Ollies On A Skateboard
Learning how to ollie on a skateboard is not easy and today at how to skateboards we are here to break it down for you. Before learning how to ollie, it is important that you are comfortable riding around on your skateboard. The ollie is the first big step towards learnings tricks on a skateboard, therefore it is crucial that you have the fundamentals down and are comfortable cruising around. You will know you are really ready to learn how to ollie on a skateboard when cruising starts to become too easy. Once you have that level of board control down whereas you can kickturn, tic tac, and have thrown a few manuals around, you are ready to learn how to ollie. The reason you need to have some level of comfort on your skateboard is because the ollie is not just about jumping on your skateboard, but is also about shifting your weight around on your skateboard in an explosive manner. Therefore, the manual is a good prerequisite to ollies because it teaches you how to control pressing down on your tail and lifting up your front trucks. For those who do not know what a manual is on a skateboard, this is the skateboard terminology for a wheelie. By learning how to balance on the back two wheels of your skateboard, you are building up strength in your calf muscles that are necessary for performing the ollie.
How To Set Up Your Feet For An Ollie
Now that you are ready to learn how to ollie on a skateboard, it is time to get into the foot setup. For foot setup, place your back foot centered behind the bolts, about halfway between the bolts and the very end of the tail, but slightly closer to the tail's end. Place your front foot centered behinds the bolts of your front truck. Most people when learning how to ollie will put their front foot directly behind the front bolts, however as you get better at ollies you may want to move your front foot back further for a larger range of sliding motion and therefore a higher ollie. When setting up your feet make sure that you are not flat footed. Your weight should mainly be on your toes and not your heels, because any good jump comes from the toes.
How To Ollie
The ollie is a jump on a skateboard created by an explosive weight shift from your front foot to your back foot and vice versa. When learning how to ollie, a lot of people are mindful of the weight shift, but forget that the ollie really is a jump and the higher you can jump the higher you can ollie. The weight shift is what allows you to bring the board with you as you jump. Therefore, be mindful of the jumping motion required for the ollie as you control your upper body. To ollie you will start with the majority of your weight on your front foot for the set up, quickly shifting your weight backwards as you spring off the back foot, leaning back to press down and pop. This is an explosive motion and once you are starting to get some air you will lean forwards again to level the board out. The ollie is ideally formed by a U motion you create with your feet. With your back foot, as you pop down and scrape your tail against the ground, you will kick your foot back slightly to create leverage as you bring it up and forwards. Keep in mind that the pop is much like a jumping motion and therefore really comes from the toes. With your front foot you will press your weight down for the setup, quickly shifting that weight to your back foot to initiate the pop. You will lift up your front foot to enable the pop and as the board starts to rise at an angle, the front foot will be responsible for leveling out the board and cleaning up the ollie. You will do this by sliding your front foot, using the outer edge of your ankle and pinky toe region of the foot to create leverage with the griptape, bringing the board up with you as you jump. This is when the U motion becomes especially important with your front foot as this will guide the board up and forward for a perfect ollie. If you are having a difficult time visualizing this, here is a quick tutorial on how to ollie:
@howtoskateboards Reply to @gio.za7 many more tips on the way! #ollie #howtoollie #howtoskateboard #howtoskateboards #skateboard #skateboarding #skate ♬ Sia - Xeptemper
At the end of the video you may have heard that having the majority of your weight on the inner part of your front foot's ankle before popping helps. That is because this makes for an easier and more controlled weight shift, permitting a better jump with your front foot as it will cause you to leverage your big toe for jumping and sliding power. Once the board is leveled out you will press down with both feet to land the ollie - this part will happen most naturally.
Progressing Ollies
The ollie is the most fundamental part of skateboarding and skaters of all skill levels are continuously progressing their ollies even after years of skating. The truth is that your first successful ollie is not going to be great. Be excited, not discouraged! You might get a couple inches off the ground at first and you will only go up from there. The most important thing is that you get out there and practice consistently. Your ollies will get better and higher each day and you may not even take notice. Just make sure that you are looking at what is not working and are learning from each bad ollie to improve each try. To start, you may learn ollies stationary, in place without rolling on your board. Once you start to get some inches off the ground, transitioning to a rolling ollie will be scary and requires a lot of commitment. Just be patient out there and take it one day at a time. Once rolling ollies start to feel comfortable, it is time to start holding yourself accountable by adding some form of obstacle. This will force you to ollie with a purpose and a goal which will lead to better, higher, and longer ollies. The best way to get started is to set up some kind of stick, with hockey sticks being the best obstacle as they will not clip you if you mess up your ollie. Once you can successfully ollie one hockey stick, add another. Then try ollieing a deck or ollieing up a curb. You will notice that the ollie is a very functional and foundational part of skateboarding which you will continuously progress throughout your skateboarding journey.
We hope you learned today how to ollie on a skateboard. If you have any questions on how to ollie drop a comment on this article and we will get back to you. Our goal at how to skateboards is to teach you how to skateboard one step at a time!