Adding the Revert

Obviously this trick starts with a standard nose stall. The difference is how you drop back in. Be prepared to full commit! In a normal nose stall, once you’re in the stall you simply put pressure back downwards and drop in fakie. The revert forces you to focus on a few more things. First, you feet are going to want to slip off the board. You are essentially spinning the board with no pop – just the force of your feet. Your front foot is pushing forwards towards the toe edge of the board while your back foot is pulling backwards towards the heel edge of the board. Try to focus on keeping your feet locked in.

From the stall point, start allowing your weight to transfer back to go back down the ramp. Simultaneously pivot your feet in the motion described above. At some point in this motion all 4 wheels will be in the transition and you will be powersliding the rest of the rotation. At this point, your front foot still needs to be supplying force to rotate the board, but also needs to transfer weight to the heel edge to avoid from hooking. If your weight isn’t back on the board, your board can catch up and throw you down into the transition.

This does not mean lean back – it simply means have your weight on your heels instead of your toes. That really sums it up – it’s one fluid motion that can be intimidating at first. Commitment is the hardest part of this trick if you’re good at nose stalls. I remember thinking it was going to be really hard to learn, and I believe it took me 3 tries. Commit to it and get it done.

Best of luck! Comment below with questions or progress.

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Pumping, kickturns, and carving make up the fundamentals of transition skateboarding. Once you can get around a bowl or ramp using these methods, you can start learning coping tricks, airs, and all sorts of awesome things. But first things first – dial in the basics. Let’s learn a backside kickturn.

Doing the Backside Kickturn

A backside kickturn is where you turn your back to the coping as you turn 180 degrees in a ramp or bowl to keep going forwards. Essentially, you’re going up a ramp and as you’re about to go down, you put some weight on the tail of your board and pivot to face down the ramp. Make sure you can pump a ramp well without turning, and then you can move onto the backside kickturn.

Get a decent pump going in a ramp. You only need to be 2-3 feet up a ramp to learn this move. As you go up the ramp, prepare to turn your shoulders back down the ramp. A backside kickturn is lead with your head and torso, and your board and legs follow. As you reach the peak of your pump, place some extra weight on the tail of your skateboard as you turn your shoulders. As you begin to look down the ramp, let your front knee bend a bit to bring your front wheels off the ground.

At this point you should be looking completely down the ramp with weight on your tail and your front wheels off the ground. If you haven’t already pivoted your feet, guide your board around with your front foot and set the front wheels back down once you’re facing down the ramp. Pump into the next wall of the ramp and keep on skating. There you have it – that’s a backside kickturn!

Helpful Tips

As I’ve taught a few people how to do this in person, I’ve noticed some common mistakes. One is not enough weight on the tail, and another is too much weight on the tail. Without enough weight on the tail, your front wheels won’t lift up and the board won’t come around. With too much weight, you’re likely to slip out backwards. It’s a fine line. Focus on keeping your shoulders square over the board and not to lean. Weight on the tail does not mean lean back. You can apply pressure with your foot and lift your front knee without ever leaning back.

Also, turn your head early and look where you want to go. Once you have this dialed it won’t be necessary, but when first learning it helps to lead your head and shoulders. This is because it forces your feet to follow. Once you dial this in, you can start slashing coping and learning bigger and better tricks. Best of luck!

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Pumping, kickturns, and carving make up the fundamentals of transition skateboarding. Once you can get around a bowl or ramp using these methods, you can start learning coping tricks, airs, and all sorts of awesome things. But first things first – dial in the basics. Let’s learn a frontside kickturn.

Doing the Frontside Kickturn

Frontside kickturns are harder than backside kickturns. For starters, you’re turning your back to the ramp which is always scary. It’s also just a little bit less natural of a body position, and requires a bit more balance and precision. But don’t worry – just like any beginner trick, with patience, determination, and – most importantly – the ability to commit, you’ll have this kickturn dialed in no time.

Start on a ramp with a small, smooth transition. A 3 to 4 foot miniramp/halfpipe is perfect. Begin to pump the ramp at a comfortable speed. Once you’re ready to try the frontside kickturn, there are a few things to focus on.

• Put enough weight on the tail of your board to lift your front wheels up slighly. Careful not to press too hard, as this will cause your board to slip out or for you to spin around on your tail.
• As you weigh your tail, do not lean back. It is a common mistake to associate pressure on the tail with putting your weight back. That is not the case. If you lean back, you will fall backwards. Simply apply extra pressure with your back foot as you let your front knee come up a little bit. This will bring your front wheels up with your weight still square over the board.
• Lead with your shoulders. Turn your head and shoulders so that you can see where you are trying to land once you bring your board around. As your front wheels come up, allow your front knee to rise and pivot around back down the ramp. Once your legs have followed your torso and your entire body has pivoted, bring your front knee back down, let your front wheels touch the ground, and roll alway clean.

When I’ve watched people try to learn the frontside kickturn, I’ve noticed a lot of people who try to lead with their feet and don’t get nearly all the way around. If your head and shoulders are still looking up the transition, your board is not going to spin around to face downwards into the transition. You must look where you want to go. Fully commit to bringing your head and shoulders around and letting your board follow.

As you get better at this, it will become one fluid motion. When you’re learning, the key is to bring all parts of your body all the way around. Focus on keeping your weight square over the skateboard as you turn your shoulders, lift your front wheels, and pivot your skateboard. It’s an odd feeling at first for sure, but once you’ve got it dialed you can start surfing pools frontside, grinding coping, stalling, and so much more.

Best of luck with this skill and let me know if you have any questions. Leave a comment below!

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A rock and roll is a transition skateboard trick. In the rock and roll, your front wheels will go over the coping and you will rock the base of your board on the coping. Unlike a rock to fakie, in the rock and roll you will the pivot and drop back into the ramp with your regular foot forward. Rock and rolls are considered easier than rock to fakies by many, as this trick does not require as much commitment nor precision to get your wheels back in and not hook on the coping. Let’s get into it!

Getting Started

There are a few good tricks and exercises to learn before dialing in a proper rock and roll. First of all, a backside kickturn is essential. Your kickturns should be totally dialed in. Focus on rolling as high as you can without your front wheels hitting the coping, waiting a split second, and then doing a backside kickturn back in. This hesitation will be good practice for the rock and roll, as it is a similar feeling. Next

Next, start barely hooking your front wheels over the coping. Once your wheels hook, put a slight bit of pressure on the tail of your board and again do a backside kickturn. The key here is understanding how much pressure to put on your tail. You need to get back over the coping, but want to avoid so much pressure that you fall off the back of the board. Once this step is dialed in, you are ready to really start doing rock and rolls.

Performing the Trick

Now that you can get above coping and kickturn back in, you’re pretty close to the full rock and roll. Essentially, you’re going to let yourself go higher and higher as you are comfortable. When first learning, your back wheels will probably not leave the ground. That’s okay. Just work on getting up to half a board length above coping, setting it down on the base, and turning back in. As you get comfortable with this, you can finally begin to learn the rock, hence the name of the trick. This is where the trick starts to get a bit more technical.

Once your board is halfway above coping, lay the base down on the coping and continue rocking it up until neither your front nor rear wheels are on the ground – you’re rocking on the base. Rock it forward, and then slowly apply weight back to the tail to rock it back. As soon as you feel your rear wheels hit concrete (or wood, lucky miniramp rider), this is when you pivot back in with that backside kickturn. The real difference in actually rocking and just pivoting immediately is the timing.

When you pivot immediately, it feels very much like a normal backside kickturn. Your rear wheels never leave the ramp and you’re ready to go. When you do actually rock, there’s a split second of an awkward balance point where you’re ready to pivot but your wheels aren’t down yet. It may take a little bit of getting used to, but just focus on the learning steps and you’ll have this dialed in no time. Leave me a comment letting me know if you think rock to fakies or rock and rolls are easier! Before I could do them both proper, I thought rock and rolls were easier. After learning them proper, I think rock to fakies are easier and more fun. Best of luck!

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The Setup

The backside axle stall is a definite prerequisite to this trick, so if you don’t have it dialed, go watch that tutorial and learn it. So setting up for a 50-50 is like setting up for a backside axle stall, except it’s much faster and much more aggressive. As you ride up the ramp for an axle stall, your body is perpendicular to the coping and you have just enough speed to get onto the coping. In a backside 50-50, you will take much more speed and ride up the ramp at an angle, carving in a way that your back begins to turn towards the coping as you rise.

From here it’s the same concept as an axle stall, except it’s fast. Your first few tries you’re likely to miss either your front or rear trucks on the coping and end up in a boardslide or just slipping. That’s totally fine! It takes some getting used to. Focus on pivoting to a perfect parallel with the coping as you reach the top of the coping. If you keep slipping, slow it down a little bit. Take small steps. Start with an axle stall, and then take a small carve and slide 2 feet. Once you figure that out, speed it up a bit, take a bigger carve, and slide 4 feet. Keep going a bit at a time until you can pump up the ramp at full speed and slide the entire coping.

Extra Tips

In an axle stall your back wheels may be lying on the deck as you prepare to drop in again. In a fifty fifty, this isn’t ideal. Try to stay angled on the coping with your momentum keeping you rightside up. Ideally, your trucks are the only thing on the ground, and the ground is the coping. Dropping back in is easy as long as you commit. If you’ve got axle stalls dialed, it’s the same concept except you actually roll in a bit easier with the extra speed. When you’re ready to drop back in, just put a put of weight on the tail and pivot that rear wheel over the coping. It should be one fluid motion.

Best of luck with this trick. It is super fun once you figure it out! Leave a comment below if you have questions. Let me know when you get it as well!

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Performing the Axle Stall

Ride up the ramp as if you’re going to rock to fakie or rock and roll. I would recommend learning this on a miniramp. As you’re riding up the ramp with speed, you will start to put weight on your back foot as your front truck goes over the coping. After your front truck is over the coping but before your rear wheels hit, pivot your shoulders and feet to lie parallel with the coping. When done properly, you should have both trucks locked onto the coping.

In a well executed axle stall, you should be locked into the coping enough to just stand there. Your outside wheels may be touching the deck. When first learning, you don’t tend to go nearly as high. This means the stall is quick and you’re angled on the ramp, which is fine. It just forces you to drop back in immediately. Let’s first assume you’re having issues getting your trucks locked in and go over how to fix that.

If your back truck is locking on but you keep missing with your front truck, focus on a harder pivot. You are turning a full 90 degrees, and it can be tough at first. If you’re going completely over the coping, Slow it down a bit. You need just enough speed to get your rear trucks up there. If you’re going too fast it’s hard to learn. Speed is good for fifty fifties, which we’ll cover in another tutorial. If you’re getting the pivot but not actually reaching coping, you’re pivoting too soon. Be patient.

So Now You’re Locked In

Now you can get onto the coping and lock both trucks. How do you get down? It’s a bit of an odd drop in position… It’s certainly intimidating at first, but it’s not that hard. Put extra weight on your tail to bring your nose up and off the coping. Pivot and drop in one smooth motion. The pivot will bring your back wheel that’s on the deck over the coping. Doing this in one smooth motion allows the wheel to roll smoothly in with no hangups. This part might take the longest, mostly due to commitment required, not difficulty. Best of luck with this trick!

Once you’ve got it dialed, it’s a pretty quick transition to learn 50 50s and start sliding all the way around a pool or whatever coping you have accessible. Comment below with questions and progress!

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The tail stall is one of the first coping tricks you’ll learn on a skateboard and is a great setup trick when skating a halfpipe. Before learning this trick, you should be able to pump a ramp well and drop in. The best place to learn is on a 3 to 4 foot miniramp. The tail stall is a little hard to time at first, but is actually one of the easiest coping tricks and you’ll dial it in quick.

Learning the Trick

Timing is probably the hardest part of this trick, but it won’t take you too long to figure out. As you’re rolling up one side of the miniramp fakie, you’ll want to come in with enough speed to where if you did nothing your back wheels would roll over the coping. You don’t want so much speed that you would fly over the coping – just enough to roll gently over. With this proper amount of speed, just before you hit coping you should shift all of your weight backwards onto your tail into a drop-in position. When first learning, it’ll probably be a super quick stall where your board gets completely parallel with the flat ground. As you improve, you will be able to bring your weight all the weight back until you can stall in a complete drop-in position.

As I said, timing can be the toughest part. If you try to stall too early, you’ll be sliding your tail on the ramp and will slip out. Just be prepared for this possibility – it’s not a tough trick to run out of as long as you’re ready for it. If you try to stall too late, your wheels will go over the coping before you get your tail down and you’ll have to slide down the ramp. Either case is pretty low consequence as long as you know what to expect. Once you dial this trick there are a ton of variations you can learn, so get after it!

Comment below with questions or progress!

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The nose stall is a super fun coping trick that feels great and is a stepping stone for similar tricks. As with all coping tricks, I’d recommend learning this on a 3-4 foot tall miniramp. I learned to drop in switch before I learned to nose stall, and believe me, the nose stall is way easier. Dropping in switch can help you get the feeling and will probably make the nose stall easier, but unlike dropping in regular and the tail stall, I don’t think dropping in switch is a prerequisite for the nose stall. I do, on the other hand, think you should have basic coping tricks like the rock to fakie and tail stall before trying a nose stall. A general level of comfort riding miniramps will help with this trick.

Doing the Trick

As you’re in the flat bottom of the ramp heading forwards, you’ll want to move your front foot all the way up to your nose. Just like a tail stall, roll up with enough speed to where you could do a proper rock to fakie. As you approach the coping, keep most of your weight back but put pressure on the nose and bend your back knee. This will bring the back wheels off the ramp and put you into your nose stall. Try to get the board at least parallel to the flat bottom, or higher as you get better at the trick. When you’re ready to roll back down, you can set your weight back and bring your front foot back to its regular position in one fluid motion.

Roll away fakie and go do another sweet trick on the other coping. Like most basic coping tricks, nose stalls aren’t too difficult. They just require commitment, which is often the hardest part. This is a really smooth feeling trick that I’d recommend learning. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions! Best of luck.

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The rock to fakie is one of the first coping tricks you will learn on a skateboard. It can be scary and difficult at first, with the risk of hooking your front wheels on the coping and falling backwards. If you work through the proper progression and learn to commit, this trick can come (almost) painlessly. The ideal place to learn a rock to fakie is on a 3-4 foot miniramp. Anything taller can be really scary when first learning.

Baby Steps

To start, make sure you can just pump the ramp no problem. You should be able to pump and get your front wheels up to where they are just about to touch the coping. The next step in learning this trick is to just barely bring your front wheels over the coping. In a proper rock to fakie, you’ll be rocking on the deck of the board without your wheels touching the ground at all. In this step, all of your wheels will still be touching. You’ll need to apply a very small amount of pressure to the tail of the board as you approach the coping to lift your front wheels up and over it. Just enough pressure to get the wheels up. Once you’ve hooked your wheels over the coping, immediately apply pressure to the tail again to bring your wheels back over the coping. This is where people tend to hesitate or not commit. You want to bring those wheels back over the coping as your body starts to go back down the ramp with gravity. If you apply too much pressure to the tail you will fall of the back of the board, and if you don’t apply enough your wheels will hook. This is a controlled step in learning that will give you the feeling of committing to bringing your wheels over the coping.

Dialing the Trick

Once you’ve got that step dialed, start trying to go higher and higher while leaving your back wheels on the ramp. Once the top third of your board is hitting coping and you’re feeling good with that, it’s time to add the rock. You’re going to go a bit higher than you have been and hit about the middle of your deck on the coping. From there, you will apply some pressure to your front foot to bring your back wheels off of the ramp. The only part of your board touching the ground should be the deck on the coping. Rock your weight forward, and then in a controlled motion apply weight back to the tail to allow your back wheels to hit the ramp and your front wheels to lift over the coping. Once your wheels are over the coping, apply your weight to roll back into the ramp. And that’s a rock to fakie.

Again, it’s a little intimidating and frustrating at first, but once you get it it’s a super fun trick that you’ll be doing for years. Let me know in the comments section below if you have any questions! Best of luck.

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