Episode 19 Epic Quick Blast

Welcome to the world of Epic.

Sit back, strap yourself in and get ready

to become epic at everything!

Welcome to your Quick Blast of epicness.

So what are we waiting for? Let's do this!

First up, we need to get our skateboard wheels in motion

with your first taste of epicosity.

Hi, I'm Georgie Winter,

and today I'm going to teach you how to pop an ollie on a skateboard.

Right, Georgie, let's do this!

First of all, you need to get yourself into a comfortable

ollie position, which is your back foot on the tail of the board and

your front foot flat across the board an inch or so behind the front foot.

OK, Georgie, we know where to plant our feet,

but what do we do with them?

Crunch down, making sure your weight is distributed

evenly between both feet.

After you've got that, jump off your back foot, jump hard and fast

so the tail hits the floor and bounces up into the air.

This is called 'the pop'.

OK, we're popping to perfection,

but we need to get really airborne to be cool. How's it done?

Immediately after you've jumped, you need to slide your front foot

up the grip tape towards the nose of the board.

This allows the board to level out and bring height to your jump.

Get that front foot slide right,

and that's when you'll really start hitting some off the ground height.

But there's one last thing to know if want to get higher.

Then you bring both your knees up to your chest -

this allows the board to rise and level out - and then land it.

OK, major rewind required.

First up, pop the board by stepping down hard on the tail.

Next, slide your front foot to the end of the board to allow it

to level out in the air.

Finally, bring your knees up to your chest to let the board gain height.

It's a tricky one, but before you know it,

you'll be ollie-ing like a pro.

And that is how you pop an ollie.

Right, onto the next.

If you play your cards right, you'll be able to shuffle like a pro.

Hi, I'm Ben, I'm a magician,

and I'm going to show you how to shuffle a deck of cards.

Ben Hanlin is a card-carrying legend. Watch and learn.

Firstly, you have to separate the deck into two halves,

and we call this 'riffling'.

Now hold the cards with your thumb on the top and two or three fingers

on the bottom, and with your index fingers, push the back to the cards.

Now, with your thumbs, release the pressure slowly,

so that you release one card at a time.

When you get good, you can do it quicker.

Simple.

Now place your four fingers on the bottom of the deck

and grip them tightly and place your thumbs on the top.

Now bring the knuckles of your fingers together.

Now slowly open your fingers, and as you do, the cards will cascade.

Is that as fast as it gets?

And when you've put all that together, it should look like this.

OK, that's pretty fast.

And that's how you shuffle a deck of cards like a pro.

Thanks, Ben. That was magical.

Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.

So, from card shuffling to tricking someone's mind,

want to know the secret? Obviously.

Hi, I'm Chris Cox,

and I'm going to show you how to trick your mate's brain.

Sounds exciting.

Chris has sold out gigs at the Edinburgh Festival,

has comedy eyebrows and cool card skills.

To do this trick you need a mate, and mine is Bobby Lockwood,

who plays Rhydian in CBBC's Wolfblood.

-Say hello.

-Hello.

Bobby Lockwood just said "hi" to me!

I'm going to show you a pendulum trick.

This trick works because of the ideomotor response, which is

a psychological phenomenon which makes us do stuff without knowing it.

Easy for you to say!

You need to make a pendulum for your friend to hold.

Something heave on the end of a piece of string will do, like a ring.

So get your friend to hold the pendulum between their index

finger and their thumb. That would be you.

Keep your arm nice and straight,

and you're going to not move your arm at all, but you're going to imagine

a wind coming through this room which blows the pendulum side to side,

left to right, and start to imagine that wind and don't move your arm.

-There it goes, starting to go. Are you moving your arm?

-No.

Imagine the wind getting faster as it spins around

and it makes the ring spin and the pendulum spin,

and it gets faster and it gets faster.

-That's amazing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Want me to tell you how it's done?

-Go on.

The secret is a thing called the ideomotor response,

which is basically our brain sending signals to various

muscles in our body without us knowing it.

In this instance, it's sending a message to the muscles in your

hand to gently and slowly move, which allows the pendulum to swing,

but you have no idea that it's happening.

It's all in your unconscious mind.

Ah! So, the ideomotor response is when the brain tells the body

what to do without you realising it. Epic!

And that is how to trick your mate's brain.

So, there you have it, your Quick Blast of epicness.

Now, go forth and be epic at everything!