How-To Skateboarding: Boneless with Tony Hawk & Mike Vallely

What this video teaches

Tony Hawk and Mike Vallely give the short historical version: the boneless was how skaters got into the air and over obstacles before ollies existed. The mechanics they describe are minimal, which is the point. Reach down and grab the board in the same fashion as an indy, set the front foot on the ground, jump upward keeping the back foot planted on the board, and get the front foot back on while sailing through the air. Their main correction is that most people simply do not bend far enough, so the grab never really happens and the board is not picked up.

Key tips

• 1Grab the board in the same position as an indy grab with the back hand
• 2The back foot stays planted on the board the whole time while the front foot goes to the ground and jumps
• 3When you think you have bent over enough, you have not; bend further and actually grab and lift the board
• 4Learn it on flat ground first, then take it to banks and ditches, then to ramps
• 5When it goes wrong very little happens; the usual failure is failing to get the board into your hand at all

Summarized from the video transcript.