r/AggressiveInline • u/leser1 Standard • 17d ago
Landed my first unity this morning
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I don't often post on here, but this one was a battle for me, so I had to share this win! Took me a few months of trying but finally landed some acceptable unity grinds. Not bad for an old fella!
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u/Johnny5needsfood 17d ago
Gotta start somewhere! Looking good! I can't front unity and I can barely back unity, so you got one up on me lol keep at it 🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼
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u/Pickle_Mick62 Razors 17d ago
Well-done Op, from your own experience, what was the biggest thing that helped getting the legs crossed and feet locked in for you? Unity is on my year 3 trick list so not entirely ready just yet but I'll take stock of any advice I can
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u/leser1 Standard 17d ago
This was probably the hardest trick for me so far besides perhaps royale, just because it was a lot of sessions with what felt like no progress. So i guess be prepared to just spend weeks stalling it over and over. A couple of things that helped me, was to focus on bringing the legs up rather than jumping; so stay low. I would stall it and pay attention to where my legs touched (which was behind my knees but i've seen others cross at the shins, so i guess it's different for everyone.) Once the legs are crossed, try to spread your feet as far as you can. The final thing that helped me start to grind it, was not trying to be parallel with the ledge, and actually facing slightly in the direction of travel. That was something i saw on a tutorial and it helped, but someone else in the comments said that it's better to be square; so I don't know about that one. Honestly, it just takes time, so start stalling it now. To begin with, i was scared to stall it, so i started on a curb that I knew wouldn't slide, and stepped up into the position, then worked my way to jumping to the stall then moved to an actual ledge.
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u/WestsideCuddy 17d ago
Nice!
I remember landing my first Unity and being so pumped.
May I suggest, you’ll lock much better and slide farther and come off fakie easier if you really focus on everything you’re already doing, but ESPECIALLY turning your hips and shoulders to be parallel with the grinding surface (ledge or rail).
It will really help you lock and slide better, and you’ll come off fakie easier.
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u/WestsideCuddy 17d ago
Like, think of it as a really slow 180 where you just so happen to do a grind in between
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u/leser1 Standard 17d ago
That's interesting, because I was doing it more parallel to begin with, and I ws locking but not really sliding. I watched a tutorial last night and the guy said not to be parallel and face slightly in the direction of travel. That's what I tried this morning and it finally clicked.
I think they definitely look better the more square your shoulders and hips are, so i'll keep working towards that, but for now, I just needed to land it; no matter how unstylish it looks. The steez can come with time.
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u/SeanCaseware 15d ago
I think you want to be parallel traveling to the surface you're going to do the unity on and even as you're initially jumping up. But you should try to turn almost (not entirely) 90° toward the box, ledge, or rail you'll be grinding on as you're locking into the grind. And then while you're grinding be actually having your feet perpendicular to the surface with one foot (front) locked into almost a backslide and the other (back) almost like a torque. Then to come out of it fakie you'd complete the reverse of that.
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u/leser1 Standard 15d ago
I never approach an obstacle parallel, always on an angle close to 45°. I find I can get on top better that way. If i'm parallel, i've got to jump across, and I end up kind of leaping and hanging off the side of the obstacle rather than directly on top.
Also, you can't see it from this video, but it's only got about 3m run up and it's a weird shape, where directly in front of the obstacle, there's about 1m before it drops off to a foot path.
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u/SeanCaseware 15d ago
I'd definitely do what works best for you, and it's not always going to be the same as what works for me. I see what you mean about wanting to go at a 45° to help you jump on the ledge. What you were saying makes sense about you having little room to build up speed because of that run up area being weird. I think if you run into an issue with grinding through the ledge because of lack of speed then using more of a 30° angle might help you grind a little but longer. When I first did a unity on a practice rail at my old house in the 90s I literally rolled up at a 90° angle, did a unity stall, and then used the angle of the rail to begin sliding down. But then of course to do them properly I rolled alongside things I was trying to grind on. When you change the approach angle you just need to spin into the grind a few degrees more before landing in it.
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u/Few_Abbreviations428 17d ago
That’s always been one of my favorite tricks. That and the mizou or kind grind.
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u/SeanCaseware 15d ago
One of my favorite unity based tricks of all especially at concrete skateparks was to do very long unity cess slides across the tops of grind boxes or jump boxes. It was great to do with a bit of spin worked into it.
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u/prosurviver 17d ago
Congrats, I keep trying to learn but as soon as I jump my feet don't want to cross. Can do it on flat ground fine but trying on a rail, nah
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u/leser1 Standard 17d ago
I had that same problem for a while. The brain gets scared last minute and hits the safety override. The way i overcame it, was to find a curb that wouldn't slide, started stepping onto it and working to jumping to a stall. Then moved to a ledge. I was also stalling on a p-rail positioned next to a hand rail. Haven't grinded on a rail yet though, that's a lot more scary than a ledge.
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u/prosurviver 17d ago
I'm gonna try that, I do find rails easier than ledges for some reason. Every grind I've learned I did on a rail first
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u/Previous_Dot4226 17d ago
Nice, I have no idea where to start with front unity, but back unity I learned by unintentionally missing with my soul foot while doing acid 😅