Freestyle Tricktip 25: No Handed 50-50

The no handed 50-50 is one of the most common freestyle tricks, and for good reason; they look visually striking and impress non-freestylers, but aren't that hard once someone's shown you how to do one. Thankfully, this video will get you posing and tweaking a no handed 50-50 with the best of them.
The in-depth breakdown and photo sequence can be found on the website at freestyletrick... for those who find stills and text easier to follow.
Anyway. Like, share, subscribe, do whatever you please. If there's any trick in particular you'd like a tip for, drop a comment below and we'll see what we can do. And if you appreciate these tricktips, please buy us a coffee at www.buymeacoff... to help keep this project going!

[@darkXwolf17-UD]

I actually learned this after learning Casper’s. I started this trick from rail since i sucked at bringing my feet into position) (I’ll keep working on that) (thnx for help) love your videos and trick tips.

[@weesupersteve]

just loving all these tutorials , makes me weekend to sit watch and have a go keep up the awesome work folks

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Glad to hear it! Hope you manage to get this one down. It's a really fun trick to do.

[@jzip]

Wow the first few minutes of the video explained what I was doing wrong no wonder I was struggling 😅

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Glad I could help. I think this is one of those tricks that a lot of people make the same basic mistakes on, though.

[@darkXwolf17-UD]

I can’t lock and straighten my legs to stay under the griptape. Any other ways i can do this no handed 50/50s?

[@FreestyleTricktips]

If you don't lock the legs, you're going to be relying a lot more on muscle, and it's going to be a lot more difficult. Try slinging your hips a bit further back, out past the tail of the board - that'll both get your legs into position and get your weight in the right place.

[@taintedlovestain4805]

Great video!! Keep em coming!!!

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Thanks! Got more in the works. Let me know if there's anything in particular you want me to cover and I'll see what I can do.

[@JordanThomasRichards]

Thank you for the continued trick tips! I'll give this a go next sesh, though I still haven't landed any variations on the tailstop finger flip yet. Another bit of advice for snapping laces, use cable ties for the first three loops closest to your toes and use super glue to seal up any stitching on suede shoes.

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Ah, I am more than familiar with the joys of super glue. Cable ties is a new one on me, though. Surely that's got to be uncomfortable between the foot and the board on caspers and the like?

[@victorzurdo6516]

Hey! ... you left your bottle behind! :) nice vids, thank you so much

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Damn. I wondered where that had gone!

[@anttimakimartti]

I just started skateboarding last summer and only started doing tricks this spring. Glad that I found your channel since I've always found freestyle skateboarding fascinating and it is a nice change to all the street stuff I see around me! I haven't met any freestyle skateboarders yet here in Finland but all of these even basic freestyle tricks are very out of the norm here. I'm skating with a regular 8,5 inch board with a deep concave but I am considering getting a freestyle board too. I have googled the boards already a few times but tips and suggestions on where to get one here in Europe will be gladly accepted. I guess what I am trying to say is that thanks for the tutorials and motivating me to try something less orthodox. Keep rocking, cheers. Gotta try the no handed 50-50 this weekend. Oh Also, I am tallish and weigh 102 kg and I am scared for my board. Would you not recommend doing tricks like these on a regular skateboard and does the board count much when doing freestyle? if you don't count the skidplates and such. Caspers are slippery. :D Edit: went to your site and apparently the squarer tail helps with this for example. and there was a lot of info there. Concave: bad. Skidplates: helps. I seem to have found my answer whether a freestyle board is useful or not for freestyle skateboarding. I guess they were invented for a reason. :D

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Hey Antti, good to hear from you! Yeah, the website's got a lot more info than the KZbin channel does (and it's more structured in general). Lots to get stuck into on there. You know, there's a bit of a freestyle legend from Finland - a guy called Jari Paakkari, who lives in Lahti. He was one of the best freestylers of the 2000s and just got back on a board a few years back. Really good guy. He has a channel on KZbin with his brother, Vesa - kzbin.info/door/a_iDo1BSe7LDaTFA33GYAQ - you should go say hi and tell them Tony Gale sent you. As far as where to get freestyle boards in Europe, you've basically got two options - offsetskatesupply.co.uk, which is my site here in England, and www.nesk8-shop.de, which is Christian Heise's site from Germany. Either of us will ship to Finland, and I'm happy to help answer any questions you might have regarding board shapes, sizes, and setup choices. As I think you've just found, freestyle boards are far more specific and unusual than what you may be used to!

[@aaronwatts1870]

Got this without shin guards on the other day tony, hadn’t touched my freestyle board in a week, got back on and I could just do it, it just made sense 👍 didn’t even need your trick tip do a harder trick tip 😄

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Well, you had the benefit of getting this trick tip in person! Anything else you want me to cover?

[@aaronwatts1870]

Freestyle Tricktips ahaha yeah learning direct is the way to go. I’ll keep coming by for the direct instructions I wouldn’t want to upset the flow you’ve got going on this channel ;D

[@juliuspfiffikus1590]

Someone gave me the advice to do them on the nose instead of tail, because it’s shorter. I‘m not sure if I’ll do it, because it’s a lot rounder than the tail. What’s your take on that?

[@FreestyleTricktips]

It's all a trade-off. Some folks prefer doing them on a short flat nose despite any roundness because you end up a lot lower down. Some folks - like me - prefer dealing with the additional height and angle of a kicktail if it's squarer and will sit more solidly in position. I also think the lower position of a short nose can make the entry a bit too snappy, as it's a much quicker and shorter arc compared to a longer kicktail; that feels pretty weird if you're not used to it. That said, it also depends a bit on the trick you're doing out of it; the rounder nose will fanflip easier as it will roll around the curve, but it makes Irish flips harder due to the lack of stability. All things considered, try both. See what works for you to get you started, then try doing them off the other end once you're used to the trick.

[@HandyFox333]

Do you need that type of board for this?

[@FreestyleTricktips]

You don't - I learned no handed 50-50s on a street board many years ago - but it does make it a lot easier on a freestyle board. The steep tail of a street board makes the trick feel heavier, the concave cuts into the top of your foot more, and the rounded end makes it far less stable once you get up on the truck. If all you can get is a street board, I recommend you at least blunt the end of the tail off a bit. I used to use an orbital sander to put about a 2.5" flat end on the tail to make this easier. It'll also help prevent the tail from delamming to hell if you don't have a skid plate.

[@oopskederma]

Kay... This hurts to screw up. I gave in after some good knocks and just made shin guards cause my aim was terrible. From trial and error i learned i was trying to flip straight across the front of my legs... Bam into my shin. Also wasnt keeping my back foot perpendicular to the truck (which so far in practice has helped me) and more parallel so... bam to the shin. I see that your foot is always parallel to the truck but im still fine tuning in practice, which also reminds me i gotta lose the pads eventually. Thanks for the video, Tony. I have a question/challenge. Can you do a bebop flip or butterflip into a no handed 50/50?

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Yeah, this is a painful trick to learn. There's no two ways around it. You should check out the toeside rail to no handed 50-50 tip I did - that one still hits me in the shins every so often, and I've been doing it since 2004. Once you get past the shin battering, you're probably also going to ruin the top of your front foot (at least if you're anything like me, when I first learned them). Basically, what I'm saying is that no handed 50-50s are a weird form of self-inflicted torture. Why do we do this to ourselves? On the last note, I actually can't butterflip at all. I had a crack at learning them after filming the trick tip for them with Nick but I don't have much patience with things I have to bend over to catch with my hands. Maybe I'll give it a go to no handed 50-50 and see how that works out!

[@FreudianQuip]

Does having a freestyle board make a big difference in learning this trick? Traditionally I've been a street skater but after 10 years I am starting to dabble with freestyle, and I'm not sure if it's worth the investment!

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Yep, it makes a HUGE difference. Almost every element of a street deck goes against you on these: - The steep kicktails change the angle the board has to stand at - Longer kicktails mean your back foot is higher up, making it harder to balance - Concave digs into the top of your front foot, and can make learning these quite painful - Rounded kicktails make the trick a lot more unstable Also, if you're not using skid plates and you've got razortail, this is a really quick way to destroy the end of your board. I learned these on a street deck in 2003 or 2004, and while it wasn't impossible, I don't recommend it. If you can afford a freestyle setup, get one. They're an absolute game changer, and it's never been easier to get a good freestyle board than now. We've got a big list of retailers on the website, so no matter where you are in the world, you should be able to find a place to buy one online: freestyletricktips.com/freestyle-retailers/

[@FreudianQuip]

@@FreestyleTricktips Thanks for the reply! I appreciate the information, as someone who has been largely ignorant to freestyle for most of my time skateboarding, it's nice to have an informed perspective! I hope to see you continue doing what you are doing, I fully support it!

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Cheers, mate. Hope you find it all helpful. I highly recommend you have a flick through the website, too - there's a lot more in-depth info on there regarding setups and the like. The individual trick tips are probably more in-depth, too. I can't cover everything in a video or each one would be half an hour long!

[@willcrutchfield7156]

Anyone have any advice for how to not absolutely murder the tops of your feet while picking up the board? Maybe my feet are extra bony, but it seems I can’t find a sweet spot where the board isn’t cutting into my foot in some place or another

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Getting rid of concave is the biggest step you can take. Concave gives the deck two points which will dig into the foot. Thicker socks and shoes will also help. If you're still having problems, look at the angle of your board and weight placement; if the deck is at too low an angle, the front foot has to take a lot more strain. The whole arrangement is working like a lever, and the mass - your weight - is acting on the front foot much more as the angle decreases.

[@willcrutchfield7156]

Freestyle Tricktips thanks for the additional advice. I had actually meant that I was having issues with the foot that lands on the truck while picking up the board from tailstop, but I’ve gotten myself some shoes with a bit more padding in the tongue so hopefully that should do the trick.

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Oh, my mistake! Yeah, that's unusual. I don't think I've ever bruised the top of my back foot from picking the board up. It could just be a timing issue, to be honest - not getting your weight off the front foot in time, or having the front foot too close to the truck while standing on the tail. What shoes were you wearing before?

[@willcrutchfield7156]

Freestyle Tricktips timing and foot placement could definitely have something to do with it, hadn’t considered that before. I’ll be sure to keep all that in mind next time I give it a try. And before I was just wearing some old vans slip ons; quite comfortable but absolutely no protection for caspers/5050s. I suspect that’s likely been the root of most of my problems..

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Yeah, I think those slip ons are the real root of the problem here! Comfy, yes. But foot protection? Nope. I remember fifteen years ago when it seemed like every freestyler in the UK wore Chuck Taylors. I tried it once and it just bloody hurt. Great for footwork, but absolute agony for everything else!

[@Voudinii]

you see my problem is when i lift it up it keeps hitting my knees

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Which knee? Front or back?

[@Voudinii]

@@FreestyleTricktips since im regular like you it keeps hitting my left leg's knee

[@FreestyleTricktips]

@@Voudinii Hm. My guess is that you're either bending the front leg too much, which puts the knee into the way - if you look at the sequence on the website at freestyletricktips.com/truck/no-handed-50-50/ you can see more clearly how straight my front leg is throughout the move - or you're not controlling the deck properly as you transition into the no handed 50-50. You don't want the board to start spinning towards you, nor do you want a gap between the grip and the front foot at any point; you should be keeping in contact with the board with both feet throughout.

[@Voudinii]

@@FreestyleTricktips ok thx

[@Mr007666]

Hi. This is still not easy, Looks like (picture 4-5 in F-tricktips.com) You turn the board like 5 degrees away from front leg, not to hit your knee. like a pressureflip-foot-placement. ?

[@FreestyleTricktips]

Yeah, there's a slight twist in there; I'm not sure how much of that is subconsciously learned, and how much is simply a natural side-effect of the way you lift up the deck. As you need to bounce/hop upwards from your toes, it makes sense that your toes would be the last thing to leave the tail, meaning the board is naturally going to want to roll/spin in that direction. I'd not really thought of it before.

[@Mr007666]

@@FreestyleTricktips Thank you. My Old back hates the handed truckstands. So want to try more of the nohanded tricks.

[@FreestyleTricktips]

@@Mr007666 hah, I'm much the same. I hate stooping over for 50-50s and pogos; no handed 50-50s are way more comfortable. (Possibly controversial take: I think they look better, too.)

[@Mr007666]

@@FreestyleTricktips Yep a beautiful trick. I can stall them and flip out. Just so hard to get in to them. :)

[@Rumi_Rune]

Im gonna get a new griptape and shoes, Its both destroyed and worn out

[@Rumi_Rune]

I can Balance it, but cannot land it

[@Rumi_Rune]

Yes.

[@kylerollon6990]

Dude can i ask how do you land it ?

[@Rumi_Rune]

@@kylerollon6990 By rolling the board on your foot. And if it's about the stall, then maybe try to decrease the weight of your foot on the trucks.

[@kylerollon6990]

@@Rumi_Rune thx