How much should you swing your back foot?
Mechanism / Why It Happens
The back foot swing is a result, not something you consciously do
When you watch a shove-it, you’ll notice the back foot swinging backward, almost like how a horse or cow kicks the ground. The important thing to understand is that this happens naturally due to the structure of the human body—it does not mean that you need to consciously kick your back foot backward. As explained in another tip (Link), in a shove-it you push your foot straight down along the line connecting your center of mass and your foot. With your weight placed toward the toe side, your back foot moves slightly toward the heel side while applying force to the board, and then lifts up. As a result, it appears as if the back foot is swinging toward the heel side. However, the actual role of the back foot is simply to apply diagonal downward force to the board—forcefully swinging it toward the heel side will only throw off your balance.
