Heelflip Megatrend (fka heelflips keep going behind me)

[OldCandy]

so when i crouch down and lean forward (as in weight is mostly on my toes) and i do a heelflips it pops and levels really nice and even tweaks a bit but i cant catch em since they end up where my ass is and i cant scoop my back leg like a j to dig in my asscrack for a heelflip.

if i lean more back (weight even, bit more heelside) i either ghost pop them or they dont rotate fast enough to stick to my front foot, yes ive tried flicking/punching rolling my heel off, and doing them like a kickflip

whos got a breakthrough thought for heelflips i love how they feel when i set up for them

[Made In China]

What clicked for me what leaning back toward your back heel, so you're not just leaning back directly behind you but also a little behind the direction of your tail. There's a sweet spot there where heelflips stay perfectly under me. How I discovered it was exaggerating the lean back a lot more than I thought I would need. Try experimenting with that and see what works with you.

And leaning forward at all doesn't work for me and always makes my heelflips spin wildly behind me. I kind of have to keep my upper back straight to make sure none of my weight is leaning forward. I imagine that I kind of look like I'm doing a squat when I do this.

[Easy Slider]

What‘s your backfoot position? Try having the toes in the heelpocket.

[Mean salto]

Pop then flick a touch later maybe (but yes it's annoying when you think you've basically got something and have to go back and change it). I kinda always want to keep my legs bent too, remembering to suck my front knee up keeps me from flicking and then moving my body to where my feet are.

Example of real good bent legs/ sucked up knees heelflips:

[Skatebeard]

Squat straight down when you pop, with your back upright and try to avoid breaking at the waist and leaning over, keeping your head up helps.

This will keep the board under your feet.

[Ok]

lots of great advice in here.

the video posted highlights the key for me: foot positioning. after that it is playing with where my head is.

speaking of that video….the deck shape looked great. i wonder what the whole setup is.
the freakin crypt-keeper resides in those pivot cups holy shit. i’d hafta go headphones in if the skate buddy showed up with that one. my word.

[silhouette]

so when i crouch down and lean forward (as in weight is mostly on my toes) and i do a heelflips it pops and levels really nice and even tweaks a bit but i cant catch em since they end up where my ass is and i cant scoop my back leg like a j to dig in my asscrack for a heelflip.

if i lean more back (weight even, bit more heelside) i either ghost pop them or they dont rotate fast enough to stick to my front foot, yes ive tried flicking/punching rolling my heel off, and doing them like a kickflip

whos got a breakthrough thought for heelflips i love how they feel when i set up for them

I had this problem as a kid (heelflip was my first flip trick and I remember sweating over that one for months), for me the big moment was throw your leg in front of you, don't go through with the motion and jump with it. You sit back over your board before you pop and then use just your leg. Don't put your hip into it. Watch where your knee goes but don't lean over it, stand back and send the flick off the side at the apex but subtly. It's a perpendicular jump then gentle but precise tap from the heel, not a full on karate kick. You already are above your board and in line with it by default with this trick (ideally) so there is no reason to spin out of line, but then you have to trust it.

[Uncle Flea]

Make sure you can feel your board is flat when you pop it.

I use my back foot to feel for it. It's one of the reasons I pop from the inside of my tail vs the tip.

I POP from the heel side to keep it in front of me.

I suggest the apple-cise of
Push twice do an Ollie... Reset your feet exactly the same as the Ollie and throw a flip trick.

Kickflips heels and Ollies are the same trick pretty much

[frontsideNECKTIE]

Lots of good advice, pop from the heel-side pocket, keep your board level and weight even...

I'd add to hold your flicking foot out just a little longer, and wait for your back foot to catch the back bolts. Personally helps guide my front foot back to the board, even if it wants to trail off.

I also keep my weight a bit in the back seat and shoot my flick forward, towards the nose. Corny, but think of Neen and really tossing it out there

[rocklobster]

Decided to rename this to become like the kickflip megathread we have going.

Tweaked my ankle last week hurt too much right now, but heelflips are ok.

Always struggled with them, when I do land them they are either barely off the ground or spinning way too slowly and I just make the catch. I'll occasionally do a decent one I catch in the air, but nowhere close to my kickflips where I can watch and feel the catch before rolling away.

I can get kickflips which feel like an ollie with a flick off the toe, but I struggle with the timing and the mechanics of the flick. Some videos say you drag off the side with minimal heel contact, other say it's like an ollie that you shoot your foot perpendicular at the apex of your jump.

I've also tried applying the same fundamentals of kickflips (align head / shoulders / hips to the board, get a solid pop, drag then flick) with mixed success.

No better time than now when kickflips are out of commission to work on heelflips, appreciate the input.

[Ok]

i rarely work on heelflips. i should, because heelflips have a higher success rate, to work out in, than kickflips do, for me.

heel-kicks. kind of like when some kid would say ‘out of balance’ or ‘across the gold-line’….
anyways, heel-kicks. i do more of a nudge, or kick, with my heel. the heel equivalent of a pedal-push (my nollie flips are still like this, mob, straight down). i don’t feel like my foot stays in perfect constant contact with the board, on the way up, neen style.
but sometimes i land em, and i kind of smirk in wonderment and then forget to learn them good.

[rocklobster]

I've started to put my front foot like an ollie, almost no toes hanging off. This allows me to get more contact with the side of my shoe during the drag and I struggle less with catching the edge of the kicks. And I just focus on dragging forward and diagonal. The consistency is higher but I still can't get the timing to lift the board up before the flick off.