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Skateboarding => Skate Questions => Topic started by: PlugSkullcandy on September 04, 2022, 05:45:17 AM

Title: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: PlugSkullcandy on September 04, 2022, 05:45:17 AM
I need help/advice on a problem I have with kickflips.

I sprained my ankle two years ago trying a kickflip over a 4 stair and I didn’t skate for 4 months after that. When I finally healed and got to skate again, after a few sessions I got more confidence trying tricks but it’s hard to land kickflips. It’s like I lost the muscle memory. The feeling is so strange.

Overall I feel confortable with my ankle when skateboarding, I can do decent heelflips or shove its, bigspins, I ride street, park or transition, i was never a killer but I still have a decent bag of tricks at 33 years old. I even learned tre flips, a trick that I was battling with when i was younger.

But somehow since I sprained my ankle kickflips are so hard to land. And when I land them, it’s so hard to watch because it’s so rocketed. Or I can’t do them straight. And they demand a lot of concentration. My kickflips were never the most boned out but they were OK.

To explain my feeling, it’s like my brain can’t tell my left foot (I’m regular) to flick enough.

I tried to scrape everything and learn from zero (even trying kickflips on grass like I did when I was a kid) but I still rocket them. I even watched tutorials on YT haha !

I don’t know if it’s my ankle that’s fucked up (I don’t think so, doctor said I healed properly) or my brain stuck in a vortex ?

I am a little frustrated about this since it’s been nearly 2 years since the injury, but nothing too dramatic tho. If you have any advice I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: silhouette on September 04, 2022, 07:15:15 AM
Have you experimented with different foot positioning from what you're used to already, for instance something that might help fix your problem from the sounds of it is having more of your foot inside the board, basically in ollie position. Then back foot placement isn't exactly random either and should be building tension on the tip of the tail in a way that geometrically balances out with wherever your front foot is lodged. Once you've found that sweet spot then everything happens on a two-dimensional plane, you should be able to feel that the trick is going to work before you even pop and then you just ollie and kick out. If you're mobbing them, forget about trying to get the rotation at all costs and focus on leveling your ollie out and then extending your movement past it. You have to keep sliding the foot up then throw your leg ahead of you (keep your weight rather far back in order to compensate) and flick through the nose, don't even aim for the side, it's misleading; think of it as a modified ollie that wants to keep on giving, and then your original positioning will do almost of all the work.

A tip I usually give to people who want to better their switch flips that seems to regularly work: pretend that your board is essentially a matchstick and the only board width you're working with is a thin line going from the center of the nose to the center of the tail and right through the hardware. That's where the toes on both feet go, and from then on all you need is ollie then kick out.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: PlugSkullcandy on September 04, 2022, 12:48:31 PM
Have you experimented with different foot positioning from what you're used to already, for instance something that might help fix your problem from the sounds of it is having more of your foot inside the board, basically in ollie position. Then back foot placement isn't exactly random either and should be building tension on the tip of the tail in a way that geometrically balances out with wherever your front foot is lodged. Once you've found that sweet spot then everything happens on a two-dimensional plane, you should be able to feel that the trick is going to work before you even pop and then you just ollie and kick out. If you're mobbing them, forget about trying to get the rotation at all costs and focus on leveling your ollie out and then extending your movement past it. You have to keep sliding the foot up then throw your leg ahead of you (keep your weight rather far back in order to compensate) and flick through the nose, don't even aim for the side, it's misleading; think of it as a modified ollie that wants to keep on giving, and then your original positioning will do almost of all the work.

A tip I usually give to people who want to better their switch flips that seems to regularly work: pretend that your board is essentially a matchstick and the only board width you're working with is a thin line going from the center of the nose to the center of the tail and right through the hardware. That's where the toes on both feet go, and from then on all you need is ollie then kick out.

Merci Silhouette for all the tips i will try that
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: j....soy..... on September 04, 2022, 02:25:09 PM
Something to consider is I think of any trick which everyone(ish) can do, but no one is happy with….it’s a kickflip.

Does it hurt your ankle or you’re just having difficulty with it?  Either way, I’d say just watch other people do them and experiment with foot positioning or even body positioning…
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: rocklobster on September 04, 2022, 11:12:35 PM
I'd also ask how much rehab / strength and conditioning have you done post injury? Ankle tweaks can take forever to heal, sometimes never 100%, resulting in loss of flexibility and strength which are essential for the drag and flicking motion.

I have had way too many skate related ankle injuries in my youth and despite a 10 year lay off they never recovered properly. Would feel the strain along the tendon and I never had enough strength to flick out, only ninja kick straight out.

Check out Dr Kyle Brown in Insta and look for his videos on ankle flicks with elastic bands, that has been a life changer for me. It's restored strength and mobility to my ankles and they feel tighter now, if I ever roll my ankles its at a reduced severity and I recover way faster too.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: LebowskisRug on September 05, 2022, 04:59:07 PM
I ruptured all the ligaments in my popping ankle in April 2021. It was mentally hard to not overflip things because landing primo scared me as it's an easy way to re-tweak the ankle. In the end what actually helped a lot was patiently doing my rehab and strength training to get the ankle feeling solid and tightening up my trucks some. Not Nyjah tight.

After the mental part was improved I had to re learn my timing, which took a while. Kickflip form is pretty unique to the individual and even really good skaters are always micro improving certain tricks. For me personally the best position is just off the tip of the tail with my front toes covering the rear most bolts of my front truck. Like my cue is putting my shoe such that it just covers them. What this does is let your front foot get off the board and out of the way really early. Flick when the nose seems to have reached its highest point and quickly suck up the rear foot.

What this actually did is just help ensure that I always caught with my rear foot right over the bolts where it is most stable on the board. It also reduces how hard I have to pop on the bad ankle since it seems as if the front foot does all the work and the rear just needs to come up.

As for PT the Kneesovertoesguy seems to have a lot of traction with skaters and his programs are easy to find for free and follow. What they emphasize is an easy way to load the ankle and calves to get stronger and then push ankle mobility through the other lifts especially squatting movements. This will improve tendon density and the strength of a now complicated joint.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: SpuytenDuvyilEphemera on September 07, 2022, 10:58:49 AM
Im 36 and in a very similar situation (except probably worse as my kick flips were always bad, and now I can't land them consistently).  Fear of the ankle situation definitely doesn't help, but dont have any more tips to add from the above.   My main tool is to do a few holding onto a fence (not perfect) just to get my feet comfortable that I can physically do it without an ankle twist, but the fear is there and it does make it harder.  I go back and forth about whether kick flips worth it anymore.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: Paul_Glider Skateboards on September 07, 2022, 11:50:08 AM
There is a plethora of tips in this thread that i found very helpful:

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=117326.0

I always go back to this since my kfs come and go. A lot of it has to do with getting older and the fear of rolling my ankle. fears related to the ankle are totally relatable
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: SpuytenDuvyilEphemera on September 08, 2022, 05:37:10 AM
There is a plethora of tips in this thread that i found very helpful:

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=117326.0

I always go back to this since my kfs come and go. A lot of it has to do with getting older and the fear of rolling my ankle. fears related to the ankle are totally relatable

Thanks --  I found this helpful as well.  Still mentally struggling with the-- is it time to learn slappys and bowl skating and move on to that phase of skate life versus chasing relearning kickflips.  That said, I've landed about 2 kickflips in past few months, and those have been the recent highlights of skating, so not sure. 
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: Skatebeard on September 08, 2022, 07:19:42 AM
I landed my first ever kickflip at 35 years old, you have plenty of time. Also absolutely rolled the crap out of my ankle on one off the front of the board a year or so later - took a few weeks but i got them back in the end.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: BALARGUE on September 08, 2022, 08:04:18 AM
them being rocket flips doesn't mean it's only front foot's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYx1WIR4AK8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYx1WIR4AK8)
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: PlugSkullcandy on November 22, 2022, 02:54:48 PM
Hi guys, I had no time to check this thread I started a while back, too much work, and I spent some of  my free time (and dry days) learning kickflips again. Somehow they are back, I read all you tips and watched the videos, and I have to say the thing lacking was CONFIDENCE ! I don’t have my kickflips on lock like when I was 20 but I don’t skate as much.

So thank you all !
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: LebowskisRug on November 27, 2022, 08:38:29 AM
Late to this but rocketing for me has to do with the foot being too pointed AND too far back combined with flicking too early. Basically the board spins fast bc the foot can kick out faster (from being pointed), but since the foot is too far back the nose has not yet reached max height. Moving my front foot to covering the rear front bolts and moving it slightly towards the toe side helps me combat this. I can't not point my foot and do the ollie flick people do, but this seems to work and consistently bones them out.
Title: Re: Re-learning kickflips at 33 after a sprained ankle
Post by: mooraga on December 02, 2022, 03:44:47 AM
Hi guys, I had no time to check this thread I started a while back, too much work, and I spent some of  my free time (and dry days) learning kickflips again. Somehow they are back, I read all you tips and watched the videos, and I have to say the thing lacking was CONFIDENCE ! I don’t have my kickflips on lock like when I was 20 but I don’t skate as much.

So thank you all !

KEEP EM COMING!