Fakie Gazelle + Heel Press + 180
Three movements, one sustained curve: entry, development and exit.
First episode of Combos of the Week: a fakie gazelle that pushes into a heel press and collapses into a 180. Three movements, one wide sustained curve from start to finish.
The series explores movements beyond the fundamentals of the style — the heel press and the fakie gazelle are community extensions, not part of the official core — and assumes you already master the five fundamentals. If not yet, the base curriculum covers them one by one in five classes.
Before the technique, the episode's ideology: every combo can be split in three — entry, development and exit — regardless of how many movements it has. It's not a rule: it's something that works for me and I share it for exploration. Here the entry is the fakie gazelle, the development is the push into the heel press and the exit is the collapse into the 180.
The other key concept is the trajectory: the sustained direction all the movements live on. This combo asks for a wide curve — the gazelle exits on a curve and the heel press respects it; correcting toward the straight line breaks the flow. Each episode's findings and concepts accumulate in the Combos of the Week course.
Steps
- Check the prerequisites: a comfortable fakie gazelle and a sustained heel press. Each movement's detail lives in its tutorial; here we combine them.
- Decide the trajectory before entering: this combo lives on a wide sustained curve. Picture the full line drawn on the floor and skate on it.
- Exercise 1 — Back open gazelle holding the exit: do the gazelle and keep the exit direction without correcting toward the straight line.
- Exercise 2 — Open tree into heel press: do a forward open tree and start the heel press as you exit the curve: legs and knees together, body in a V, push from the heels and lift the toes, holding the position.
- Exercise 3 — Heel press with a 180 collapse: from the heel press, let the toes drop and rotate the 180 with the wheels seeking the floor — it's a collapse, not a jump.
- Join the three parts on the same curve: gazelle (entry), push into the heel press (development), collapse into the 180 (exit). If the rhythm cuts, the trajectory broke: go back to exercise 1.
Common mistakes
- Correcting toward the straight line after the gazelle: the gazelle exits on a curve; fighting that direction breaks the combo's flow.
- Jumping the final 180: the exit is a collapse — if the wheels leave the ground, it's a different move; lower your speed and repeat.
- Thinking the combo as a list of movements and not in parts: without a clear entry, development and exit, the combo isn't designed yet.
In one sentence
A three-part combo on a single curve: the gazelle decides the direction, the heel press respects it and the 180 collapses to close. Splitting the combo into entry, development and exit — a creative ideology, not a rule — is what makes it readable and repeatable.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Combo of the Week?
- A weekly series: each episode combines at most three movements and leaves findings and concepts that accumulate in the series' course. Individual movements live in their tutorials; here you learn to combine them.
- What do I need to master before this combo?
- The five fundamentals of the base curriculum and, in particular, the fakie gazelle and the heel press separately. The combo doesn't teach the movements: it teaches how to string them on the same trajectory.
- Is the final 180 a jump?
- No — it's a collapse. From the heel press you let the toes drop and rotate the 180 with the wheels seeking the floor. If there is lift-off, it's a different move.
