How to Ollie: Step-by-Step Progression for Total Beginners

Overview

If you want one simple answer to how to ollie, it is this: you compress, pop the tail, jump, guide the front foot up the board, and level the deck before landing over the bolts. That sounds short, but every part has to happen in the right order. Most beginners do not struggle because they are weak or untalented. They struggle because one small piece is missing: stance, timing, commitment, or balance.

A good ollie tutorial should make that sequence easier to feel. Before worrying about height, focus on consistency. A low ollie that stays straight and lands solidly is much more useful than a high one that turns, rockets, or slips out.

Here is the beginner checklist before you start:

• Use a standard street setup or beginner-friendly complete, not a soft cruiser with a long wheelbase.
• Practice on smooth, flat ground with space around you.
• Wear skate shoes with a grippy sole and enough support to stay stable.
• Start with a rolling warm-up, even if you plan to try ollies nearly still.
• Expect to learn in phases: stance, pop, foot drag, leveling, landing, then rolling.

If your current board feels hard to control, it may help to revisit a skateboard size chart by height, shoe size, and riding style. If the setup itself feels slow or sticky, check your wheels and bearings too, since a poorly rolling board can make timing harder than it needs to be. These guides on best skateboard wheels for street, park, and rough ground and best skateboard bearings ranked by speed, durability, and value can help you rule out gear issues.

One more important point: learning to ollie while slightly rolling is often easier than learning completely stationary. A board that rolls naturally tends to stay more stable than a board you are forcing to stay still. That said, total beginners can still use standstill drills to understand the motion before taking them moving.

Checklist by scenario

Use this section like a progression map. Pick the scenario that matches where you are now, and do not skip ahead too quickly. The ollie improves faster when the drill matches the actual problem.

Scenario 1: You are brand new and not ready to leave the ground

Your goal here is not a full ollie. Your goal is to build the shape of the motion safely.

• Foot position: Place your back foot on the tail with the ball of your foot centered. Put your front foot just behind the front bolts or slightly farther back if that feels more controlled.
• Shoulders: Keep them mostly parallel with the board. Open shoulders often make the board turn.
• Knees: Bend enough to feel loaded, but do not crouch so low that you lose timing.
• Eyes: Look forward or at the nose area, not straight down at your tail.

Drills for this stage:

• Step on and off the board repeatedly until your stance feels automatic.
• Practice small tail taps without trying to jump. Feel the back foot snap downward and rebound.
• Do tiny hops on the board without popping. Land with feet over the bolts.
• Practice sliding the front foot up the grip tape lightly to understand the upward path.

Milestone: you can balance comfortably, hop in place, and return to the bolts without twisting.

Scenario 2: You can pop the tail but the board barely comes up

This is where most people first feel stuck. Usually the issue is that the rider is stomping the tail down but not jumping up. The board only rises if your body rises.

Checklist:

• Think jump first, pop during the jump, not stomp first.
• Snap the ankle through the tail instead of mashing your whole leg down.
• Lift both knees after the pop, especially the back knee.
• Let the front foot move up the board as the nose rises.

Useful cue: the tail hits the ground because you are leaving the ground, not because you are trying to pin the board to the pavement.

Drills for this stage:

• Do "pop and catch" reps: pop lightly and catch the board with your front foot as it rises.
• Practice hippie jumps at slow roll to get used to leaving the board and landing centered.
• Do three low ollie attempts in a row, aiming only for clean timing, not height.

Milestone: the front wheels leave the ground reliably, and the back wheels start to follow.

Scenario 3: Your ollie goes up in front but the tail stays low

This is the classic rocket ollie. The nose rises, but the board never levels out. In most cases, the front foot is moving up but not forward enough, or the back knee is hanging down.

Checklist:

• After the pop, bring the front foot up and slightly forward toward the nose.
• Lift your back foot quickly so the tail can rise.
• Keep your chest centered over the board instead of leaning back.
• Aim to meet the board at the top, not rush it back to the ground.

Drills for this stage:

• Pause an ollie video of yourself at the highest point. Is the back foot still low?
• Try low curb-height visualization without an obstacle: picture the board flattening over something.
• Practice nose-to-level motion standing on grass or carpet to memorize the front-foot path.

Milestone: the deck begins to flatten in the air, even if the ollie is still low.

Scenario 4: The board turns while you ollie

If the board rotates frontside or backside, your upper body is usually steering it by accident.

Checklist:

• Square your shoulders with the board before you pop.
• Keep your arms quieter; big swings create unwanted rotation.
• Press evenly through both feet before the pop.
• Land over the bolts instead of reaching one foot out to save the trick.

Drills for this stage:

• Film from the front and check whether your shoulders open during the crouch.
• Do straight-line hippie jumps with arms tucked in more than usual.
• Draw a chalk line and try to ollie while staying parallel to it.

Milestone: your ollie lands in the same line you started from.

Scenario 5: You can ollie still, but rolling feels impossible

This is normal. Rolling adds timing, but it also makes the motion more realistic and useful. Start slower than you think you need to.

Checklist:

• Begin with a very slow, relaxed push.
• Set your feet before the attempt rather than adjusting too much mid-roll.
• Keep your weight centered; avoid leaning too far over the back truck.
• Commit to landing with bent knees and a soft roll-away.

Drills for this stage:

• Alternate one hippie jump, one low rolling ollie.
• Use a pavement seam or painted line as a timing mark.
• Aim for ten tiny rolling ollies instead of one big one.

Milestone: you can roll away cleanly and repeat the trick without resetting for several minutes.

Scenario 6: You want more height

Height comes after consistency. Once your ollie is straight and level, work on stronger compression and faster knee lift, not wild stomping.

Checklist:

• Crouch with intent, but stay balanced.
• Pop crisply rather than heavily.
• Drive the front knee up.
• Tuck the back foot higher than feels necessary.
• Delay the landing just enough to let the board finish rising.

Drills for this stage:

• Ollie over a crack, then a broom handle, then a very small object.
• Practice up a painted curb cut before trying a full curb.
• Use sets of five attempts, reviewing one thing only between sets.

Milestone: your highest ollies still look controlled, not rushed or uneven.

What to double-check

If progress suddenly stalls, review these basics before assuming you need a new trick tip. Small setup and habit issues can slow down learning more than people expect.

Board setup

• Deck size: A board that feels too narrow or too wide can affect confidence and foot placement.
• Truck tightness: Very loose trucks can feel unstable for beginners learning to pop straight.
• Wheels: Extremely soft wheels on rough ground may feel fine for cruising but less precise for trick practice.
• Bearings: You do not need speed for the sake of speed, but you do need a board that rolls smoothly and predictably.

If you are unsure whether your board is better for commuting than tricks, read Cruiser vs. Street Boards: Pick the Right Ride for Commuting or Tricks.

Shoes

Bad footwear makes learning harder. You want grip, stable sidewalls, and enough board feel to know where your feet are. Running shoes often feel too soft and unstable. A proper skate shoe can make the front-foot motion easier to repeat. If you need help choosing, these guides on best skate shoes for wide feet, narrow feet, and high impact skating, skate shoe durability, and New Balance Numeric skate shoes by style and support are useful starting points.

Practice surface

• Smooth flat ground is easier than rough asphalt.
• A mild roll is often easier than trying to freeze in place.
• Do not practice where cracks force you to rush your timing.

Session structure

Beginners often stay too long in one frustrated mode. A better session structure is simple:

1. Five minutes of pushing, carving, and stopping.
2. Five minutes of ollie motion drills without worrying about height.
3. Ten to fifteen minutes of focused attempts on one issue.
4. A short reset doing something familiar and fun.
5. Another ten-minute block of attempts, preferably filmed.

Filming matters because what an ollie feels like and what it looks like are often different. A quick side view and front view can tell you whether you are actually jumping, leveling, or turning.

Common mistakes

The fastest way to learn skateboard tricks is often to remove one mistake at a time. These are the most common errors in a beginner ollie.

Trying to drag before the board has popped

The front foot does not create the entire trick by itself. If the tail never snaps and your body never rises, dragging harder will not fix it.

Stomping instead of jumping

This produces a loud tail hit and very little lift. Think of the pop as part of an upward movement, not a downward attack.

Leaning back

Many beginners are afraid of the nose and keep too much weight over the tail. That makes the board shoot forward or stay rocketed.

Opening the shoulders

If your front shoulder swings open, your board will often turn with it. Straight ollies start with quieter upper-body control.

Landing with stiff legs

A rigid landing makes even a correct ollie feel unstable. Bend your knees and absorb impact over the bolts.

Practicing only stationary

Stationary practice helps at first, but if you stay there too long, your timing may become awkward. Bring your ollie to a slow roll as soon as basic control appears.

Changing too many things at once

One session you decide to move your feet, crouch lower, jump higher, swing your arms, and try rolling faster. That makes it impossible to know what helped. Pick one variable, test it for several attempts, then review.

Expecting a perfect ollie before using it

A practical beginner ollie does not need to be high. A low, rolling ollie over a crack is already a useful skill and a real marker of progress.

When to revisit

The best time to revisit your ollie technique is not only when it goes wrong. Recheck it whenever your setup, surface, or goals change. Small updates to your routine can refresh the trick without starting over.

Come back to this checklist in these situations:

• Before seasonal changes: colder weather, wet surfaces, or rougher spots can change how your board pops and rolls.
• When your shoes wear down: less grip and support can quietly affect your timing.
• When you change boards or wheel setups: even small setup differences can alter how the tail feels.
• Before learning new tricks: a cleaner ollie helps with frontside 180s, backside 180s, pop shuvits, kickflips, and getting onto obstacles.
• After a break: if you have not skated in a few weeks, rebuild timing with low rolling ollies first.

Use this practical return-to-practice plan:

1. Warm up with pushing, carving, and a few relaxed hippie jumps.
2. Do ten low ollies focused only on staying straight.
3. Do ten more focused only on leveling the board.
4. Film three attempts from the side.
5. Pick one correction for the rest of the session.
6. End by ollieing a crack, line, or tiny obstacle to apply the skill.

If you are practicing in a shared park, revisit your line choices and awareness too. Good sessions depend on more than landing tricks, and skatepark etiquette matters once you start taking beginner ollies into busier spaces.

The real goal is not just to learn how to ollie once. It is to build an ollie you can keep improving as your skating changes. Keep it low, keep it straight, and keep it repeatable. Height comes later. Control comes first.