POV Skate Tutorial #8: How to BOARDSLIDE on a rail

This video will teach you how to boardslide in no time! I’m teaching you how to boardslide from your position of view!

The backside boardslide is also probably the first slide that you’re gonna learn in your skateboard career so that makes this video even more exciting!

If I didn’t motivate you enough yet, think of how freaking awesome it is to be able to just slide on the wooden middle part of your skateboard. Once you’re able to do this you can learn these of off handrails and other rails. It just looks so satisfying and it’s just so damn cool. (just look at that slide, how can you not wanna learn this!?)

Learn how to backside for beginners:
As I just said the backside boardslide is probably gonna be your first ever skateboard trick on a rail.
You wanna make sure that you learn this one properly because later on you WILL be learning other slides and having a good backside boardslide on lock allows you to learn those other slides easier. An example of these so called other slides might be a lipslide.

Before you learn this trick you want to be able to at least ride around on a skateboard. I also recommend trying some flip tricks first because that makes you more comfortable on a skateboard in general. And that’s really what you want for learning tricks… being comfortable on a skateboard. So how do I get comfortable on a skateboard Bruno? Well, just learning tricks and trying new tricks makes you comfortable on a skateboard. Actually, any time spend on a skateboard makes you more comfortable on it so I also advice you guys to skate as much as you can!

For the backside boardslide, the first trick you need to be able to do is the Ollie and you can check out my Ollie tutorial for that one. Please try to have a solid Ollies down! Also, being able to frontside 180 is a good idea for this trick! And yes, for that one I’ve also got a tutorial.

Learn how to backside boardslide foot positioning:
There isn’t really too much about this though because you’re just using the foot positioning from a regular Ollie. The only difference is that you’re now just really ollieng onto something. You’re also doing a small 180 and with a small 180 I really mean a 90 degree rotation but this also depends on with what angle you’re approaching the rail.

Learn how to backside boardslide step by step:
Step 1: pop onto the rail. This is definitely the scariest step. A big part of this step is just doing it because I know most of you will be too scared to do this. The only tip I can give you is that IF you’re able to Ollie high enough for that rail, don’t be scared and just go for it.
Step 2: Sliding. This part is really all about keeping your balance. Try to make sure that the rail is waxed enough so you can get a smooth slide. It’s also easier to start out on the end of the rail so you have a short slide. Just do ‘em longer once you got the short boardslides down! You can practice keeping your balance by just ollieng onto the rail without any movement… or find yourself a nice smaller rail to do this on.
Step 3: Getting off the rail. This is the easiest part and for most of you, you’ll be doing it without any effort. The proper way of doing it is landing straight and away from the direction of the rail. To get this movement you wanna make a little backside rotation at the end of the rail.

How to backside boardslide common mistakes:
The first common mistake has to do with your guts. It may sound silly but I actually see this a lot and that is that people just push their boards in front of them. They pop it and just throw their board on the rail. This really just comes from being scared and the only tip I can really give is try to just go for it a full 100% once. Once you got your first try out of the way you’re definitely less scared to try it a second time. You can also just try the boardslide movement by doing it on a small rail first without moving, this may help you to get less scared for the real sliding movement aswell.

The other common mistake I see a lot is when people slip out. Your board either slides in front of you or you just kinda stick it and fall forward. This has not only to do with your balance but also with getting used to the rail. You never know if someone just waxed it so always test the rail with your board only first!

It takes a little bit of time to land this trick for this first time and it takes even more time to really get ‘em on lock. So if you ever see some people doing nice and easy boardslides don’t think that they’re just talented or lucky. They put a lot of time into learning skateboarding and you should too.
Just remember that they were once were you are now and now it’s just up to you. Stay positive and you’ll get there!

Thanks for watching everyone! Self-visualization is key in these skate tutorials!
Subscribe for more upcoming tutorials and regular skate videos!
Youtube.com/c/skateboardbruh