An update!
In my previous article I outlined my progress leaning axel stalls:
https://www.emholmes.com/learning-axel-stalls/
Where I am now
It’s been about 2 months of practicing a few days a week.
Now I have got them so I am sharing my progress update and some notes that might help you with your learning process.
We ended the previous article with a clip of me almost getting them – a marked improvement being on top of the platform rather than bailing forward and running down the ramp face:
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To the bowl!
I stated to get them consistent on the smaller ramps but at time of writing I had no footage.
Next I took it to the bowl which is a bit bigger and steeper.
Here are my bails and fails:
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In the above videos I am not turning onto my front truck yet.
Finally I got one on cam!
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At this point I think I had done maybe 6-10 in total in the bowl, however these were not consistent and definitely not on demand for camera!
50-50 Grinds in a Run
Next, my stalls started accidentally tuning into small 50-50 grinds in my bowl runs.
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If you swipe to the second clip you can see I am still overshooting out the back and not getting that pinch point lock in.
From here it has just been lots of practice.
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Here I am starting to angle my approach to the coping and am getting small 50-50 grinds:
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Feeling more comfortable here
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In a run
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At this point I practice going back to back in the bowl. You can see me having to slide my back wheel forward to get the pinch point to drop in,
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That’s where I am at as of January 2022
For some attempts I would get the heel wheel pinch point lock on real sweet and it feels so solid. I am not yet at the point where it’s under conscious control yet.
I often overshoot, trying too hard or my weight is not in right place.
The attempts where I relax and go a bit slower or float up go much better.
With each session I get a better feel for where my weight is meant to be and I keep going for more improvement.
I’m going for 5050 locking both my heel wheels onto the coping next.
What has helped me?
Repetition and lots of practice
I start small each session then work my way up to the bowl if I feel I have lost the feeling or if I feel afraid.
Relax.
Go slow.
Axel drop into the bowl so I don’t have too much speed and overshoot.
Bending my knees.
Angle my approach for 50-50s.
Concentrating on locking my heel wheel in the pinch point.
As I practiced, I would go back to the tutorials I posted in the first article to understand more what they were explaining. Sometimes you have to experience things by doing to understand fully. It seems obvious looking back but you really have to attempt what the tutorial says and fail to get feedback to change things and see what’s happening.
Get in motion, pay attention, take it back to the classroom. Ideally have someone who can guide you in person and point out what you are doing if you cannot see for yourself. Sometimes its not obvious to us until we watch back or have someone suggest tweaks.
Shout out to my bro who has been a massive help and encouragement.
Summary
It’s been a couple of months since I started writing this article, so I have practiced a lot more. I am mainly working on 50-50s but getting an angled approach and really feeling where my weight and head need to be. I am improving slowly and understand so much more. I may have a few more videos I can post, if so, I will write another update.
I hope this helps you with where you are and encourages you to keep up the practice.
I am very stoked to get these, at times it seemed like it would never happen, so now to be able to go to parks I visited previously where I couldn’t really get these (hello Sidmouth) and to now do them back to back has been such a joy. Also to visit new parks means it’s a lot more fun to cruise around and throw these in. Also its opened new lines in my home park.
Sometimes when I still struggle by overshooting I remind myself how sweet it is to have that issue rather than not being able to get up onto the coping.
I hope to bring you some updated videos of some sweet 50-50s this spring /summer.
If you made it this far, wow, thanks for reading and watching!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to point you in a direction. Feel free to share your progress with me!
The best place to connect with me is instagram: @emmaholmez
Shred on, shredders! 💕🤘🏽
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