The ollie is hands down the most important fundamental trick in skateboarding. An ollie is used to perform most skateboard tricks, therefore being able to ollie high is an extremely valuable skill that you will continuously improve on all throughout your skateboarding journey. After reading this How To Skateboards blog post today, you should be able to ollie higher just by modifying a few things in your current ollie technique. If you are just starting to learn how to skateboard and still need to learn how to ollie, we have a previous article on how to ollie on a skateboard that you can reference as well as an array of ollie videos on our social media channels. If you already know how to skateboard and how to ollie, you will find these tips extremely helpful to improving your ollie.
1. Set a goal for your ollie
You are not going to ollie higher without having any goals. Set goals for your ollie height! The best way to do this is to find an obstacle to ollie over or on to. A cone or jersey barrier is a great example of something to ollie over. It forces you to ollie the height of that object which trains you to ollie higher in general. You will likely need to start small, ollieing over something like a hockey stick or cinder block before working your way up to larger obstacles. Constantly push the boundaries, aiming for a higher ollie goal with each session. Reinforce this in your daily skating by choosing to skate the higher obstacles as opposed to the smaller one. For example, if given the choice to grind a 1 foot ledge versus a 2 foot ledge, go with the 2 foot ledge to ensure you don't get lazy!
2. Set up your feet for a high ollie
For a higher ollie, you will likely need to modify your foot setup. The only thing that will change is the position of your front foot. For a higher ollie, move your front foot further back on the board. Rather than having your front foot right behind the bolts, set up your front foot more towards the middle of the board. By having your front foot further back on the skateboard, your foot will slide for a longer range of motion when leveling out the board, allowing for a higher ollie.
3. Apply pressure to your front foot before popping
The ollie is an explosive motion. For a higher ollie, try applying additional pressure down on your front foot when setting up. By pressing down on your front foot before popping, you will allow for a more explosive ollie. That is because all the weight that starts on your front foot will rapidly shift to your back foot when initiating the pop, forcing you to pop quicker and higher as a result.
4. Bring your back foot up
People forget that the ollie is a jumping motion. You can't jump and leave one foot on the ground or close to it. The skateboard will only go as high as your back foot goes in the air! Therefore, when popping, don't forget to bring your back foot up in the air, springing off of it for a successful jump.
5. Tuck your knees
Related to bringing your back foot up in the air with your skateboard is the need to tuck your knees when performing the ollie. While the ollie is a jumping motion, it is also a knee bending motion. At the peak of your ollie, your knees should be so tucked whereas you are pretty much seated in air with your knees almost touching your chest. The jumping portion of the ollie is what precedes the tucking of your knees. Here the most important thing is that your legs are not in the way, so that they are not preventing your board from going higher than it otherwise could from the force of your pop. So after you pop and jump, don't forget to tuck your knees!
6. Kick your front foot forwards
To get the highest possible ollie, you will kick your front foot forwards at the peak of the ollie. The ollie follows an upside down U motion in terms of how your legs and board will move. To achieve this, you will kick the board down and backwards off the ground when popping with your back foot, sliding your front foot up and forwards. For a more in depth view as to how ollie higher, as well as how to best produce this U motion, check out our full video on how to ollie higher: