Note: If you are looking to learn backslides the
proper way, check the royale tutorial. That will teach
you the proper balance needed for a true backslide.
Described here is the stylish looking backslides as
seen in The Hoax 2, and not how to really grind
things.
Contrary to what you might think, one footed fast
slides are actually easier than grinding a rail-
Assuming you do them on the right rail. The first
step is to find a nice short rail, preferably down 3 to
5 steps. Then, skate straight towards it and jump as
high as you can to see if you can make it above the
rail. Don't try and jump over the rail your first time,
just jump next to it so you can't catch your feet on
it. If you're having problems getting high enough, try
going faster. The faster you go, the farther out you'll
jump and the farther down the rail you'll be when
you peak. If you still can't jump high enough to clear
it, you probably need to work on jumping things
normally. After all, if you can't jump to get on top of
the rail, how do you expect to grind it?!
Before you go any further, let me define a few terms
for skate of clarity. A fast slide is a grind in which
the lead foot (the one furthest down the rail) is
sliding along the rail, and the trailing foot isn't on. A
back slide is the opposite, with the trailing foot
being slid upon and with the lead foot being
lifted/grabbed. A soul slide is a soul grind in which
the lead foot is lifted off and you are grinding only on
the soul of your soul foot. With that out of the way
on to the how-to...
Once you can jump high enough, you should be
ready to give fast slides a shot. One key is to
approach from a slight angle so that you'll just cross
over the bottom of the rail. Get some speed up,
jump and turn so that you are parallel to the rail.
Stick your leg out, tap the rail, pull it in, and you are
done. In reality you are not grinding, but sliding.
Though a few top skaters can actually grind in this
fashion, the vast majority simply do a slide. So
remember to jump high enough and with your body
straight enough that you can stick your leg down and
toe tap the rail.
Back slides are found to be easier to do than fast slides
by most. To do a back slide you approach the rail just
like you were going to do a normal grind, except you
want to hit the rail with just the outside edge of your
back foot. Remember, the key is that you don't want to
put any weight on the sliding foot or it will slide out from
under you and you will jack your ribs.
A few key things to remember when doing fast (and
back) slides are speed, spin, and control. If you are
doing a long rail, or a shallow rail, you will need tons of
speed to be able to fast slide it and not have to put any
weight on the foot. If you are used to just frontsiding the
rail, its a big mental jump to do these, but its quite
possible. Remember that you are basically just jumping
over the rail and throwing in what looks like a grind. The
next two important things to remember- spin and
control- go hand in hand. Because you are going so fast
and the rails are smaller than normal, you will need to
spin very fast to be able to make the grind and make the
landing. You need to be in total control of your body
when it is in the air, and hopefully it'll be possible to pull
it out..
Once you're done with that, all that's left is variations,
bigger rails, and actually grinding it.. As you get
comfortable with the sliding and getting into the correct
position, you should be able to actually start grinding
the rail instead of toe tapping it. This will make it more
stylish, and also able to do longer rails. If you are ready
to try the real thing, read up on royales first, as they are
as close to it as you can get.
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