How To 180 On A Skateboard
When learning how to 180 on a skateboard, the most important thing is that you can ollie. Your ollies do not have to be perfect, but as long as you can pop and level the board out you should be ready to learn how to 180. If you don’t yet know how to ollie, tune in to @howtoskateboards on Tiktok and Instagram where we have tutorials. We will be releasing a post here on how to ollie as well. There are two ways to 180: frontside and backside. One side might be easier and more natural than the other side for you, so we will be getting into here how to backside 180 and how to frontside 180. Both tricks are all about getting a good pop and turning your shoulders in the intended direction. We hope that after reading this and watching these videos that you can learn how to 180 on a skateboard.
How To Backside 180
For backside 180s, set up your front foot behind the bolts of your skateboard with your heel hanging off and toes centered on the deck width-wise (facing diagonally). This will give you leverage to guide the board around for the 180. For your back foot, place it on the front corner pocket of the tail so you can easily scoop the board around for the backside 180 as you pop.
@howtoskateboards How to backside 180 #howtoskateboards #howtoskateboard #skate #skateboarding #skateboard #skatelife ♬ Caramel Latte - Prod. By Rose
The backside 180 is all about getting a good pop while turning your shoulders to initiate the 180, following through with your legs as you scoop the board around backside with your back foot. You will use your front foot for support, guiding the board around to control the 180 scoop from the back foot. Therefore, the main actors here that create the 180 rotation is your turning shoulders and your back foot with your front foot just helping out a little bit. To land fakie, stomp down with your back foot, which becomes your front foot as your roll away to ensure your momentum continues forward. This trick is really about committing so much so that you can revert the landing if you under rotate. It is very possible that for some time fear will be holding you back from landing the backside 180. That is because your shoulders are turned away from the direction you are going, blinding you to a degree, making the trick far more about feeling than what you can see. Therefore, if the backside 180 is not for you, read more below on how to frontside 180 on a skateboard.
How to frontside 180
When learning how to frontside 180 on a skateboard, a lot of the same principles apply from the backside 180. You will want to get a good pop, turning your shoulders and whipping the board around for the 180. However, for the frontside 180, the ollie becomes even more important as the frontside rotation is less momentum based and arguably requires more air time. This trick is harder to revert out of and most people complete the full rotation mid-air before landing, rolling away fakie in a clean manner. Therefore for foot setup, position your front and back foot as you normally would for an ollie. However, you may want to hang off your front foot toes a bit for leverage when guiding the board around for the 180.
@howtoskateboards How to frontside 180 on a skateboard #howtoskateboards #howtoskateboard #skate #skateboard #skateboarding #skatelife #skatepark #goskate ♬ Sweet Thursday - Black and Grey
To perform the frontside 180, pop your board as you normally would for an ollie. Unlike the backside 180, there is minimal scooping done with the back foot as the 180 motion is largely guided and led by the front foot. However, similarly to a backside 180, you will start to turn your shoulders as you pop, largely leading the trick with your upper body. With your front foot, start to guide the board around, really pressing down with it in an inward direction to finish the 180 rotation once you have reached the peak of your ollie. Your back foot follows this motion as you kick it around coming out of the pop. As long as you get a good pop and start to turn your shoulders on the way up, your feet should naturally follow your upper body to complete the frontside 180. Frontside 180s require more popping power and energy than the backside 180, however you can see where you are going the entire time as your chest faces the direction you are going in completing the 180.
We hope you learned today how to 180 on a skateboard one way or another. If you have any questions about how to perform a 180 backside or frontside, feel free to leave a comment and we will get back to you!