I haven’t gotten my popshuvits dialed down yet, and I’m just starting to figure out kickflips, but I wanted to post what I’ve learned before I forget. When I learn a new trick in skateboarding or fingerboarding, I feel like there’s this eureka moment, some subtle motion or movement that is at the core of the trick, and once I figure it out I sort of “unlock” the trick.
Hopefully I will one day get good enough to make some trick tip videos, but in the mean time I just wanted to share some of my realizations that helped me unlock these two tricks.
overall:
Fingers aren’t the same as legs and, my fingers at least, do not function as independently as my legs do, so I find it helpful to use my wrist motions to control tricks rather than finger motions. Of course it’s fingerboarding, so you have to use your fingers, but often it’s possible to control the board mostly through wrist movements. Basically, I just keep my index and middle fingers extended, the same width apart, and flick my wrist to pop, a motion which I’ve discovered translates into other tricks.
popshuvits:
It’s always good to start small and understand the motions of a trick before being able to perform it.
I’ve seen a lot of tip videos saying to practice pop shuvits and other tricks by just flicking the board off of a ledge without popping to get used to the feeling of the rotation.
Another thing that has really helped me is practicing them out of a bowl onto a lip, like pop shuvit to rock n roll. These are a great way to practice board control without worrying about popping as the board is already in the vertical position like it is after you pop on flat.
The really tricky thing about pop shuvtis are:
1) getting the board to spin without flipping, and
2) just giving the board the hint of the rotation and letting it spin the rest of the way slowly and deliberately before you catch it.
In both cases, what works for me is making sure the motion is more in my wrists than in my fingers. If I rotate my wrist while I pop, it gives the board just enough spin to rotate 180 degrees, and it also keeps the board in a level rotation without flipping. Just remember to keep the motion subtle and give the board the start of a spin and it will do the rest. If you do use your fingers to control the trick, chances are the board will over rotate and do a 360 or even a 540.
kickflips:
Ah, the great mystery of skateboarding/fingerboarding, the gateway trick, the kickflip. Again, a lot of tutorials will tell you to do a kickflip just like you would on a skateboard, by moving your fingers independently and flicking your index finger off the nose to get the board to flip. But again, you can do just that, get your front finger to flip the board, with your wrist rather than moving your fingers seperately.
What works for me is popping the board and, just as it becomes airborne, pulling my whole hand forward with the board like an ollie. The difference here is that there is a delay between the board’s movement and your hand’s movement. You just let the board pop straight up, and as it’s sort of hanging there in the air, flick your wrist and let your fingers follow the board like an ollie, but since the board is kind of hanging there in the air, your front finger will slide off the nose, making the board flip. For me the realizations here were:
1) that there is this matrix moment where the board is floating in the air. Being able to identify this moment is the key. Then you just slide your fingers off the nose
2) that you can let your wrist do the work and move your fingers together rather than independently.
I probably could have explained this better, and I’ve seen it described this way in a few tip videos, like FingerSkateSelective’s. What you don’t want to do is roll the board backward first, but the idea is sort of the same, you catch the board and flip it when its motion changes. Not because it’s rolling backward, but because it’s losing speed as it pops and your hand is what is propelling it and keeping it in forward motion at all times. It’s all about identifying that nanosecond when the board starts to lose speed after the pop, and keeping it in forward motion with the flick.
I hope these wordy tips help at least one person. You have to reach those eureka moments on your own, but hopefully this makes sense.
Tabletop pop 