whats your setup routine for tricks

[munchbox]

some squat, some wiggle their toes, what works for you?

[SneakySecrets]

A series of rhythmic and intense contractions of the anus. 

[Mean salto]

The ideal would be like Dollin where every trick your feet are the exact same but I don't skate often enough plus my feet are too big to get back to this.
Shuffling/shimmying is a major no no for me just put your feet where you think they need to be and leave it. Doing a trick out of manual, grind or slide you are allowed ONE adjustment any more and you fucked up.

[DaSk8D00D]

Mild foot shuffling sometimes but for the most part I hop right into position. If you can get that motion down and practice loading up in a squat while you do it, you can setup for popping high pretty quickly. I made it a habit a few years ago and it’s been pretty useful

[Mantracker]

I watched Wade skate in person one time and now I cant stop doing the pants lifting thing

I know I do it and I hate it but it actually helps so much

[BlueCadet3]

When I do flip tricks especially on flat I tend to do this little pre bounce thing before I actually pop. I don't notice most other people do it and when I watch myself on film it annoys me. I also wiggle my feet a lot when learning new tricks until I know exactly where I like them. So when learning new flip tricks on flat it's like "wiggle, wiggle, bounce, pop" I don't know why and I don't like it.

[FatGuy92]

Wiggle my feet into position, hit a fat Ryan Townley squat, jump/pop/flick, and pray to God I don't fucking die.

[Paperclip20]

I turn my swag on.

[Skatebeard]

When I do flip tricks especially on flat I tend to do this little pre bounce thing before I actually pop. I don't notice most other people do it and when I watch myself on film it annoys me. I also wiggle my feet a lot when learning new tricks until I know exactly where I like them. So when learning new flip tricks on flat it's like "wiggle, wiggle, bounce, pop" I don't know why and I don't like it.

i do the same thing, especially on some more involved flip tricks... it's a bad habit i brought over from setting up when hitting rails on a snowboard.

[notinternetfamous]

I turn my swag on.

this!!

[silhouette]

I just broke mine down recently and noticed it worked best for me to do things in a particular order, first is get the appropriate speed for the trick you're trying (defines your entire momentum also throughout the trick), then it's front foot adjustment to wherever feels right inside the concave, then back foot compensates wherever the front foot is for the pop (usually mirroring the position), and then hips and shoulders last. That's mostly whenever I'm working on a flatground trick (rarely happens these days) or kids at the park want to play SKATE though, otherwise I'm a lazy fuck and a lot of my skating is doing any trick my feet already are set up for if I'm going to do a trick.

[Yibb-Tstll]

Unconscious setup that kinda bothers me when I check my footage. I do this little back-foot wiggle not even moving it, more little crushing a cigarette on the ground, right before popping. Totally useless as my foot is already on the right spot but after 20 years, it's definitely just a dumb muscle memory and don't think I can get rid of it

post-session update : no wiggle on switch/nollie tricks tho

[blakeyjoe_]

Wiggle my feet into position, hit a fat Ryan Townley squat, jump/pop/flick, and pray to God I don't fucking die.

[Ok]

I turn my swag on.

I believe you are supposed to do this right after getting out of bed.


I like Yaje, but he really puts out some cigs on his setup.
Wade pant lift…PJ and P-Rod did this also. Wade the best tho.
I attempt to never watch footage of myself. It’s such a bummer. I pause for a long time, sort of ‘gathering strength’ to try and fling myself. And to slow down. I skate so slow. Terrible.

[Murge]

I shuffle my feet. I hate it. I wear through the sole of my shoes before the uppers.

 I need to squat down deeper.  I just barely bend my old ass legs to squat.

[bssmithslide]

my feet do the little inwards point thing like prime PJ Ladd it's natural as well as i had been skating for a few years before i watched any of his skating.

I get a lot of compliments about how cool my flat ground looks and honestly my set up is probably the biggest reason.

[Yonnycage]

Turn my hat sideways. If I’m wearing a beanie I flip it inside out real quick. Button up, then unbutton my flannel again. Same with zip up hoodies.

[Stu Pickles]

if i can push my board forward then take a couple steps and hop on rather than throwing down or pushing i swear my rate for landing tricks goes way up

[pdknox]

I visualize Stevies 360 flip at the beginning of his part in the reason.

im not all that convinced foot placement matters a whole lot.  when you have something dialed in you can make it happen with your feet just about anywhere on the board.  this is why I dont think trick tips are all that helpful, other than focusing on pressure points (tiago is a great example here), because what works for one person won't work for you necessarily.

I dont have frontside flips, yet, but whats helping me is thinking about flicking straight off the nose, instead of off the side.  the angle of my foot on the board doesnt matter a whole lot.

its sick when you see someone wind up for a back 360 and theyre facing backwards before they pop, but I personally try to go for the element of surprise where you cant tell what im gonna do until im doing it.

[whale]

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When I do flip tricks especially on flat I tend to do this little pre bounce thing before I actually pop. I don't notice most other people do it and when I watch myself on film it annoys me. I also wiggle my feet a lot when learning new tricks until I know exactly where I like them. So when learning new flip tricks on flat it's like "wiggle, wiggle, bounce, pop" I don't know why and I don't like it.

[close]

i do the same thing, especially on some more involved flip tricks... it's a bad habit i brought over from setting up when hitting rails on a snowboard.

I also do the mini hops, and I hate it.

[notinternetfamous]

if i can push my board forward then take a couple steps and hop on rather than throwing down or pushing i swear my rate for landing tricks goes way up

[tzhangdox]

Expand Quote

if i can push my board forward then take a couple steps and hop on rather than throwing down or pushing i swear my rate for landing tricks goes way up

[close]

[boi-cuzudo]

I need to unclench/relax my jaw and get in the zone first.

[switchfrontshuv]

if i dont wanna put that much effort into my kickflip but still wanna land it and make it look good i just point my front foot (whole front foot still on the board but just like hella pointed like im gonna do a treflip) Idk just works when im tired but still tryna show off

[jaysouthbay]

i 'cock' my feet  as if i would a gun before shooting like the brazilian skaters do

[sle_epy]

I attempt to set up like I know what I'm doing, without any weird bounce or ball of the foot grinding. Tbh it's really helped me find the pressure points on the board to avoid all of those things. A bounce before you pop probably wastes some energy and throws off balance too. Tricks are basically a single movement at the end of the day.

[WashingtonNECKTIE]

Unless I'm really trying to focus on something more technical or a trick I don't have locked or now how to do, I rarely even notice setting-up. I know I do the cig snuff to a degree, but luckily it hasn't been super obnoxious or maddening.

I kinda just put my feet where the trick has worked before and send it (for lack of a better term). If it didn't work, evaluate and adjust. Though, I don't really skate all that tech, so my foot placement is not always super critical.

On the flipside, setting up for something out of my bag, I get hyper focused on foot placement. Fighting for 360 flips is my most recent example. Inner dialogue: "okay, back foot heavy in the scoop of the pocket - oops a bit deeper... okay, front foot nice and light hanging a bit heelside, shoulders square and over the board, weight centered over the back truck, okay... SCOOP" and fling it like I don't know wtf.

TLDR: muscle memory, I guess

[scab]

^My routine's very similar. I'm not a Nike simp but "just do it" seems to work best for all my usual stuff.

When I'm learning something new and I'm starting to get close I try to focus on no more than 3 things per attempt. I can only consciously work on so many things at the same time, so whenever I try to adhere to more than 3 cues simultaneously I tend to not execute any of them properly. With any given trick there are lots of different things I need to do in regards to front and back foot placement, shoulder movement prior to and after the snap, pop, flick, rotation, and so on. Way too much stuff to consciously think of all of it at the same time, so I break it down to 3 cues per attempt until I've got those down and then move on to the next 3. Rinse and repeat until I've got the trick on lock.

[silhouette]

^My routine's very similar. I'm not a Nike simp but "just do it" seems to work best for all my usual stuff.

When I'm learning something new and I'm starting to get close I try to focus on no more than 3 things per attempt. I can only consciously work on so many things at the same time, so whenever I try to adhere to more than 3 cues simultaneously I tend to not execute any of them properly. With any given trick there are lots of different things I need to do in regards to front and back foot placement, shoulder movement prior to and after the snap, pop, flick, rotation, and so on. Way too much stuff to consciously think of all of it at the same time, so I break it down to 3 cues per attempt until I've got those down and then move on to the next 3. Rinse and repeat until I've got the trick on lock.

Three cues sounds like a lot to me, would be very distracting, I legitimately have no idea how you can do that. To me learning new tricks always has been about simplifying analytic thought process to the max (by precisely identifying what matters) and either jettisoning it completely (once my basic technique is finally rich enough to afford doing), or solely focusing it onto one single aspect and moment. Like if any cue, then there has to be just one per attempt, and only once I can achieve the desired result to a point where it starts feeling natural (which doesn't necessarily mean landing the trick, could be e.g.. just managing to consistently lock in) then I move onto the next one and build up like that. Always worked for me, got that from the Mullen ON Video interview as a kid and it just stuck as the most optimal deconstruction of the process when nerding out on 'new' stuff. 'No thinking', 'blank out' approach on the other hand is apparent Penny mindset-inspired but that's for stuff I already know how to do.

Unless you count stuff like the positioning of each foot, or going at the appropriate speed, etc. as cues which I too consider as long as it matters (and it does) but also take for granted after a while and stop seriously thinking about as steps, and more like general practical standards. Breaking down skateboarding is super tempting and yet whatever happens just in the moment always wins.

[silhouette]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

^My routine's very similar. I'm not a Nike simp but "just do it" seems to work best for all my usual stuff.

When I'm learning something new and I'm starting to get close I try to focus on no more than 3 things per attempt. I can only consciously work on so many things at the same time, so whenever I try to adhere to more than 3 cues simultaneously I tend to not execute any of them properly. With any given trick there are lots of different things I need to do in regards to front and back foot placement, shoulder movement prior to and after the snap, pop, flick, rotation, and so on. Way too much stuff to consciously think of all of it at the same time, so I break it down to 3 cues per attempt until I've got those down and then move on to the next 3. Rinse and repeat until I've got the trick on lock.

[close]

Three cues sounds like a lot to me, would be very distracting, I legitimately have no idea how you can do that. To me learning new tricks always has been about simplifying analytic thought process to the max (by precisely identifying what matters) and either jettisoning it completely (once my basic technique is finally rich enough to afford doing), or solely focusing it onto one single aspect and moment. Like if any cue, then there has to be just one per attempt, and only once I can achieve the desired result to a point where it starts feeling natural (which doesn't necessarily mean landing the trick, could be e.g.. just managing to consistently lock in) then I move onto the next one and build up like that. Always worked for me, got that from the Mullen ON Video interview as a kid and it just stuck as the most optimal deconstruction of the process when nerding out on 'new' stuff. 'No thinking', 'blank out' approach on the other hand is apparent Penny mindset-inspired but that's for stuff I already know how to do.

Unless you count stuff like the positioning of each foot, or going at the appropriate speed, etc. as cues which I too consider as long as it matters (and it does) but also take for granted after a while and stop seriously thinking about as steps, and more like general practical standards. Breaking down skateboarding is super tempting and yet whatever happens just in the moment always wins.

[close]

after always just being a pop, float, and stomp sort of skater with minimal change in foot position, in trying to learn 360 flips i feel like there is a massive amount of mind/body communication and proprioception necessary. Its like “ok back foot here, this far off the tail. Last three toe insertion points are pressing down with toes way off the tail. Flex back foot down/away from shin at ankle while also scooping backwards with eyes are on front foot/knee. Dont forget to jump up and let that front foot catch”

Its helpful at this point to close my eyes and watch/imagine myself doing it step by step. And, a few weeks in, i havent gotten it yet. So maybe im over thinking it it just seems like such a foreign trick to me

I think that's what I meant to explain in my last paragraph, in a sense what I just said could sound like it contradicts my older post in this very thread or even just my tendency for breaking down trick principles on here, just the way I see it there is a time and place for everything, hyperfocus seems important when learning a trick (or learning how to take it somewhere new and difficult) but with the more you become confident on the maneuver the less it should persist, or after a while you might end up overthinking everything you do/actually know how to do and that would just be parasitic.

It's funny you mention 360 flips since I know I still 'watch' mine a bit more than I watch most other tricks (I don't do them on flat that often), and you're basically describing the same process I was bringing up I catch myself doing sometimes in the old post, which I wrote after I had been messing with hardflips again for the first time in xx years and so had to pay closer attention to than normal. But those are maneuvers I'm not sure exactly are trick specific and setting up your feet at the end of the day is an extension of one's board control. The way I see it is there are varying types of postures and pressures you can apply onto your skateboard in order to get this or that response whilst riding, and then different trick 'families' will appear upon exaggerating and tweaking each type a certain way, and so it should come to no surprise that if you can backside 360 ollie you can probably ollie impossible, if you can frontside kickflip you definitely can do darkslides. Can think of it as adjustments so redundant overall they keep encouraging exploring new personal paths not to get bored but also (and more importantly in this context) form a common moveset that one has to study and learn for a bit in order to figure out at first sure, but should aim at eventually, ideally just feel and integrate in their natural skating instead of forever staying mentally rooted in non-stop calculus. Just like when playing an instrument you know how to play, or even just typing on your phone and keyboard you stop consciously considering the precise mechanics of what you're doing every second and just flow with it; you know what's going to happen in exchange for this or that feeling, barely ever looking and then oops sometimes you fuck up.

But even when learning something new and approaching it from a technical standpoint (with the basics acquired and so no need to overthink too hard) I think it's better to think about only one goal at a time, and also be fair on yourself re: progression stages, e.g.. do back tails on the small curb on and off for a few days before you pretend you actually have any idea why your back tail on the bench isn't working 'today', but actually do the back tails on the small curb too and don't just think about them, or halfass two and call it practice, actually desire to figure them out and put in just the appropriate work. Only after you've stopped thinking about them and can do them regardless, you go to the bench. Or you keep skating the small curb if you realize that's fun enough (and in truth, it probably is) and then end up doing/learning something else entirely because you probably never really wanted to back tail the bench anyway.