How To: FRONTSIDE 180 | Frontside 180 Tutorial

What this video teaches

Note: this video teaches the frontside 180 alone, the rotation half of the combined kickflip frontside 180, but the shoulder-first wind-up and lean-back cues transfer directly to the flip version. Tom Rohrer frames it as the foundational trick behind frontside flips and frontside bigspins, breaking it into foot position, the shoulder twist, and the pop.

Key tips

• 1Keep your back foot centered on the tail, shifted back slightly for extra scoop on the rotation
• 2Set your front foot in your ollie position with the back toe angled slightly for the turn
• 3Keep shoulders square while rolling up, then twist them hard right before you pop, wherever your head and shoulders face is where your legs follow
• 4Bend down as far as possible and load weight onto the tail before turning and popping
• 5Lean back through the pop rather than forward, or the board gets stuck behind you and kills your pop
• 6Let your front foot slide forward naturally like an ollie while your back foot does the work of pushing the tail around
• 7If the full rotation feels too soon, practice a half frontside 180 and pivot on the front wheels to get used to the motion
• 8Push your back foot forward through the pop, that's what actually generates the 180 rotation, not twisting your feet directly

Summarized from the video transcript.