Tricks: Beanplant

time to learn a classic

Look, there’s fucking thousands of tutorials out there for your more basic stuff — kick/heel/360 flips, pop shuvs, noseslides, etc. But here at 4ts ‘magazine,’ tastes [and talent] runs to the more esoteric and divinely gauche side of things. Welcome to Tricks; hope you’re ready to learn.

hockey says plant your beans at a stranger’s home

tf is this trick now?: One of my favorites, the beanplant’s a basic staple of early skating. Similar to — though not as popular as — the boneless, a beanplant’s the perfect warmup trick and often the first thing I throw down a gap. More than anything, it’s just fucking fun, and variations abound, including varials (I’ll show you sometime), into grinds, and the Russian boneless. 

foot position/pressure: A fairly wide stance is the play for plants; if you’re familiar with any other no comply trick — like the no comply 180 — the bean plant stance is very similar. Your front foot should be right up along the bolts and cheated to the heel side, while you want your back foot to be right in the pocket of the tail. Apply pressure evenly to both ends — think of it like you’re ‘loading’ the board to spring.

step I: Rolling with that even pressure, you’re going to take your front foot off, just like you would in a no comply. THE KEY: You do this via sliding, not stepping your foot off.

step II: Because of the pressure you’ve put into the tail, as soon as your front foot comes off, the board should pop up into the air — and you’re gonna grab it with your front hand on the heel side, like a melon. As always, the Grab Catechism holds true here: think of it like bringing the board to your hand, not like reaching down for it (although you kinda are). Grab on to that fucker nice and tight; rails like I run can help, but you don’t need them.

step III: Board firmly in hand, leap off your front foot, and don’t. let. go! You’re up there now, bb. Feels good right? This is the fucking photogenic part.

step IV: While in midair, bring your front foot up and stick it to the bolts. You want your feet back on the board and your grab being released while you’re flying.

step V: Now it’s like basically every other trick: land bolts, bend for impact, & roll away like Jack — magic beans in the bag, bb.

breaking it down: As with basically any trick, breaking the fucker down into parts makes it easier. Here’s one way to do it: For the bean, it’s easiest to begin in medias res. Start by having the board’s nose in the air and your hand on the rail with back foot on the tail. Jump up, and get that foot back on. Next, practice sliding your front foot off while standing still, popping the board up — no grab needed at first, then adding in the grab, then jumping in the air. Once you’ve got that motion down standing still, it’s time to roll. 

The beanplant has that magic combo of fun-to-learn and feels-so-good … and the official 4ts editorial position is it looks pretty sexy, too. Go get it!