Surfskate Bowl Riding Tutorial: Mastering Frontside Turns

In surfing terms, a backside turn means your back is to the wave as you make the turn. A frontside turn means your chest is facing the wave as you make the turn.

And as I’ve been learning surfskate bowl riding, I’ve had a much harder time with frontside turns than backside turns.

So I’ve been focusing really hard on frontside turns. And while I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered them by any means, I have discovered a few tips that will at least put you on the path to mastery.

So in this surfskate bowl riding tutorial, I’ll walk you through five tips for mastering frontside turns.

Tip #1: Fall Back and Lean Through the Turn

 
When I started focusing on frontside turns, I was watching a lot of film of me riding. There was one key element that stood out to me more than anything else.

I realized that on my backside turns, I lean a lot more through the turn. This makes my body more horizontal and makes it much easier to get higher on the wall and come around the turn.

On frontside turns, I wasn’t leaning nearly as much as on my backside turns, and that was really limiting my height on the wall.

The reason why it’s harder to lean on frontside turns than backside turns is because on backside turns, you’re falling forward and you can see everything in front of you. But on frontside turns, you’re falling backwards and you can’t see what’s coming, so it’s a lot scarier.

So what was happening for me is that I would freeze up and stand up on frontside turns. And when you’re standing up on the wall, as opposed to leaning horizontally, you can’t pull your front knee up high enough to make the turn.

So here’s what happens when you don’t lean horizontally into your frontside turns and you stay standing up:

Now watch how I can get higher up on the wall by leaning more through the turn:

To make it easier to lean, you want to look back over your shoulder to see where you’re going.

That will make it more comfortable to make the turn because not only can you can see where you’re going, but also it helps to swing your body through the turn.

So your first tip is to focus on falling back and leaning through your turn. The more you lean, the higher up you can get on the wall.

Tip #2: Exaggerate Your Knee Bends and Fold Into Your Body

 
The next thing I noticed in my frontside practice is that it’s a lot easier to bend your knees during the final compression stage of backside turns than it is for frontside turns.

The reason for that actually has to do with your hips. With backside turns, since you’re leaning forward, you’re also able to bend forward at the hips. This tightens your compression and makes it a lot easier to come up higher on the wall and make the turn.

But with frontside turns, since you’re leaning backwards, you can’t bend your hips backwards. This means your knees are the only pivot point for your body to compress.

So you really have to exaggerate your knee bends on frontside turns, much more so than you have to with backside turns.

At the top of the wall, you want to pull your knees up as high as possible. Think of it like pulling them up into your chest.

And then as you come around the top of your turn and pulling your knees into your chest, you want to use your hips and knees to fold into your body in a full compression.

So fall back and lean into your turns. Then as you’re coming up the wall, bend your knees as deeply as you can, then as you come around the top of the turn, fold, or compress into your body, like this:

Tip #3: Maximize Your Speed

 
The next thing I noticed is that I wasn’t getting as much speed coming into my frontside turns as I was my backside turns. That’s because I was freezing up in anticipation of the turn and trying to manage my speed out of fear.

When you get scared coming into that frontside turn, your brain will trick you and make you think you can manage the turn easier if you’re going slower.

But the truth is that more speed you can get, the higher up on the wall you can get and the easier it is to make the turn.

To maximize your speed, there are two areas to focus on: your technique and your equipment, specifically your surfskate wheels and surfskate wheel bearings.

I would say that which one is more important for you depends on what level you’re at as a rider. If you’re a surfskate bowl riding beginner, you should probably focus on technique before upgrading your surfskate.

However, good wheels and bearings do make a huge difference to your speed. So if you’re more of an intermediate bowl rider and you have the budget, then I’m going to say you should definitely upgrade your surfskate wheels and surfskate wheel bearings. That will give you the speed boost you need to get to the next level.

As far as technique goes, I’m going to point you to the compression and extension tutorial below, as well as the tips in this video.

And from there, it’s just a matter of practice, which brings us to our next tip.

Tip #4: Practice in Stages

 
This tip may or may not apply to you, depending on what level you’re at. But if you’re at a more beginner level, the secret for me to unlock frontside turns was to practice in stages.

Start on something like a 45-degree angle, and just practice frontside turns over and over until you feel comfortable.

Then move up to a quarter pipe and again, just do as many frontside repetitions as it takes for you to feel really comfortable.

Next, find something like a half pipe where you can practice your frontside turns continuously.

And with that, you’re ready to take your frontside turns into the bowl.

Tip #5: Build Your Strength

 
If you’re under the age of 40, this final tip may not apply to you. But for us old-timers, you would not believe how much strength and endurance surfskate bowl riding takes.

I’ve really had to work hard on building my strength with frontside turns especially. That’s because of how you lift your body up and twist it around, it requires a lot of strength in that leading hip and thigh.

As a goofy-footed rider, I ride with my front foot forward. When I’ve been practicing hard, where I really feel those frontside turns is in my right hip and thigh.

So the secret for me has been a combination of two things. Every day for the past several months I’ve been getting up early and going to the skate park and skating for about an hour. Then right after that, I do Pilates, kettlebells, or TRX classes at my yoga studio, all of which focus primarily on building core strength.

So do whatever your lifestyle and schedule allow. But I can promise you that if you want to improve your frontside turns in the bowl, you’ll need to build more strength. And I highly recommend Pilates specifically.

So I hope you find these five tips helpful as you’re trying to master frontside turns in the bowl.

Now come take a ride with me.