Tutorials -- Adam's Aggro Page

Everybody needs a little help...that's what this page is for. I gave the most complete explanation of the specific grind that I knew, but I'm not guaranteeing accuracy! Also, skating with guys that know what they're doing is the best way to learn tricks. But hopefully you can look through this page and learn a thing or two. Of course I'm always looking for new trick-tutorials so if you have any explanations just send 'em on in! And remember to wear your pads! -Adam a-sk8r-i-am@usa.net

Basic Grinds:

Stalls --ok, it's not a grind, but it's pretty basic :-)
Frontside
Soul
Backside

Extra Junk:

How to wax a curb

Stalls...

Stalls are simply jumping and landing the stance, or postition, to a grind without the actual sliding. Stalls can be done on just about anything, but are probably done most on curbs. Stalls are great things to do before learning a new grind. It gives you a chance to practice the stance for the grind before actually doing it. Stalls should come real easy after practicing 'em for a couple of days; in fact, it's not strange to be able to be land stalls to grinds that you can't do, if that makes sense! :-)

Frontside...

The frontside is probably one of the most basic grinds a skater will learn. This grind really isn't that tough, unless, you are lacking in confidence. To build that confidence, and get your body used to jumping, landing, and balancing, it's important to practice stalls. The stall to the frontside is simple, just jump and get the edge of the curb between your 2nd and 3rd wheels in the 'grind spot.' If you don't feel comfortable jumping onto the curb at first, it's ok to step up to it and then bring the other skate up. But make sure you can successfully skate up to the curb, jump, and land the stall with no troube before trying the grind. And now for the grind.....Start out with some stalls, then gradually build up speed into the stall. Once you've got some good stalls in, start attacking the curb from less of angle, so if let's say you've been stalling at 90 degrees, well, try 45, then 30, then 15....once you start getting more parallel, you should start sliding. Once you feel comfortable with about 15 degrees, try going completley parallel to the curb. Instead of thinking of it as a grind, just think of it as a long stall. Get reasonable speed, and concentrate on your skates. Make sure they, your skates, both hit the groove. With a little practice, the frontside should come super-easy. Oh yeah, if you feel yourself falling forward, then lean back, and visa-versa.

Soul...

The soul is, in my opinion, one of the best grinds because of all the variations that come off of the soul, but more about that later. As always you want to get some good stalls in before doing the actual grind. The soul grind is when a skater has his/her front skate in frontside position, or perpendicular, to the curb, and his/her trailing skate is locked on parallel to the curb, or grinding on the boot, or sole. If the actual jump to stall is too ackward at first then practice stepping up with one foot at a time, but ultimatley the stall and grind should come pretty easy. With the grind, take the same approach as you did with the frontside, explained above, try to lessen the angle that you attack the curb. Once you get parallel to the curb, with reasonable speed, you should be able to grind. Just keep practicing! If you find yourself getting caught up and not sliding then you need to lean back on you soul skate a little more. And also make sure to keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, that will provide more stability.

Backside...

Backsides look scary to the newbie skater, but they aren't as hard as they look, promise! Again, the key to sucess with this grind is stalling. No, not procrastination, stalling as in curb stalls --aren't I just hilarious, ok maybe not. Anyway, the backside is the 'opposite' of frontside ... ok, better explanation: Let's say a skater is going from left to right, to do a frontside he/she would spin 90 degrees clockwise ... for a backside he/she would spin counter-clockwise. And the opposite for traveling right to left. For the grind it's important to look down and watch your skates lock-on, if you miss the groove it's pretty hard to recover the grind. And everything else should be approached the same way a frontside is.

Adavanced Grinds

Makios...

Makios are great grinds cause the free skate can be grabbed in lotsa different ways. The makio is basically a one-fotted soul grind. One skate is locked on in soul position while the other is grabbed. The most common is a fishbrain (which looks reat rocket, or with the free skate out straight, and the soul skate on topside). But if you have souls mastered then makios will be a piece of cake. The most important tip to give is when doing makios, make sure not to lock-on in soul position and then brind the front skate up, this will develop a bad habbit and make the grind look pretty ugly, to say the least. Anyway, you can practice a few stalls, but with this grind you can pretty much jump right in. First off, however, make sure you have the object (especially if it's a curb) really waxed. Build up a pretty good amount of speed and lock-on, while grabbing. Once mastered the grab and lock-on will come at the same time. As with soul grinds, if you don't feel yourself sliding then you probably need to lean back on your soul foot a little more. But also, don't stay to up-right, bend over a little. This will help you to make the transition to topside makios later. And that should do it...a little practice and you've got another stylish trick under your belt!

Acids...

Acids, or acid souls, are another pretty nice lookin trick that originates from the soul. With an acid grind, the trailing skate is locked on in soul position while the front skate is on in backside postion, or the instep of the skate is pointing out. It's good to practice some stalls to get your body used to landing in that position. But once you have the stall down, the grind should come naturally. Approach the object with a reasonable amount of speed and distribute most of your body weigt on your back (soul) skate ... again, leaning back to slide more. Just practice a little and you should have it in no time. The acid naturally leads to the x-grind...described below...

X-grinds...

X-grinds are best described as a 'double soul' grind. Both skates are locked on in sol position ... on curbs, however, one skate will have to be topside in order to lock both on; for that reason, x-grinds are better on rails. You can practice some stalls, but if you can acid then the stance should come pretty easy. For X-grinds you will really want a lot of wax, due to the slowness --is that a word-- of the grind. During x-grinds you can evenly distribute your weight, but just remember to lean back some. A little practice and you'll be an expert.

Miszous...

Miszous take a little more work than the last few grinds, but with some practice they should be fairly easy. A miszou is any grind in which the *front* skate is soul and the *back* skate is perpendicular to the object. The two most common miszous are the 'porn-star' and the 'mistrial'. Porn-stars are when the front skate is soul, and back skate is on frontside, or with the instep of the skate pointing behind you. Mistrials are the same except the trailing skate has the instep pointing forwards. With all miszous it's important to place most of the emphasis on your soul foot and let the trailing skate fall in naturally. You can lean back some on the soul foot to grind, but try and not place very much weight on the trailing skate. Also, mizous are actually a *lot* easier on an inclined rail. That doesn't mean it has to be a hand-rail, just something with a small down hill slant. Like I've said before, practice will lead to more success.

Royales...

Royales are probably the most common, stylish grinds out of any that are out there. The royale is a lot like a frontside, except your skates are slanted back, like this: __/__/__ Ok, bad drawing, but you get the idea. The most important tip of all: put *all* your weight on your back skate ... if not, the consequences will not be pleasant! Ok, practice the stall first, really get that foot bent over, with high-cuff skates it may hurt at first, but you'll get used to it! Make sure to get the back skate bent over a lot with all your weight on it, like i said a few lines ago. This grind really isn't that touhg, but it's great. Plus it's a must if you wanna learn to unity! Just practice stalls a lot, then go for the grind. Get about the same speed, and waxage --another made up word-- as a frontside. Just practice, practice, practice, it'll be worth it!

Unities...

Unities look really tough ... and they are. But again, practice and stalls will make 'em easy! Remember when you couldn't even pull a clean frontside? :-) With unities the first thing to do is determine what your back skate is with royales, then make that foot *first* with unities. Practice the stalls! Then with the grind, lock on with your strong royale foot and throw the other foor behind that one. At first it's ok to stagger 'em ... but you want to work towards them both locking on at the same time. When you grinds you also want to get low, like squating. Lotsa people try to stand up, don't! Get low, it's cleaner and easier! Also, make sure you look down and concentrate on your feet locking on. And throughout the grind look forward, *not* down the rail, as with souls --that'll make a great grind look really ugly. I don't really have too much more advice, except to keep practicing ... and wear pads cause you're gonna fall a lot! :-)

The Extras...

Waxing...

The art of waxing curbs is a wonderful trade passed down for years. The most common wax to use is household 'Paraffin' wax --sold in grocery stores for about $1.50/4 bars. Of course you can experiment with ohter substances, and even make your own. Some people will swear by their wax, but I have fun gathering up all the wax like stuff in my house, melting them on the stove in a normal, everyday pan, then freezing them into little bars with the use of tupper-wear stuff. I like to mix some paraffin, soap shavings, some deoderant, and a crayon --watch the color with the crayons though...whatever color the crayon is, that'll be the color of the wax! Now the waxing: Make sure to get a good, thick coat on there, and not just the edge, make sure to get the tops and bottoms of the curbs, too. Also, select a pretty good curb, and fill in all the chips in the curb with wax. What happens when you use it up? Put more on! But keep in mind some people may not understand what you're doing and may get mad! So watch where you wax! And that's all folks!