How To: Ollie Body Varial

What this video teaches

VLSkate treats the ollie body varial as an ollie with a frontside body rotation added, and says it works even if your ollies are rocketed, so long as you get a few inches off the ground. The whole tutorial hinges on what the front foot does: slide it up the nose as in an ollie, but stop pushing when it reaches the point where the nose curves up and let it hang in that pocket for a split second rather than flicking off the side, which would turn the trick into a kickflip sex change. A small forward kick from that pocket levels the board out. He also points out that the shoulders start winding and rotating as you pop, so that by the time the board is barely off the ground your shoulders are already open and turning frontside.

Key tips

• 1Set the feet in an ollie position but with the front foot a little further up toward the bolts for stability, since you are not going for height at first
• 2Slide the front foot up the nose and stop at the point where the nose curves, letting it hang in that pocket for a split second
• 3Do not flick the front foot off the side or past the nose, or the board will flip and you get a kickflip sex change instead
• 4From that pocket, give a slight forward kick to bring the tail up and level the board out
• 5Start the shoulder rotation as you pop, not after; the faster you rotate the easier it is to land back on the board
• 6Prerequisites are a solid ollie and being comfortable with frontside body varials, more than frontside 180s
• 7If you land off the tail, nose or side, counteract the lean the opposite way to recenter over the board

Summarized from the video transcript.