Frontside 360

The frontside 360 is the natural next step after the frontside 180: you do a full rotation in the air and land in your original direction, as if you’d never spun at all. You won’t forget the first time you see the world spin around you, and landing clean in your starting position feels amazing.

How to Do It

1. Ride into the jump with more speed than for the frontside 180: you need more airtime to finish the rotation.
2. On the lip, wind up the frontside rotation with more energy: your shoulders open hard toward the nose side, and your arms help build rotation speed.
3. Do a powerful ollie. Height is your best friend.
4. In the air, lead the rotation with your shoulders. In a frontside 360 the first half is “open” (you can see the jump), while the last quarter is blind: the landing comes up behind you. Keep turning your head and shoulders and look for the landing over your back shoulder, toward your feet.
5. Land in your original direction (not fakie) with your knees absorbing the impact. Your weight should be centered or slightly back.

Common Mistakes

• Spinning with just your arms: your arms help, but they aren’t enough. The rotation has to come from your hips and shoulders together, not from a desperate swing of the arms.
• Not enough height: a low 360 is a 360 you won’t finish. Work on your ollie and your approach speed.
• Giving up on spotting the landing: the last quarter of the spin is blind, because the landing comes up behind you. Keep turning your head and shoulders and look for it over your back shoulder, toward your feet: stop looking and your landings get chaotic.

Progression

With a solid frontside 360 you’re officially an intermediate freestyle rider. The next step is to add a grab (like the Melon or the Indy) to give the trick style, or to work on the Backside 360 so you can spin full rotations in both directions.