Endovers

Category

Footwork

Learn first

Basic skateboarding

Use

Shorter wheelbases

Difficulty

1/10

Speed

Any

Avoid

Steep kicktails

Endovers

Category

Footwork

Learn first

Basic skateboarding

Use

Shorter wheelbases

Difficulty

1/10

Speed

Any

Avoid

Steep kicktails

Endovers

Category

Footwork

Learn first

Basic skateboarding

Use

Shorter wheelbases

Difficulty

1/10

Speed

Any

Avoid

Steep kicktails

Endovers (and “monster walks”, by extension) are one of the cornerstones of freestyle, and incredibly important for so many reasons. You can use them to set up for another trick, as filler in a routine, or as a component in another trick. They’re also useful in learning basic control of posture and generating rotational movement, skills which can be difficult for the beginner, but are essential no matter what style of freestyle you’re interested in pursuing.

I normally prefer the sequence and text format for the tips, but this is one where the video is massively important. This move has to be fluid, and you’re not going to see that through the photos alone.

Endover Sequence 1 1

Here’s your starting position. Note that my feet aren’t right at the ends – while I’ve got one on each kicktail, they’re only just past the truck bolts. Having your feet at the tip of each kicktail will make the movements too heavy and jerky.

Endover Sequence 2 1

Here’s the full body starting position; my body is straight, but my weight is noticeably shifted towards my front foot, in preparation for lifting the back wheels. At this point, my shoulders are still aligned with my hips, but my head is already committed to a turn.

Endover Sequence 3 1

This doesn’t look too different to the previous frame, but it shows where the turn really begins – the lead shoulder. It’s disappearing from view as I pull it backwards, creating a twist in my upper body.

Endover Sequence 4 1

Here goes; I’m starting to turn by shifting my weight slightly more to the front foot, which allows the tension created by the twist in my upper body to unwind, swinging the back leg forwards and pulling the board with it. I’m barely pushing my back leg at all – you don’t have to rush this movement. Also, note I’m not physically leaning. You don’t want to compromise your posture here.

Endover Sequence 5 1

I’m still half way through the turn here. Notice my posture is still very stable and composed; I’ve compensated for the shift in weight by curving my upper body slightly towards my back foot, which is going to push the wheels back towards the floor in a moment. My hips and feet and also back in line with my shoulders, slowing the rotation down.

Endover Sequence 6 1

Now I’ve transferred my weight back to my back foot, having spotted my landing and knowing the rotation is a full 180º. You don’t want to come down too soon; it’s important that you can roll away cleanly, no matter where you stop in the sequence.

Endover Sequence 7 1

Now I’m preparing for the next rotation, which will bring me back to a forwards riding position. You can see here the shoulder movement which was out of view on the first rotation; I’m pulling it back just slightly, ready for the turn.

Endover Sequence 8 1

Now I’ve swapped my weight to the back foot, and the front wheels are off the ground, ready for the turn. My front shoulder is still pulling backwards, and I’m about to rotate. Note that the wheels aren’t too high from the floor – they really don’t need to lift much at all.

Endover Sequence 9 1

Already, my body is starting to straighten out. If I was committing to a 360º spin, I might still have a twisted upper body to generate some more momentum, but I really don’t need to go too far to come back to a forwards riding position.

Endover Sequence 10 1

Interestingly, I’m still looking behind me at this point. I’ve never really noticed this before; I think the minimal head movement is probably something I started doing to combat dizziness, which is a real issue if you’re going to do lots of these things.

Endover Sequence 11 1

I’ve planted the front foot again here, satisfied with the amount I’ve rotated. If you go back to the start of the sequence, you’ll notice I’m facing the exact same direction as when I started. That’s the goal here; the closer you get to perfect 180º rotations, the smoother the footwork will look.

Endover Sequence 12 1

Here I’m rolling away, although my arms are already positioned for the next trick. Endovers flow very easily into all manner of tricks, and it’s very rare I’ll do two without something else to follow, as you can see in the video at the top of this page.

Additional Notes

In the video above, I also cover endovers in the other direction and monster walks (an alternating variation on endovers) in both directions. I’m not going to spend time producing sequences for the three other variations here; the basic instructions shown above also apply to those. However, bear in mind all four directions are just as important, so once you’ve perfected this sequence, start alternating directions, or trying endovers in the “blind” direction. You’ll need them all at some point!

Need more help?

COMMENTS (4)

  • Alex

    17th March 2019 , 1:14 AM / reply

    Hi Tony, just wanted to say thanks for this great site! I just got into freestyle after seeing that Post Radical episode about it, and it's so helpful to have this as a resource. Keep it up!
    • Tony Gale

      19th March 2019 , 11:38 AM / reply

      Thanks, mate. Really glad to hear you're finding it useful. That's all I ever really hoped for; I know how tough it was for me trying to work a lot of this stuff out by myself. If I can make it a bit easier for you and others like you, then I'll consider this whole thing worthwhile.
  • Andrey

    18th April 2019 , 2:47 PM / reply

    Hi Tony, thanks for the excellent tutorial! I just got my first freestyle board (single-kick 7.25") and started practicing from the trick-tip #1.
    • Tony Gale

      26th April 2019 , 11:40 AM / reply

      Nice one, Andrey! That's the way this website is intended to be used - everything builds on top of skills from earlier tips. It'll be a long road but I promise it'll get easier as you go on!

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