The…. Ollie

[Lashes2ashes]

So, I’m 37 been skating since I was like 12. The other day I was told to never look down when doing a Ollie. I have a pretty decent Ollie game I always though, not anymore but I have Jumped down my fair share of big gaps and stair sets. Have I been doing it wrong all this time😅 I know skateboarding can be subjective so I’m not to stressed, but I went back and watched a bunch of famous footage of strait Ollie’s, el toro etc. and outside of a few that look forward towards to stairs or gap it seems like most look down at there board the whole time there in the air. So my question is sage advice? Or was this dude just being a kook.

[silhouette]

It can be sage advice, I feel like it's one of those things that's different for everyone and the less you overthink it the more you win, basically. Personally I know I'll mostly look down at my feet whenever it's time to set up for a trick and then it all depends on what I'm skating what I do with my vision once the position I can feel is secured. Flatground I'll probably keep staring at the board but obstacles, especially on ollies over pseudo-tall stuff (for me) or down gaps I'll take one look at the obstacle to locate it in relation to myself, but then mostly look past it because that's my actual direction and where I want to go, the obstacle or gap aren't supposed to be my destination so my focus shouldn't be on it but past it (and I should be determined to be ready to roll away regardless of whether I successfully clear it). Usually the lowest of a mental mountain you turn the obstacle into the better, say ollieing up curbs, usually one can do that rather naturally with time and do it while barely ever looking down and keep the flow going, where you want to get is the same kind of feel except the curbs keep getting bigger and weirder to clear and go up, over or down.

Wrong focus will also fuck one up on their lines. The more you'll worry about the performance of getting all your tricks in a row itself and try to decide on how exactly you want everything to go, the more you'll micromanage and lose focus on the right things when really you should just be cruising around and mostly improvising in order to get a line that won't feel as forced and 9 times out of 10 is going to not just look, but also technically be better.

[BurgerCop]

So, I’m 37 been skating since I was like 12. The other day I was told to never look down when doing a Ollie. I have a pretty decent Ollie game I always though, not anymore but I have Jumped down my fair share of big gaps and stair sets. Have I been doing it wrong all this time😅 I know skateboarding can be subjective so I’m not to stressed, but I went back and watched a bunch of famous footage of strait Ollie’s, el toro etc. and outside of a few that look forward towards to stairs or gap it seems like most look down at there board the whole time there in the air. So my question is sage advice? Or was this dude just being a kook.

I'm pretty sure I look down, or at least do sometimes. I mean, I'm sure I at least glance at the board, but once in mid-air I look at my landing area.

...Or shit maybe I just look at my landing area the whole time. Fuck I don't even know now.

[Lashes2ashes]

Expand Quote

So, I’m 37 been skating since I was like 12. The other day I was told to never look down when doing a Ollie. I have a pretty decent Ollie game I always though, not anymore but I have Jumped down my fair share of big gaps and stair sets. Have I been doing it wrong all this time😅 I know skateboarding can be subjective so I’m not to stressed, but I went back and watched a bunch of famous footage of strait Ollie’s, el toro etc. and outside of a few that look forward towards to stairs or gap it seems like most look down at there board the whole time there in the air. So my question is sage advice? Or was this dude just being a kook.

[close]

I'm pretty sure I look down, or at least do sometimes. I mean, I'm sure I at least glance at the board, but once in mid-air I look at my landing area.

...Or shit maybe I just look at my landing area the whole time. Fuck I don't even know now.

I know, I never really though of it until someone said something about it, but growing up skating pre internet in a fairly small Oregon city I have tons of ”bad” habits I have had to get past, never pushed mongo thank god, but I skate transition with my front foot up to high, learned kick flips back in the day with flicking down not out lol. Well since it works for me I’ll keep looking where ever I want.

[Ok]

i’m sort of starting over, in a lot of ways. don’t skate as much, older and out of shape.
at one point, relative to the area, i could ollie somewhat high (not like really high, tennis net was a stretch). i really leaned into it, shamefully, and would ollie onto things (easier), and sometimes over things (hard to do when you skate slow like me). but i don’t think i had a ‘good’ ollie, i could just jump high (again relative, never dunked).
so. anyone picked up a good ollie? it’s difficult to practice.
 as a testament to how difficult it is, think about how many you see, flatground. very few, obviously not difficult to make, difficult to make look decent tho.

anyone got any good ollie tips?

[Mean salto]

i’m sort of starting over, in a lot of ways. don’t skate as much, older and out of shape.
at one point, relative to the area, i could ollie somewhat high (not like really high, tennis net was a stretch). i really leaned into it, shamefully, and would ollie onto things (easier), and sometimes over things (hard to do when you skate slow like me). but i don’t think i had a ‘good’ ollie, i could just jump high (again relative, never dunked).
so. anyone picked up a good ollie? it’s difficult to practice.
 as a testament to how difficult it is, think about how many you see, flatground. very few, obviously not difficult to make, difficult to make look decent tho.

anyone got any good ollie tips?

If you could do it alright then you can mostly likely do it alight enough again. It's prob been said a zillion times but just olling on flat over nothing isn't the best way to get better at it.
Jump up! Sounds like asshole advice but it's really the main thing to remember (same shit I say for people trying to dunk, altho different things obviously). No point bending your knees past 90 degrees on the wind up. Pop kinda hard and jump up then try suck your knees up to your chest. Sometimes people hunchback too much and don't jump very high so even if they get their knees up it's more like their chest has met their legs halfway.
I think this is actually a reason people do better Ollie's up or over things because you're forced to actually keep your torso straight and boost upwards.

[radcunt]

I'm in the air so long I can look wherever I want

[LebowskisRug]

Well, Local Joe just released an ollie video that is mostly behind is Patreon and I cannot trust anyone on a full Andy Anderson setup, however, he does have some good points that I never realized I did:

1. Pull the board up with the front foot. Most people get too lead footed with the back and forget that if you lead with your knee that when your front foot hits the nose you are effectively pulling it up into the air.
2. You really need to figure out the pocket/tail placement for your popping foot for various tricks. For example on BS 50-50 I always pop more in the heel side pocket because I like having a stronger pop to land rear truck first and guide the front on. For fakie ollies my foot is almost like a nollie but a bit further towards the tip. All these little details kinda just happen over time, but play around with it.
3. As soon as your tail hits or you are coming up from your crouch you want to think of being lightfooted with the rear foot. With tip 1 its about timing so that when your front foot has lifted to the highest point you need your rear is following super fast to level it out. I taught a little kid in my neighborhood how to ollie in about 5 minutes last week. He was thinking all about crouching and putting power down, but wasn't snapping up because he was so stiff from focusing on the pop. Dude went from 1" to knee height ollies from that one tip.
4. Definitely tucking your knees more at the top. For me this is why longer WB are easier to pop high on at my height because they give my hips room for my knees to come up.
5. One thing I think I see a lot is that people seem to really get too dramatic about their front foot placement. For me it is less important than identifying the timing of the two. Also, angling my front foot (not as much as a kickflip) has always helped me.
6. Think about your ankles doing a lot of the work. When you slide your front think "outer shoe" and while you're lifting the front with your rear foot it is "inner shoe" and as you level out the thing that always made sense to me with the rear foot was quickly rolling from inner to outer shoe.
7. Just do them all the time over and off of stupid shit. They don't always have to be max height. It is the basis for every trick you do almost. You have to get all this second nature so you don't even think when you're approaching an obstacle.

[rocklobster]

maschi.jp is a coach on Insta does really good breakdowns on the mechanics of an ollie, he doesn't talk during his videos but I trust him videos over 80% of the YT coaches in terms of quality content.

I've been trying to work on my ollie in past months, I can pop high but it's always rocketed and can't bone them out. Just spending a few more minutes each session on this trick can do wonders.

[LebowskisRug]

Try my advice on the rear foot especially the rolling. Thinking of rolling the ankle inner to outer fixing tape really helps that

[rocklobster]

Try my advice on the rear foot especially the rolling. Thinking of rolling the ankle inner to outer fixing tape really helps that

The front foot makes sense as you drag the shoe across the griptape for height, could you explain rear foot a bit more, especially from inner to outer shoe?

[Hubba Bo-Tep]

Haslam's bump to bar ollie in Almost Round 3 is the example that comes to mind when thinking about rear foot 'outer shoe'

[Ok]

what’s a high ollie? tennis net?

i mean obviously i’m talking for the few of you in this thread. not pros/sponced.

thanks for all of the detailed suggestions.

i feel much safer on a nollie on flat, than an ollie. it’s just such a basic, that i don’t try it often enough.

[rocklobster]

Haslam's bump to bar ollie in Almost Round 3 is the example that comes to mind when thinking about rear foot 'outer shoe'

That's the gold standard, but I'll settle for a leveled one. Someone was watching me ollie and noticed I was dragging very slow, causing my back foot to come detached.

Going to spend the cool down of my session working on these, just low, fast and leveled for a start.

[Hubba Bo-Tep]

Word.  I'll never get my body to do throw that shape these days but I'll always throw in a good 10-20 straight ollies over the bump during every session.  Can't let 'em get rusty.

[Ok]

Word.  I'll never get my body to do throw that shape these days but I'll always throw in a good 10-20 straight ollies over the bump during every session.  Can't let 'em get rusty.

that’s a good policy, to do them every session.

that’s haslam one is a little too much for me, same with the kenny reed ones. it’s cool, just a lot. for me, it’s probably reese. ao has had a few too.
but ollie’s are great, and i love seeing the variety.
both mike v and tnt have had amazing front 180s, even tho i’m just not into those dudes skating, at all, outside of their front 180s.

anyways, yeah. ollie’s.
mine are wack rn, because of skating slow, lack of flexibility. my vertical is ok. i can maybe scrape the backboard (5’8”), but i lack the hackey-sack flexibility to bring my back foot up. i struggle with a traffic cone. like imma get there, but it’s gonna take a bit. so depressing.
i need to get into shape, gain some strength. little less typing, a lot more exercising.

[silhouette]

anyways, yeah. ollie’s.
mine are wack rn, because of skating slow, lack of flexibility. my vertical is ok. i can maybe scrape the backboard (5’8”), but i lack the hackey-sack flexibility to bring my back foot up. i struggle with a traffic cone. like imma get there, but it’s gonna take a bit. so depressing.
i need to get into shape, gain some strength. little less typing, a lot more exercising.

That resonated a bit, feeling limited, for a brief period of time around my third or fourth year of skating I remember focusing on high ollies in particular (peaked at tennis net high) and loving how new 'heights' of my city suddenly could be read as possible spots. Then I went through years of flipping my board around more and I only realized it a little late that my ollies had gone to shit, probably due to new timing and posture habits. So it was frustrating I could still see all the high spots everywhere but could only look at them anymore due to my current body. I've been doing ollies again since but even the good ones I do get nowadays scream 'this guy used to have a good ollie' louder than they scream 'actually good ollie' which I can accept and think is funny.

I think switch ollies are a great way to mix it up, a few years ago I went through a phase of their own where I started doing them over flatbars first and then cones and then street poles, it was pretty surprising how quick the progression was I think due to them being easier to tweak and already being so familiar with regular. For a bit I had become more confident on them over stuff than on normal ollies (which felt strange) and then I slept on those too, lost the ease a little and underwent the same frustration phase but switch.

[rocklobster]

Spent 10 minutes during the warm up just working on dragging faster and using my concave of my nose to stop the drag, trying to correct my back foot not lifting up and managed to snap a few lofty feeling ones. Just being lighter on my feet, popping lighter (but snappier) and dragging faster and I'm seeing some progress.

Breaking 20 years of muscle memory is hard!

[Ok]

Expand Quote

anyways, yeah. ollie’s.
mine are wack rn, because of skating slow, lack of flexibility. my vertical is ok. i can maybe scrape the backboard (5’8”), but i lack the hackey-sack flexibility to bring my back foot up. i struggle with a traffic cone. like imma get there, but it’s gonna take a bit. so depressing.
i need to get into shape, gain some strength. little less typing, a lot more exercising.

[close]

That resonated a bit, feeling limited, for a brief period of time around my third or fourth year of skating I remember focusing on high ollies in particular (peaked at tennis net high) and loving how new 'heights' of my city suddenly could be read as possible spots. Then I went through years of flipping my board around more and I only realized it a little late that my ollies had gone to shit, probably due to new timing and posture habits. So it was frustrating I could still see all the high spots everywhere but could only look at them anymore due to my current body. I've been doing ollies again since but even the good ones I do get nowadays scream 'this guy used to have a good ollie' louder than they scream 'actually good ollie' which I can accept and think is funny.

I think switch ollies are a great way to mix it up, a few years ago I went through a phase of their own where I started doing them over flatbars first and then cones and then street poles, it was pretty surprising how quick the progression was I think due to them being easier to tweak and already being so familiar with regular. For a bit I had become more confident on them over stuff than on normal ollies (which felt strange) and then I slept on those too, lost the ease a little and underwent the same frustration phase but switch.

i looooooooove the idea of feeling more confident switch. that’s so sick.

tennis net was always the goal. i didn’t ever get regularly confident with that height, here and there, but not on the regular. a big part of this was my skating so slow.

that feeling of things that are not funny, becoming funny, is really familiar. that is an excellent way to hold those moments. i was at a park for the first time in a long time, and decided to jump straight into it after construction work, no warmup (excuses). i hung up in back to back switch ollie’s up a curb height obstacle. it WAS funny.

just spending time doing them, as you all are mentioning, is the way forward. maybe it’ll help me increase my skating speed as well. i’ve toyed with the idea of setting a goal of a tennis net ollie out there, not sure how delusional that is at my age/ability. i think flexibility might be the greatest inhibitor of my ollie, that and 10 pounds, constantly switching setups/skating little tiny ass boards, and not being willing to spend a few days a week trying to blast off.

the way i do flip tricks, is very muffled. meaning that my flicking foot is often on the bolts, so i’m initiating flick mode, earlier, getting less height, and hopefully more consistency. this too has somewhat smothered the ollie for me.

20 years of muscle memory IS hard to break up. possible tho.

that notion of feeling so confident switch had me excited. i would love to get switch ollie confidence, even just curb height, with speed