How to Backside 180

The backside 180 is hard for a lot of people because it’s really easy to shoot out. The balance can be tough. I had a lot of trouble with it myself, so here’s what helped me.

Foot position

• Keep your feet centered. You’ll have more control.
• You don’t need much pop. Don’t go too high when you’re learning.

If you under-rotate, a centered foot position makes it easier to pivot, because your foot doesn’t have to slide very far. Don’t worry about height yet.

How to do it

1. Roll with your feet centered.
2. Pop and turn backside. Keep your body straight up and down.
3. Scoop the tail a little and guide the board around with your back foot.
4. Land and pivot if you’re short.

Keep your body vertical

This is the main thing. It seems obvious, but film yourself. You might see that you lean into it when you pop. I used to do that. I’d start to turn and end up looking under my arm, and the board would shoot out.

Troubleshooting

Shooting out

Two things helped me:

• Aim for a fakie manual. Every time I tried it, I tried to land in a fakie manual. There was no chance I’d actually do it. But I always landed with too much weight in the wrong spot and shot out, and aiming for the manual fixed that.
• Wear a hoodie. I had a hoodie with the hood down. If I landed the trick and the hood was on my head, I knew I’d leaned in.

If you lean in, you might still land it, but the board drifts away from you. You’ll land with your toes hanging off or less centered.

It spins like a shove it

Don’t do a pop shove it and spin with it. Don’t really snap the tail. Scoop it a little and use your back foot to guide it around in the air. You can wind up all you want, but if you pop it straight, it won’t go with you.

Taking it further: the slide out

The guide above is for landing it with no pivot or slide. Eventually, sliding the last few degrees will be easier than getting the full rotation. That’s how the pros do it. You spin most of the way, then slide around at the end, so it’s more controlled.

1. Set your feet up a little closer to the front.
2. Aim to land with your front foot near the nose. You’re not doing a nose pivot. You just want most of your weight over the nose.
3. Keep your upper body straight.
4. As you land, twist the back of the board around with your back foot. With little weight on it, the back truck slides lightly across the ground instead of grabbing.

What’s next

Once these feel solid, try the backside flip or the bigspin. The frontside 180 is the other direction.