How to Frontside Nosegrind

The nosegrind is a very hard trick to learn at first. Getting in shouldn’t be much trouble. Getting out is what makes it tough, so I’ll show you three ways to land it.

Before you start

You should be good at nose manuals, 50-50s and probably noseslides. Crooked grinds won’t hurt, but they’re not necessary.

Foot position

Just like a noseslide, set your front foot up on the nose. Exactly where depends on how high the box is.

How to frontside nosegrind

1. Come at the box at a nice, slight angle.
2. Ollie in and lean with all your weight over the nose.
3. Hold the grind as long as you can.

Wax the box

Make sure the box is really slick. If it’s rough, one of two things happens. You slow down and tip forward, or you lean back more to fight it and the board slips down into a 50-50. While you’re learning, wax it really well so you don’t have to worry about that.

How to bail

If you feel yourself shifting farther and farther forward, jump off. Push the board behind you as much as you can, try to land on one foot and walk away. If you don’t, you can catch and fall flat forward. I busted my arm open filming these, and the same thing could happen to you.

Three ways to land it

1. Pop off the side

This is the one I find easiest, at least when learning them. It’s like landing a 50-50 off the side. The difference is that if you just come straight off, you’ll hit the box right away.

So do a kind of shifty, like landing a crooked grind. Push off the nose, bring the tail around a little, then bring it back forward as you land. You don’t need to know frontside crooks for this. I can’t do them, and I land nosegrinds fine.

2. Come off the end

This is what makes the trick really hard for some people. You either have to go really fast so your tail clears the end, or be really good at nollies and actually pop out.

• Start far down the box so you keep most of your speed.
• Practice it out of a 50-50 first. Grind a regular 50-50 with your front foot set on the nose. At the end, push the board forward. You don’t really need to get in the air. You just need to get your weight off the nose and over the tail.

It’s a lot harder out of a nosegrind, because all your weight is on the nose. You really have to bend down, pop it and throw the board forward ahead of you.

If your back truck keeps catching and more speed doesn’t help, combine the first two. At the end, bring the tail around a little, land at a slight angle and ride away past the end of the box.

3. Shove it or pivot out

If you can do nose manuals on flat and you’re really good at shove its or pivots out of them, try that out of a nosegrind. I think that’s the first way I ever landed one. It’s a lot more trouble, though.

What’s next

Try the fakie frontside nosegrind, or the crooked grind on the same box.