i feel this problem is everywhere. took me personally 8 years of skateboarding and then another 3 years after i got back into it later just to figure out that i was bending my back WAY too much. funny thing is, you can skate that way if you learn how to compensate.. but it takes SO much more energy. like doing 3 ollies in a row is exausting if you have to lift your entire upper body from your back every time. it can also really mess up your timing, because crouching down and popping as you finally come fully up become miles apart.
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my back, once I figured this out. So crazy how little tiny adjustments can have such a huge impact on your technique, stamina, pop…etc!
This is so underrated, I've been struggling with all my tricks at speed because my balance always felt off and they kept turning. I didn't think I was bending my back at all, but looking back at all my footage from the last year, I realized that's exactly what I was doing wrong. This changes everything thank you so much!
This really is the best skating channel on TH-cam. You give simple advice that most folks miss on here. I could ollie, but I'd always step forward when landing. Turns out I was hinging my back and leaning forward. Thanks for being here!
This was one of those game changing tips that really opened things up for me. About halfway though the video I paused and went downstairs to try and added 2-3 seconds to my stationary manual and started knocking out 360 pivots which I could never really do before. Thanks a bunch man
Very good tip to take with you right from the get go. The realization that you need to not bend over will come to you naturally if you stick with it but knowing it from the onset will speed up your development.
I wish skaters were willing to share their experience, when I was starting out. But, at least I can pass on my little contributions today. Keep shredding.
Great video man, I recently watched a video of my skating and realized how hunched over I look, I wanted to correct this and found this video, appreciate the info!
I totally needed this! I searched for why I lean backwards when I practice manuals. I recently tailored my truck looseness to what feels best for me. I feel like I am in a goldilocks zone. I will try this exercise and see if it fixes my leaning back too much issue. Thank you for your professional guidance!!
Love wut ur doin. I tell kids at the sk8park learning to ollie "try to keep ur shoulders over the board". It works for ollies , kickflips, and heelflips.
It’s such a valuable tip. I wish I’d learned it earlier. I was at least five years in before I figured it out, and very few dudes would help you out with tips back then 😂
Bro, this is the exact problem I've been having with my heelflip on my snowskate for like 3 years. Every time, the board would flip out heelside and I would barely even be able to get my heels back on the board. And I started to correct it by moving my back foot closer to the front-shuv pocket and it started to correct a bit... and I thought I was fixing it... but it was just because moving my back foot made me stop bending my back so much! It made me stand up straighter, just like you're saying, and stay above the board and bend with my hips more, like a squat. Once I got out of the mentality that it was the way my *feet* were popping, and instead how I was holding my hips and torso... the whole trick changed, and this realization affected a lot of other tricks too. You are a very direct and clear teacher, and I appreciate that! As someone who has been learning skating mostly alone for like... off and on for about 20 years?... geez😂... it's super helpful to get these kinds of exercises and tips that otherwise haven't be available to me.
Great point! Angling your back too much backwards would be a bad way to fall over yourself too. This was a great reminder to keep this in mind when I skate tomorrow!! Peace
This is a good one. Not sure why I haven't applied this before given I used to squat heavy, so the idea of crouching down whilst maintaining good upright posture should come naturally to me. I noticed this the other day (I was bending over and just from where my eyes were looking down I kinda felt like part up my upper body was leaning over toeside edge too much) and that my center of gravity or balance may have been slightly off, but because I've only started skating again over these last few seasons (after a 20 year break) and haven't been able to tell if some sloppiness was from being rusty or if I was indeed doing/relearning something wrong. And I knew it wasn't me opening up my shoulders too much, this video confirms it's posture. Should help correct my beastly shifty ollies that I ain't been landing very straight lately. This is important because I'm trying to build up to max speed hill bomb ollies where I won't be able to afford the slightest offset on my landings lol. Funnily enough, I kinda stopped paying attention to my feet the other week though and my ollies started to improve (sometimes I practice them on dark streets to become more familiar with the feel of an ollie than how it looks) and then your video about watching your feet came up. I think I've just been focusing too much on my back foot when looking down, hence some of the shiftiness (which must be the case because my kickflips are high & straight as shit and that involves looking at my front foot more). Now that I'm looking more at the obstacle and then shifting my eyes to my front foot once I initiate the trick, I'm landing a lot more straight. This video and the one on being more conscientious of what to keep in eyesight should just about clear up all my issues with ollies, as I'm actually focused on mastering one of the basics that most people neglect because it's such a stepping stone.
So many parallels between skating and other activities. If I’d lifted weights in my youth, I would’ve discovered this one a lot quicker. But I waiting until my thirties. So, it took me a decade to figure it out. I’m happy to share though, and happy it’s helping you guys save time, and avoid injuries and hours of missed tricks.
@@NormanWoods It's funny because I did Tae Kwon Do growing up, so it gave me good explosiveness & flexibility when I skated in my younger years and then I moved over to strength training & heavy lifting when I got older. I was kind of worried that I retrained my legs to work "slow & steady" (especially now that I'm bigger & heavier on a board) over the years because they became more used to dealing with heavy weight under load, but I'm finding it's just about regaining a lost ability and now I have the benefit of bigger, stronger legs too.
You are the real MVP, thank u so much! I(24y.o) just started learning to ollie and watched countless tutorials. After watching your videos and analysing the clips of my shitty ollies i finally know what i'm doing wrong (bent back, not enough bending the knees, pop too late, trucks are too loose...). Thats the infos i needed which u dont get in most yt tutorials. This made it so much easier and i already improoved alot thanks to u.🙏🏽 Peace and greetings from.🇨🇭✌🏽
I feel like this one can be an ongoing thing to focus on even in more advanced skating, as leaning too far forward is such a common habit coming from a place of fear. Good posture means you're more likely to land your trick, but that can make people avoid it if they'd rather bail. 😄
True. I recently learn 270° out of halfcab heel nose. Took forever to land because I was leaned over toe side whenever I came out. I have to focus on this next time I’m doing them.
Awesome video Man!! I did it before but tried recently to bend my back more to accelerate more way on jump. After watchung this I will Stop that and instead focus on keeping it straight and lift warms with the jump.
Man, I'm really loving these rookie mistake videos. This is something I have struggled with and although I hated the way it looks when I'm hunched over I never put it together that it would negatively affect my skating. Seems stupid of me now but ohh well... anyway, thanks for this Norman super appreciate you!
Thank you Norman!! I’ve been skating for a long time, and you’re seriously helping me break old bad habits. When you have the time, would you be able to do a video about good falling/bailing habits? All of my body issues come from terrible falling habits, and there isn’t much helpful or articulate info online.
A great skater to watch to understand the concept in this video is Zach Doeling. His back stays very upright when he goes to pop his tricks and trying to visualize that when I practice helps a lot.
What sucks about this is most new skaters don't realize this is a problem. I was able to learn ollies, pop shuvs, and FS 180s. I sucked at front shuvs, couldn't even get close to back 180s, and could only land kickflips with toe touch (most of the time the board just went behind me). It wasn't until I made a post to the New Skaters subreddit that I realize that was where most of my problems were coming from. Even now I still struggle with keeping my shoulders over the board but this issue should definitely be talked about more for new skaters. Solid video by the way.
Seriously Norman you strike again man. I kept wondering why I can seem to keep the board centered under my feet it would go forward or rear ward. So I came home after worked and began trying to focus on keeping my back straight up and down like when I squat. Boom! Borax staying under me flick is more reactive catches were easier to see. This could be a game changer for me. I knew I was bending my back but I also squat very deeply bending my knees. The straight back definitely helps with the balance, I guess I thought I was getting more power crunching up. Thank you sir for correcting me and opening my eyes.
This is the type of comment that keeps me making these videos. I had to learn all of these on my own, over the first ten years of skating. So, I’m always thinking of the trial and error I’d like to save a few people from. Glad to help out!
Im tall so i gotta bend down even more to get some sort of pop. What else i notice that helps is having my shoulder downward and helps the board stay centered
Great lessons man. Thanks. I did this so badly on backside tricks. I only noticed when i saw myself on video. It looked horrible and also causes the board to drift a lot to the side.
It is possible to do an episode on your take on how to lift your arms while doing tricks? Like are there differences in straight tricks like ollies, kickflips; 180/360 tricks; and tricks that need to shift your position (e.g. getting on f/s & b/s grinds)?. Being an older guy in mid 30s having an office job for 10+years without skating, my shoulders and back muscles were really stiff and my arms tend to stay really low or can only go in front of me while jumping, which makes my tricks low and off balance. I noticed when I deliberately put effort at my shoulder joints to raise my arms and keep them as straight, open and up as possible, I could suck my feet higher up, and with a straight back, tricks are way more centered. Then I started to take note on how people move their arms, and I noticed that some with really great pop will even rotate their arms backwards while lifting them up, up to behind and over their ears, then bring them back down and forward, which I think could lock their shoulders in place and make the jump more stable and straight? I literally can't do this with my current state of shoulder and back condition (stretching them hard now). Many tricks tips videos often focus only on the feet while the upper body posture contributes so much to the make or miss of a trick. Thank you for doing this series to address issues that many take for granted but actually require effort to do right.
That’s a great recommendation. I’ll have to start paying attention to the different arm movements, and compile some tips. I know how stiffness can get you. My left hip is waaaaaay too tight. Trying to work on opening it up myself. Age 😭
Dude this was like a curse for me for the majority of the time I skated so hopefully this gets through to the younger skaters. I didn't have any teachers so I learned from watching other skaters but this one just never processed.
IMHO if you’re struggling with the foundations, I’d suggest learning switch. As soon as I switched stances (I thought I was regular), it helped me understand how my body functions. Moreover, use your fingers to point at the direction you want to go as this will help you understand how your back and front shoulders function with relation to where you intend on going. Skating is hard and as Phelps indicated: Skateboarding doesn’t owe you anything.
I clicked on this video so fast! So I’ve been working on squatting with everything I do since watching your tutorials and it’s helped so much! But I think I’ve been making this mistake also. I have a question for you regarding a trick I’ve been developing,might be a NBD but I got so close to landing it today. I will send it to you in a few minutes with the question.
Thanks for the advice. I find sometimes when I crouch lower to pop it takes more effort and takes a lot of the spring out my legs as a result, do you recommend doing squats or anything to help strengthen legs etc?
Yes! Just finished some dumbbell front squats and RDLs myself. Also, you have to spring up quickly. A lot of people are crouching just fine, but they stay down there way too long, and lose the added power. Might make that Rookie Mistake #6.
Dealing with this after 20 years of skating and getting back on the board. My lower back was screaming at me after a 1hr session. Trying to break this habit
Seriously good advice. Im really bad for bending over instead of at the knees. I think its a case of ''if my head is lower to the ground then I am bending down'' ?
(I wouldn't open this comment on a mobile screen sorry about that.) True. It sounds like a joke, but never poke your butt out (in general, not saying you do this, you're perfect). It will make you skate better. Try to stand squarely whenever you can, because skating offsets your hip already. I used to get hurt after sweeping the house (brooms are made for short people!) or rinsing my mouth after brushing. Don't compress your spine, learn to also curve your middle and upper back (like a hunchback yes) forward instead you can also feel some of the strain shifting to the abdominal wall. Like you're leaning on a counter and don't wanna look funny. And keep butt tucked in, like your basic taichi stance. Your knees will bend instead and abs will compress. It's my zombie stance too. I still do lower back excercises for strength. Stretching after activating this muscle feels soooo good. I do tucked planches (and handstands) with my elbows hinged so it looks like I'm gonna kiss the floor (like my dad lol). I recommend a firm mattress. Recently bought a new mattress (purple, why skimp out) and said let's try soft just this once. I made a stupid call. I had to exchange it. (Ever seen a Mattress Firm chain store? I wonder what it's trying to tell me lol.) Also in your last video, I saw you did the whole sheet of clear grip!! I do this at home because it takes a while lol but here's how I apply it, I've done a few so far. After peeling the backing. First stretch the tape lengthwise in your hand until it's taut and kinda folds in the middle like the shape of your nose and tail. You have to stick the tape to the nose and tail edges, and then push down on the middle of the entire board with your thumb for the first spot, then work from there. My thumb bends kinda backwards (towards the outside of my hand, so I can use the soft part to lean on it alot and make sure the tape sticks down). You can also do a rolling motion with your thumb to get more coverage faster. I pat down the grip using my thumb from the middle all the way to the ends and I get no bubbles. Jessup doesn't have the same perforations mob does but it goes on fine. I have some clear mob grip (w perforations) with a slayer logo on it on my spare board, and it went on a bit easier, but not by much. I still had to do the process. But it does look less 'frosted', which I don't mind anyways. I don't drag my thumb across, but it still does wear out the skin a little bit. The adhesive turns into kind of a window when it sticks on really good. I love seeing the dyed plies, and maybe a sticker or two. Enjoy! (I also use a heat gun finally to conform and stick down the edges of the board before cutting off the excess, and to make any trapped air bubble up so I can pop it, like around the edge of stickers. When it gets hot, then I just hold my thumb down so it bakes under there and sticks well.) Also, going back to posture, on a skateboard I've determined that there are two stances, for simplicity's sake. The square stance and the forward facing stance. I noticed some guys doing reverts while bombing a hill and laying down and doing crazy stuff. In surfing this forward stance is called the 'pigdog' (bless whoever indirectly mentioned this in a skate trick tips video after I talked about this) you can see how your back knee easily touches the ground (or griptape). I also used to think chris cole skated with his back leg tucked in, when I was a teen, because my friend said I did that. I was just skating in a forward posture. But as an adult recently, I've determined his big 360 flip landing is just because you don't set up for a 360 flip standing square, I don't think. It looks to me like a scissor motion with your legs when you do the trick. And you land almost how you set up. But if you notice, for both stances they are supported by their core (knees to chest) and not just their back. When you hop and use your legs, your core has to be supported and somewhat rigid. If your lower back is bent inwards and your butt is poking out when you land that set and compresses like, it might just hurt... all the way to the upper, and I know because it's happened to me a long time ago. Tore my back muscles landing from a 5 set. The spine is a stack of disks (vertebrae), and the muscle around it are supposed to support it, but if you land weird, they might not work, or the muscle group you need maybe won't work. If i land leaning too much to my left, my right side will probably get sprained, and so on... the issue isn't popping a trick weird, but landing weird can really suck. That's why I stress don't suck in or push out your lower back and stick out your butt. Once the jenga tower starts to lose pieces, it doesn't have the same strength. (If your back is all 'wavy' like your shoe eyelets your muscles can't help you absorb shock lol.) I at least keep my lower back straight and tuck in my butt, or no poking out, whatever you prefer. I feel like a tall scarecrow when I have to do something like put a pin number or rinse my teeth, but to me it's the best form for some applications. I still slightly hinge forward with my hip, but with skating the knee is doing most of it, so sometimes I wait til the last moment to squat, but I hinge first. That's what I call the double squat. I've never had to think about this while skating since I got back on my board. But I am aware of it's importance. Last times I skated a drop, I did a million ollies first and landing nicely was the goal. I did notice a forntside momentum because my back arm tends to swing forward when I land (it certainly doesn't feel stylish). Even if the obstacle was within a short distance, normally I experience this when doing a gap distance that is new to me. To me there's a place for bending every single way possible. Like yoga and stretching is okay. Dancers move their hips all over the place, I try to be as efficient as possible. But for skating you really wanna have that back core stable too. Like a beatle. If you poke out. You can't squat like that. You can't stretch like that. I mean you can but try it with a straight and compact lower back, it feels better. The best thing you can do is keep your lower back and everything sort of aligned. If you walk with alot of weight on your back, your spine will lose the strength to stay rigid. I've experienced where my back kind of bowed because of how tired I was of walking. I was resting my backpack on my butt by the end of it. And even got lipomas, surgery after it. The idea is to create a bow in the other direction. So if this was a bow and arrow, you'd be shooting backwards. Or think of it like a board. My excercise strengthens the muscle as you go up and as you go down, the muscle is the erector spinae. You can get the pushup handles that swivel around and that's what I use to work out. I'm receptive to your advice at my level, and you're a good teacher, but I also like the idea of workshopping our methods! If I put what works for me out there, I hope someone else will do the same, and skating will stay interesting for those who for them it doesn't maybe click right away. Not the posers, but those who want it and still can't do it.
I still do this after knowing not to for decades. It's always when my legs are tired from work. I don't even realize it. Meanwhile I'm skating horribly and I usually get pretty mad and deconstruct what I'm doing wrong. 90% of the time I'm bending at the waist. The other 10 is not using both feet equally
This must be the most educating and significant tutorial secrets known to man. You are an incredible awesome skater, and at the same time you work wonders by the way you explain how to antagonize this difficult self destructing freakin’ beautiful drug like activity that skateboarding really is, by the end of the day. I quit skating at age 16. Now Im 41, and thanks to your multiple Skill sets Im able to shred at a pretty decent level as a senior soon to be an old crook. Anyway. Is it possible to do some videolessons? Im Norwegian, and i guess the time difference can cause problems? I can do most tricks. Tré’s, varial heels FS/bs heel/kick, big spins and so on. Pretty controlled too. …But high speed and gaps scares the crap out of me.. ok. Respond if you think we can figure something out. Cool. Lars. (Oslo)
Hey Lars! Really appreciated reading your comment. Being able to share my experience adds another layer to my enjoyment of skating, for which I’m grateful. I offer video lessons, on the Patreon. There’s a link in the description. I’ve done them with people all over, recently Hong Kong. We should be able to make it work.
Damn I've been skating since I was 12 I'm 18 now I only have a couple tricks but I was trying to tre flip the other day and realized how bad I was doing this but I know this is a massive problem in my skating in general but I can't wait to finally be able to fix it I just didn't know how but probably should have realized sooner
well i bought my skateboard yesterday and i was skateboarding for 6 hours non stop i learned the basics but i think i was bending my back each time i was on the skateboard because now my back hurts very much same with legs actually
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Great advice! I recently discovered that "lower the butt" works better as cue for me than "bend your legs". In fact, lowering the butt seems to improve everything I do on a skateboard. But I still often fold my upper body too much forward, since that's something I've been doing since I started skating 8-9 years ago at an age of 41. Another reason for why I bend my upper body forward a lot is that I see many great skaters doing this on TH-cam. But now I realise that what these great skaters really do is "compress their bodies" by lowering their butts a lot, or pulling up their knees a lot towards their chests. When they do this it *looks like* they are bending their upper body forward. In this video I try to break my old habits by focusing on lowering the butt, and it feels great: th-cam.com/video/dpAQa-3sdHM/w-d-xo.html
One thing that was not said in the video is that this incorrect form together with rounded back can cause back pain because of how rapid they straighten when you ollie. I know that from experience and believe me you don't want that.
Ugh idk how you bend so low while keeping your back straight. I can’t do it, unless I go on my tippy toes with my front foot but it seems from the videos I’ve seen of you doing Ollie’s you don’t go on your tippy toes with your front foot much if at all, only the back foot.
I’ve been trying my butt off to get my Ollie’s super high, I’m trying to Ollie at least waist level rn, I’ve been using you and spencer Barton as a guide analyzing your guys vids all the time, U guys are like my idols in skateboarding lol.
i feel this problem is everywhere. took me personally 8 years of skateboarding and then another 3 years after i got back into it later just to figure out that i was bending my back WAY too much. funny thing is, you can skate that way if you learn how to compensate.. but it takes SO much more energy. like doing 3 ollies in a row is exausting if you have to lift your entire upper body from your back every time. it can also really mess up your timing, because crouching down and popping as you finally come fully up become miles apart.
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my back, once I figured this out. So crazy how little tiny adjustments can have such a huge impact on your technique, stamina, pop…etc!
This is so underrated, I've been struggling with all my tricks at speed because my balance always felt off and they kept turning. I didn't think I was bending my back at all, but looking back at all my footage from the last year, I realized that's exactly what I was doing wrong. This changes everything thank you so much!
I have learned so much from this series thank you for putting the time in to be a great teacher.
You’re welcome. Thank you for watching!
It’s always a good day when Norman uploads!
🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
If we got more rain, I’d be uploading more frequently.
This really is the best skating channel on TH-cam. You give simple advice that most folks miss on here. I could ollie, but I'd always step forward when landing. Turns out I was hinging my back and leaning forward. Thanks for being here!
Thank you for watching!
This was one of those game changing tips that really opened things up for me. About halfway though the video I paused and went downstairs to try and added 2-3 seconds to my stationary manual and started knocking out 360 pivots which I could never really do before. Thanks a bunch man
this series are the best skateboarding tips i have ever gotten! by far!
Thank you so much! I’m happy to have helped.
I get pumped to skate from watching these tutorials. That's crazy. So many gems in this 10 mins
Thanks for the kind words. It feels nice to be useful. Happy shredding.
Very good tip to take with you right from the get go. The realization that you need to not bend over will come to you naturally if you stick with it but knowing it from the onset will speed up your development.
So true. Took me years to really hone in on it. But looking back at the best tricks I landed early on, I was doing this unconsciously.
so glad I found your videos when I am only two months into learning to skate. your tips have already helped me a lot.
I wish skaters were willing to share their experience, when I was starting out. But, at least I can pass on my little contributions today. Keep shredding.
It took me many years to figure this one out. Filming yourself often helps a lot with figuring out what you’re doing wrong
Great video man, I recently watched a video of my skating and realized how hunched over I look, I wanted to correct this and found this video, appreciate the info!
Glad it helped!
I totally needed this! I searched for why I lean backwards when I practice manuals. I recently tailored my truck looseness to what feels best for me. I feel like I am in a goldilocks zone.
I will try this exercise and see if it fixes my leaning back too much issue. Thank you for your professional guidance!!
I really hope it helps! Enjoy your sessions. I can’t wait to be back.
Love wut ur doin. I tell kids at the sk8park learning to ollie "try to keep ur shoulders over the board". It works for ollies , kickflips, and heelflips.
It’s such a valuable tip. I wish I’d learned it earlier. I was at least five years in before I figured it out, and very few dudes would help you out with tips back then 😂
After looking at my feet better it helped me visualize my foot going into a bs noseslide better and I learned them shortly after.
Good stuff man
👊🏾
Bro, this is the exact problem I've been having with my heelflip on my snowskate for like 3 years. Every time, the board would flip out heelside and I would barely even be able to get my heels back on the board. And I started to correct it by moving my back foot closer to the front-shuv pocket and it started to correct a bit... and I thought I was fixing it... but it was just because moving my back foot made me stop bending my back so much! It made me stand up straighter, just like you're saying, and stay above the board and bend with my hips more, like a squat. Once I got out of the mentality that it was the way my *feet* were popping, and instead how I was holding my hips and torso... the whole trick changed, and this realization affected a lot of other tricks too. You are a very direct and clear teacher, and I appreciate that! As someone who has been learning skating mostly alone for like... off and on for about 20 years?... geez😂... it's super helpful to get these kinds of exercises and tips that otherwise haven't be available to me.
Great point! Angling your back too much backwards would be a bad way to fall over yourself too. This was a great reminder to keep this in mind when I skate tomorrow!! Peace
Forwards I meant
This information is so valuable Norman! Thanks a lot for your knowledge! big hug from Spain
Really loving this series…
You changed my skate life thank you man!
👊🏾👊🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
This is a good one. Not sure why I haven't applied this before given I used to squat heavy, so the idea of crouching down whilst maintaining good upright posture should come naturally to me. I noticed this the other day (I was bending over and just from where my eyes were looking down I kinda felt like part up my upper body was leaning over toeside edge too much) and that my center of gravity or balance may have been slightly off, but because I've only started skating again over these last few seasons (after a 20 year break) and haven't been able to tell if some sloppiness was from being rusty or if I was indeed doing/relearning something wrong. And I knew it wasn't me opening up my shoulders too much, this video confirms it's posture. Should help correct my beastly shifty ollies that I ain't been landing very straight lately. This is important because I'm trying to build up to max speed hill bomb ollies where I won't be able to afford the slightest offset on my landings lol. Funnily enough, I kinda stopped paying attention to my feet the other week though and my ollies started to improve (sometimes I practice them on dark streets to become more familiar with the feel of an ollie than how it looks) and then your video about watching your feet came up. I think I've just been focusing too much on my back foot when looking down, hence some of the shiftiness (which must be the case because my kickflips are high & straight as shit and that involves looking at my front foot more). Now that I'm looking more at the obstacle and then shifting my eyes to my front foot once I initiate the trick, I'm landing a lot more straight. This video and the one on being more conscientious of what to keep in eyesight should just about clear up all my issues with ollies, as I'm actually focused on mastering one of the basics that most people neglect because it's such a stepping stone.
So many parallels between skating and other activities. If I’d lifted weights in my youth, I would’ve discovered this one a lot quicker. But I waiting until my thirties. So, it took me a decade to figure it out. I’m happy to share though, and happy it’s helping you guys save time, and avoid injuries and hours of missed tricks.
@@NormanWoods It's funny because I did Tae Kwon Do growing up, so it gave me good explosiveness & flexibility when I skated in my younger years and then I moved over to strength training & heavy lifting when I got older. I was kind of worried that I retrained my legs to work "slow & steady" (especially now that I'm bigger & heavier on a board) over the years because they became more used to dealing with heavy weight under load, but I'm finding it's just about regaining a lost ability and now I have the benefit of bigger, stronger legs too.
You are the real MVP, thank u so much! I(24y.o) just started learning to ollie and watched countless tutorials. After watching your videos and analysing the clips of my shitty ollies i finally know what i'm doing wrong (bent back, not enough bending the knees, pop too late, trucks are too loose...). Thats the infos i needed which u dont get in most yt tutorials. This made it so much easier and i already improoved alot thanks to u.🙏🏽 Peace and greetings from.🇨🇭✌🏽
Your videos are so helpful absolute legend
🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
I’m recomending you to my friends, you are a great teacher
Soy de latinoamerica y miro tu videos tus consejos son muy buenos gracias por siempre activar los subtitulos.
Thank you 👍🙏
You’re welcome!
Just in time this was an issue on my mind with my skating.
I feel like this one can be an ongoing thing to focus on even in more advanced skating, as leaning too far forward is such a common habit coming from a place of fear. Good posture means you're more likely to land your trick, but that can make people avoid it if they'd rather bail. 😄
True. I recently learn 270° out of halfcab heel nose. Took forever to land because I was leaned over toe side whenever I came out. I have to focus on this next time I’m doing them.
more amazing content. you're gonna blow up soon dude, keep it coming!
This video responded perfectly at my questions about a correct stance, thanks a bunch. Will practice this movement until warm weather comes again! :)
The devil is in the details, and this is one of the few videos/vloggers that analyzes skating at that deeper level. Thank you.
Awesome video Man!! I did it before but tried recently to bend my back more to accelerate more way on jump. After watchung this I will Stop that and instead focus on keeping it straight and lift warms with the jump.
I always love these videos, Thank you Mr. Woods
Thanks Sensei Norman
🙏🏾
Man, I'm really loving these rookie mistake videos. This is something I have struggled with and although I hated the way it looks when I'm hunched over I never put it together that it would negatively affect my skating. Seems stupid of me now but ohh well... anyway, thanks for this Norman super appreciate you!
youre the best teacher ever.
Thank you Norman!! I’ve been skating for a long time, and you’re seriously helping me break old bad habits. When you have the time, would you be able to do a video about good falling/bailing habits? All of my body issues come from terrible falling habits, and there isn’t much helpful or articulate info online.
A great skater to watch to understand the concept in this video is Zach Doeling. His back stays very upright when he goes to pop his tricks and trying to visualize that when I practice helps a lot.
What sucks about this is most new skaters don't realize this is a problem. I was able to learn ollies, pop shuvs, and FS 180s. I sucked at front shuvs, couldn't even get close to back 180s, and could only land kickflips with toe touch (most of the time the board just went behind me). It wasn't until I made a post to the New Skaters subreddit that I realize that was where most of my problems were coming from. Even now I still struggle with keeping my shoulders over the board but this issue should definitely be talked about more for new skaters. Solid video by the way.
so just keeping your back straight helped to fix the entire thing?
Seriously Norman you strike again man. I kept wondering why I can seem to keep the board centered under my feet it would go forward or rear ward. So I came home after worked and began trying to focus on keeping my back straight up and down like when I squat. Boom! Borax staying under me flick is more reactive catches were easier to see. This could be a game changer for me. I knew I was bending my back but I also squat very deeply bending my knees. The straight back definitely helps with the balance, I guess I thought I was getting more power crunching up. Thank you sir for correcting me and opening my eyes.
This is the type of comment that keeps me making these videos. I had to learn all of these on my own, over the first ten years of skating. So, I’m always thinking of the trial and error I’d like to save a few people from. Glad to help out!
Im tall so i gotta bend down even more to get some sort of pop. What else i notice that helps is having my shoulder downward and helps the board stay centered
Great lessons man. Thanks. I did this so badly on backside tricks. I only noticed when i saw myself on video. It looked horrible and also causes the board to drift a lot to the side.
It is possible to do an episode on your take on how to lift your arms while doing tricks? Like are there differences in straight tricks like ollies, kickflips; 180/360 tricks; and tricks that need to shift your position (e.g. getting on f/s & b/s grinds)?. Being an older guy in mid 30s having an office job for 10+years without skating, my shoulders and back muscles were really stiff and my arms tend to stay really low or can only go in front of me while jumping, which makes my tricks low and off balance. I noticed when I deliberately put effort at my shoulder joints to raise my arms and keep them as straight, open and up as possible, I could suck my feet higher up, and with a straight back, tricks are way more centered. Then I started to take note on how people move their arms, and I noticed that some with really great pop will even rotate their arms backwards while lifting them up, up to behind and over their ears, then bring them back down and forward, which I think could lock their shoulders in place and make the jump more stable and straight? I literally can't do this with my current state of shoulder and back condition (stretching them hard now). Many tricks tips videos often focus only on the feet while the upper body posture contributes so much to the make or miss of a trick. Thank you for doing this series to address issues that many take for granted but actually require effort to do right.
That’s a great recommendation. I’ll have to start paying attention to the different arm movements, and compile some tips. I know how stiffness can get you. My left hip is waaaaaay too tight. Trying to work on opening it up myself. Age 😭
Thank you so much! New subscriber but super thankful for your content!🙏🏼🙏🏼
Dude this was like a curse for me for the majority of the time I skated so hopefully this gets through to the younger skaters. I didn't have any teachers so I learned from watching other skaters but this one just never processed.
IMHO if you’re struggling with the foundations, I’d suggest learning switch. As soon as I switched stances (I thought I was regular), it helped me understand how my body functions. Moreover, use your fingers to point at the direction you want to go as this will help you understand how your back and front shoulders function with relation to where you intend on going.
Skating is hard and as Phelps indicated: Skateboarding doesn’t owe you anything.
Thank you
I clicked on this video so fast! So I’ve been working on squatting with everything I do since watching your tutorials and it’s helped so much!
But I think I’ve been making this mistake also. I have a question for you regarding a trick I’ve been developing,might be a NBD but I got so close to landing it today. I will send it to you in a few minutes with the question.
Send it over. I’ll check it out.
I call it "skaters back" - as a guy coming from snowboard and learning to skateboard :D
😂😂😂
Thanks for the advice. I find sometimes when I crouch lower to pop it takes more effort and takes a lot of the spring out my legs as a result, do you recommend doing squats or anything to help strengthen legs etc?
Yes! Just finished some dumbbell front squats and RDLs myself. Also, you have to spring up quickly. A lot of people are crouching just fine, but they stay down there way too long, and lose the added power. Might make that Rookie Mistake #6.
jump rope is good for adding some extra cardio too
Dealing with this after 20 years of skating and getting back on the board. My lower back was screaming at me after a 1hr session. Trying to break this habit
Now I realize how much I bend my back on switch frontside flips. That’s why center of balance is so off when I pop.
Seriously good advice. Im really bad for bending over instead of at the knees. I think its a case of ''if my head is lower to the ground then I am bending down'' ?
(I wouldn't open this comment on a mobile screen sorry about that.)
True. It sounds like a joke, but never poke your butt out (in general, not saying you do this, you're perfect). It will make you skate better. Try to stand squarely whenever you can, because skating offsets your hip already. I used to get hurt after sweeping the house (brooms are made for short people!) or rinsing my mouth after brushing. Don't compress your spine, learn to also curve your middle and upper back (like a hunchback yes) forward instead you can also feel some of the strain shifting to the abdominal wall. Like you're leaning on a counter and don't wanna look funny. And keep butt tucked in, like your basic taichi stance. Your knees will bend instead and abs will compress. It's my zombie stance too. I still do lower back excercises for strength. Stretching after activating this muscle feels soooo good. I do tucked planches (and handstands) with my elbows hinged so it looks like I'm gonna kiss the floor (like my dad lol).
I recommend a firm mattress. Recently bought a new mattress (purple, why skimp out) and said let's try soft just this once. I made a stupid call. I had to exchange it. (Ever seen a Mattress Firm chain store? I wonder what it's trying to tell me lol.)
Also in your last video, I saw you did the whole sheet of clear grip!! I do this at home because it takes a while lol but here's how I apply it, I've done a few so far. After peeling the backing. First stretch the tape lengthwise in your hand until it's taut and kinda folds in the middle like the shape of your nose and tail. You have to stick the tape to the nose and tail edges, and then push down on the middle of the entire board with your thumb for the first spot, then work from there. My thumb bends kinda backwards (towards the outside of my hand, so I can use the soft part to lean on it alot and make sure the tape sticks down). You can also do a rolling motion with your thumb to get more coverage faster. I pat down the grip using my thumb from the middle all the way to the ends and I get no bubbles. Jessup doesn't have the same perforations mob does but it goes on fine. I have some clear mob grip (w perforations) with a slayer logo on it on my spare board, and it went on a bit easier, but not by much. I still had to do the process. But it does look less 'frosted', which I don't mind anyways. I don't drag my thumb across, but it still does wear out the skin a little bit. The adhesive turns into kind of a window when it sticks on really good. I love seeing the dyed plies, and maybe a sticker or two. Enjoy!
(I also use a heat gun finally to conform and stick down the edges of the board before cutting off the excess, and to make any trapped air bubble up so I can pop it, like around the edge of stickers. When it gets hot, then I just hold my thumb down so it bakes under there and sticks well.)
Also, going back to posture, on a skateboard I've determined that there are two stances, for simplicity's sake. The square stance and the forward facing stance. I noticed some guys doing reverts while bombing a hill and laying down and doing crazy stuff. In surfing this forward stance is called the 'pigdog' (bless whoever indirectly mentioned this in a skate trick tips video after I talked about this) you can see how your back knee easily touches the ground (or griptape). I also used to think chris cole skated with his back leg tucked in, when I was a teen, because my friend said I did that. I was just skating in a forward posture. But as an adult recently, I've determined his big 360 flip landing is just because you don't set up for a 360 flip standing square, I don't think. It looks to me like a scissor motion with your legs when you do the trick. And you land almost how you set up. But if you notice, for both stances they are supported by their core (knees to chest) and not just their back. When you hop and use your legs, your core has to be supported and somewhat rigid. If your lower back is bent inwards and your butt is poking out when you land that set and compresses like, it might just hurt... all the way to the upper, and I know because it's happened to me a long time ago. Tore my back muscles landing from a 5 set.
The spine is a stack of disks (vertebrae), and the muscle around it are supposed to support it, but if you land weird, they might not work, or the muscle group you need maybe won't work. If i land leaning too much to my left, my right side will probably get sprained, and so on... the issue isn't popping a trick weird, but landing weird can really suck. That's why I stress don't suck in or push out your lower back and stick out your butt. Once the jenga tower starts to lose pieces, it doesn't have the same strength. (If your back is all 'wavy' like your shoe eyelets your muscles can't help you absorb shock lol.) I at least keep my lower back straight and tuck in my butt, or no poking out, whatever you prefer. I feel like a tall scarecrow when I have to do something like put a pin number or rinse my teeth, but to me it's the best form for some applications. I still slightly hinge forward with my hip, but with skating the knee is doing most of it, so sometimes I wait til the last moment to squat, but I hinge first. That's what I call the double squat. I've never had to think about this while skating since I got back on my board. But I am aware of it's importance.
Last times I skated a drop, I did a million ollies first and landing nicely was the goal. I did notice a forntside momentum because my back arm tends to swing forward when I land (it certainly doesn't feel stylish). Even if the obstacle was within a short distance, normally I experience this when doing a gap distance that is new to me.
To me there's a place for bending every single way possible. Like yoga and stretching is okay. Dancers move their hips all over the place, I try to be as efficient as possible. But for skating you really wanna have that back core stable too. Like a beatle. If you poke out. You can't squat like that. You can't stretch like that. I mean you can but try it with a straight and compact lower back, it feels better. The best thing you can do is keep your lower back and everything sort of aligned. If you walk with alot of weight on your back, your spine will lose the strength to stay rigid. I've experienced where my back kind of bowed because of how tired I was of walking. I was resting my backpack on my butt by the end of it. And even got lipomas, surgery after it. The idea is to create a bow in the other direction. So if this was a bow and arrow, you'd be shooting backwards. Or think of it like a board. My excercise strengthens the muscle as you go up and as you go down, the muscle is the erector spinae. You can get the pushup handles that swivel around and that's what I use to work out.
I'm receptive to your advice at my level, and you're a good teacher, but I also like the idea of workshopping our methods! If I put what works for me out there, I hope someone else will do the same, and skating will stay interesting for those who for them it doesn't maybe click right away. Not the posers, but those who want it and still can't do it.
I still do this after knowing not to for decades. It's always when my legs are tired from work. I don't even realize it. Meanwhile I'm skating horribly and I usually get pretty mad and deconstruct what I'm doing wrong. 90% of the time I'm bending at the waist. The other 10 is not using both feet equally
Thank you norman i made this mistake until now i thought having a bend over back was the way. I guess i was wrong smh
I still do it sometimes. We’re never perfect. But if we know the right way, we can do our best.
@@NormanWoods Absolutely Sir that is true. Thank you for making this video
Every time I try to skate with a straight back I suck ass lol
It doesn’t have to be completely straight. You just want to avoid hunching over as much as possible. It’s throws off your balance.
This must be the most educating and significant tutorial secrets known to man. You are an incredible awesome skater, and at the same time you work wonders by the way you explain how to antagonize this difficult self destructing freakin’ beautiful drug like activity that skateboarding really is, by the end of the day. I quit skating at age 16. Now Im 41, and thanks to your multiple Skill sets Im able to shred at a pretty decent level as a senior soon to be an old crook.
Anyway. Is it possible to do some videolessons? Im Norwegian, and i guess the time difference can cause problems?
I can do most tricks. Tré’s, varial heels FS/bs heel/kick, big spins and so on. Pretty controlled too. …But high speed and gaps scares the crap out of me.. ok. Respond if you think we can figure something out.
Cool.
Lars. (Oslo)
Hey Lars! Really appreciated reading your comment. Being able to share my experience adds another layer to my enjoyment of skating, for which I’m grateful. I offer video lessons, on the Patreon. There’s a link in the description. I’ve done them with people all over, recently Hong Kong. We should be able to make it work.
If only i had this advice ten years ago. The amount of times ive been pitched toeside...
No one talked about this, thank you (skateboarding MJ)😂!
You’re welcome 😂😂👊🏾
Damn I've been skating since I was 12 I'm 18 now I only have a couple tricks but I was trying to tre flip the other day and realized how bad I was doing this but I know this is a massive problem in my skating in general but I can't wait to finally be able to fix it I just didn't know how but probably should have realized sooner
I picture Chris Cole when I'm working on back posture.
I can only manual if i straighten my back and bend in the hips
Norman what about people like tyshawn who it seems bends at the waist and doesn’t seem to crouch?
How do I stop looking down ? Is it the same as dribbling a basketball and trust or is it just years of bad form ?
Damn you, Brian Wenning
😂😂😂 he made that hunched over style look amazing! I miss his skating.
I feel like I developed bad posture habits after a break from skating. Been hunched with too much weight on the back foot
I had this realization 2 days ago after watching a video of myself. A good motivator is just how ugly it looks when you bend forward, like an old man.
Ihad this problem and with little tweak, everything that i do is just straight out much better
well i bought my skateboard yesterday and i was skateboarding for 6 hours non stop i learned the basics but i think i was bending my back each time i was on the skateboard because now my back hurts very much same with legs actually
Great advice! I recently discovered that "lower the butt" works better as cue for me than "bend your legs". In fact, lowering the butt seems to improve everything I do on a skateboard. But I still often fold my upper body too much forward, since that's something I've been doing since I started skating 8-9 years ago at an age of 41. Another reason for why I bend my upper body forward a lot is that I see many great skaters doing this on TH-cam. But now I realise that what these great skaters really do is "compress their bodies" by lowering their butts a lot, or pulling up their knees a lot towards their chests. When they do this it *looks like* they are bending their upper body forward. In this video I try to break my old habits by focusing on lowering the butt, and it feels great: th-cam.com/video/dpAQa-3sdHM/w-d-xo.html
i think almost all pros when they go for a rail or flip trick they have their arms open..any big tricks they do it
I still can’t Ollie and idk what to do anymore it’s frustrating 😂
One thing that was not said in the video is that this incorrect form together with rounded back can cause back pain because of how rapid they straighten when you ollie. I know that from experience and believe me you don't want that.
Ugh idk how you bend so low while keeping your back straight. I can’t do it, unless I go on my tippy toes with my front foot but it seems from the videos I’ve seen of you doing Ollie’s you don’t go on your tippy toes with your front foot much if at all, only the back foot.
I mean, is it okay if I go on my tippy toes idk
I’ve been trying my butt off to get my Ollie’s super high, I’m trying to Ollie at least waist level rn, I’ve been using you and spencer Barton as a guide analyzing your guys vids all the time, U guys are like my idols in skateboarding lol.
Skating is easier when I remember to not look at my feet
I don’t know about that one.
" My men" like Denzel Washington says it. Mi English is poor