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My Skateboard Setup
skateboard tips & Tricks
SWEEPER
Roll up the transition until you hit coping. Drop your back foot on the coping while simultaneously raising your front foot with the board into a position that enables you to grab your nose. Looking over your shoulder, place the tail on the coping as you hop off your back foot to get it back onto the board as you drop back in. It should all be done in one smooth motion.
BACKSIDE BLUNTSLIDE
Approach the obstacle with your back facing it with a good amount a speed to hook up a long slide. Make sure you are going almost parallel to the obstacle and just barely towards it. Get into a blunt slide by popping a high ollie like you want to get on top of the obstacle. During your ollie, turn your board frontside 90 degrees with your back foot and lock in your tail to blunt. Slide it for as long as you can balancing yourself by putting more or less pressure on your front or back front. Pop out by putting a small amount of pressure on your back foot and turning back 90 degrees backside directing your board with your front foot. Land it with no toe touch and roll away clean
BACKSIDE AIR
Forget about early grabs. You'll never go big, and people might laugh. Start by trying some backside kickturns up near the coping and grabbing your board just in front of your front foot. You should be compressed with your knees bent, so it should not require much effort to reach your board. Once you get the feel for grabbing your board, you can start trying airs. Go up the wall at a very slight angle. Don't carve too much at first because your board will tend to fly away from you. As you approach the coping, your front wheels should start coming off of the wall at the same time as your hand reaches down for your board, which is the same as the kickturn. As your back wheels hit the coping, put the slightest pressure on your back foot, almost scooping it upward. This will help bring your board into your hand, as well as sending you in the right direction, which is up. You are in the air now with your body facing the coping. Stay calm, stay compressed. Your back foot should steer your board in a nice arc facing you back into the ramp. As you come back in, suck your legs back under you to land nice and smooth on the vert. Go bigger on the next wall.
P.S. This is definitely a "less is more" type of trick. Don't try to ollie grab into it or go huge at first. Land some small, mellow ones, then work your way up.
FRONTSIDE AIR
You want to be comfortable grinding or kickturning frontside before you huck your first frontside air. As with backside airs, early grabs are not recommended. You'll naturally tend to reach AROUND your knees for your board, or BETWEEN them. Reach around them if possible, because habits can be hard to break and you don't want a stink bug habit to start in the first place. Go up the wall at a slight angle, with your shoulders facing the coping. You should have enough speed going to do an air, but don't go so fast that you lose control every time you get in the air. As you approach the lip, you should have your knees bent, be a little tucked, and have your trailing hand starting to reach towards your board. Let your weight shift to your back foot a little bit as you come off of the coping, and your board should pop right into your waiting hand. Stay tucked and look for your landing spot. Land with your knees bent. Try to get your board to trace a smooth arc from start to finish. The higher you go, the slower you will turn in the air. Watch Crum and learn.
BACKSIDE 180
This trick can be tough to learn, but it's a great trick to take over gaps, or just to switch your stance during a run. Set your feet up the same as you would for an ollie. When you're first starting it helps to put your foot closer to the nose for a little more control. Pop your ollie and start turning backside… as with any body rotation, your shoulders lead and everything follows. You should reach the peak of your ollie as you are 90 degrees through your rotation. This is where you spot your landing, making sure to keep your weight directly over your board. When doing this trick over a long gap, a skater will usually ollie as far out as he/she can, then rotate really late. When doing this trick down a big drop, or stairs, it's better to rotate nice and smoothly throughout. For a solid landing, all four wheels should land at once, and you shouldn't have to slide the last part of the 180 around right when you land. Plus, sliding around like that will put flat spots on your wheels.
BACKSIDE FEEBLE GRIND (Commonly called a feeble grind)
First learn backside 50-50s and 5-0s. Ride at the object with a good amount of speed. Ollie on to the object like you're doing a backside 50-50, but right before both trucks make contact, push the front one over the bar by straightening your front leg. Lean back with all your weight on the back truck (the weight placement is very similar to a 5-0, but with your foot pointing the nose down) and hold that position while powering through the grind. At the end, let your nose come up so your board is parallel with the ground right as you come off. Ride away with both feet over the truck bolts, clean as a whistle. Feeble grinds can be taken to all kinds of obstacles, and is a popular handrail trick. Once you learn how to lock in to them, they're easier to control than boardslides. Now get to feeblin!
FRONTSIDE NOSE BLUNTSLIDE (Commonly called a nose bluntslide)
You're going to want to gather some decent speed for this one. It's not the kinda trick you can just get onto and hang out until you come off. You've got to earn it. Your front foot should be close enough to your nose that you can stick it on the ledge, but far enough back to let you pop a good ollie. Come at the ledge parellel. As you pop, you should shift your momentum so you're ollieng towards the ledge to get your nose locked in. It's almost like you're nose sliding the side of the ledge. Once you're on there, keep your front foot pushing that nose down and forward. If you stay balanced on the ledge, the dismount isn't too tricky. You kinda nollie out, and use your back foot to control the tail so you land riding straight. Make sure the ledge has a good coating of wax, especially on top where your wheels are sliding.
BACKSIDE TAILSLIDE
Go fast and get ready! You want to approach the obstacle at a little bit of an angle but mainly parallel. Ollie and turn the lower half of your body to get your tail on the ledge, keeping your shoulders parallel to the ledge at all times. Now there are two ways to come out… forward or fakie. To come out forward, just let the lower half of your body turn back to parallel with your shouders as you drop off of the ledge. To come out fakie, turn the upper half of your body so you start facing backwards right before you want to come off. Keep rotating that torso so that by the time you come off and land, you are now facing the ledge. The plan is that your legs and feet and board follow your shoulders around and you land parallel to the ledge. Now learn 3 flips into it like superstar Jason Lee.
KICKFLIP NOSE-WHEELIE . KICKFLIP NOSE MANUAL
This trick is sure to impress folks no matter where you go, but in order to pull it off you'd better have a decent and consistent kickflip, since that is only the beginning of the trick. Roll up to the curb or obstacle just as if you were going to kickflip up it. When you flip your flip, let your front foot just hang there above the nose as your board flips around. When you see the grip tape again, stop the spin with your back foot, then get your front foot on that nose and bring it down before the back wheels touch. Now that you're in the nose manual position, just ride it on out. And remember, you didn't really land it if your back wheels hit the obstacle when you came off, so try it again.
BACKSIDE 50-50 - on transition
This is a great trick to learn as it will open doors to a bunch of other coping tricks. You might want to try stalling up there before you try the grind; it will get you used to your weight placement. Roll up to the transition with a decent amount of speed. Charge straight up the transition, and as your back truck gets right near the coping, you want to turn so that your heel edge wheel rolls on top of the coping. As you do this, you want to put your weight over that heel edge to get you up on top of the coping. Once you're standing pretty much on top of the coping, set your front truck down. All that's left to do to finish off the stall is drop back in by lifting up your front truck and kickturning into the tranny. In order not to hang up, make sure you put enough weight on the toe edge of your tail so that your heel edge wheel can roll back over the coping without any trouble. Once you have the stall down, the grinding part is pretty basic. You just need a little more speed, and as you approach the coping, you want to be at an angle rather than rolling straight up to it. That way your momentum will pull you along the coping. Once you're grinding, just ride it as far as you can, then drop back in as you did with the stall.
BACKSIDE 5-0 - on transition
If you've got the backside 50-50 on transition, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the 5-0. Cruise towards the coping just like you would for the fiddy-fiddy. Get your back truck on top of the coping, again, just like you were doing a 50-50. Since you're initially on your back truck for the 50-50, all you've got to do is keep your weight on that tail instead of setting down your front truck. You most likely won't be able to grind 5-0 as long as you'd be able to grind 50-50, so you're just gonna have to go faster, bro. As you get comfortable in the 5-0 position, try shifting it like a salad grind as you grind along the coping. This will set you up for dropping back in fakie. This can be tough, but it is a very smooth looking trick when done right.
FRONTSIDE 50-50 - on transition
For some, the frontside 50-50 is easier than backside, but for most it's more intimidating having your back face down the transition. Once you get over this fear, though, a whole new world of frontside coping tricks is opened up to you. Doesn't that sound appealing? Now that you're anxious to expand your ramp skating, let's get started. Just as with the backside 50-50, learning the stall first will help. Cruise straight up the transition, but as you get right near the coping you want to turn to get your toe edge wheel of the back truck over the coping rather than the heel edge wheel. With the frontside stall, it's important to get that toe edge wheel as far over the coping as possible to allow yourself some stability while your up on the lip. Just like with the backside stall, get on your back truck first then set down the front truck, placing your weight predominantly on the toe side of the board. To drop back in, just do a little kick turn into the tranny. Remember, don't let your toe edge wheels hang up. Now, to grind rather than stall you're going to need more speed and remember to approach the coping at an angle so your momentum will take you along the coping instead of just straight up and out.
FRONTSIDE 5-0 - on transition
Don't fool yourself, kids, a frontside 5-0 does not consist of a kickturn on the coping. You have to get up on top of that thing and scrape some metal off your trucks. To do this, or even attempt this, see that you can do a frontside 50-50 so you're comfortable with the feeling of the transition being behind you. When you've gathered your courage, pump towards the tranny going all fast. Start to turn and throw your body weight frontside, to get you momentum going that way, about a foot below the lip. Then, just lock your back truck onto the copes like you would for a 5-0 on a ledge. Once you get comfortable with balancing in that position, you can grind frontside 5-0 for days. Going down escalators is the best (no, not the kind in the mall).
BACKSIDE LIPSLIDE
First get comfortable with ollies and backside ollies. Approach the obstacle going fast, real fast, and almost parallel to the thingy your going to lipslide. Ollie ! ! Enough to get your back wheels over what you are lipsliding. Touch down on the thing you're sliding, keeping your shoulders parallel and your legs in a shifty position, sliding and lookin' sick. As you approach the end of the obstacle, put a little bounce in your knees and come flying off the end as you shift your legs back to parallel.
KICKFLIP NOSE-WHEELIE . KICKFLIP NOSE MANUAL
This trick is sure to impress folks no matter where you go, but in order to pull it off you'd better have a decent and consistent kickflip, since that is only the beginning of the trick. Roll up to the curb or obstacle just as if you were going to kickflip up it. When you flip your flip, let your front foot just hang there above the nose as your board flips around. When you see the grip tape again, stop the spin with your back foot, then get your front foot on that nose and bring it down before the back wheels touch. Now that you're in the nose manual position, just ride it on out. And remember, you didn't really land it if your back wheels hit the obstacle when you came off, so try it again.
BACKSIDE 50-50 - on transition
This is a great trick to learn as it will open doors to a bunch of other coping tricks. You might want to try stalling up there before you try the grind; it will get you used to your weight placement. Roll up to the transition with a decent amount of speed. Charge straight up the transition, and as your back truck gets right near the coping, you want to turn so that your heel edge wheel rolls on top of the coping. As you do this, you want to put your weight over that heel edge to get you up on top of the coping. Once you're standing pretty much on top of the coping, set your front truck down. All that's left to do to finish off the stall is drop back in by lifting up your front truck and kickturning into the tranny. In order not to hang up, make sure you put enough weight on the toe edge of your tail so that your heel edge wheel can roll back over the coping without any trouble. Once you have the stall down, the grinding part is pretty basic. You just need a little more speed, and as you approach the coping, you want to be at an angle rather than rolling straight up to it. That way your momentum will pull you along the coping. Once you're grinding, just ride it as far as you can, then drop back in as you did with the stall.
BACKSIDE 5-0 - on transition
If you've got the backside 50-50 on transition, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the 5-0. Cruise towards the coping just like you would for the fiddy-fiddy. Get your back truck on top of the coping, again, just like you were doing a 50-50. Since you're initially on your back truck for the 50-50, all you've got to do is keep your weight on that tail instead of setting down your front truck. You most likely won't be able to grind 5-0 as long as you'd be able to grind 50-50, so you're just gonna have to go faster, bro. As you get comfortable in the 5-0 position, try shifting it like a salad grind as you grind along the coping. This will set you up for dropping back in fakie. This can be tough, but it is a very smooth looking trick when done right.
FRONTSIDE 50-50 - on transition
For some, the frontside 50-50 is easier than backside, but for most it's more intimidating having your back face down the transition. Once you get over this fear, though, a whole new world of frontside coping tricks is opened up to you. Doesn't that sound appealing? Now that you're anxious to expand your ramp skating, let's get started. Just as with the backside 50-50, learning the stall first will help. Cruise straight up the transition, but as you get right near the coping you want to turn to get your toe edge wheel of the back truck over the coping rather than the heel edge wheel. With the frontside stall, it's important to get that toe edge wheel as far over the coping as possible to allow yourself some stability while your up on the lip. Just like with the backside stall, get on your back truck first then set down the front truck, placing your weight predominantly on the toe side of the board. To drop back in, just do a little kick turn into the tranny. Remember, don't let your toe edge wheels hang up. Now, to grind rather than stall you're going to need more speed and remember to approach the coping at an angle so your momentum will take you along the coping instead of just straight up and out.
FRONTSIDE 5-0 - on transition
Don't fool yourself, kids, a frontside 5-0 does not consist of a kickturn on the coping. You have to get up on top of that thing and scrape some metal off your trucks. To do this, or even attempt this, see that you can do a frontside 50-50 so you're comfortable with the feeling of the transition being behind you. When you've gathered your courage, pump towards the tranny going all fast. Start to turn and throw your body weight frontside, to get you momentum going that way, about a foot below the lip. Then, just lock your back truck onto the copes like you would for a 5-0 on a ledge. Once you get comfortable with balancing in that position, you can grind frontside 5-0 for days. Going down escalators is the best (no, not the kind in the mall).
BACKSIDE LIPSLIDE
First get comfortable with ollies and backside ollies. Approach the obstacle going fast, real fast, and almost parallel to the thingy your going to lipslide. Ollie ! ! Enough to get your back wheels over what you are lipsliding. Touch down on the thing you're sliding, keeping your shoulders parallel and your legs in a shifty position, sliding and lookin' sick. As you approach the end of the obstacle, put a little bounce in your knees and come flying off the end as you shift your legs back to parallel.
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