Hardflip Definition

The Hardflip is acheived by combining the Frontside Pop Shove-it and Kickflip together as one spin/flip trick.

Before getting into Hardflips, it’s extremely important to have great Kickflips and Frontside Pop Shove-its. You’ll need to be able to flick your front foot for the kickflip really fast. With Kickflips, you’ll want to be comfortable enough with them to the point where the toe of your front foot is flicking off the board quickly and you’re catching the board with your back foot before landing.

With your Front Shove its, you should be able to pop the board either in front of or directly underneath your feet. To achieve this you’ll need to have the ball of your back foot on the very tip of the tail. You have to pop straight down with your back foot as it gradually pushes forward. That back foot pushing forward after it pops will keep the Front Shove its level and prevent the board from going behind you.

Again, having your Kickflips and Frontside Pop Shove-its as described above will help tremendously as you will be combining those aspects of each trick to do a Hardflip.

Check out the tutorial below for Aaron’s in-depth tutorial of the Hardflip. After you’ve watched the trick tip, read the information that follows for a recap and to really let all the mechanics of the Hardflip sink in.

Hardflip Tutorial

We hope you enjoyed the video and hopefully you learned something! We want you to master your Hardflips. To help you get there, let’s recap what we learned from Aaron’s Hardflip tutorial.

1. Foot Position
2. Back Foot Pop
3. Front Foot Flick
4. Practice Steps
5. Back Knee Bend
6. Common Problems

Foot Position

Place your front foot in the middle of the board in Kickflip position. Now pivot your foot slightly so your toes are facing more towards the nose of the board. Your foot should essentially be in the same position it would be for a Kickflip, only a bit straighter than the usual Kickflip angle.

Place your back foot in the middle of the tail at the very edge of the board. The ball of your back foot should be pressuring down onto the middle of the tail near or slightly in the heel-side pocket of the tail. 

Back Foot Pop

Much like the 360 flip, landing the Hardflip is almost entirely dependent on your back foot. Your back foot will be doing most of the work for this trick while your front foot only plays a small role, and mostly keeps out of the way.

While the back foot will be scooping forward slightly to achieve the 180-degree rotation of the Hardflip, the back foot’s most important job is to pop the board straight down. You want the board to pop up almost completely vertical to set your front foot up properly to finish the flick.

It’s also important to remember that after you’ve popped straight down with your back foot, it will need to also scoop forward slightly at the same time as the front foot flicking off the board. At this point both of your feet will work together to complete the Hardflip. Try to imagine popping the highest Front Shove its possible.

So, once again; bend your knees, with your back foot in position you’ll pop the board straight down, scooping forward slightly as the tail makes contact with the ground. Now you’re ready to let your front foot finish the job.

Front Foot Flick

After you’ve popped the board up vertically, the big toe of your front foot will flick off the board similar to the Kickflip. The difference is, instead of flicking off at the edge of the nose as you would for a traditional kickflip, you are going to flick off more at the front bolts of your board. You won’t need to flick as hard but you need to flick fast. After you flick off to that side,  bring your knees up to get your front foot out of the way as the board flips.

Hardflips have a tendency to suck back up to your foot when they finish flipping, so, once you’ve flicked off the board and have brought your knees up, the board will finishing flipping and you’ll catch the board with your front foot. 

Practice Steps

This step will really help you put everything together. For this practice step, have your feet in Hardflip position, bend your knees, pop the Hardflip and step off with your back foot. Essentially you want to land a Hardflip with just your front foot as your back foot is planted on the ground. Repeating this practice step and drilling the motions will help you build the muscle memory required for landing clean and consistent Hardflips.

Don’t focus on landing with both feet at this point. Drill this technique over and over until you can confidently pop Hardflips, step off with your back foot, and land with your front foot. Master the back foot’s pop and scoop motion, as well as the front foot’s flicking and catching motion, then you will be fully prepared to start landing with both feet and rolling away clean. 

Back Knee Bend

This is the final step to landing the Hardflip! You are going to need to bend your back knee after your back foot has popped and scooped the board. Bending your back knee will bring that foot up and out of the way, giving your board the room it needs to complete the Hardflip.

If you’ve drilled the practice step above enough, it will only take a very small adjustment to go from practice step to real Hardflips. That small adjustment is simply the bending of the knees and lifting of your back foot. Be prepared to commit to the landing and bend the knees once again to absorb the impact.

Don’t hesitate! With the practice step above mastered, the only thing holding you back now is a bit of commitment. 

Common Problems

The most common problem with Hardflips tends to occur when the front foot doesn’t get out of way of the board. The skateboard ends up colliding with your leg as it rotates and flips around. This trick goes up and in between the legs after you’ve popped it, so if you don’t get your front foot out of the way, the board will hang up on you and stop dead in its tracks.

If this is happening to you more often than not, go back to mastering that practice step. That step really teaches the front foot how to flick off and get out of the way properly. It will also get your front foot used to catching the board.

Another problem that arises when learning Hardflips is landing primo or with the board grip-side down. If this happens to you, consider adjusting your front foot position. This problem is caused by flicking either too hard or not hard enough with the front foot.

Playing around with your front foot’s position will change how your board reacts to the front foot flick. In most cases when this is happening, you aren’t flicking hard enough. Keep at it, get your flick on, and you’ll be stomping nice Hardflips and giving all your friends a letter in games S.K.A.T.E.

Show us what you got!

We want to see YOU land this classic trick! Film a quick clip of you doing your best hardflip and post it on Instagram tagging @brailleskate, #brailleskate, and #brailleskateboarding. Let us know which piece of advice helped you the most so we can highlight that and we can get more people landing Hardflips!

In order to continue learning, check out Skateboarding Made Simple! It’s the most detailed trick guide on skateboarding that’s out there. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been skating your entire life, there’s a Skateboarding Made Simple tutorial out there for you.