There’s just something about skating in the fakie stance that looks and feels so good. Well, the Caballerial is no different! The way this trick flows is truly magical. We want to share this incredible feeling with all of you!

Have you mastered your fakie ollies, half cabs, shove-its, and now you’re looking for another fakie trick to add to your arsenal? Well look no further! Braille Skateboarding is here to help you welcome the Caballerial to your bag of tricks.

Below we’ll define Caballerials, show you a super helpful video tutorial, and you can read our full Cab walk-through as well! Now, where does the Caballerial come from and what is a Caballerial exactly?

History Of The Caballerial

In the early 1980’s, American professional skateboarder Steve Caballero invented and popularized the Fakie 360 aerial on vert ramps. Paying homage to its creator, the trick was given the name “Caballerial”, as in Caballero-Aerial. Caballero originally did the trick backside. Eventually, street skaters adapted their own version of the trick, performing fakie 360 ollies on flat, over gaps, etc…

Caballerial Definition

A  Caballerial is achieved by rolling in the fakie stance and performing a backside 360 ollie. Caballerials are also known as Cabs, or “Full-Cabs”. 

Check out our video tutorial on Cabs before reading on. In this video, Aaron Kyro will give you an in-depth breakdown of the Full-Cab with some fantastic practice steps to help build your muscle memory.

After you’ve had a chance to review our Caballerial video tutorial, keep reading! We will review the information from the video and further break down the trick. If you’re having trouble with this trick, this will help you.

Caballerial Tutorial

We hope you enjoyed the video and learned a thing or two from it! If you’re still unsure about learning to Caballerial, don’t stress! We have you covered.

Now, here’s the breakdown of this trick. In classic Braille style, we’re breaking it down into practice steps so you can really master this trick. There are 4 important aspects of the Cab that you’ll need to know before you land your first one.

1. Foot Position
2. Practice Step #1
3. Practice Step #2
4. Putting It All Together

Now… Let’s Get Into It!

Foot Position

While rolling in your fakie stance, position your back foot in the middle of the tail (or nose, if you prefer popping off the nose while rolling fakie). Your toes should be pointing straight, so don’t worry about putting your back foot at an angle. Ensure the ball of your foot is near the edge of the board, and your heel should be hanging off the heel-side edge of the board.

Place your front foot in the middle of the board, similar to the ollie position. Angle it slightly by pointing your heel toward your back foot. With both of your feet in the appropriate position, all that is left is to pop the trick, fully rotate, and land. Before we get to that point, let’s review some helpful practice steps.

Practice Step #1

Turning your shoulders is extremely important when learning Cabs. Our first practice step is designed to help your shoulders get used to this turning motion. While standing still on your board, simply press down with your back foot.

Bend your knees slightly, wind your shoulders up then turn your shoulders backside (in front of you). By the time your shoulders have turned 90 degrees, your hips should also be facing that same direction. Do this motion over and over again until it feels natural. Now, you’re ready for the next step!

Practice Step #2

When you first start trying Cabs, you’ll end up doing a half-cab and pivoting the final 180 degrees off your nose to complete the fakie backside 360. As you get better at Cabs, you’ll start pivoting less, rotating more in the air until eventually you’re popping and rotating the full 360 in the air. 

However, for this practice step we are going to break the trick down into two parts. The second step to learning cabs is to combine a half-cab with a backside pivot. If you’ve made it to this step but haven’t learned your backside 180s yet, we recommend you get these down first. Having these down will really help you in the Full Cab.

Set your feet up in the Caballerial position. Wind your shoulders up, and release as you pop a half-cab. Land the half cab, but focus your weight on your front foot upon landing. With the weight focused on your front foot, which should be on the front bolts or nose of your board, perform a quick backside pivot.

To do this, bend your knees, lift your back truck up slightly and bring it behind you 180-degrees. You should be rolling away switch by this point. Essentially, once you’ve done this, you’ve completed all the parts of the full-cab.

Helpful Tips

All you have to do now is add some speed and fluidity to the backside pivot after the half-cab to get the trick looking smooth. Don’t worry about fully rotating the 360-degrees in the air until you get this step-by-step version down. The full rotation will come with time and practice, don’t worry!

If you’re having trouble with this second practice step, slow things down. Focus on landing your half-cab and rolling away clean. Practice some backside 180s as well! Then focus on nailing a clean backside pivot after landing a solid half-cab. When you’re ready, simply half-cab, land on the nose, pivot backside, and roll away switch. 

Putting It All Together

To start getting more rotation and pivoting less, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, pay attention to your shoulders. When you bend down to pop, make sure you wind your shoulders up and get ready to throw them hard. If you throw hard enough, you should be able to get the full rotation on flat ground.

You can also bring your front foot down the board more, closer to your back foot, which may help you to pop the trick higher. Lastly, keep your eyes on the prize! Make sure you keep your eyes on your feet and watch them as they come around to spot your landing. With all this in mind, it’s time to get to work!

Start rolling fakie, set your feet up for the cab. Wind up your shoulders, bend down, pop hard and start turning with your shoulders as you throw them. Watch your feet on the board as they come around, brace for impact, land, and roll away switch. If you haven’t rotated the full 360-degrees in the air, just pivot the rest of the way off your nose and roll away clean.

In Conclusion

Looking to add some more tricks to your arsenal? Check out Skateboarding Made Simple. It’s the most detailed lesson plan for skateboarding that exists. With 9 different volumes, you’ll go from learning how to ride on a board, to skating skateparks and landing more advanced flatground tricks in no time!

Once you’ve picked up a copy of SMS, we want to see your best Caballerials! You can do them on flat, or keep it classic and do one in a bowl! Film a quick clip of you doing your best Cab and post it on Instagram. Tag @brailleskate, #brailleskate, and #brailleskateboarding. 

Let us know which piece of advice helped you the most so we can highlight that and we can get more people landing Caballerials. Now get out there, keep progressing, and have some fun.