Still struggling with kickflips? A different approach for learning...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 เม.ย. 2023
- I've had quite the struggle getting solid with kick flips - in this video I walk through some popular approaches that didn't work well for me and some new ways to learn that I found to be very helpful.
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I`ll be 34 this year, and just get back into skateboarding. Awsome to see that there are more men in their 30s who miss skateboarding as much as I did.
I got tired of being in the house all day on my days off after being inside all day at work. Started just cruising the Greenways and hiking trails around the city. It was weird how natural its all felt after almost 14 years.
If you get your popping foot higher or at least leveled out with the flicking foot, it'll help level out the kickflip. If you watch in slow motion, you'll see that your flicking foot is always higher than the popping foot. Also if you kick more towards the edge of the nose and not the pocket area, that'll level it out also but will flip slower. Great work!
Definitely getting your backfoot up high enough, and also leading the flick with your knee can help to get more power
It's crazy the amount of tips and effort you put into this for FREE. This is great, I'll update when I learn this.
That's true, however it helps motivate me to film my progress and post it. So it's a win-win. But that's also why I don't post very often.
Very good video! Iam in my mid 30's and getting back into skating over the last 3 years. Over the last two summers i was trying to learn the kickflip and i found many things that you mentioned in your video while i was learning to kickflip. The best advice from my learning process that i can give is: stationary kickflips and rolling kickflips are very different in the execution. A stationary kickflip needs a lot of focus on "the pop backwards" just like you mentioned in your video, this helps to get the front foot in the flicking position. To get the foot where it needs to be while rolling, iam actually jumping a bit forward while sliding up, with a bit less focus on the "pop backwards". This took me a while to understand, because of the fear factor while in the air doing a moving kickflip. I broke a few decks the same way yours broke because i was landing not on the bolts and more on the tail. To visualize "the jump forwards": when you slide up with your front foot while in the air and the front foot is the only thing that is touching the board at that moment, your leading hip should be over the front bolts while your ankle is rolled over in the nose "pocket". Your front knee cap will be ahead of the nose. After doing the flick in that position, the rotation of the board will move the board forward under your feet which allows you to land on the bolts. Its important to just flick the board with your ankle and not kick the board with your leg at the same time. It takes a bit of time to get over the fear of getting "ahead" of your board while in the air, but it works for me. I hope that explanation makes sense, its a bit hard to describe :D. To many more kickflips, cheers.
i've always heard the flick the ankle for popping, but the basketball dribble analogy made so much sense to me. Thank you!
It took me, so long to learn Kickflips, 22 years ago, that I've had them, ever since. Realistically, I am always improving my technique with kickflips but I do have them, on lock. There are multiple levels of kickflips (rocketflip/no back foot lift, decent flip, moderately nice flip, and boned out/ninja kickflip) that come with understanding that you still need to ollie, as well as know what to do, to kickflip. Solid ollie, solid kickflip. Power through the ankle, jump before the tail hits the ground, suck up the back leg, level the board out with front leg and don't unbend your knees midair/ keep them tucked for higher ollie potential. The same goes for the kickflip, except the front foot is leveling the board out and kicking the kickflip pocket. I keep the weight of my front foot, center of the board and on the toes and back foot, not on the tip of the tail but more towards the back pocket/bolts and I ollie and drag the front foot, straight up the middle of the deck and then off the side of the nose pocket. Being conscious of that front foot's pressure along the deck, almost always ensures that I actually get the board to flip. The fine tuning of the foot positioning, allows me to kickflip, smaller sized gaps, up and down things, while cruising, and after taking a 2 month break. Now, I can't kickflip over a trash can or onto a normal, picnic table, but that's a matter of ankle/calf strength and me, not wanting to get broke off.
At some point with age, mobility can become restricted and it's harder to become "comfortable" with doing the motions that are necessary for a kickflip. The physics stay the same but the understanding and board feel/comfortability on the board, grow with experience, becoming muscle memory. Definitely can be harder to learn the coordination involved but not impossible. It's only been in the last few years, that I've felt my body start to "slow down" and feel like I am getting old. I'm 36 now and realize, if I want to keep skating when I'm 40+, I have to better condition my body to do the maneuvers, necessary i.e. jumping, lifting legs up high, karate kick motions, stamina, balance (tell that to my failing vision and effect on my equilibrium), etc. It's a must to do a sufficient amount of ollies, if you're not used to kickflipping or if you take a long break from skating. You don't want to try and slide your foot across the board and not have the mobility to complete the motion...that will lead to rolled ankles etc and not good for us aging skaters. I'd recommend, using stretch bands or whatever to stretch the ankle (like they do at physical therapy) because even if you're not injured, that is going to loosen up the ankle joint and improve it's range of motion.
Long comment, my bad...I can't help it, I love skateboarding. Safe skating to you and good look with getting your kickflip on lock. One last thing, I can say about kickflips and tricks, in general, is that you have to take them at your own pace and understand your limitations. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a decent kickflip on flat and being satisfied. The beautiful thing is you don't have to do it for anyone but yourself - just have fun and if that means just carving around and doing slappy's, or aspiring to learn kickflips, then 👍 there is no standard for how you "should" be skating/learning/progressing etc.
Well said and thanks for the advice🙏 I'm 43 and just got a board after 20 plus years of not skating. Feels so good to be back on.. never got great at kickflips as a teen, and wasn't using proper technique, but I'm determined to get them down this time around. Screw my age lol
The center of gravity thing really opened my eyes. I hadn’t realized how far back I was leaning until you explained that. Thank you!
45 years old had a bad arm break and getting back in, great tips cantb wait t try these tips
I'm 47 on August 17th. I share a birthday with the godfather, Rodney Mullen. I started skating again this last year and am struggling with my flicks and stability. I took a bad hipper last week on what should have been a simple 50-50 on a quarterpipe at the park and am still healing, so thank you for showing your progression and breakdowns of your learning to help others. It makes the down time more bearable. On a totally unrelated note, I got stuck watching your shoes. Who would have ever thought New Balance would ever have skateboarding shoes? Crazy. Also, I've noticed parents support their children skating now, but in my youth, we were seen as vandals and vagrants. It's amazing to see how far the sport has come since I was a kid. I never thought it would be in the Olympics. This is great proof that you CAN teach old dogs new tricks.
That injury reminds me of why I am deathly afraid of any transition lol. but i have taken plenty of hip slams on street regardless. shaved a whole layer of skin off the tip of my knee the other day, about an inch diameter. straight to red meat. that rough asphalt is no joke
The whole weight on the front foot thing is a game changer. I realised I was jumping & popping all on my back leg. Re-watching the pros I notice they’re almost in the air before they pop, pushing more off their front leg. I’m 40 in a few weeks, hoping to land one rolling by then. Thank you for the tips!
U pop of ur back foot the only thing ur front foot is doing is flicking the nose the pros wait til the board is near horizontal with there knee over the nose pretty much then they flick and kick right through the board and that levels it right out 👍🏻
This might just be the best Kickflip Tutorial out there! Makes so much sense. Truely inspirational🎉
Yo from the UK. 35 here, quit skating at 20 got fat. Lost 40kg in 2022 and started skating again.
Kickflips were so easy for me before but this time round its been a nightmare.
Iv just started leaning more over my front foot this last week and it just clicked for me again.
But it's been the bane of my life!
This is a great video ...maybe the best kickflip video out there. Well done sir.
Love the content brother, youv been an inspiration for sure ✊🏾
haha same here man. wb in the uk?
@@nil4309 glastonbury somerset 🤘🏻
@@animalmints5470 I'm in Bristol 👍 sweet!
We managed to get glasto tickets this year also 🤙🤙
@nil4309 ah sick man...hope have an awesome time!
Take your board...there's is a skatepark you can use on site at greenpeace area...also cool demos to watch 🤘🏻
@@animalmints5470 thanks homie!
Been before, saw some wicked demos but never enough time to skate! Always about 4 acts I'm missing at any given time 😂
For months years, I popped with my whole leg and everyone would always tell me, lift you back foot higher when you jump and I could never figure out why my back foot wouldn’t jump higher. I was popping with my whole leg and not flicking it with my ankle and although I realized this a while ago your video is the first to ever mention this!
Love this communication style, you really broke it down in an easy to follow way. I'll have to try watching my back foot, I don't know why that's never dawned on me. My percentage to get 5 in a sesh is probably closer to 5% right now lol.
32 years old, getting back into skating after 15 years. Got the kickflips back pretty quickly, and while moving. Still trying to clean them up, get better height, less rocket. In just a day, with adjustments in mind, I went from landing on the board as it hit the ground, to catching it in the air (not very high but still.)
I’m gonna focus much more this time around on mastering my tricks and making sure they look good.
So I've just started skating again at 38, after a 20 year break. I've never been able to do kickflips and its a trick I've neglected. After watching this i gave them a go again... and after just 9 attempts i landed one! It wasn't pretty but it was a kickflip and now i have something to work on👍
Great video.
I turned 45 just over a week ago. Take comfort in that I’ve pretty much had to take the same journey as you and nearly all of your points are something I’ve had to work on.
Although it’s been 20 years since I skated all the time my muscle memory of bad technique I learned as a kid is hard to fight, the neural pathways are strong. I could see myself in many of your kickflips. For me shoulder rotation, lifting my back foot and back foot placement, with the slight angle like you show were the biggest things. When I do a session my goal is five in a row an then stop so I don’t cook my brain.
Great work.
Lots of great content in here…just started working on kickflips with my son. Found this video extremely helpful!! Thank you for sharing
wow this was really well made and you can really use the amount of detail that really helped me with this trick
Nice! I just turned 40 last year and started skateboarding as well. I used to skate, but could never land a kickflip. I started landing them rolling last year; but very inconsistently. I'm looking forward to putting your advice here into practice.
I realized early on that I should flick straight and through the top corner. After I figured that out, I ended up finding tons of videos that mention that. But sometimes I get boned kickflips. Feels so nice. But the thought of flicking straight and through was that key for me.
I’ve been skating a couple years now and understand pop completely, but MAN!!! Your comparison to dribbling a basketball was PERFECT for explaining pop.
Man this one is a blessing! You've answered all my questions I could not find the answers to in all the videos out there. Plus I forgot a bit how hard it actually is and as a 32y old comming back I to it and having unlocked the ollie relatively fast, I kind of started loosing moral for it but hey even if it takes me a year... I'm taking this baby down with me haha
First video I have watched from you. Really appreciate you talking about where your eyes were looking. This a big thing I always consider and it is not talked about much. Your kickflip looks solid. Awesome work and I like that you recorded the %. Stay Rad Sir
Setup is huge, I bought my first board and slowly got it honed in to what I want but took a while. Main advice out of it is that if you want looser/tighter tricks then get softer or harder bushings, don’t want but falling off or so tight you just can’t turn right, harder bushings allow you to turn and still feel toght
love your vids man! inspirational.
37 here from the UK and almost have a kickflip.
love skatboarding now more than ever!
Love your channel and these videos!! Just about to hit 40. Awesome to see so many others getting back into skating as well
Hey dude ty for this! I spent almost 3 years skating and landed a handful of kickflips but felt like I never understood them despite the effort and studying I put in. It’s cool to see someone go through what I went through and re affirm some of my suspicions as towards the generic advice. That piece about popping bask slightly was big for me too. Hope you end up learning tre at some point. I was closer to consistent tres than I was KF’s for whatever reason lol
Glad this is helpful for you!
Im gonna keep going back to this vid every now and then, 10 minutes practice and i feel im kinda working on my usual kickflip issues. U helped me a lot with the flick excercises instead of those i have been doing (wich seem to be wrong), thanks!
Thanks for this man. As an older guy trying to learn basics like this, your journey is super relatable and there are a few nuggets in there for me to try to improve my kickflips (which I am stoked are going ok, but could have much better form - though tbh, a little surprised that I actually managed to get these with any kind of 'consistency' 😉)
Great video! 31yo here. I barely skated as a kid, have been skating a lot for about 18 months, and I’ve been working on my kickflip and heelflip for 9 months. I’ve landed a handful of each, but I am nowhere near consistent yet. When I first had a day in which I landed 5 in one session, I thought I had it… But then I had a drought for a week or two. I’m still figuring it out. A rolled ankle did mess with my confidence and pace a couple of times. The videos I’ve found most helpful on this are from WhyTheTrick, Sarah Park Matott, and Local Joe. Definitely, popping backwards is key. Also, bringing the nose up under my knee in a “stroke zone” is helpful to think about. I hope to eventually make my own video, once I can get somewhat consistent! 🤞
In alot of the clips you can see your chest is facing forward which opens your body up for a little rotation as well as twisting your body which is throwing your land off even if just by a small amount.
Try popping on the balls of your feet almost tipy toeing for a higher pop and line your shoulders up with your bolts, chest in so that your feet follow. You can tell sometimes your front foot lands pointing forward and your back foot has your toes hanging off the tail ( 0:15 ), instead always aim for the bolt with your chest and shoulder aligned with the bolts on your deck, this will prevent your amrs from being in front of you or crossed ( 0:08 ) and your land to be straight and consistant. This helped me alot back in the day! hope it helps you as well!
Great tutorial. Very methodical and logical. I'm an older skater too...ehrm...uh, older than you maybe. I've been back skating for a couple years now, but have been inconsistent due to work and work-related injuries. Trying to get out a little more consistently now. I was wondering about some details about your setup. I'm 5' 9", about 180 lbs. I'm riding an 8.5 with 55mm wheels. My next setup is closer to 8.3 with 53mm wheels. Wondering if I need a narrower board. When I first started skating as a teen, boards were 9 to 10 inches wide. No wonder we worked so hard to ollie! Also thinking about trying hollow trucks. Anyway, wondering what your setup is. Great video though. I subbed.
Oh wow youre amazing at explaining the nuances my brain needed
13:40 I thought of the same thing haha. One of my issues was my truck bushings were cracked so when I popped the board it would always be slightly angled (opposite of the example) so my flick would never connect. Popping like that fixed it.
This is also why I think learning kickflips alongside backside 180s is helpful because it makes you pop like that + it makes your shoulders stay closed because of direction of rotation of bs 180s
This video is still by far the best kickflip tutorial for beginners on youtube🌟
agree with your tips. The best kickflip video on youtube. 11:30 your kickflip looks more stylish
So let's talk about your upper body, in particular your arms. You have this thing about positioning your arms behind your body when you do a trick, which is a really bad habit and you sacrifice so much control. You need your arms in front of you to balance and to guide you starting from the pop, and rolling away. It was the main thing I noticed when I analyzed what you were doing, pretty much every time. You gotta change that habit pronto!
Cool! That's inspiring!!
Use your arms more. Bring them in front of you and cross them in front of ur knees. As you pop bring them straight up and out above your head. This will help keep ur body and shoulders parallel with the board. If u can frontside 180 you should start going for a frontside flip.
Thnx for the tips!!🔥🔥
Lots of good points
“Keep building muscle memory” is key. Good reminder
loved it.
Sweet tutorial bro Cheers from New Zealand
Just found your channel I am 43 now and I skated for the best years of my life from like 12 through 28, and then stopped because of life stuff. Getting back into it again now and I am so hooked skating every chance that I can get! Keep killing it out there man!
Are you still skating? I'm 43 also and just started up after 25 yrs.. really hoping it's not just something I pick up for a bit, and then get frustrated and drop again.. don't think my love of it will ever leave me..
Bro yes I been skating every single moment that I can just like when I was a kid. Progressing and picking up my old tricks again as well. I tell my kids and wife that I am a skateboarder and I will be until they drop me into the ground. @@homesickNovalis
I hope you guys are able to stick with it. It's very tempting to just let it fade away after a while, I'm trying my best to get on the board a few times a week.
If you guys are ever in Houston hit me up would love to get a session going there are quite a few great spots to skate here. @@SkateAgain
Unsolicited advice: Your kickflips would be a lot better if you just keep your shoulders parallel to the board. Now your shoulders are turning "frontside" (your left arm is always behind your back when you land instead of in front of you) which makes it a lot harder to do a proper and consistent flick motion.
That was the first thing that I noticed. Keep those shoulders square.
Watching too many tutorials on kick flips have confused me about this. keeping your shoulders parallel makes perfect sense. Some skaters seem to turn their head and chest towards the nose before they pop.
Thanks for the video! Somehow I can kick my foot like a kick flip the opposite way so I can do a great looking heel flip but I really want to get true kick flips down.
10:22 Im from parkour and I've noticed that too. I'd get upset I was injured, but would usually end up coming back better because my body had proper rest, i thought about technique, and got some stretching in or basic practice
I’m amazed that your kickflip actually improves in a single session. For me it’s much slower progress. I’ll only get better over the span of weeks based on body instinct. Small changes to my kickflip never actually achieve any improvement, other than closing my front shoulder a TON.
so helpful
Best practice u can get IMO is get 2 rails to hold beside u and hold yourself up, then kickflip your heart out for like a full day then the next time u skate watch how much better your Flick is!
Very good advice👍
@homesickNovalis this has always helped my old azz get the kickflip back without killing my legs! Like I can make the little adjustments and get the flip right and then start jumping lol
Opened shoulders is not a problem, opening up your shoulders will cointain kijetic energy and can cause problems.
Good video. For me it took me forever to realize I am popping it toward my foot and my knee will have to be a little ahead of the nose or I have not much leverage same with the heel flip. Makes a huge difference. Because as you see the board stops or slows down for a split second. You need to stay at that leverage spot to flick. If that makes since.👍
It’s an olie with the role of the ankle. I used to kick out and my k/f’s were not consistent but when I think of them as an olie where I just bring my front foot up and role the ankle instead of kicking out my k/f’s have became a lot better
Important tip : try to land both feet on bolts, to not break your board.
Make sure your shoulder stay square when you flip. You are turning opening your shoulder when you are flipping. If you let your shoulder stay square and flip forward, not flipping up, your kicky will be more level at peak and you can air catch the board. Happy skating.
Yes, keeping your shoulders square is key. So hard for me when doing KF's, but I'm getting better and better at it over time.
I KNEW i needed weight on my front leg, but i tore my ACL so im weird about it. I figured as much when nollie stuff worked better for me
Awesome Video, Great Channel - New Subscriber!
I see you’re in the Apex area, I’d love to skate with ya sometime man!
Love this breakdown , esp the stats. I do have a question about another video. In you 1st video you mentioned having shin socks. I can’t find the brand you mentioned. Do you have the website? Thanks!
Those are from footprint, hard to find online. Try concrete-visionary, I think that's where I ordered mine.
wheelbase is key for flip tricks
im 49. i was trying to get comfy with the " sitting in a chair" position. while riding back and forth and my neighbours looked weird at me 😅 one came out asking if i was ok 😂
😂 glad I'm not the only one in his forties making a fool of himself out there lol🙏
front foot in ollie position, use your big toe as rotation point, rotate your hell whitin (towards board), keep both feet flat, (toes are still in ollie potision, so is your body) pop, think ollie, land sick leveled flip !! dont think !!! izi !
trust me ! i learned very consistent very leveled flips at 32yo lool
Hey man, any new videos coming out? Always love the content.
Injuries and illness have slowed me down, but I'm trying to get back to full speed.
9:22 these kind od things really makes me want to wear ankle braces (and I know they make your ankle dependant on them). At 39 my skating is mostly flatground, playing it safe and enjoying and to see the experience of you breaking a bone doing flatground varial flip is kind of discouraging… :/
Thoughts?
Son rubbed it in our faces by doing like 20 kickflips at the start of the video
are you going to learn heel flips next?
very informative & a fresh attack on teaching how to, thanks for this
Don’t know if a fast flick better? You got to see you board filp catch it…
This^ get your popping Foot higher than the flicking foot, flick far, and try and try and jump and float until the board comes to you
nice good
I think I can't do that much thinking more than once in a session.
Your slower kick flips were so much sexier. Controlled and more fluid. Keep looking at the back foot and you’ll keep your shoulders parallel.
i perfectly kickflip the board and one foot it every time,but idk how to land it anymore 🤦🏽♂️
you have to start flicking every attempt with both feet above the board no exceptions. if you're confident with flipping it one footed every time, you're ready to start taking the training wheels off and put those feet up
Slower kick flips look cooler!
He goes to apex ayeee
Only when it's warm and not too crowded :)
But if you ever see me there, please say hello! Would love to skate with anyone...
Yes i will definitely say hello and thank you for your videos it has helped understand the flick more 🙏
maybe im wrong but you might be over thinking this a little tinyt bit ? do you draft a blue print before you take the trash out? if you are turning something fun into monotonous work you might be missing what skating is all about. you can have plenty of fun and never do a single kick flip! im really not that impressed by a kickflip .back when i saw rodney mullen do one in like 86 i was.if you dont want to be a robot just practice kick flips until its not fun anymore. you dont have to treat this like something you have to do. this isnt school or work. just do what you feel like when your skating. if you feel like doing 200 kick flips until you snap your board go ahead if you dont i wouldnt blame you 1 bit.
Stereotypical gatekeep skater right here lol. Nice rant.
i feel like the only advice that works for learning tricks is to try literally everything
I am an engineer (in case it wasn't obvious) so I get paid to overthink things. :) But in all seriousness if you can lock it in without overthinking it, awesome, go for it. For me, and likely others, it took months/years of experimenting and trying all sorts of things to figure out what works.
Crazy how you rock being 40 on cam but on the board in skinnies you look 20 haha. Skateboarding keeps u young
You have a good kickflip but your shoulders are not straight! It will help you be more consistent
No offense bc this is very cool but most of what was holding you back was just fundamentals like shoulders, pop, jumping..not that specific to kickflip. At the end you say your kickflip will never get better than this - but tbh you've barely even started perfecting your actual kickflip technique. You are landing them at least 50% of the time, so start adjusting your flick and pop timing. A kickflip that spins under you a few inches over the ground is great, but one that slaps into your feet a foot and half over the ground is immensely satsifying
Only thing you need for a kickflip is the pop and the flick. This video is way too confusing
That's not how you learn to kickflip😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂