Pop is the MOST important element in kickflip.

[@PsilocybinMagic]

I love it when there's a scientific explanation for why I suck at everything

[@jonbonjovi_is_happy]

I've had kickflips for years but never felt satisfied with how mine look/feel. I watched this video last night and during my skate session today I focused on popping as light as possible. My kickflips felt so much more effortless and popped much higher than usual! I hardly ever catch mine and I caught a number of them, which felt great. Thank you so much for putting out this fantastic content. My goal this year is to learn tre flips and I'm definitely going to be using your videos to help me!

[@cubeboarder7261]

REALLY. I littaraly just improved my kickflips a few minutes ago and I got closer to backside flips with this tecniche

[@kentluu4088]

I haven't skated since highschool and just started up recently and im in my 40s now. I can flip the trey flip pretty well, but flipping it with the intention of landing it terrifies me. landing 1 foot isn't a problem....going all in with two feet is scary as heck...

[@bernardesp_]

genius insight that i've never seen before. Very nice content

[@whythetrick]

Thanks a lot!

[@d1rt7d4t4]

The key takeaway I got from this is the angle of the calf extension after the thigh raise. I've been popping directly in a downward motion and on occasion would accidently pop at an angle and thought to myself "hey that felt good, but is that the right way?" This video gave me some reassurance that I'm not crazy!

[@jeremystidham1809]

This makes more sense to my mind than any other explanations before. Thank you

[@whythetrick]

you are very welcome!

[@fibryrruihf]

Interesting stat on kicking a soccer ball v. flicking a board. Thanks for the explanation!

[@DarmokAtTanagra]

These videos are superb. Popping is the most magical element of skateboarding. I learned how to pop an ollie significantly higher nearly 20 years after I originally learned how to ollie. It was like something clicked mentally about the timing. I am still learning how to combine my best pop with my kickflips. Sometimes I get the most satisfying high pop to my kickflips but I normally can't land them when they pop so high. But if I can learn to pop them consistently like that I think I will learn. This video helps a lot to understand thank you!

[@LimYangJunn]

Thank you for this. Can you please analyze the physics in Heelflips? I'm stuck learning them for about a year now...

[@Daniel-jz5yp]

i’d like to see this too !!!

[@beavischongofficialskate]

try a kickflip with ur heel

[@felixlang2118]

@@beavischongofficialskate P-Rod literally did one of those in BATB once: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqqml2ylrL2Wepo

[@thebayharborbutcher9115]

For heel flips lean towards your heel side slide foot up and hit your heel on the nose also and this is important because it held me back for a while ready okay make sure you don’t pop too hard I use to always over pop and it would not work hope this helps 🤘🏻🛹

[@a7xSkateboarding]

You don't actually use your heel. It's more on the middle side of the side of your foot, slightly below the pinky toe. Don't lean to much on the toe side, thinking you're gonna gain leverage to flip the board, it will only cause it to mob and land behind you (probably with your heels on the board and toes on the floor) The trick is very much like an ollie, just slide the foot at a 30 degree angle

[@ikadreeminn]

Thank god the KZbin gods put this guy on the recommendation, helped a lot.

[@davidleroy7225]

I'm glad I found this channel. I do remember on some attempts to kickflips when I didn't pop so much it felt much easier, so there must be something to this. The 3D models are class too!

[@forg0tten]

These videos are awesome. I just found them today - sorry to bombard you with comments. This is completely true that the harder you pop the harder you make your kickflip! Many years ago I learned to kickflip into primo and learning to underflick that 3/4 kickflip taught me so much about pop and flick!

[@whythetrick]

Thanks a lot for all these comments. Always good to have someone who agrees with my opinion.

[@isoundinfo]

Would love to see a video on heel flips. Kickflips are much more technical for me whereas heel flips are organic and I don't have to think about the process.

[@Wulfeh]

this is one of the best kickflip breakdowns I've ever seen.

[@0dd1ll95]

Might be the best channel to Learn tricks

[@tothepeopleof197]

Thanks for putting in all the work, so we can watch these great videos.

[@pipecfh]

THIS!!!! That's why when I land a kickflip it feels so effortless and when I fail them it feels so heavy and hard to flick... THANKS!!!!!

[@whythetrick]

You are absolutely welcome

[@Najter]

For real best skate tips ever and actually first tips that i can understand and relate to, love your channel i hope you get 1 million subs as you deserve it.

[@VAMPZDJ]

These videos are insane!! Please keep making them.

[@SnoopersPoopers]

I knew that my pop was why my kick flips were mid thanks for explaining

[@yhnyves210896]

Thats so true, it took me like 10 years to got this perception, pop is the most important thing on a kickflip

[@d1rt7d4t4]

Wow, I would always eventually get to this proper form to pop after warming up for hours and now I know where and why I've been bottlenecking my technique. Awesome video!

[@dillonw4rd]

a way to fix “overpop” is to put ur front foot more back so u can slide ur foot up the board and when ur almost to the apex of ur jump flick to get bigger kickflips

[@whythetrick]

greeeat!! thank you for helping me out.

[@PHeMoX]

This _is_ definitely one way to kickflip. And it might be one of the better ways to kickflip over or onto stuff to some extend, but it lacks dragging up the board more of the front foot, instead of allowing the board to go rocket and flick 'late'. Not saying you got anything wrong here, but with slight adjustments to your timing, you would level out your kickflips much better. Pay attention to how your front foot almost does not drag up the board, but mostly just flicks only. I've seen people do "late" heelflips this same way. It's a timing thing. A properly timed kickflip can be done very low to the ground, this particular type of kickflip pretty much can't.

[@megalowdonny3152]

If these videos result in me actually being able to finally consistently kick flip I will be dead. 27 years and not once have I heard someone talk about how over-popping/flicking will mess it up.

[@sushiroll7255]

actual, simple science that anybody can understand, very entertaining content, thank you very much

[@SkatebardCA]

Thank you. This is helping my mental model of kickflips very much.

[@whythetrick]

Great to hear that!

[@vwhezy9204]

i found this channel on reddit and im so glad for it! im a beginner a can do all basic tricks BUT i cant still do a kickflip. Thank you for this video, im appreciate.

[@whythetrick]

Happy to help!

[@vwhezy9204]

@@whythetrick Thank you, do you have discord? i will send you a video of me im doing a kickflip

[@whythetrick]

I’m afraid I don’t. Why don’t you post it on KZbin if you don’t mind?

[@vwhezy9204]

@@whythetrick ok, i posted it on my yt channel

[@whythetrick]

thanks a lot!! just...aside from everything, it looks painful lol. i thought you snapped your ankle or something first. ok, seems to me, your pop, slide and weight distribution are perfect. in fact much better than mine. but your flick though. have you heard someone says "kicks are much stronger than punches, duh" ?? the point is, your legs/feet are strong enough to flip your skateboard, especially when you can flip it with your hands easily. it seems like you are extending your front foot too far, pushing down your board, messing with the "flip axis". try to keep it COMPACT AND FAST. visualize an imaginary board right next to your real one right at the moment you flick it. and DO NOT try to extend your front foot further than the imaginary board. when you flick properly, your board would land 20-30cm to the heel side from where you popped. so I'd recommend trying it while getting off your board first and make sure you can let that happen all the time. try to land it after that.

[@stevedoust4798]

These are some amazing explanations. Real theory!

[@Noahtheorigianl]

Bro this needs so much more views

[@niquiyo]

My ultimate hack 4 kickflips: soft ollie pop and front foot heavyness all the way thru. The front foot covers the bottom two bolts of the front truck, set at a 45 degree angle, and flicks on the CONCAVE and gets quickly back. first ones gonna be rocket I guess cuz of the ff heavy thing but u will get used to balance pop force/flick speed . if it worked reply back

[@ianblackburn2645]

Would love to see a video on impossibles really interested in seeing a scientific break down of that trick

[@Lehornet85]

Your science eases my 40yr old mind and so I will apply your methods to my practical. I watched the Ollie get high video and most of what you said was 🔥🔥 and so I can apply it to my students under me. Thank you from the U.K 💯🛹👊

[@rmhfpv9225]

another fantastic video. This content deserves to be very well known.

[@jamesallen2909]

Eh, depends. Yeah I can kickflip with a way lower effort pop, but then the kickflip stays uncomfortably close to the ground and comes off lazy. I don’t like that. The pop is definitely the most important thing, but it’s not always about overpop that makes kickflip fail. I pop hard as shit, but I flick later than usual, almost once the board is at its peak height already. This reduces the upwards momentum and force my flicking ankle has to fight, but causes the board to rise up to my desired height much quicker. I don’t like a slow kickflip that pops 3 inches above the ground. That looks like shit

[@yooomarie]

I gotta agree wit dis, I jus had a sesh and each time I would pop mad hard and I couldn’t get enough rotation by the time it reached my feet again and when I calmed down I got closer but my body had a tendency to over pop for kickflips rn

[@lvt8studio]

Super insightful video. Definitely keep making more of these sir 🙏

[@whythetrick]

I will thanks!

[@forg0tten]

I'm 36 and I've been skating since I was 11 - I've never been able to visualize skating like this. I've been trying Dolphins for months and I think I had a major epiphany during this video about pop time.

[@whythetrick]

I thought you were born in 1958 and are 65 years old now haha. Anyway, I'm getting older, too. And that's exactly why I thought I needed to find a way to systematically store my experience in a tangible form.

[@Rufusdos]

I don't agree with your analysis here: For a skilled skater, there is no such thing as "overpop". With a very big pop, the small "back somersault" moment of the board is resisted by the front foot over a relatively long period even before the flick itself is initiated. When that has been achieved, the flick requires exactly the same amount of front foot energy as a lower kickflip. The only difference is that the skater will catch the board higher in the air.

[@lfrizzlyl2244]

yes thank you

[@ogsxl]

It could be said that overpopping needs to be the standard to become a skilled skater. Therefore the pop is just pop at that point. I started improving when a sponsored flow skater told me to just pop at 300% to what i thought my 100% was. Developed my muscles and now what used to be 300% is now my 75%

[@Rufusdos]

@@ogsxl sounds about right.

[@PHeMoX]

I think with overpopping he means mostly just popping so fast that you couldn't ever jump quickly enough or flick fast enough to keep up. It's a real thing I would argue. But I also think you can start dragging your front foot up the board almost the same time as you pop, allowing an earlier flick and more levelled out kickflip. If you jumped up before the real pop, it's hard to really 'overpop'.

[@DestructoBaker]

I think for a more experienced skater they're able to kickflip with more pop and control it but for those who are just learning perhaps less pop is more suitable.

[@steezymotions9411]

love these vids. i actually stopped doing kickflips because i just hated how heavy they would sometimes feel on my front foot. i can do them buttery but i just hate how they feel sometimes. gonna try put this tech to use. i also see people in the comments talking about "overpopping" i think that word can be looked at from a few different perspectives. popping too fast, or too much weight in the back when you pop or just popping too slow.

[@ericmueller6687]

I had this problem, I was focusing so much on the flick and never getting a full rotation. I then noticed that popping the board with more effort caused the board to flick faster . 🤯

[@markedgar]

frontside flip please

[@davidoliva1036]

I felt a similar effect on my ollies. Since i focused on pop the tail light and quick ive got the same height ollie bit more solid and consistent, it tires me lot less and help me jump more confident over things. I knowlittle to nothing about physics but something inside me tells me that we try so hard to ollie high that we expell too much force that doesnt really apply well on the movement. Useless force that escapes in other direction and we cannot really used it on our will. I feel like just the force of the ankle its enough to glue the board to my foot and there is no need to stomp that hard

[@hyoungjinlee9414]

Plz make frontside flip analysis. Thanks.

[@Doldilic]

This is an amazing video!! I'm gonna skate with you one day

[@whythetrick]

Please do!

[@trw45q]

youve literally cracked the kickfliip open dude, it almost makes me feel sad how much work it took me to find out

[@mirzad19882]

i think the kickflip is more in the jump and proper center of gravity distribution throughout the course of the whole move.

[@allhxrt]

Very helpful video like the physic aspects

[@sneakykickz]

Enter the matrix of skateboarding! :) Great content, thank you very much!

[@whythetrick]

you know what, we could even make that actually happen not so far in the future. being a big fan of the film, I'm salivating... thank you for the comment anyway!

[@mujahidazfar4957]

SUPERB EXPLANATION.

[@mujahidazfar4957]

Your content, visual and theoretical explanation is Very on point. Graphics are well done. I hope very much that you will keep on doing this Videos,for more beginners like myself. Thank you🤘🏽

[@MaNuLaToROfficial]

3:16 which is 6.6 pounds

[@isdatbochi]

Wow 🤩 great analysis and tips

[@i_come_in_peace4726]

This is mind blowing and sooooooo helpful

[@Tublumpkins]

Great content !

[@whythetrick]

Thanks!

[@Rans4211]

The science subject i can digest

[@Societyman123]

All that pressure on the tail can be used to lift your entire body up and then u just use the little bit for the board, but it requires more precision on other aspects of the trick. For example, making sure your body doesn't lean too drastically when you jump. So you must balance your body by having even weight on all sides of the tail, unless you want to pop forward slightly (which makes front foot work easier) which means you sort of have to compensate by pushing the board forward kinda it's weird this is where my understanding turns more fuzzy.

[@simplesimp3780]

this is great insight. but the rocket steez, dunno about that. all love.

[@full6330name]

This is so damn true. I pop why to harder so when I have to flick that board is coming to my fliking foot with much bigger force so is harder to flip. Do a nice centerted but gentle pop and the flik should be easier. I would go out and do 100 kickflip today,100 kickflips the next day and I still don't feel like my kickflips are legit. Going out today to try doing it this way. To mure sure I pop it gently.

[@whythetrick]

Thank you for the comment. Just try to think about the difference between lifting up your body and popping. They might seem similar but are totally different things in fact.

[@djlee5836]

great video. much love from korea

[@whythetrick]

please come down here. skaters share their lands anywhere.

[@rdv2482]

Great channel bruh

[@whythetrick]

Thank you!

[@natattck323]

can u please do a video oh heel flips

[@fuchsia203]

in my experience you just need a solid pop you dont have to try hard just watch louie lopez

[@DarmokAtTanagra]

Occasionally I ghost pop and still land a kickflip on flat ground. No pop at all. Just leverage and foot drag/flick. It feels quite lucky when it happens

[@iamkyaimaforbes]

I'm definitely going to try this, but I do have a question. Popping a trick means extending your ankle through the board and lifting your knees to your chest, by my definition. But then what about jumping? Ideally, you wouldn't jump by immediately lifting your knees to your chest, but by going through triple extension and then lifting your knees to your chest. So wouldn't overpopping and jumping equalize one another, slowing down the force of the nose to the front foot? I noticed you don't jump your kickflips, so I was just wondering🫡

[@megabates9016]

😂😂😂 you went full geek!!! Frickin Awesome!! Idk if all this is true, I mean it's true to you and that's what matter. You may help tons of people here! Congrats. Animations are great, hope you work your way up with those.

[@ayasinclair188]

please can someone explain what caused a mobbed / rocket flip ? i feel like watching this vid that im not rolling my front ankle enough, that i'm too out and not forward enough - could this be it ?

[@milanbsk]

I think you can Flick while the nose i going up, but if you want a popped flip, first do an Ollie an Flick while the back foot is in the air.

[@brandonforster3719]

Thanks bro. Can u do a Heelflip one? I'm having an issue with the board hitting the side of my foot instead of it rolling off.

[@whythetrick]

I'll try!

[@brandonforster3719]

@whythetrick Appreciate u bro! 🤙

[@whalenaidan6555]

I’ve had an issue of popping too much on kickflip hopefully this helps!!

[@willblackett4709]

Good tips Thanks

[@Notblakewilson]

I agree w everything in the vid but i have to say you have the weirdest back foot placement ive ever seen for kickflips. try putting the ball of your foot in the pocket on the other side of the board (watch Mike Mo's kickflip trick tip if thats confusing) for a quicker pop that will also start the rotation of the flip for you.

[@diqqeatinfool48]

Thank you for this

[@kerriebuckingham7044]

Mate...genius!

[@One-tf7kr]

0:20 in the back ground perfect form swish haha

[@whythetrick]

Didn’t realize that

[@MrSchaick]

Uhmm i think u missed something. In the animations the shoulders are wide open. Witch is not the case when u skate as you have to keep ur shoulders above the bolts. U cant "overpop" as long as u keep ur shoulders straight. Try it

[@owenharkin8249]

Jake Hayes kickflips with open shoulders and he pops them highhh

[@ilanjheyson5139]

please put a caption, I'm from Brazil and would like to have access to the content 🇧🇷

[@megabates9016]

Yo cara! Vai começar aprender ingles! E possivel de leer comics, de olhar novela em ingles e mais. Eu aprendeu tambem, o brasileiro, mas com as lettras de musicas!!! Believe me you'll always need english for anything skate related.

[@quency223]

Do you think I can send you a video of my kickflips so you can analyze what im doing wrong? My kickflips are mobbed, I flick too late, and I do not feel comfortable with kickflips at all, I was wondering if I can get some advice to finally have kickflips on lock again. Do you think I can get a hold of your email or some way of messaging you to send you videos of my kickflips?

[@illawarrapoolservices]

I need a collab between you, Ben dergoss and dr Schmidt

[@zaki.beatss]

FINALLY ANOTHER SKATEBOARDER THAT USES BLENDER!!

[@whythetrick]

another? is there anyone else?

[@connorhall70]

i been telling my mate for years how his pop foot is always in the wrong spot and he needs to have it nice and square and jump off the ball of his foot not toes but he will not listen and cant kickflip after 5 years. gg.

[@trentonziegler]

Gg 🤣 that's definitely frustrating when homies won't listen to advice and then they still can't land hardly anything

[@garybrownlee7319]

My problem is that I drag my front foot up the board and flick too soon. Before the tail has a chance to make contact with the ground to initiate the pop. I can still land them but I have trouble with the timing. The board spins fast and barely clears the ground. Do you have any advice for improving my timing?

[@whythetrick]

This video might help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/goaUmHmwftSAnaM

[@garybrownlee7319]

@@whythetrick Thanks! These videos are great.

[@haxluis]

how to have a high kickflip ?

[@whythetrick]

hope this video helps: kzbin.info/www/bejne/goaUmHmwftSAnaM

[@kaiob.silvas]

wouldn't it be better with the body "forward"?

[@whythetrick]

great insight. as you might have realized, i'm only talking about toe/heel side weight distribution. in reality, we also have to consider front/rear weight distribution too.

[@Kyle-wq2ps]

If you move your back knee out of the way when you pop….

[@ricardohnn]

Hey mate, your website isn't working. Can't ask questions there or share contacts. Let me know if there's any email address

[@whythetrick]

please take a look at this page; kzbin.infoabout

[@hellogoodbye4894]

Thank You!!

[@whythetrick]

No, thank YOU for watching.

[@wakazuzu]

If you pop super high, can't you just flick a bit later once the board has started to level out?

[@whythetrick]

perhaps. you'd also have to bring up your front foot super high though.

[@wakazuzu]

@@whythetrick Interesting. Thanks for your reply!

[@salvadorcabezas2630]

Do ollies

[@jaciobe]

Om liking these vids

[@이진호-z2y]

Is it same to heelflip??

[@whythetrick]

the basic concept is the same.

[@Masloff30]

Thx

[@quasar8744]

This proves Luan Oliveira has a really strong flick because he pops really high

[@whythetrick]

I’m afraid that’s not necessarily correct. He jumps up really high but he pops only as hard as he needs to. His flick may be stronger than mine, but the strength of jump does not directly correspond to the strength of flick.

[@quasar8744]

@@whythetrick so it doesn't matter when we pop as hard as we can as long as we jump to the point where the nose isn't moving and we can flick the board easily?

[@whythetrick]

Correctmundo

[@jamesnoben2052]

I can spin the board perfectly, but i landed the kickflip only once 15 years ago

[@b4sh936]

I landed my first kickflip thanks to this video, i was popping too hard. I even recorded it lol, its on my channel if u want to see it

[@whythetrick]

Good to hear that. Let’s see what you got on your channel…

[@Jamtron88]

The flick imparts a rotation that is around an axis perpendicular to the axis of pop. Therefore there should be no relevance of how fast the board is rising (or how hard you pop it) to how hard it is to make the board spin.

[@rmhfpv9225]

is the flick axis really perpendicular to the pop axis? I'm thinking the pop axis is straight down (zero degrees, flat). The flick axis happens later while the board is around 45 degrees in the air so the flick is pushing at that 45 degree axis (which can be as much as 80 degrees as the nose goes up).

[@xxlatincrazy1]

New sub

[@whythetrick]

cooool!

[@jerryboy5876]

One your diagram has shit body dynamics it's leaning forward the hips should be centered with the board. Second it doesn't matter how hard you pop just raise your knee higher and put a delay on your flick.

[@lucmartz]

I wonder what think Dustin Dollin about this video…

[@Masloff30]

👍

[@chocomoth5851]

it looks impossible to me, wish me luck

[@whythetrick]

I don’t think I can help you with luck but I can do my best to give you my knowledge. Please let me know if you want me to talk about a specific topic.

[@K_spawn]

Lol know when I skate I feel like when in Naruto they explained their jitsus 😅