skate punk

Bert slides are a fun little trick to do when you got the time or just feel like chilling. Coming up from the old days of skateboarding, many believe that this move was created on skateboards to imitate the motion of carving a nice wave. They are simple and yet if done properly can look very professional or make a simple opening or ender.

Ok heres how to pull it off.

1. You can Bert slide anywhere but generally slopes might tend to be a bit more difficult. Simply start riding at a speed you feel comfortable with.
2. Ok regardless of you pulling f/s or b/s Bert slides heres where setting up comes into place. Put your front foot over your front bolts and your back foot on the tail.
3. First up B/S Bert slides. Bend your knees and let your hands touch the ground in front of you. Plant your hands hard on there and spin your hips around like you were spinning a little 180 on your board. Use your hands to push yourself around. Move the leg that was on the tail and spin it around so that your left (right if your goofy) leg is at the back. This is one of the easier Bert slides and doesn’t look as good as f/s but can be used for turning and such.
4. The f/s Bert slide is the harder of the two slides but looks a lot more professional. Same as b/s, bend your knees and plant the ground but this time your going to put your hands down behind you instead of in front. Spin your body around in the same motion as b/s Bert slides and prop yourself back up. This Bert slide is definitely the better looking of the two.

A little practice exercise you can do to better your Bert slides is to plant the ground behind or in front of you and just push the board as if you were power sliding. Its only 90 degrees but it will get you used to the movement and control of Bert slides.

You have to know how to boneless before you try this.

Go at a decent speed but not too fast. This trick is hard to do when you going really fast. Ok put you front foot on the ground and at the same time grab an Indy. Then hop of your front foot like a Boneless but when you hop make sure you spin yourself so you will do a 180. This isn't a very hard trick but it is fun to do.

Hint: point your toes in the direction you are spinning to help get the full rotation.

Practice and have fun. This is a very versatile trick, from pools to stairs, name it and you can 180 boneless it.

This is an old school trick and it's really easy to do.

Go at a pretty slow speed then jump of the board so your parallel with it. Grab an Indy but don't actually hold it just keep your fingers under your board. Then jump up and do a B/S 180 Body Varial. But when you jump spin the board so it does a finger flip. This is really easy to learn and it doesn't look that good but the faster you do it the better it looks. All it is, is a finger flip while the board is on the ground and in front of you the when you jump to land on the board do a B/S 180. Simple as that!

First, u have to have to have built arms because it helps and when your starting out also it is helpful to do it on a bed or a trampoline if u have one. well here it is first u have to roll at a moderate speed than you take the back foot off your board and just like the boneless u have to start lifting your board up and when you reach about your knee level u have to put your left or right hand (your dominate one) you start power lifting your body up to the air and before u do that u have to lift up your needs to your chest and then from there you have to push your legs out and stay there as much and you can and try to put as much pressure on your arms as you can and extend your body before you come down and if u have to bail then this is the right time and make sure when you bail that you roll. Also the landing should be not difficult because when u reach your point of coming down you just lift you body up and bring your knees down as if your doing a backhand spring. It is not easy doing the street plant because it took me about 2 and a half years to get the basics down and it took me 3 years to perfect it.

1.The Manual is where the skateboarder balances on his or her back wheels while rolling along (something like a wheelie on a bike - read more in the Skateboarding Dictionary). The Manual is a great skateboarding trick to learn - it's different from all the regular technical flip tricks, and adds a good variety. Plus, learning to manual on your skateboard isn't all that hard - it just takes balance and lots of practice.

If you are brand new to skateboarding, you may want to take some time getting used to riding your skateboard (read Just Starting Out Skateboarding) before learning to manual. It will also help if you've already learned how to Ollie (read How to Ollie on your Skateboard). Of course, it is totally up to you – if you are aggressive and want to learn to manual on your skateboard before learning how to actually ride, that’s up to you! Make sure you read all of these instructions before you try to manual. Once you are familiar with them, jump on your board and manual away!



2.Foot placement for manualing is important. You'll want to have your back foot covering most of the tail of your skateboard, and the ball of your front foot right behind your front trucks. Take a look at the photo to see. Now remember - there is no right or wrong way to skateboard! So, if you feel more comfortable with your front foot more toward the nose of your skateboard, or back more, or even over to the side - feel free. Do what works. But, right at the start, I recommend putting your feet in this position. It works best for most people

Definition: Backside refers to rotations or turns done so that the skateboarder's back is facing the outside of the turn arc.

The name Backside came originally from surfing, as did a lot of skateboarding's original language. The first skaters were in fact sidewalk surfers.

Backside turns are the opposite of frontside turns. Backside is usually put before the name of another trick, such as "Backside 180".
Alternate Spellings: Backside is often shortened to B/S or BS
Examples: Sarah came flying out the half pipe and did a backside 360 with a tailgrab.


3.And now to start manualing! You'll want to have plenty of flat ground to practice on. The skate park, sidewalk, parking garage or a large flat clean parking lot should do the trick. Just make sure it's flat, and mostly smooth.

Once you have your spot, get going at a pretty good speed. You'll need to be good enough at cruising around on your skateboard to be able to get up speed quickly, and keep it up for a little while without more pumping. Choose a line (a route you will go), get up some speed, and get ready to manual.







4.Now we're at the core of manualing - balance. Normally while skating, you have your weight spread out to about 50% on each foot, right? And if you are going downhill, you shift some of your weight to your front foot (perhaps making it 60% instead of 50%).

For the manual, you shift your weight toward your back foot (slowly at first), while you lean a little forward (also slowly at first). Make sure you do NOT lean backward. Instead, lean the upper part of your body (your shoulders and head) toward the nose of your skateboard, while you shift your weight to the back foot. Take a look at the photo to see what I mean.

This is pretty tricky stuff, and you will probably feel like you are loosing your balance. It's perfectly OK to hold your arms out and use them to catch your balance. Everyone does it - even pros!


5.if you've ever played any of the Tony Hawk video games and tried the manual, you know that if you fall forward after a manual, everything's fine. If you fall backwards, there's blood and sickening crunching sounds coming from your skull.

That's more or less true. Make sure you keep those shoulders forward, and when you are done manualing, just shift your weight back on that front foot and put the front wheels down. You should be able to ride away from a manual comfortably.
















6.Once you feel comfortable with your manual, you can do all kinds of things to tweak it.

Give yourself a goal. Manual on a sidewalk, and see how many sidewalk cracks you can manual over. Try and add one. See if you can manual from one thing to another. Having a skater buddy with you will help - you can challenge each other.

Try and manual off of a curb. This takes some practice! You'll want some speed, and to make sure that you keep your balance perfectly. But once you pull it off, it sure looks sweet.

Try a one footed manual, like Tyler in the photo! This is hard to do, and takes a lot of balance, but it will impress everyone around. The basic principals are the same - shoulders forward, keeping balance. Don't try this though until you've really mastered manualing, and feel very confident in your skateboarding!

Make something new - these ideas are only a few. Go out and invent something totally original off of your manual! Try and Ollie while manualing (Rodney Mullen can do this - I don't understand how ...). Try combining a manual into a run. Try manualing around something in a circle. Try a nose manual. Try something that I don't have a name for!

Most of all, have fun. If you run into any problems with your manual, you can drop by the Skate Lounge with your questions. You can also try some of the other tricks in the Trick Tips section. But for now, you have the instructions down - get out there and learn to manual!