZIeZgqidGaQ?si=bFvScy4KYEOi367I
I found out not too long ago that I do the flailing front arm too, and I'm definitely not a fan. My kickflips are 'ok' at best, but they go to shit if I concentrate on keeping the front arm from flailing. I don't do that shit when I ollie so the best reason I can think of for this happening is that my brain thinks it needs to counterbalance the flick with the flail. The flail always begins as the kick/flick initiates, and continues flailing until the feet are back on the board.
Not helpful, but just know you aren't alone hahaha.
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this is so sick thank you!
i tend to ‘muffle’ mine: meaning i initiate the flip too soon, resulting in a lower, but higher percentage of landing (for me) kickflip.
stoked to go watch some quim, and carlos young stuff as i haven’t for a long while. i was watching kien’s maple part last night. and always pj.
thanks again for chiming in with well laid out thoughts.
@Urtripping hope they go the way you want them too, but i forgot to mention that i’d be fine with the one you posted. skateboarding will always be fun to watch, but i enjoy(ed) seeing more distinct styles.
You kind of want an early flick/flip actually if your goal is to catch the board at or even before the apex (should always be the goal or at least is the game I like to play, regardless of how often one succeeds in practice because that's a variable). Just then your foot needs to be in the right place and body aligned to compensate. It's really like a rather rudimentary equation that just needs to be balanced in order to get the correct result, the more you simplify it the more optimal for efficiency and comfort but at the end of the day you introduce some yin and then you introduce the exact corresponding amount of yang. That's why when one can really kickflip they usually have no problem taking them up curbs or adapting to terrain, they're not just going through a textbook motion that would be the same every time, they understand the principle of the equilibrium of the trick and so they naturally flex it around the settings. Also why you occasionally hear those old stories about Penny spending hours playing the game of forming fat kickflips and then tiny quick little kickflips in every stance. It's the balance that you play with, kind of like when cooking, miss it and you feel it by exactly this much.
People in general shouldn't waste their time flinging tricks at random in hope that one day they magically work, they should look at what they're actually doing in relation to what they're trying to do and study the effects, and notice the (relatively few) patterns, that is if they actually want to be able to eventually do the trick. The board only does what you tell it to do and if you study just the basic geometry of the object (including concave and pressure points) and of your feet/body it's just there in plain sight to tell you everything. It's so basic in principle (until one complicates it) that once you pay attention to the right few things is when you can then go by feel and thus not try too hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFsaT3N8PM8
hmmm. interesting.
when i don’t think about flicking hard, i’m much more likely to get some quick retraction/mob.
my highest percentage kickflips come from having my front foot very high up in the board, just below the bolts, or on the bolts even.
carlos, with that beautiful one at wallenberg, his front foot is lower, and to me, he flicks hard/fast, but after he’s already up there
happy to be incorrect
this quim part is sick
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Expand Quote
Double posting here, seeking advice. I'm gonna link a kickflip I did below that I'm wondering about... my front arm ALWAYS fails backwards, and I think that's opening my shoulders too much. When I land this kickflip, my shoulders are perpendicular to the board.
I'm wondering if my flick is going so far off to the side frontside because of this, and how I might train shoulders to stay closed.
https://youtu.be/ZIeZgqidGaQ?si=bFvScy4KYEOi367I
I found out not too long ago that I do the flailing front arm too, and I'm definitely not a fan. My kickflips are 'ok' at best, but they go to shit if I concentrate on keeping the front arm from flailing. I don't do that shit when I ollie so the best reason I can think of for this happening is that my brain thinks it needs to counterbalance the flick with the flail. The flail always begins as the kick/flick initiates, and continues flailing until the feet are back on the board.
Not helpful, but just know you aren't alone hahaha.
Dude I noticed Alexis Sablone does something similar, so definitely not alone.
@ok and @silhouette these tips are so huge because it's helped me reframe how I think about kickflips. I do feel like I was overcomplicating them, and I haven't truthfully played with back foot position so it's definitely something I'll goof around with.
Hoping to come back and post another kickflip in a few months when I'm happy with them... cold winter flatground sessions are brutal but usually produce results. Love the scientific approach to learning to skate, only wish I'd thought this way when I was younger!
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hmmm. interesting.
when i don’t think about flicking hard, i’m much more likely to get some quick retraction/mob.
my highest percentage kickflips come from having my front foot very high up in the board, just below the bolts, or on the bolts even.
carlos, with that beautiful one at wallenberg, his front foot is lower, and to me, he flicks hard/fast, but after he’s already up there
happy to be incorrect
this quim part is sick
Not incorrect as in it all makes sense, front foot higher up the board and early/quick flip goes together because then what you're doing is minimizing the ollie motion (pop plus dragging of the front foot all the way up to the nose and only then out) and so you start with the front foot already lodged inside the sweet spot for the flick for that and you actually want that. Allows for the rapid fire type kickflips up curbs (sometimes easier than on flat because the obstacle guides your eyesight and encourages to keep in line with the motion), or easy flips out of e.g. manuals. You usually see nollie and fakie flips with the flicking foot starting covering the bolts too because popping 'backwards' makes it that you compensate for the momentum.
Whereas early/quick flip starting with the foot in the middle of the board would most likely result in missing the flip entirely or in the best case scenario mobbed flips because your weight wouldn't be distributed over the board optimally for what you're trying to do, if you want your ollie to get some height before you then flick you want the correct leeway in your stance because that means you're trying to work around the center of the board but not directly on it (or else that's how you'd force double/triple flips on flat, by exaggerating focus there), you don't want a downward kick, you want a solid ollie and then extended response but you also need to build up that response with the appropriate set up on the ollie so that you can get it.
If you've found a way of doing kickflips that seems to click for you then really that means you sense it and have found your pop and timing. Rest is just experimenting with different foot positioning to make sure you understand as many dimensions of the trick as possible and after a while you just sense that it's going to work and get to pick and choose depending on context. But back foot placement really is big and also popping off the center of the tail, visualizing the trick only happening on a 2D axis going through the truck hardware and nothing else exists also helps (and will ensure you kick through the nose and not off to the side). After a while when your placement and tension over the board is correct to 'wring' a good flip you'll just know, in a way it becomes a position you can just lock into regardless of exact specifics as long as the equation is correct.
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Jumping the tiniest bit behind you (heel/ass) as you pop and flick, I find, helps level out and even add some dip and backfoot catch to kickflips. Jumping forward (toeside) does not have quite the same effect. I notice my kickflips tend to rocket more often if the momentum of my jump is going towards my toes.
I never noticed this until just recently. Give it a shot, I swear it works. My kickflips have been as solid as they ever have been ever since I started adding a slight backwards hop.
Placing your backfoot right above the edge of your back baseplate (in the middle of your tail, rather than at the end of your tail) also helps add control.
Front foot placement, for me, is just behind the front bolts. Placing my front foot in the middle of my board never really felt comfortable for me.
Add a slight backwards hopping effect to your pop, guys. Or not. Thats just what helps me out.
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To add, pretend as if you’re trying to kickflip into a bs-5050, but just on flatground. Helps a ton.
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Don't give up Frenchy.
I thought I lost all my flip tricks in my late 20s but started re-learning them again in my mid 30s to 40s. Lonely flat ground pandemic sessions really helped. I can do more flips now than I've been able to do since my late teens (they look slow, clumsy and terrible but its the personal challenge I dig) Landed my first Fakie tre at age 46. Working on switch tres right now.
I worked on it this summer relentlessly .. I must have succeeded in about fifteen ahah Thank you for the advice, it gives hope! In fact, I only skate flatground now, it's my goal to progress in this area and to see that you can do it over 35, that motivates !
I'm 48 and I've been trying to kickflip for 2 years with little success...so I'm inspired by y'all older cats who are landing your flip tricks. Any thoughts on the following?
*I can only extend my leg so far these days. Lately I've been trying actual slow karate kicks (side kicks) to try to get my leg higher. Anybody tried this?
*I can only jump so high these days. Lots of times if I get a good flick the board ends up higher than my feet. Anybody else struggled with/fixed this?
*If you ride loose trucks, Mike Mo's foot placement (both feet kinda on one side of the board) seems wild. Anybody doing it the other way? (Back foot toeside, front foot centered to a bit heel side)
Thanks pals
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Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Don't give up Frenchy.
I thought I lost all my flip tricks in my late 20s but started re-learning them again in my mid 30s to 40s. Lonely flat ground pandemic sessions really helped. I can do more flips now than I've been able to do since my late teens (they look slow, clumsy and terrible but its the personal challenge I dig) Landed my first Fakie tre at age 46. Working on switch tres right now.
I worked on it this summer relentlessly .. I must have succeeded in about fifteen ahah Thank you for the advice, it gives hope! In fact, I only skate flatground now, it's my goal to progress in this area and to see that you can do it over 35, that motivates !
I'm 48 and I've been trying to kickflip for 2 years with little success...so I'm inspired by y'all older cats who are landing your flip tricks. Any thoughts on the following?
*I can only extend my leg so far these days. Lately I've been trying actual slow karate kicks (side kicks) to try to get my leg higher. Anybody tried this?
*I can only jump so high these days. Lots of times if I get a good flick the board ends up higher than my feet. Anybody else struggled with/fixed this?
*If you ride loose trucks, Mike Mo's foot placement (both feet kinda on one side of the board) seems wild. Anybody doing it the other way? (Back foot toeside, front foot centered to a bit heel side)
Thanks pals
You don't need a high ollie to do a kickflip, as long as you got a decent ollie (or even a shit one like me) you can kickflip. The magic really comes from the flick of the ankle and timing of the flick. For the ankle flick it helps to get resistance bands and watch Dr Kyle Brown on Insta - his ankle rehab videos use the bands for recovery and get the desired flick motion down. For the timing of the flick that takes time and lots of repetition.
If your board is going higher than your leg you're probably dragging up too much instead of forward and towards the nose. Also the outsole of your shoe is catching a lot of griptape resulting in a lot more height than you need, again drag up slightly but more forward and flicking straight off the nose.
Truck tightness is something you can adapt your kickflip to, as long as you're rolling straight and getting a solid pop you will be fine. The problem I find with loose trucks is the deck popping off center resulting in ghost pop or an off-angle pop that sends the board upwards at an angle, this throws off my drag, catch and roll away if I'm lucky enough to stay on top of my board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCdFxotq9bQ
His actual skateboarding is hard to watch but the 3D diagrams are good at illustrating the physics of it. He's right about keeping the kickflip compact (board and foot right under you), the best kickflips I've ever done were when I consciously told myself to control my drag instead of shooting my entire foot out like Neen does with his heelflips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VetEbEuGwCs
At 2:45 you can see how little he flicks his toe, just the edge of your shoe should catch to initiate the flick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dODnfBx_eLQ
See 3:19 for how the flick works and is the most important part of the trick, not a karate kick. At 4:19 it can look like he's kicking out hard, but it's really the ankle doing the heavy lifting
Last couple of pointers:
- Keep the head, shoulders and hips aligned with the centerline of your board, i.e. imagine there is a line running from nose to tail. This help you get the straight drag and solid downward pop. Really pay attention to the hip over your dragging / flicking foot, a slight angle is natural but you want to be as aligned to the centerline of your board so you get the initial ollie part of the kickflip before the actual flick off.
- Don't hunch your shoulders or dip your head too much, a little is fine but too much and you'll end up ahead of your board
- Flexibility and mobility is good to have for all tricks and sports, keep working on that.
Just like I'm working on getting a solid ollie 20 years after starting, focus on getting the board low and leveled first before flicking off. In the past I've always gone with a huge pop thinking I needed lots of height to give the board space to flip, but as you can see in the Tactics tutorial you don't need a super high ollie, the actual flip comes from hitting the flick at the right spot at the right time.
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Youdaman. Time to go practice!
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Youdaman. Time to go practice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S06mApX9HA
More proof you don't need to pop high to kickflip, not the best looking but you'll be rolling away.
I don't agree with popping the tail backwards, maybe when doing them stationary but not when rolling, which are easier to do anyway.
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I dont think i will ever manage to flick up, and not down. I dont think ive got that kind of coordination, but i never really spent months on kickflips before, so this is the year i get them or give up. My problem really with kickflips is that its genuinely tiring to practice and i always stomp them, which fucks my legs up over time.
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I dont think i will ever manage to flick up, and not down. I dont think ive got that kind of coordination, but i never really spent months on kickflips before, so this is the year i get them or give up. My problem really with kickflips is that its genuinely tiring to practice and i always stomp them, which fucks my legs up over time.
Downwards mob flip happens when too focused on what you think your foot is supposed to do (push down). For flicked kickflips you want to ollie and then kind of throw your knee, it's your whole leg (but not weight) that goes into it and through the nose while pointing the toes. If that doesn't form a kickflip then it's your upper body orientation and/or pop (usually from back foot positioning) that's wrong.
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Does anyone find that jumping forward into the direction you are going helps a lot.
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Does anyone find that jumping forward into the direction you are going helps a lot.
Partially. Replying to this because I found out that leaning over my front foot (flattened, not on toes) yet still having parallel shoulders to the board unlocked "proper" high, level kickflips.
Clearly I was leaning too far back to begin with, but yeah, my "hack" is putting more weight on my front foot and NOT being on my toes for my front foot.
Some other "hacks" that work are really crouching down more than you think and sucking up your back foot more than you think. That, on top of staying square with the board and staying on top of it.