How to do a feeble grind on a skateboard

The feeble grind is one of the most popular advanced skateboarding tricks you can see performed on high-performance skateparks.

It resembles a boardslide and can be learned almost accidentally while practicing backside 50-50s.

"In a feeble, the back trucks grind on the ledge or rail as usual, but the front trucks hang down near the rail on the opposite side that the skater approached from," explains Per Welinder, author of "Mastering Skateboarding."

"For example, when you try a 50-50 grind on a ramp and the front trucks land on the deck instead of on the coping, that's a feeble."

The trick can be performed on rails, ledges, and ramps, although most skaters prefer to do it on handrails and flat rails.

Why? It's more challenging, and it looks better.

The best way to practice the move is by mastering the ollie, the boardslide, and the 50-50 grind.

Feeble Grind 101

Let's get moving. Follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to frontside feeble grind on a standard skatepark rail.

1. Push on your skateboard at medium speed so that you get to the end of the rail;
2. Approach the rail at a slight frontside angle;
3. Adopt a regular ollie stance;
4. Pop up your skateboard and focus on landing your back trucks directly on the rail, with both wheels floating over both edges;
5. As soon as the back trucks engage with the rail, the nose of your skateboard, front truck, and wheels should be hanging off the surface on the opposite side;
6. Keep your weight centered over your rear trucks as you grind across the obstacle, and let the front of the board lead the movement forward slightly below the rail;
7. Stay balanced with your front leg fully extended and slide through the grind until you reach the end of the rail;
8. When the nose of the skateboard gets to the end of the journey, lift it up and toward you;
9. Point your board slightly upward as your back trucks come off the end of the rail;
10. Land and skate away;

Extra Tips

Remember not to approach the rail at full speed.

Otherwise, you might struggle to control the ollie into the rail and keep your balance as you make contact with the obstacle.

Also, you won't need much rotation when popping up.

"The challenges with feeble grinds are mostly in the ollie," adds Welinder.

"You need to have precise ollie control so that your ollie is neither too high nor not high enough, too far or not far enough."

"Your trucks are not very big, and you'll be using them to catch yourself and the board against the corner of the rail."

If your ollie isn't high enough, the board could land in a lipslide position with the bottom of the deck resting on the rail.

Keeping a balanced weight distribution is also key to success.

Too much weight on the back foot will speed up the slide, and too much weight on the front foot will make you stick and fall forward.

Finally, while grinding, let the nose of the board hang out away from you.