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.
holiday handplant in sb, ca. shot by lil bro, who is taller and more successful than me.
tf is this trick now?: An ancient transition trick, the handplant is a bit different on the street than a street plant; the latter is the hands-on-the-ground-hit-the-pose-throw-it-down move, e.g. Mike V. In this kind of handplant, you’ve essentially warped time and space to make the face of the ramp whatever you’re riding off of, and the edge of said spot is the ‘coping.’
Pre-reqs are a drop of at least about knee height — otherwise you just roll off the fucking thing awkwardly — and the handplant draws far more on commitment than skill (making them ideal for me). When you have these down, you only need one push or so of room to snap a quickie, making them very versatile. My brother shot the learning materials; h/t to him. Keep practicing space law! Oh, and here’s a fucking gnar one to hype you up.
Let’s get it, sluts!
the set up: Nothing too special here — put your feet where you normally do to ride, with your back one in the pocket and ready to apply some pressure like you would rolling off a curb or popping your front wheels up for fun. Balance is the focus; it may feel a bit awkward rolling up already grabbing and with your hand ready to reach. Speed is tricky at first as well, as the trick is much easier with some momentum but much harder if you under- or overshoot the right pace.
step I: As you approach the edge, get a hold of a rail. Most of the time people go for the Weddle (née mute) grab, using your front hand to grab toeside between your feet. I’ve seen melon grab variations as well, same idea but front hand on the heel side.
step II: Right as you approach the edge of the abyss, place your trailing hand as close as you can to the edge-cum-coping — right on it is the ideal. THE KEY: This for me was the secret to figuring these out. Your back hand reaching forward, about level with the front bolts. Not only does this provide the push off that helps you land it, but it also places your weight/body/shoulders in the right position, so what follows puts you in the proper place to roll away.
step III: Put pressure on your back foot like you’re rolling off a curb while yanking up forcefully on the board. Your back hand helps support and stabilize you during this motion, as well as making it look fucking dope. This is it, btw — you’re all in and committed now, or you’re doomed.
step IV: The easiest part! Just enjoy the ride and, if you do them janky like I do, the lil clack of a tail smack otw down and out.
step V: Release the grab midair (don’t worry, your mind will be subliminally screaming for you to do this and it’ll happen without thinking most likely, see the photo for step IV), land bolts, and start dreaming about shit you can handplant next.
breaking it down: As with basically any trick, breaking the fucker down into parts makes it easier. Here’s one way to do it:
Remember how I said if the ledge is too low you’re just gonna roll off? Well you can use that to your advantage in atomizing this one. Begin by just putting your board on the very precipice, put that back hand forward, and pull a bit. It’ll be hard, but don’t worry — the forward momentum you use next will make this easier. After you clack yourself off the curb a couple times, add the grab, and a few more times after that a push or two. Once you get a feel for it, go to something a bit higher and lay. one. down.
Once you get them down, you can handplant off just about anything that’ll fit your board — I’ve seen ‘em thrown off a bar [🥂] as a goof and off a massive drop as a hammer. They’re fun as all hell, not too hard, and I highly recommend.