What is Freestyle Longboarding & How to Freestyle on a Longboard

Undoubtedly, freestyle longboarding is one of the most technical riding styles in longboarding. Compared to freeriding, you must have experience in longboarding and grip over various skills. Mostly, freestyling requires stopping, balancing, speeding, and turning tricks at once. This one also has multiple tricks and techniques like sliding, cruising, dancing, and other riding methods. So, analyze each one and see which one seems easier to implement.

What makes it different from the other styles is that you will mostly perform freestyling on flat ground. It won’t need any hill going down or other slippery surfaces. In other words, the ground where you will perform freestyle does not matter. Most of the techniques begin and end within a few meters of distance. This shows that you need to be familiar enough with your Longboard to perform any stunt without going too long.

What is Freestyle Longboarding

There is a lot to discuss about this specific riding manner. In terms of skills and experience, it is one of the most practical styles of riding a longboard. We want to clarify that freestyling does not mean that you have to learn and perform a single trick. It has multiple tricks for beginners as well as for experienced skaters. Thus, we will be shedding light on those popular and easy tricks to perform.

Skills required for Freestyle Longboarding

Before we start learning techniques, here are some important points that you need to work on before trying freestyle.

Balancing Skill:

If you are interested in doing some stunts on a longboard, we believe you know the basics of longboarding. Rather than that, your balancing skill is an essential step in this specific riding style. You will have to try out different things to make sure that you can balance your ride under critical situations.

Flipping the Longboard:

The freestyles that we will discuss below, most of them are dependent on your flipping technique. See if you can jump off the deck and then flip it at an average speed. If not, learn how to kickflip your Longboard.

Body Control:

The riding style you have chosen requires an instant reaction from your several body parts. Feet, shoulders, and legs are major ones. That is to say; you must have complete body control throughout your ride. To ensure that, you can begin with beginner longboarding tricks. This will help you for sure whenever you are on your Longboard to execute the plan of freestyling.

There has been a long debate on “is freestyle longboarding safe.” To be very honest, it can be a scary style of riding a longboard but not as dangerous as downhill riding, sliding, uphill longboarding and other high-speed riding methods. We have had a complete discussion on “is longboarding a good exercise” In this conversation, we found freestyle longboarding a good cardio workout. Coming to the point, here’s how you should begin to learn freestyle longboarding.

How to do Freestyle Longboarding

You get a chance to do countless tricks on your Longboard, and all of them will be considered freestyles. Most importantly, there is positioning as well. Some are suitable for beginners, some are recommended for intermediate-level skaters, and some require a long experience in longboarding. So, our goal is to define four to five different tricks suiting newcomers and advanced-level longboarders.

Pivot Freestyle Longboarding Trick:

The first trick on our list for freestyle longboarding is the pivot. The longboarding masters consider it an easy freestyle and a perfect beginning for any beginner. Our visual presentation will help you, but here’s how we describe pivot tricks.

As a rider, you have to rotate your Longboard at 180 degrees angle with your Longboard’s nose and front wheels. It gets done when you place one of your feet on the beginning point of your deck and the second one in the center of the deck. To execute the plan accordingly, you must know your longboard stance. The pivot trick needs a powerful turn when there is the average speed in your ride, and it is only possible when you ride with your natural stance.

Secondly, the weight shifting process is most important. It becomes possible with the positioning of your hips and shoulders. Most of your weight will go towards the body parts placed in front of the Longboard to gain more energy for the pivot. In simple words, you bring some speed to your rides and rotate your shoulders and hips powerfully in the direction you want your board to move. In the end, you end the flow coming from your shoulders with your front foot by rotating the board at 180 degrees angle.

The difficulty level for the pivot is almost none if you have been longboarding for a few months. You will have to work on your balancing and stopping skills if you want to master the pivot trick. As a beginner, protect your knees and elbow with protective gear for bringing more confidence in the ride.

Nose Manual Freestyle Tricks:

The nose manual freestyle longboarding trick is simple and addictive at the same time. Once you’ve learned it, many other freestyles that require balancing skills will become easier for you. Compared to pivot rides, it demands more stability from the rider. Let’s have a look at what steps you will have to accomplish as a newbie or experienced skater.

First of all, there is no turn and rotation required for the nose manual freestyle. You have to perform it on a straight-going longboard. Moreover, you will have to balance yourself and the Longboard at once without falling off the board. After pushing your Longboard to achieve a reasonable speed, you bring one of your feet to the nose of the deck and place the second one slightly above the central point. Are you thinking of shifting your weight on the front foot? Yes, you are right; that’s what the goal here is.

Most importantly, your feet placement while executing the nose manual trick can be different ( according to the Longboard’s dimensions ). Putting weight on the front foot will not lift the tail of your board until you bring your shoulders in front. That is to say; the shoulders positioning is also the key here. Once most of your weight has been shifted to your front foot and shoulders, it will automatically lift your deck from behind. When done, balance yourself for as long as possible to make the trick look more professional. See the video below for a better understanding.

Caveman Freestyle Technique:

We are about to discuss one of the most technical freestyles and favorite of many riders. As pivot required body positioning and turning skills, nose manual demanded balancing skills; the caveman freestyle longboarding is all about jumping off the board and flipping it. The noticeable thing here is that there are many other techniques related to cavemen, such as tiger claw and simple kickflipping. Thus, learning the caveman method will help you perform others as well. Here’s how we describe and fulfill it.

Like the other methods, you ride at a suitable pace and then jump off the deck, grab the board in your hands, place it back on the ground, jump back on it and start riding again. Although our video will help you, the things to consider here are that when the deck comes to your hands, give it a flip of 360 degrees and make yourself ready to ride the Longboard again as soon as it comes back to the ground. Watch the video in slow mode to understand and implement the steps properly.

Shove-it Freestyle Longboarding Method:

If you have completely understood the pivot technique steps, shove-it will become uncomplicated for you. The goal in both of the styles is the same ( rotating the board with a foot ), and somehow the steps to execute are also the same. So, begin your ride with your natural stance and place one foot in front and the other in the middle. As you need to rotate your Longboard, you will be shifting most of your weight on your front foot and shoulders. The tricky part here is that you will need to swing your back foot to complete the rotation.

Within the shove-it trick, there are two different tricks that you can accomplish. You perform a simple revolve or lift the deck from behind while rotating it. For flipping purposes, you’ll have to do a suitable jump and the rotation. Watch the video attached below to analyze the shove-it technique thoroughly.

G-Turn Freestyle Technique:

In the end, we have a gift for our experienced longboard riders. It might be unfamiliar to many riders, but those who’ve been riding for a long time must know about this. We must say that G-Turn is comparatively more difficult freestyle to learn than pivot, shove-it, and others discussed above. At first glance, you will find it similar to pivot and shove-it due to the same feet placement and weight shifting. It becomes different once you have lifted the deck from the back, and you need to move forward.

In simple words, a G-Turn, in practical terms, is a U-Turn. Undoubtedly, it requires maximum stability skills from the riders because it is never easy to turn a lifted longboard into a U shape. The similar steps are feet placement, shifting your weight on the front foot, bringing your shoulders in front for stability, and lifting the deck from the back with front wheels.

We found everything easier, but it wasn’t easy when it came to turning the board. The reason behind the difficulty is that you can’t make wheels turn right or left by pressing your toes. So, here is our suggestion for all those looking forward to implementing G-Turn. When the back wheels are in the air, try to press your front toe powerfully on the side you want to make a U-turn. Secondly, you have to be careful with the hips and shoulders positioning.

So, you will curve at your hips and tilt your shoulders in the moving direction. This stance of your body will surely help you turn the deck even when lifted from behind. As shown in the video below, you have to balance yourself well enough to complete a 180-degree rotation.

Best Longboard for Freestyles

Unlike the riding surface, your Longboard has to support freestyle longboarding fully. In short, you can’t do stunts on any longboard because the dimensions and accessories in it matter a lot when you jump off the board and try to kickflip it. The focus remains on the deck, wheels, and trucks of the Longboard. These gadgets will play a huge role in determining your freestyle rides.

After knowing the importance of a Longboard in your desired riding style, you must be looking for the best Longboard for freestyle. We have given our best suggestion below for more satisfaction. If you want to go through the buying guide, visit Buying Guide for Freestyle Longboards. You will come to know everything that is essential regarding freestyle longboards.

Best longboard for Freestyle Longboarding

Magneto Carbon Fiber Longboard

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Conclusion

Numerous riders ask about freestyle longboarding and want to give it a try. Therefore, we have researched and finalized the most popular freestyle tricks you can execute on a suitable longboard. Above, we have shed light on the steps of each trick to make it easier for you to understand. Moreover, our suggested videos will help you implement the steps perfectly. You can begin freestyling with a shove-it or pivot method as a beginner. On the other hand, advanced riders can go for G-Turn as it is the most technical one of all. Inspect all of them carefully and start riding with the one you find suitable.