Indo Boards are the perfect all around balance trainers for any sport where balance would be key, such as surfing, skateboarding, wakeboarding - in fact, any athlete would benefit greatly from Indoing! The learning curve is quick, and Indo Boards can be used by beginners to pros - there's always room to improve. There's various styles available for most boardsport needs, along with an excellent video for learning to cross step for longboarding, and learning Indo Board techniques.
The Original Indo Board
The Original Indo Board consists of a wooden board and a roller. The board is shaped like an oval, with clear light grip on top (which can be used both bare foot or with skate shoes) and wood catches on the bottom tip and tail to keep the board from flying out from under you if you let it roll too far. The roller is plastic, ridiculously sturdy (it can easily handle 225 pound riders, and the video shoes guys using weights while riding!), with stripes of grippy rubber ringing it to help hold onto the board.
And that's it - these two parts, combined with your body, create a balancing situation where all three parts have to work together in sinc. This simulates other board sports, such as surfing, where you have to be aware of the moving wave, your moving board, and your own body. The same carries to any sport where balance is key.
Read the review of the Original Indo Board for more. (Article continues below, with the Kicktail, Mini Kicktail, and Walkabout Training Video)
The Kicktail Indo Board
Kicktail Indo Board
The Indo site says that the Kicktail is meant for advanced riding. With that in mind, I jumped on after using the Original Indo for a few hours. They are right - it's a lot harder, and a lot easier to accidently have the board fly out from under you, smashing who knows what. But, it's also very useful, and very fun!
The Kicktail looks like a large, long, thick skate deck. The nose and tail of the board are turned up like a skateboard, making it good for practicing big skate tricks, and learning balance. It doesn't feature some of the safety features of the Original Indo, but it's still not too hard to learn with, and definitely good for training.
Read the review of the Kicktail Indo Board for more.
The Mini Kicktail Indo Board
The Mini Kicktail is designed for serious boarders who want to ride a skate deck on the Indo roller. You may think that you could simply take one of your own skate decks and try it out, but the guys at Indo say there's more to it than that. They took 2 years of research and design to come up with the Mini Kicktail. It's a little thicker (one more ply) than a usual skate deck, but in most ways you'll feel like you're on a regular board. Except that it's on a roller, and freakishly easy to fall off of. That said, it's very useful for not just balance training, but technical trick practice as well. But keep in mind that it's for advanced Indo Board riders. Try the Original to start off with!
Read the review of the Mini Kicktail Indo Board for more.
The Walkabout cross stepping training video
The Walkabout is a must for anyone learning to longboard surf. It's packed with instruction, interviews all giving their views about cross stepping, and tons more. Now, what if you don't surf? I don't, but after watching this video I sure wish I could! I wanted to see it for it's instructional section on using the Indo Board, and I wasn't disappointed. The Indo section features Hunter Joslin on an Original Indo Board in front of a blue screen. As he walks you through basic Indo techniques, behind him plays some great surfing footage. Often the footage is more than just for fun - it's showing you the real application of what you're practicing. Hunter has a great, easy going manner, and learning with the Walkabout video is easy and comfortable.
Read the review of the Walkabout Video for more.
