The average skateboarder hates landing in ‘primo’, and for good reason:
‘Primo’ (aka rail) is a freestyle fundamental though, so if you’ve pivoted to freestyle from another skate discipline, you will need to overcome that fear of landing on the side of your board. In addition, you might want to stop using the word ‘primo’ in the presence of freestyle purists unless you’re okay with trolls coming out at night and clobbering you.
‘Primo’ vs. Rail
‘[R]ail is one of the basic positions in freestyle…this position isn’t referred to as “primo” – a primo – or primoslide, to give the trick its full name – involves actually powering into this position at speed, usually sliding 180 degrees as you do it.’
Tony Gale in ‘Heelside Rail’
Firstly, you might want to make your skateboard more rail friendly. We’ve mentioned this before on Flatlandia and we’ll mention it again: get some offset wheels. Balancing on 8mm axle nuts is tricky, balancing on 53-56mm wheels is less so. If you do go down the offset-wheel route, you may also want to swap out your trucks to a slightly smaller size and use extra washers to make your wheels close to flush with the rail of the board.
Tighter trucks will also increase rail stability, though how tight you go will depend on your personal preference.
Once you’ve modified your skateboard, spend some time in rail. Alternate in heelside rail and toeside rail while you multitask with some doomscrolling, kendama, bicep curls, etc. Just get comfortable being in this stance.
Rail-specific proprioception exercises are another way to desensitise. Hop on and hop off. Hop from side to side in both directions, with your good foot and your bad foot. Do hippie jumps and varial hippie jumps. Hop on one leg. Done it all in heelside rail? Then try everything again in toeside rail.
Which is toeside rail, which is heelside rail?
Are your toes on the rail of the deck? Congratulations, you’re in toeside rail.
Your heels are on the rail of the deck? Now you’re in heelside rail.
Getting good at hops and jumps in rail will not only make it easier to get into position for tricks like cooper flips, they will also prep you for landing in rail via caspers, freestyle kickflips and other shenanigans.
Hopefully these tips will help you feel less apprehesive about rail and allow you to tackle some proper rail tricks. There are a bunch of great tutorials out there by the likes of Tony Gale, Terry Synnott, and Mike Osterman. Flatlandia is slowly compiling them all in one epic YouTube playlist for your reference. Now go out and be the rail!