Epiphanies that helped your skateboarding

[GnarAlarm]

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

I've narrowed down my biggest problem, and it's being hunched over instead of squatting straight down before I pop.  I don't think i did this as a kid but I do it now and it limits the power you can put down, and just feels sluggish  I need to fix this.  Trying to build up my core muscles more would probably help.

What I always remind myself is don't bend over like I'm picking something up off the ground, squat like I'm going to sit in a chair.

[AnimalChinaski79]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

I've narrowed down my biggest problem, and it's being hunched over instead of squatting straight down before I pop.  I don't think i did this as a kid but I do it now and it limits the power you can put down, and just feels sluggish  I need to fix this.  Trying to build up my core muscles more would probably help.

[close]

What I always remind myself is don't bend over like I'm picking something up off the ground, squat like I'm going to sit in a chair.

I'm going to make that my mantra, haha.  Watching myself on video all hunched over looks so bad, it's a bad habit for sure.

[scab]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

I've narrowed down my biggest problem, and it's being hunched over instead of squatting straight down before I pop.  I don't think i did this as a kid but I do it now and it limits the power you can put down, and just feels sluggish  I need to fix this.  Trying to build up my core muscles more would probably help.

[close]

What I always remind myself is don't bend over like I'm picking something up off the ground, squat like I'm going to sit in a chair.

[close]

I'm going to make that my mantra, haha.  Watching myself on video all hunched over looks so bad, it's a bad habit for sure.

Fellow hunchback here. I have to remind myself to squat rather than bend over virtually every time I pop. In the same vein, I have to really focus on lifting my legs after popping. Usually I only get one or the other. Bad habits are hard to overcome.

[matty_c]

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

Going to need a better explanation on the back foot, but the yoga position reminds me I should be doing that to stretch out my glutes and hip flexors.

I'll need to work my ollie manuals on taller obstacles too, my back truck has nearly caught on stuff I should be clearing easily.

I’m gonna fuck this explanation up but try doing some jumps on flat no board @rocklobster and like really think about sucking your feet up
Like do a bunch of jumps and almost make a ball with lower body but have your arms out

Take that idea to ollies, see what happens

[rocklobster]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

Going to need a better explanation on the back foot, but the yoga position reminds me I should be doing that to stretch out my glutes and hip flexors.

I'll need to work my ollie manuals on taller obstacles too, my back truck has nearly caught on stuff I should be clearing easily.

[close]

I’m gonna fuck this explanation up but try doing some jumps on flat no board @rocklobster and like really think about sucking your feet up
Like do a bunch of jumps and almost make a ball with lower body but have your arms out

Take that idea to ollies, see what happens

Practice jumps without the board to get the knees up to the chest did help.

Another helpful thing I noticed was getting the knees to do more work in terms of height and board control. I used to think that height on an ollie was all about dragging your foot up and scraping the griptape, which is probably 10% of the max height you'll get. But it's more the hinging of the knee laterally while timing the pop and jump to match the height of the board to get levelled ollie.

(see 1:20 of Chris Haslam's part)

Hinging the knee also helps prevent karate kickflips and especially with heelflips. Heelflips never made sense to me but thinking of them as an ollie you get levelled and hitting out slightly with the heel has helped me land more in 1 session than 2025 combined. (yeah it was only 3 but I wasn't giving them any love anyway)

[frank]

has anyone had an epiphany that helped them pop their kickflips? Ive been able to "kickflip" for like 20 years but for the life of me i have only ever popped n' caught a few. They mostly roll a few inches above the ground and its annoying as freak. I can do them consistently but i want to pop, flick, and catch them like a boss.

[matty_c]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Think of your rear foot moving like this: ) and at the top of stop moving your knee up and instead pull your inner ankle up like a pigeon pose almost: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60341cd7b342697d27dea4d2/09ece6a5-648e-4cea-83c6-e60c11c552c8/paschimo.jpg

If you do this while pushing forward with your front foot it will poke real nice.

Another tip that helped me really control my Ollie years ago was to do a ton of taller manuals or do them up onto something and quickly have to do something off of the object. This helps you get used to really pulling the tail up with the front foot and making sure the back foot lifts and clears but also doing it fast enough so your feet get back into position.

[close]

Going to need a better explanation on the back foot, but the yoga position reminds me I should be doing that to stretch out my glutes and hip flexors.

I'll need to work my ollie manuals on taller obstacles too, my back truck has nearly caught on stuff I should be clearing easily.

[close]

I’m gonna fuck this explanation up but try doing some jumps on flat no board @rocklobster and like really think about sucking your feet up
Like do a bunch of jumps and almost make a ball with lower body but have your arms out

Take that idea to ollies, see what happens

[close]

Practice jumps without the board to get the knees up to the chest did help.

Another helpful thing I noticed was getting the knees to do more work in terms of height and board control. I used to think that height on an ollie was all about dragging your foot up and scraping the griptape, which is probably 10% of the max height you'll get. But it's more the hinging of the knee laterally while timing the pop and jump to match the height of the board to get levelled ollie.

(see 1:20 of Chris Haslam's part)

Hinging the knee also helps prevent karate kickflips and especially with heelflips. Heelflips never made sense to me but thinking of them as an ollie you get levelled and hitting out slightly with the heel has helped me land more in 1 session than 2025 combined. (yeah it was only 3 but I wasn't giving them any love anyway)

I’m glad that worked mate!
It’s probably heaps of practice, too like millisecond timing. I honestly need to go do some Ollie’s myself mine have been rooted for a couple months. I don’t skate much anymore, unfortunately

[GnarAlarm]

has anyone had an epiphany that helped them pop their kickflips? Ive been able to "kickflip" for like 20 years but for the life of me i have only ever popped n' caught a few. They mostly roll a few inches above the ground and its annoying as freak. I can do them consistently but i want to pop, flick, and catch them like a boss.

I recently had this problem. About 6 months ago, out of nowhere, my kickflips just stopped popping and reduced in consistency too. No idea what happened but it was driving me crazy. No matter how hard I tried I just kept flicking too early, like before the tail even hit the ground. I'd try to delay my flick, but no matter how much my brain screamed my body just wouldn't listen.
I'd normally set my front foot up right behind the front truck bolts, but one day a few weeks ago, on a whim, I tried putting my foot closer to the center of the board and...BAM, popped, caught, stomped. Not dead center, maybe about 40% of the way back from the nose.
My theory is setting my foot deeper forced the flick to happen later, which buys enough time to get the pop off.

Also, there's so much focus on the front foot in a kickflip, but don't forget to make sure your back foot really extends and gives you a solid pop. And don't forget to jump high!

Worth a shot, good luck and I hope you get them poppin!

[Lame_Fella]

has anyone had an epiphany that helped them pop their kickflips? Ive been able to "kickflip" for like 20 years but for the life of me i have only ever popped n' caught a few. They mostly roll a few inches above the ground and its annoying as freak. I can do them consistently but i want to pop, flick, and catch them like a boss.

In the same boat, skating for 20 years and my kickflips are embarrassing but I just realized last week that’s because I’m a Heelflipper instead. I spent so long trying to kickflip and didn’t want to take the literal 10 minutes to learn heelflips but after taking a couple moments I realized that it’s true that you’ve got one or the other better.

Also, I’ve been struggling with tailslides for years, ive asked for advice and none of it works but I went to try a smith the other day and landed in tail, and each time I tried a smith I landed in tailslide so I focused on that and it somehow helped me land a single, sloppy, tailslide fakie.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

realizing that timing is the most important thing in skating.

[rocklobster]

realizing that timing if the most important thing in skating.

For real - for decades I always thought a harder pop meant more height on an ollie. But if you like it to bouncing a basketball you want a fast and light snap of the tail hitting the ground instead of a heavy stomp.

Recently, working the hips into rotations of tricks. My hip flexors have tightened up from a lot of running (and approaching 40) and being unable to turn my hips and shoulders regularly is making rotation tricks harder.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

haha yeah totally.
for me it's especially tricks like varial heelflips and hardflips where perfectly timed movements first with the backfoot and second with the frontfoot are key to landing said tricks.
if you've got the timing right, these tricks feel easy and you land them. if your timing is off, they feel tiring and you won't land them at all.

[frank]

Expand Quote

has anyone had an epiphany that helped them pop their kickflips? Ive been able to "kickflip" for like 20 years but for the life of me i have only ever popped n' caught a few. They mostly roll a few inches above the ground and its annoying as freak. I can do them consistently but i want to pop, flick, and catch them like a boss.

[close]

I recently had this problem. About 6 months ago, out of nowhere, my kickflips just stopped popping and reduced in consistency too. No idea what happened but it was driving me crazy. No matter how hard I tried I just kept flicking too early, like before the tail even hit the ground. I'd try to delay my flick, but no matter how much my brain screamed my body just wouldn't listen.
I'd normally set my front foot up right behind the front truck bolts, but one day a few weeks ago, on a whim, I tried putting my foot closer to the center of the board and...BAM, popped, caught, stomped. Not dead center, maybe about 40% of the way back from the nose.
My theory is setting my foot deeper forced the flick to happen later, which buys enough time to get the pop off.

Also, there's so much focus on the front foot in a kickflip, but don't forget to make sure your back foot really extends and gives you a solid pop. And don't forget to jump high!

Worth a shot, good luck and I hope you get them poppin!

i will try this and report back!! I do think my foot is pretty far up the board but i've always done it like that, maybe this is the advice i need to finally get that mother fuckin pop i so desire. I can imagine putting my foot farther back is going to create some some rocket ass flips but as long as it pops i will consider it a win