Okay, to do a frontside, you must do the main thing
first: Get your footing familiarized. Like be able to stall on a curb in
the position pretty fast, and stick it, then jump off and land normal.
All with your skates on. So try that for awhile, like jump on your curb,
rail, whatever, and just sit there, imagine what life will be like when
you are finally able to grind, and then jump off. Next, try actually
grinding. Approach from whatever side is comfortable for you. Now jump
slightly up, and I emphasis slightly, because you kind of want to just
"step on" the curb, don't try to do it Disaster, because
you'll just get caught, and fall. So lightly step up on the curb with
your front foot first! This means, lift that foot first, and apply most
the pressure there. The back foot will then be set on the curb, and kind
of drag along. The front foot carries about 80% of the weight, and the
back foot about 10%. The other 10% of the weight is in the stomach where
you've eaten too many Fat Boy Ice Cream Sandwiches. Now, once you kind
of enjoy your grind for awhile, you have to jump off. Usually, you'll
start slowing down after awhile, unless you're on a rail. In which case,
you should jump off a little before the end of the rail. But on a curb,
jump off just before you come to a complete stop, and land. You can
either get off fakie, or regular. Try regular for now, and then try
fakie when you are pretty good at it. That's it...just try it out, and
if say it's too hard, then you really stink, because your nine year old
neighbor down the streets wearing "Blaze" skates could do
it...
First off, try a stall
of the sole grind. Try to keep most the weight on the foot that is using
the sole. The other foot, the one in position like the frontside, is
used as a counter-balance, and should be pressed down, but not extremely
hard. Get good at jumping on and off, and then back up, because we're going
to actually try it! Go back a distance from your grinding surface on
your most comfortable side. Now skate up to the surface at a moderate
speed. Anticipate what you're going to do. As you take off, your feet
should already be in the sole-grind position. As you make contact with
the curb, remember to keep the weight on your sole. Now place your right
foot in front of the sole, you should be moving (grinding) as this
happens. Take awhile to enjoy the grind, then hop off. It is usually
comfortable to jump off fakie (backwards), but also forward is convenient
for some people. Get good at this, so you can do almost every attempt,
then go get a crown at Burger King, and wear it around for the remainder
of the day....um...ya.
Unity grinds are yet another
variation on the royale grind. Put simply, learn these after you learn a
royale grind for best success. A unity grind (also called an LA grind or
a Buddah, depending on location) is a grind in which you slide down the
object with your legs crossed, grinding on both outside edges.
There are a few key tips in getting
a unity down, other than just learn a royale. If you can royale on the
boot with ease, unities should take you an hour or two to get down to a
reasonable level. Anyway, the first thing you want to do is make sure
you land in unity position. Approach the object like you are going to
royale it, and jump into the air. Lock in your strong royale foot solid
on the object, and throw the other foot behind. Technically you should
do both at the same time, but while you are learning its ok to stagger
it a bit. Just like in miszous where the back foot will naturally lock
in, the same is true with unities- your back foot will just glide on if
your front is in proper position.
Foot position is also crucial.
Before you even try these, stand still on the ground cross-legged so
that you can get a feel for the proper stance. Your feet should be at
least a foot apart when you land. This is harder than it sounds, because
most people tend to jump on very erect with their feet literally
touching each other. You need to squat down just like in a royale and
make sure you are grinding on the boot. While grinding in this position
you have to keep your feet very firm and locked in, other wise you will
end up sitting cross legged on the object.
There isn't much else to it, other
than going out and getting hurt trying it... There are a few problem
solving tips that I can give to help speed things along, though. Most
people tend to grind too much on top of the object, thus riding up it
and having to step out on top of the planter. To solve this, just
remember to keep your weight back just like in a royale. If you are
jumping on and immediately locking up, then you are not landing in the
proper position. Remember to put that royale foot on and use it as the
main foot. The back foot is on just like a guide. Also make sure to
squat down nice and low so that you are on both skates' boots.
Approach your curb at a
medium speed. Look at the spot that you anticipate landing on...now, as
you come to the curb, turn your body slightly so you are facing it, now
extend your back foot, and begin putting it in the royale position. Make
sure it's pointing away from you, so that the grinding surface is on the
outer side of your skate. As you make contact, begin putting your front
foot in it's place. Your legs should look parallel to each other almost,
and they should be about shoulder width apart. As you do this, lean
back, not so far that you fall over, but enough that you put the most
pressure (if not all of it) on your back foot. This one will probably
take awhile to master, so don't give up. Just keep at it for 2 or 3
days, or longer.
Contrary to what you
might think, one footed fast slides are actually easier than grinding a
rail- Assuming you do them on the right rail. The first step is to find
a nice short rail, preferably down 3 to 5 steps. Then, skate straight
towards it and jump as high as you can to see if you can make it above
the rail. Don't try and jump over the rail your first time, just jump
next to it so you can't catch your feet on it. If you're having problems
getting high enough, try going faster. The faster you go, the farther
out you'll jump and the farther down the rail you'll be when you peak.
If you still can jump high enough to clear it, you probably need to work
on jumping things normally. After all, if you can jump to get on top of
the rail, how do you expect to grind it?! Before you go any further, let
me define a few terms for skate of clarity. A fast slide is a grind in
which the lead foot (the one furthest down the rail) is sliding along
the rail, and the trailing foot isn't on. A back slide is the opposite,
with the trailing foot being slid upon and with the lead foot being
lifted/grabbed. A soul slide is a soul grind in which the lead foot is
lifted off and you are grinding only on the soul of your soul foot. With
that out of the way on to the how-to. Once you can jump high enough, you
should be ready to give fast slides a shot. One key is to approach from
a slight angle so that you'll just cross over the bottom of the rail.
Get some speed up, jump and turn so that you are parallel to the rail.
Stick your leg out, tap the rail, pull it in, and you are done. In
reality you are not grinding, but sliding. Though a few top skaters can
actually grind in this fashion, the vast majority simply do a slide. So
remember to jump high enough and with your body straight enough that you
can stick your leg down and toe tap the rail. Back slides are found to
be easier to do than fast slides by most. To do a back slide you
approach the rail just like you were going to do a normal grind, except
you want to hit the rail with just the outside edge of your back foot.
Remember, the key is that you don't want to put any weight on the
sliding foot or it will slide out from under you and you will jack your
ribs. A few key things to remember when doing fast (and back) slides are
speed, spin, and control. If you are doing a long rail, or a shallow
rail, you will need tons of speed to be able to fast slide it and not
have to put any weight on the foot. If you are used to just frontsiding
the rail, its a big mental jump to do these, but its quite possible.
Remember that you are basically just jumping over the rail and throwing
in what looks like a grind. The next two important things to remember-
spin and control- go hand in hand. Because you are going so fast and the
rails are smaller than normal, you will need to spin very fast to be
able to make the grind and make the landing. You need to be in total
control of your body when it is in the air, and hopefully it'll be
possible to pull it out. Once you're done with that, all that's left is
variations, bigger rails, and actually grinding it.. As you get
comfortable with the sliding and getting into the correct position, you
should be able to actually start grinding the rail instead of toe
tapping it. This will make it more stylish, and also able to do longer
rails. If you are ready to try the real thing, read up on royales first,
as they are as close to it as you can get.
A makio is pretty much
the same as the back slide, with two minor differences. The first and
obvious one is that your sliding foot is doing a soul slide on the rail.
The second difference is that you don't need to turn your body
perpendicular to the rail to soul. You can just keep going straight
ahead and it'll work fine. Being able to do soul grinds is a big help
when trying to learn this trick because being able to lock in the soul
foot is a skill that takes a bit of practice to acquire. In any case,
you approach the rail just like you are going to do a soul grind. Make
sure you jump up high and get your weight on top of the rail. Lock in
the soul foot and away you go. The free foot can be doing any number of
things, but a typical action is for it to be either grabbed by a free
hand or placed next to the souling foot. Soul like normal and hop off of
the rail. The beauty of this trick is that it is an easy extension to
soul grinds because a proper soul grind has almost no weight on the lead
foot. And since little weight is placed on the lead foot, it is easy to
take it off. The only hard adjustment to make is balance. For many, the
lead foot acts as a rudder and guides you down the rail. However after a
bit of practice it becomes easier. So remember to jump high, get your
weight over the rail, lock in the soul foot solid, and ride it out..
Good luck, and remember no rail is too long!
First off I'll go into
explaining a miszou for people who don't know what a miszou is. A miszou
is when your front foot is sliding on it's soul and your back foot is
turned and sliding in the groove between the 2 and 3 wheel. This trick
can be done on curbs, planters, rails, ramps, or whatever you can find
to grind on.
Approach and jump just
like you are going to pull a backside grind, but instead turn your front
foot so that it's on the soul and is pointing where you want to go. As
you gain experience, you will become more fluid with the trick and won't
have to think about doing a backside, but simply jump up, bend your
front knee and land soul on your front foot. But until then, try and
keep a few key points in mind. Make sure to keep your body facing the
direction you are going. Also keep your front knee bent (boned) so it's
leaning into the thing you are grinding and keep your weight centered on
top of the ledge. Play around with your weight distribution until you
feel comfortable, but most of your weight should be forward, and on your
front foot.
A miszou on a rail is
very similar to doing a miszou on a curb, but on a rail you can bone
your leg over more, but always keep directly on top of the
rail or you will lean off the rail (or fall). I think it is easier doing
farside miszous on rails, but that is just my preference. Either way,
you must make yourself get on top of the rail or you will fall.
All right, the pornstar
is one of the coolest looking tricks I know. Foot position for the
pornstar is as follows: your normal soul foot is placed like you're doing
a soul, except now it's going to be the lead foot. Your other foot is
now going to be in the back. It should touch the rail on the outside
boot/frame. So it's kind of like in the frontside fahrvergnugen
position. The hardest part of this trick is locking on. Once you've got
that, grind as long as you want, and come off spinning or however you
want. This trick is usually done alley-oop, so work on it forward then
spin onto the rail and do it alley-oop.
There are many names
for this trick. It is one of the most stylish looking tricks you can do.
In slang terms it's also called a 'nugen'. When doing the fahrvergnugen,
you have to keep all of your weight on your front foot, but keeping your
body weight as backward as possible. If you don't lean backwards, your
front skate will stick to the obstacle, and you'll stumble over your
front foot. If you look straight down, your front foot should be a
little ahead of the spot you're looking at. Getting the front skate as
low as possible, so that it will ride on the outside frame and the
outside boot as well, will result in more stability, since the skate
will be locked to the obstacle. The trick is easier when you grind
downhill; then it is easier to lock your skate like this. It is so much
easier to maintain balance if you do the trick in low rider style. Many
skaters prefer doing this trick backside. If you do so, you can get your
knees in an angle of about 45 degrees, which will look better, and
probably also easier for the majority. When you do it backside, remember
to have your skates placed perpendicular on the obstacle, so that
(especially your front skate) your feet won't slide into miszou
position.
An Acid grind is like a
Soul Grind but with the front leg turned the other way round such that
it points the opposite direction than the Soul Grind. Practice this as
an Acid Stop before trying it on the curbs. Get the balance right
because that is the most important. Remember, one tip from me, is that
when you skate up to the curb and land in the Acid position, bend your
front skates facing outwards such that more of your frame contacts the
curb. Slamming the front skate down just may jam it and you'll be going
down forwards fast! For starters, try the step-up before actually
jumping and landing in that position. Skate parallel to a curb you are
used to and then bring the Soul leg and lock it in, slide for a moment
to get your balance and then bring the front leg and rest it on the
curb. A word of warning , do not shift your entire weight on the front
feet. Just don't, don't ask why :)! Most important not just in this
trick but in all others is to have your balance directly over your
skates. Slide as long as you can, and when you come off, you'll got
fakie naturally.
The correct way to do
topside tricks is to bend your legs really low, slap your foot with the
inside grind plate on the
grind and hold it. Lots of people, especially Fatty skaters, just jump
on the grind and push their ankle down topside. Don't try to do this
because you will just slip off and probably hurt yourself. What you
should do is to just
work on leg strength and you'll eventually be able to do a topside
grind.
The X-grind is kind of
like an acid-sole, but instead of grinding on the outside grindplate,
you grind on the sole. It's kind of like a "double sole" if
you think about it. Because, you jump up like a regular sole, and then
you put your other skates sole on the rail, curb, ledge, whatever
topside. If you're on a rail, it's not really topside at all, but
straight like the regular sole, but on a ledge or curb, it has to be
bent more, so you can fit it on there.
You jump up like you
would if you were doing a sole-grind, and you place back sole grinding
foot on first, and let is grind for a second. Then you bring your other
foot around, and place that in it's position. The weight should be
distributed evenly between your skates, and if anything, a *little* less
pressure on the front skate (the sole riding 'topside'). To jump off,
lift the front foot first, and get it ready to land, then lift your back
foot, and land the sucker. It shouldn't be too hard, but if it is, just
keep trying. Now, remember, try to bring your front foot over faster and
faster each time you try to do it, so that after awhile, it's just there
automatically, and when that day comes, you will have the highest
self-esteem on the enter internet!
I found it a lot easier
to practice sweatstances before I did the kindgrind, especially because
I wasn't good at topsides. The sweatstance is really easy, so when you
have got that, you just go backwards instead. When doing this trick on
halfpipes and quarterpipes, it is not a big change from going backwards
or forwards, but when you're going down a rail, this is a little harder.
I find it easiest to launch the trick with a 180 off the ground - in
that case you can spot your landing. Be sure to keep your upper body as
much over the rail as possible, having in mind that your soul foot
should be topside. This will make you keep your balance, and you can
bail out - if you're loosing your balance.
You can put the weight practically anywhere, since this trick is a 'well
balanced' trick - it will not sweep yourself away if you lean the wrong
way, although I prefer putting my weight on the souling foot. If your
back foot is perpendicular to the rail, you have to put your weight on
the souling foot. When done on halfpipes, quarterpipes, and
curbs/ledges, you can't have your upper body directly over the obstacle.
You need to have an angle of about 45 degrees.
Alley-oop Royale
version of a soul. In this trick, when you get into the soul grind you
tilt the block between the wheels away from you like a royale. This is a
very easy grind to do once you have mastered the soul.
Grabs Variants Flips Moves
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Method Crossed Indy Alley-oop Back Running Man
Stale Crossed up Express Fakie Front Acid Drop
Mute Stalefish Stiffy Late Miller Cess Slide
Japan Rocket Combination Misty Kang
Judo Liu Kang Berani Bio
Cabalerno
Brainless
There is really nothing
hard to do in landing a 360. You just have to spin fast enough to pull
it out before you hit the ground. To accomplish this you can spin slowly
and jump high, or spin fast, and stay low. For the purposes of this
page, assume you want a normal jump with a fairly fast spin.
The first step in doing a 360 is the
approach. Get on your favorite flat stretch of pavement, and roll at a
fairly slow speed. Crouch down at your knees and waist as if you are
going to jump, and put your arms on one side of you. Next explode
upwards and throw your arms to the other side. Spot your landing point
and direction, unwind, and land.
This trick is quite hard to learn if
you can't do a normal 540. If you can't do one, you really should learn
to before you move on to the bio.
First, find a suitable bed at home
and take the mattress off it. Put the mattress on the floor in front of
your sofa or something of similar height. Second, lay out some cushions
next to the mattress.
After you have done all this, stand
on top of the sofa, and jump as if you were doing a 540. But this time,
instead of keeping your shoulders flat as they spin, bring your right
shoulder (if you spin anti-clockwise, and left shoulder for those who
spin clockwise) down and round. So you bring your shoulder down for the
180 part, and to complete 360, bring it up.
Most of you should get to that bit,
but now comes the tricky part - landing it. Since you are spinning on
your side, if you landed after 540 you would land on the sides of your
skates, and spin round another 90 degrees into the ground. Instead of
letting your legs spin around normally, you have to concentrate on
bringing them over your shoulder (not quite over because that would be
misty flipping). This will bring you back to the normal vertical state
you were in when you started the trick. That is the key to this. If you
can remember to get back vertical, you'll have it down. - aggressive.com
A misty flip is a front flip with a
540. The worrying thing about this trick is going upside down. If you
can bio well and get really horizontal, then misty flips are merely
extension an of this. Sort of...
You might want to try this trick in
water, or maybe at home on a few sleeping bags or something before you
go out an actually try this. Make sure to use all protective padding
when attempting this trick.
For this trick, you need be able to
catch several feet of air. Pump really hard on the ramp so you can get
the biggest air possible. As you leave the ramp behind, let your feet
rise above your head. As you feel yourself go upside down (or the
half-pipe comes back into your vision), look up/tilt your head back.
This will get your rotating the rest of the flip, and if things really
go badly you will land on your knees or skates and not on your head.
Remember, in just about every tricks the head leads where the body goes.
As you get back vertical again
(skates down), bring your knees up to your chest. This will put your
skates at the right angle to meet the ramp. If you have to bail out,
this is the moment to do it, as you can land on your knee-pads and not
damage anything. It does take a couple of tries to land this move, but
don't lose faith. - aggressive.com
Flat spins are spins where you get
completely flat in the air while doing your spin. Be careful, these
tricks are very painful when they are missed.
Pump hard up the ramp, and give your
transition a slight curve, as if you were going for a grind (the way you
want to spin). As you start to air, you will feel as if you are lying on
your side. At this point, you want to bring your legs round hard, so
that you start spinning. This will get you rotating around your belly
button (if you do it right), and all you have to do is hold the
position, until you have gone full circle, at which point, you will be
facing away from the vert. Here, you want to give your torso a little
twist, until you can see the transition. Just brace yourself for the
landing, or the bail, depending on how you end up.
Believe it or not, doing a front
flip on a vert is NOT a very hard trick. If you have the basics down,
and are quite comfortable doing 360's and catching a few feet of air,
flips are a cinch to learn.
To start out, visualize yourself
going up the ramp backwards and doing a flip. After you can visualize
it, you are ready to attack it head on. (Heh) Nailing a front flip
involves only a few simple things- your position in the ramp, the speed
at which you turn, letting go, and landing. I'll try and explain all
four aspects.
First off, you have to have a decent
bit of height to land a flip. If your ramp has a couple of feet of vert,
you will want to be at around the height of the coping before you try
it. If you are any lower you will have to push out as well as turn, and
that will only lead to problems as your speed varies. (Ie- you have to
push out hard if you are trying one low, as opposed to pushing out none
if you are high. The mechanics are much easier if you are higher because
you only have to worry about rotation.) My best advice is to go back and
forth a few times to get the blood flowing, and do a frontside stall on
the coping. Drop back in backwards, making sure to pump hard on the way
down, and prepare to flip.
Now you are going up the ramp
backwards, facing forwards, and saying your favorite prayer very fast.
Don't worry.. You can do this! Hopefully your stance was firm enough
going up backwards that you don't drift in the direction of the coping--
You'll may land flat against the ramp when you are done, or worse hit
your head at the bottom of the rotation. Just remember to go up like a
normal fakie air and you will be fine. So as you feel your speed staring
to taper off, (about a foot or so away from your max height) throw your
arms and chest forwards until they hit your legs. Grab tight and spin
hard and fast.
Your body will naturally know when
to unravel from the spin, so trust your gut instinct when it tells you
I'VE SPUN ENOUGH!. It may take you a fall or two to get the feel of the
timing involved with it, but then again how many times did you fall when
learning 360's?! Its an easy trick, but not THAT easy! To unravel, just
let go and push your body apart as hard as you threw it into a ball. The
idea behind this is to stop your rotation when you have completed a
flip, and have your body in position to drop back in the ramp again.
Again, its tricky, but you have to trust your instincts.
Finally, you have to land this
trick. Since you have stalled out at the top after doing your flip and
are starting to go face first downward, you need to react quickly to try
and pull this out. The first thing you need to do is establish contact
with the ramp. If you haven't done so yet, push your legs back until
they hit the ramp. Hopefully they do touch the ramp, but if they don't,
pull them back in because you are going to fall! Seriously, as long as
your feet are touching the ramp, you should be able to pull out a
landing. - aggressive.com
A mctwist is an inverted spin on a
ramp. They can be 540s or 720s. It all depends on what you think you
can do.Before you even attempt a mctwist,
you must make sure that you can spin a 540 with no trouble and get about
five feet of air. After you can do that, you are ready to try this
trick.
540 MCTWIST:
Pump hard to get a big air off the vert, and when you reach the vert
part of the transition bring your arms around to start spinning. At the
same time, twist your head down to your ribs. This will get you upside
down. If you've spun hard enough you will start spinning, and if you get
the right momentum by bending you will start inverting. This will feel
really weird, and you must resist the temptation to spread your arms and
legs out to stop yourself because if you do you will stop spinning
upside down. This is not good.
When you feel yourself pass 360, you
can now start to unwind your arms and legs to slow you down. You'll spin
the rest of the 540 by momentum alone, so don't worry. It is at this
point that most people grab, although if you think you are good you can
try the whole thing with a grab. To get out of the inverted position you
need to bring your knees up to your chest. This will get your legs
sticking out at the correct angle to drop back in to the half-pipe.
Getting back straight isn't easy, and you will have plenty of fun
getting your bailing out technique right. - aggressive.com
