How to Impossible

The impossible has been one of my favorite tricks for a long time. The board wraps vertically around your back foot. It doesn’t really build on anything else, so it’s its own thing to learn.

Before you start

As long as you can pop shove it and do a couple flip tricks so you’re used to landing on the board, you’ll be okay. It helps to know the pressure flip, because the scoop starts the same way. If you can’t do those yet, you can work around it.

Foot position

• Front foot: right about before the bolts and really hanging off the side. Get it somewhere comfortable where it won’t accidentally add a flip.
• Back foot: covering a lot of the tail, with your big toe right in the pocket. For pressure flips you’d be on the very tip of the tail to get out of the way. For the impossible you want a solid foot position so you can do the wrap.

You can turn your back foot to do it more vertical, but then your toe is in the middle of the board when you wrap, and you’re more likely to add a flip and land on the rail.

How to do an impossible

1. Roll and lean back

Start with some speed you’re comfortable with. Here’s the weird part: as you get ready, lean back a little, almost enough that you’d slip out. When you catch the board, it will usually be ahead of you, and you want your weight back so you can slide back and land on the bolts. This is one of the biggest tips for landing them clean. If you try it nice and balanced and centered, you’ll fall off the nose over and over.

2. Scoop and wrap

Push down with your toes on the toe side and scoop your foot around, like a pressure flip. The difference is you don’t get out of the way. You stick with it, follow through and go with the board.

It feels weird at first, and it’s hard to teach with words. You just have to get out there and try it.

3. Think egg, not circle

One way I’ve heard the wrap described is an egg shape: wide and round at the bottom, sharper at the top. That’s how the board stays stuck to your foot.

Think about catching a kickflip. The board only sticks to your feet on the way down if you keep pushing on it. You have to keep accelerating it. With the impossible, the wrap gets faster or sharper as it goes. Wide, then tighter and tighter, like a spiral. That keeps the board on your foot.

4. Push the board ahead

Halfway through, the board will be sideways and your back foot will be way out ahead of you. That feels a little off balance, but it helps. Keep in mind your foot is on the tail and the tail is now in front. Keep it coming around.

I like to let the board flatten out to finish the wrap. It’s easier to catch, and it’s more forgiving if you’re a little under or over rotated.

5. Land on the bolts

The first few times, you’ll probably land with your foot in the middle of the board, because the board wrapped around it. You’ll even see pros do that, and it’s acceptable since everyone knows that’s what happens with this trick. But try to avoid it. If you’re doing gaps, you can easily break your board landing in the middle.

That’s why you pushed the board ahead. Your feet are out front and your body is back, so you have room to slide your foot back and land on the bolts. That’s only if you have enough height.

A good impossible vs. a bad one

You might think of an impossible as the board doing a back flip with your foot helping it along. That’s not really how they work. A good impossible is stuck to your foot the whole time. How vertical or horizontal it is doesn’t matter much.

I once tried to learn the zero flip (some people call it a monster flip). The board just does a back flip and you don’t touch it. When I posted it, a lot of people thought it was an impossible, because I followed through a little. To me that’s a really bad impossible. Once it left the ground, I wasn’t guiding it or pulling it around.

Troubleshooting

Practicing it the wrong way

You might want to practice standing next to the board, or do the step-off no comply version. Those don’t help much. Your weight is on your other foot, so you’re slapping the board down and you have all the air time you want to slowly wrap it. It feels completely different. If you’re really stuck it can help get the idea in your head, but get out of those as soon as you can.

Letting go at 3/4

You might find yourself getting about 3/4 of the way around, letting go, and letting the board finish before you catch it on the bolts. That’s a very stable way to do it. It works for gaps and things like that. It doesn’t look as good as a full wrap, but it’s okay if that’s how you want to do it.

You’ll be juggling height, the wrap and the landing. You can do a clean wrap and a bad landing because of the wrap. Ideally, wrap it well, finish it flat and slide your foot back as you land. Get used to the feeling first, then work toward that.

What’s next

From here, try the plasma spin, which is basically a wrapped frontside bigspin, or the nosehook impossible for some freestyle flavor.