Kickflip Fundamentals: correct your mobbed, ninja or rocket flips here

[skateboardingenthusiast]

To add, pretend as if you’re trying to kickflip into a bs-5050, but just on flatground. Helps a ton.

[gringo_viejo]

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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.

[close]

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

[rocklobster]

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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.

[close]

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 !

[close]

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.


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.


At 2:45 you can see how little he flicks his toe, just the edge of your shoe should catch to initiate the flick.


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.

[gringo_viejo]

Youdaman. Time to go practice!

[rocklobster]

Youdaman. Time to go practice!

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.

[newguy]

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.

[silhouette]

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.

[RichardBarkley]

Does anyone find that jumping forward into the direction you are going helps a lot.

[I-am-12]

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.

[Dmng]

Hello ! Taking the risk to get roasted , here is a video of me trying.
I’m struggling to understand what my issues are. I feel like my front foot goes to much to the outside ? It always lands first on the flore, before the board even if I try not to
If you have any recommendations 
https://youtu.be/TzQRkXq4kAs?si=0SlTjBJXFoDJjGHc

[Ok]

Hello ! Taking the risk to get roasted , here is a video of me trying.
I’m struggling to understand what my issues are. I feel like my front foot goes to much to the outside ? It always lands first on the flore, before the board even if I try not to
If you have any recommendations 
https://youtu.be/TzQRkXq4kAs?si=0SlTjBJXFoDJjGHc

i want to mention this: some of your results still happen to me, and i’ve been on and off skating forever.
i think you are in it, you are doing it. you just have a lot more of this, before it starts to work.

i hope this doesn’t sound condescending (i truly mean this as encouragement): consider spending more time just skating around and doing ollie’s.

[rocklobster]

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Hello ! Taking the risk to get roasted , here is a video of me trying.
I’m struggling to understand what my issues are. I feel like my front foot goes to much to the outside ? It always lands first on the flore, before the board even if I try not to
If you have any recommendations 
https://youtu.be/TzQRkXq4kAs?si=0SlTjBJXFoDJjGHc

[close]

i want to mention this: some of your results still happen to me, and i’ve been on and off skating forever.
i think you are in it, you are doing it. you just have a lot more of this, before it starts to work.

i hope this doesn’t sound condescending (i truly mean this as encouragement): consider spending more time just skating around and doing ollie’s.

What he said, how's your regular ollie looking? Are you getting it consistently? Leveled? Up and over stuff?

The attempts look like you're doing kickflips as a separate trick from the ollie. It starts with having a ollie, same pop / drag, but you drag a little further and flick your toe off the side of the nose to start the rotation.



They're how-to videos don't get as much love - I like how they talk about it starting with the ollie as the base trick, and adding on to it.

[Dmng]

Thanks for the messages !
For now I can do Ollie up a 40cm manual pad (the highest I can do) , easily over a board. I can do some of the basic tricks : Bs & Fs 180, Bs shuvit, 50-50, Half cab, fakie ollies and a bit of micro ramp (drop, tail stall, axel stall, rock to fakie)

I’ll try to take more time with my front foot and add the flic at the end of an Ollie if it makes sense.

I’ve watched the last video this morning but it’s hard to break down my own kickflips

Thanks again !

[rocklobster]

Thanks for the messages !
For now I can do Ollie up a 40cm manual pad (the highest I can do) , easily over a board. I can do some of the basic tricks : Bs & Fs 180, Bs shuvit, 50-50, Half cab, fakie ollies and a bit of micro ramp (drop, tail stall, axel stall, rock to fakie)

I’ll try to take more time with my front foot and add the flic at the end of an Ollie if it makes sense.

I’ve watched the last video this morning but it’s hard to break down my own kickflips

Thanks again !

Just think of it a low controlled Ollie where you drag a little more than usual and flick the toe. Not karate kick, not kicking - all about flicking the toe off the edge of the nose.

Dr Kyle Brown on Insta has recovery workout for ankle tweaks doing ankle flicks with a resistance band. That's the kind of motion you want to get the deck rotating. Right now it looks like your trying to actively force the board downwards to initiate the flick which is causing your left (dragging) foot off the board and onto the ground prematurely.

You don't need resistance bands unless your hurt but practicing the flicking motion will help.

[Dmng]

Yes you’re right ! I do think I lack of the toe flic
Maybe that’s why I flick too much to the outside then my foot is under the board ?

[rocklobster]

The 2 attempts at 0:16 you can see you're kicking downwards to push the board into the ground, so your foot will always make contact first and the board will rarely flip fast enough to be caught in the air.

Rewatch the Tactics instructional video at the 2:04 timestamp - there's a pop of the tail, jump, drag on the grip and flick off at the 2:09 mark. The flick goes straight off the nose (or slightly upwards).

And 3:17 he goes in-depth to the flicking motion which can be hard to initiate since our ankles aren't accustomed to that kind of motion. And at 3:30 you can see the "folding of the ankle" against the griptape, that give it the height and moves your foot towards the tip for the nose for the flick off. And 3:52 they talk about the delicate motion which initiates the flip of the board. And at the 4:26 mark they trace the motion of the front foot - on your attempts you'd see the motion going up slightly (for the ollie) before stomping downwards.

[Dmng]

Thanks so much for the very detailed feedback ! Next time I need to post a successful kickflip !

[Ok]

i feel like a bit of a wet blanket here.
@rocklobster has given great advice on the kickflip, but after re-watching your clip (kudos for posting that), this really feels like a running whilst learning to crawl type of thing. your weight when popping isn’t where it needs to be, meaning if i ‘zoom out’, i’d be more surprised than not if you landed one of these.
its fun to fling stuff around and work on different tricks. i’m spending time doing something that looks really really really similar to what you are doing, with a few flip tricks of my own. i’ve never filmed myself, maybe i’d have the same feeling looking at me, i just cannot escape the notion that you’d be better served to spend time skating faster and trying to ollie 3 ish boards.
i knew this kid who learned how to kickflip in less than 48 hours. he put the back wheels in a seam in the driveway and brute forced it. he never learned to skate. you are not doing that, but i remember him when i’m
in my weird fixations.
as an example: i ‘learned’ 180 ollie’s, long ago, and never spent time doing them. recently i was trying to re-spark frontside flips and realized that because my front 180 ollie’s aren’t decent, the frontside ollie kickflip probably won’t be that hot either.

whatever gets you fired up to be outside is the way

[rocklobster]

i feel like a bit of a wet blanket here.
@rocklobster has given great advice on the kickflip, but after re-watching your clip (kudos for posting that), this really feels like a running whilst learning to crawl type of thing. your weight when popping isn’t where it needs to be, meaning if i ‘zoom out’, i’d be more surprised than not if you landed one of these.
its fun to fling stuff around and work on different tricks. i’m spending time doing something that looks really really really similar to what you are doing, with a few flip tricks of my own. i’ve never filmed myself, maybe i’d have the same feeling looking at me, i just cannot escape the notion that you’d be better served to spend time skating faster and trying to ollie 3 ish boards.
i knew this kid who learned how to kickflip in less than 48 hours. he put the back wheels in a seam in the driveway and brute forced it. he never learned to skate. you are not doing that, but i remember him when i’m
in my weird fixations.
as an example: i ‘learned’ 180 ollie’s, long ago, and never spent time doing them. recently i was trying to re-spark frontside flips and realized that because my front 180 ollie’s aren’t decent, the frontside ollie kickflip probably won’t be that hot either.

whatever gets you fired up to be outside is the way

A lot of truth here, spend some time every session working on new tricks, but majority of it should be having fun, whatever that means for you. I derive a lot of fun running through my ledge and rail basics every session, sometimes things happen first try, sometimes a basic 5-0 takes me more than 10 tries, but I derive satisfaction either way.

Brute forcing tricks is a sure fire way to killing your interest in skateboarding; it's also not how learning works especially when you're an 8" piece of wood attached to skates, maintaining balance while in forward motion. And nothing drains performance faster than fatigue.



Couple of minutes at the end of the session or just toss a few attempts out mid session. While you may get lucky and land a new trick first try, 99% of us aren't athletically gifted that way and grinding (heh) out a trick is rarely the way to progress.

[Lame_Nigga]

Something that has helped me get my kickflips down is when I’m warming up just rifle them off. I mean do a push, if you miss do a single push and try again, then again, then again, and after you land one keep doing a single push and do it until you’re landing them consecutively. Eventually your brain kind of auto adjusts and doesn’t give you time to overthink what you’re doing. Then once I’m able to get maybe 5 in a row at the least then I try to do them while going faster. My problem with all of my tricks is overthinking it, so giving myself less time has changed everything for my flatground

[rocklobster]

On Fakie Flips - someone please help me

I got a decent kickflip but can't do a properly popped fakie kickflip. Either I go rocket to my gooch or it sweeps the floor. I've tried both popping straight down and forwards with limited success.