When it comes to learning tricks, are you more:

[goldfishboot]

I lean pretty far towards option 2. especially with more technical stuff, I am 1000 monkeys on 1000 skateboards and I assume eventually each little part will go correct if I just keep trying. Empty brain style. You?

[pizzafliptofakie]

When it comes to new tricks I'm definitely the latter option, but once I have the trick I try to be pretty analytical about it to do them better.

[GrayCellGreen]

I've taken a more analytical approach to skateboarding and learning tricks as I've aged. I used to just fling random tricks around when I was younger and didn't put emphasis on analyzing foot placement, weight distribution, and shoulder & head position. Because of this, certain tricks would work while others didn't. I used to think that's just how it was. Since becoming more analytical, my bag of tricks has increased significantly. I wish I would have taken this approach earlier.

[Tom Pearl]

i never try nollie heels, i tried one yesterday and almost did it first try then i tried it 20 more times and didnt even come close, im this

[leafman4000]

Analytical for sure. When I’m learning a new trick I film and look at every try. I probably look like a nutcase to the general public but w/e

[Cool Ceith]

I get very analytical but there are certain tricks that I eventually just decide "I'm never going to land this" and give up. Then,  on a whim, I'll give it a shot months later and be surprised at how close I'm getting.

So, in my case I'm analytical to the point of being very ponderous. I'll sometimes wonder "What would Rodney do?" But I'm aware that I can't force it because I'll just get mad and then bummed on my ability. I border on Analytical Evil/Analytical Neutral.

[streetmeat]

Analytic. I feel like this is something that comes more with age. All my friends my age will nerdily talk about ‘body positioning’, ‘opening up your shoulders’ etc etc to not only do the trick but make it look better

vs

most younger kids who just throw themselves and their board at an obstacle and maybe land it once a month. 

[whale]

What are these "new tricks" you speak of?

[BurgerCop]

Excessively analytical.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to stop overthinking and just fucking huck it.

[Steely Daniel]

What are these "new tricks" you speak of?

Mostly this, but like others said I try to be a little more analytical in my approach as I age. Never used to think about it much when I was younger. It was either you can do this if you keep trying or you're not even getting close so move on.

I also watch an embarrassing amount of trick tip stuff these days, even for tricks I know how to do, just to see how other people do them to understand the mechanics of skateboarding more. Sometimes my mind just goes blank though and I'm out here flaling around looking like it's my first month on a skateboard.

[mfweeno]

Excessively analytical.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to stop overthinking and just fucking huck it.

Same here lol.

I have always been this way, but now that I have a background in personal training and biomechanics I am little more sensitive to whether my body is cooperating with tricks and can "overcoach" myself pretty hard sometimes.

If I'm getting really close to a trick, I am sometimes able to analyze the last little piece/movement I need to get right to make it work. I recall Rodney Mullen describing a similar phenomenon where everything except 1-2 parts of the trick are on "autopilot".

That being said, lately I'm trying to turn off my inner narrator so I can let my body respond more and consciously "anticipate" less. Case in point - I have been trying to engineer the "perfect" crook set up for a while, but this weekend I just focused on going fast and hitting a good approach angle and it just worked.

[OneMore]

I think I fall under the analytical camp. I tinker with my tricks, even if I've had them for a while. I try new things to spice up old tricks all of the time. But sometimes if I hit a roadblock when learning a trick, I'll   try it switch and leave my fate up to God.

[SneakySecrets]

I let that shit marinate.  Think about it in the shower, red lights, waiting for coffee to brew…. I invite the trick to inhabit my mind and serve it tea and hors d'oeuvres and shit.  Gotta make friends with em.

[The Mexican Nancy Chin]

I never get progressively closer to landing when I try a trick, I just keep making the same mistakes until I randomly get distracted during an attempt and land the trick since I wasn't overthinking it. Either that or I slam really hard during the distraction. One smacked by head on a flat bar and got a concussion because of this

[JoseCansnake0]

Most of my new tricks are learned on a mini ramp these days (impact). If i can slide them out, I count them.

[Pipe Dreamer]

I just chill with my classics, none of this learning a new trick nonsense tbh.

[SatanicPanic]

I've taken a more analytical approach to skateboarding and learning tricks as I've aged. I used to just fling random tricks around when I was younger and didn't put emphasis on analyzing foot placement, weight distribution, and shoulder & head position. Because of this, certain tricks would work while others didn't. I used to think that's just how it was. Since becoming more analytical, my bag of tricks has increased significantly. I wish I would have taken this approach earlier.

I’m curious if that’s changed now that any kid can go on YouTube and have someone explain it. I definitely remember people thinking trick tips were stupid back in the day, mostly because they were so useless.

[GrayCellGreen]

Expand Quote

I've taken a more analytical approach to skateboarding and learning tricks as I've aged. I used to just fling random tricks around when I was younger and didn't put emphasis on analyzing foot placement, weight distribution, and shoulder & head position. Because of this, certain tricks would work while others didn't. I used to think that's just how it was. Since becoming more analytical, my bag of tricks has increased significantly. I wish I would have taken this approach earlier.

[close]

I’m curious if that’s changed now that any kid can go on YouTube and have someone explain it. I definitely remember people thinking trick tips were stupid back in the day, mostly because they were so useless.

"Pop, flick, catch, and ride away clean...."

[vinithebr]

A bit of reason is always there unless you're a monk. Otherwise you'd ollie aiming for a crook but make coffee instead.

That being said I'm sick and tired of using reason to justify my bails, so I've been pretending I know the trick and who knows maybe I'll land it.

[The Mexican Nancy Chin]

Expand Quote

I've taken a more analytical approach to skateboarding and learning tricks as I've aged. I used to just fling random tricks around when I was younger and didn't put emphasis on analyzing foot placement, weight distribution, and shoulder & head position. Because of this, certain tricks would work while others didn't. I used to think that's just how it was. Since becoming more analytical, my bag of tricks has increased significantly. I wish I would have taken this approach earlier.

[close]

I’m curious if that’s changed now that any kid can go on YouTube and have someone explain it. I definitely remember people thinking trick tips were stupid back in the day, mostly because they were so useless.

These already existed when I was learning to skate. Most are useless but some give very helpful tips. Clint Walker's on the ride channel is how I learnt to no comply and recently this Matt Bennett one helped me finally actually slide my front nose slides. The step on your toes tip also helped me slide my front tail slides better when I inverted the logic to stepping on my heel


Trick tips for basic tricks like Ollies and kick flips were obviously the most useful as I genuinely had no idea how they were done

[big_kev_215]

I usually just throw myself at it and suddenly something will click through trial and error.  My body mechanics are always so horrible that analyzing the best way to do something only goes so far.  It ends up being more based on feel for me. 

[j....soy.....]

You know when you’ve bent a nail…..but just keep hammering it……that’s me trying to flip my board……

[skateshaykh]

More analytical as I age, but I'm really posting to point out the flawed survey method: the data is useless without Fred Gall as a response...it's just basic science.

When analysis becomes an excuse is the real issue for me. At a certain point, it's not more subtle weight shifts so much as flaccid commitment muscles and everyone can see it. So I also respect and envy all the huckers who let the body instruct the mind.

[sle_epy]

1. I don't know how ppl figured it out back in the day before it was easy to film yourself. I usually focus on the few things I know I'm doing wrong just by watching the playback and pick them off one by one. I watch a lot of ppl doing the trick I want to learn and see what they all do in common versus what I'm doing differently that's causing me to not land a trick, or to figure out how to do it better.

[Orangepulp1000]

I definitely analyse as I’ve gotten older and finding it is helping me tenfold with progression. I film myself and suss out what I’m doing wrong, watch clips of other people, slow them down and piece it all together. I’ve even gone to the point of screen grabbing clips from pros and flipping the vid over so if they’re goofy it’s now regular so I can analyse it better. A little over the top but eh it’s helping me

[Skatebeard]

I was trial and error as a teen, and now super analytical about it coming back in my 30s.

I've learned more tricks in the last 2 or 3 years than I ever had as a kid, so I know which method works for me.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Change foot position, change upper body position, change weight distribution, direction of flick, etc etc etc... I've had tricks not work at all for tons of tries, then moved my back foot a bit and voila, first time.

[scab]

I've got a tried-and-true method:

1. Try a new trick
2. Film myself
3. Pinpoint what I do wrong
4. Proceed to do the wrong thing
5. Get frustrated
6. Abandon new trick and do my handful of staples instead

Works literally every time.

[Chatbot]

I skate way more ledges now a days so I'm definitely more analytical. It sucks sometimes because as I get older I now I factor in 'what could go wrong' which will mess with me. Once I figure the trick out and get close though, I need to keep myself distracted and let my feet do the work.

[Beeda Weeda]

analytical

As a teenager I used to journal how I learned tricks. How to hold your shoulders, distribute your weight, and make note of the tendencies my own mind /body would want to do when attempting to execute a trick.
I found it so much easier to get tricks and keep tricks. Before that I would just work on a new trick and focus on it so much I would forget old tricks or get worse at them.
For me it was important to try and ride a shape I liked and not change it up too much so I could repeat and be somewhat consistent.

I would take notes on skateboarding and not do my homework.

[backside_frontside]

Learning a new trick can be analytical for me, but I try not to think about the details too much. I'm definitely not fakin it til I make it. I need to have confidence that I can actually do the trick first. If I have the fundamentals of a trick dialed it boosts my confidence enough to combine them into a new trick. For example, I'm trying to learn nollie heel nose manny. I've gotten better at nollie nose manny over the last month or two and I have a good nollie heel. The other day at the park I practiced nollie heelflips onto the manual pad and got a few good ones. It's all about working up to it, not just flinging it until it works, which I guess is a pretty fuckin analytical way to go about learning tricks hahaha.