Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick: Complete Guide to Going Godspeed

You’re scrolling when a yo-yo video makes you stop. The player’s hands are moving so fast that the string becomes a blur, and for a second, you wonder whether the video has been sped up.

It probably hasn’t. You may have just watched someone go Godspeed. But Godspeed is not one specific trick or speed combo, and the story behind it may surprise you.

As a 2× World Yo-Yo Champion with more than 20 years of experience, I’ve witnessed the evolution of speed combos and the rise of Godspeed.

In this guide, you’ll learn what Godspeed means, how the style evolved, how to learn and create a speed combo, and which yo-yos work best for going Godspeed.

What Is the Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick?

Today, “going Godspeed” generally means performing a speed combo or other advanced yo-yo tricks at extreme speed while maintaining control and accuracy.

Modern Godspeed yo-yoing has its roots in competitive speed combos, fast, carefully constructed sequences that use efficient movements, repeating patterns, and smooth transitions to maintain momentum. Years later, the term “Godspeed” became popular on social media and gradually took on a broader meaning.

Although certain speed combos became closely associated with Godspeed, the term is not limited to one exact sequence. Different players became known for their own speed combos, with some helping shape and popularize the style. Today, players still learn those famous combos, create their own, and push all kinds of yo-yo tricks to extreme speed.

The History and Evolution of Godspeed Yo-Yoing

The history of Godspeed is not the story of one inventor or one defining trick. It developed over decades as competition strategy, individual playing styles, and social media each helped shape what speed yo-yoing would become.

How Competitive Judging Helped Create Speed Combos

As modern yo-yo competitions evolved, players began thinking more strategically about how to score technical points within the limited time of a freestyle routine. Judges awarded points for successfully performed trick elements, so completing more clean, scorable elements in less time could increase a player’s technical score.

Speed alone was not enough. Players also needed to avoid misses, maintain control, and perform consistently under pressure. This led competitors to build fast, reliable sequences using rolls, redirects, repeaters, and other movements that flowed naturally together, allowing them to perform more scorable elements without taking unnecessary risks.

Rather than constantly resetting between unrelated tricks, players could remain within familiar mounts and formations while performing a dense chain of elements. These carefully constructed sequences became known as speed combos and eventually became an important part of high-level competitive yo-yoing.

How Competitive Speed Play Evolved in the 2000s

By the early 2000s, competitors such as Brent Dellinger were already performing fast, repeatable frontstyle sequences onstage. In the years that followed, 4x World Yo-Yo Champion Hiroyuki Suzuki became one of the players most closely associated with exceptionally fast, polished competition play. Shinya Kido continued pushing the speed and density of technical competition play, winning the 1A division at the 2009 World Yo-Yo Contest.

Although these players developed different combos around their own tricks, timing, and strengths, their approaches helped speed play evolve into a recognizable style that eventually laid the foundation for what players now call Godspeed.

How Going Godspeed Helped Me Win My 2014 World Title

After failing to make the finals at the 2013 World Yo-Yo Contest, I decided that I needed to master speed if I wanted to compete at the highest level.

Inspired by the players who had already pushed speed play forward, I got to work building a speed combo of my own for my 2014 freestyle. I built it around “Razor Sharp,” the song I chose for Worlds, which is how the combo got its name. Over the next year, I practiced and refined it, making it as fast as I could without sacrificing control. The Razor Sharp combo became one of the five major tricks in my freestyle and helped me generate a dense chain of technical elements under pressure.

When I performed it on the world stage with the Shutter, it was the fastest combo I had ever used in competition, and it helped me win my first World Yo-Yo Championship.

For the bigger story behind the preparation and strategy that led to that victory, watch “How I Became the World Yo-Yo Champion”.

Before 2014, speed had not been a defining part of my competitive style, so unveiling Razor Sharp at Worlds caught many people by surprise.

That decision became a turning point in my competitive career. In the video, “How Godspeed Made Me World Champion,” I explain how adding the Razor Sharp speed combo helped me win my first World Yo-Yo Championship.

More than ten years later, I returned to Prague to launch my new yo-yo company, YoYoChampion, and perform the routine that had helped me win my first World Championship.

Before I could step back onstage, I had to relearn and practice the original tricks, including the Razor Sharp speed combo.

In “I Recreated My World Championship Routine”, you can follow the entire process behind the scenes as I rebuild the routine and prepare to perform it again with my new G Force yo-yo. It was a full-circle moment in the same city where my journey as a World Champion began.

I was only one of many players around the world obsessed with seeing how fast we could go. As competitors created, refined, and pushed their own combinations further, speed combos continued to evolve.

Players including Shion Araya, Ayumu Kasuga, Shinya Kido, Dong Hun Nam, Iori Yamaki, Evan Nagao, and Mir Kim have performed exceptionally fast tricks and combos.

How Godspeed Became a Social-Media Trend

Years later, social media introduced speed combos to millions of people who had never seen modern yo-yoing before. Videos of players performing incredibly fast combos began spreading across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Angel2Up was a driving force behind the rise of Godspeed on social media. His viral speed combo videos helped popularize the term and introduced this style of yo-yoing to a much larger audience.

As the trend grew, players around the world began posting their own Godspeed attempts and challenging themselves and one another to see how fast they could go. I eventually challenged Angel2Up to a Godspeed battle to find out which of us could go faster.

Watch the Ultimate Godspeed Yo-Yo Battle

Watch the full battle to see how Angel2Up and I bring our own approaches to Godspeed and find out who can go faster.

The battle helps show why Godspeed became so popular on social media. You do not need to understand technical yo-yoing to appreciate it. Even if you have never picked up a yo-yo, you can immediately see the speed, precision, and control it requires.

I also faced off with Brandon Vu in another Godspeed battle to see which of us could go faster.

Alongside the DNA yo-yo trick, Godspeed became one of the most recognizable examples of modern yo-yoing reaching mainstream audiences through social media.

As more players shared their fastest tricks, “going Godspeed” began appearing in captions, comments, and even challenges.

Over time, the phrase expanded beyond traditional speed combos and became a way to describe almost any advanced yo-yoing performed at extreme speed.

Today, competitive speed combos remain at the heart of Godspeed, but the term "Godspeed' has taken on a life of its own.

How to Do the Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick

The key to going Godspeed is not moving your hands as wildly as possible. The secret is making each movement smaller, smoother, and more efficient so the yo-yo can move faster without losing control.

Watch the Godspeed Yo-Yo Secret

See one of the most important techniques behind going Godspeed in “The Godspeed Yo-Yo Secret Nobody Talks About”.

The video demonstrates one of the most important parts of going Godspeed: speed comes from efficient technique, not simply trying to move your hands faster.

How to Go Godspeed Step by Step

Every speed combo is different, but the process for learning one is similar. The steps below will take you from choosing and breaking down a combo to performing it at your fastest controlled speed.

Step 1: Choose a Speed Combo and Break It Down

Choose a speed combo from a routine you admire. For example, you could study Hiroyuki Suzuki’s winning 2012 World Yo-Yo Contest speed combo or my Razor Sharp combo from 2014.

Slow the video down and break the combo into individual elements and transitions, learning each part separately before connecting the complete sequence.

Do not try to copy the entire combo at full speed immediately. First, make sure you understand where the yo-yo, string, and hands need to move throughout every part of the sequence.

Step 2: Learn the Movements Slowly First

Practice the combo slowly enough that you can land each string hit consistently. Focus on accuracy, timing, and smooth transitions rather than speed. As the movements become familiar, you will no longer have to stop and think about what comes next. This is when you can begin performing them faster without losing control.

Step 3: Use Smaller Movements to Go Faster

One of the biggest mistakes players make is assuming they need to move their hands faster to make the yo-yo move faster. Large movements often make the yo-yo travel farther than necessary, which can slow the combo down and make it harder to control.

You can see the technique clearly in Boingy-Boing. Watch my top hand closely and you will notice that it barely moves. Small, controlled movements are enough to launch the yo-yo back and forth between the strings.

The same principle applies when going Godspeed. Instead of forcing the combo to move faster with your entire arms, focus on removing unnecessary movement. The shorter and more efficient the yo-yo’s path becomes, the easier it is to increase your speed.

Step 4: Increase Your Speed Gradually

Once the combo feels smooth, begin increasing your speed a little at a time. 

If you begin missing strings, losing your rhythm, or notice that your yo-yo is tilting or going sideways, slow down and regain control before increasing your speed again.

Going Godspeed is not just about moving as fast as possible. It is about reaching your fastest speed while still performing the combo cleanly.

Advanced Training Tip: Practice With a Training Yo-Yo

Once you can perform the combo consistently, try practicing it with the Shutter Mini. Its smaller catch zone requires greater precision with every string hit, helping you improve your placement, timing, and accuracy.

When you return to a full-sized yo-yo, your tricks will feel easier and more controlled. I used this approach while preparing for my second World Title, which I explain in my Mini Yo-Yo Training Method.

How to Create Your Own Godspeed Speed Combo

Many of the world’s best yo-yo players have become known for their signature speed combos. Reaching extreme speed takes years of practice, but players naturally perform certain elements and transitions more smoothly than others.

Learning other players’ combos can introduce you to new movements and techniques, but their exact sequence may not be the fastest combination for you.

Study several speed combos you admire, pay attention to which tricks, elements, and transitions you can perform most smoothly and quickly, and experiment with combining them with movements of your own.

That same idea applies beyond speed combos. In “I Tried the Hardest Yo-Yo Tricks From 10 World Champions”, I attempt signature tricks from past champions, showing how every player develops different strengths and can continue learning from others.

Speed combos are most commonly built in frontstyle or sidestyle. Players can also perform horizontal and other advanced tricks at extreme speed as part of modern Godspeed play.

For a frontstyle combo, the Split Bottom Mount is a useful starting point because it leads into many frontstyle tricks. For a sidestyle combo, you can build around familiar mounts such as Trapeze, Double or Nothing, or 1.5 Mount.

Once you have chosen a starting point, connect a short sequence of elements you can perform consistently. Passes, rolls, hits, pops, boings, and redirects can be combined with familiar tricks such as Barrel Rolls, Pop N’ Fresh, Boingy-Boing, and Mach 5. There is no required formula. What matters is how naturally the movements connect.

Pro tip: Pay attention to where each element ends and the next begins. Remove unnecessary movements, shorten transitions without sacrificing control, and adjust any part that repeatedly causes you to hesitate or miss. Once the complete sequence flows smoothly, practice it slowly before gradually increasing your speed.

A player’s best speed combo is often built around the movements they can perform most naturally and consistently.

What Is the Best Yo-Yo for Godspeed?

Many modern competition yo-yos are designed with extreme width, giving players a larger target for horizontal tricks, whips, layered string formations, and other difficult catches.

That extra width can make difficult catches more forgiving, but it does not automatically make a yo-yo faster, more powerful, or more stable. Those qualities depend on the entire design.

For Godspeed, maximum width is not necessarily the goal. You want a yo-yo that feels quick and agile while still providing enough stability, spin time, and control to remain accurate at extreme speed.

That balance is one of the main reasons I designed the G Speed. Its compact 52 mm diameter contributes to its quick, agile feel, while its 50 mm width still provides a forgiving catch zone for fast string hits.

At 65 grams, its overall weight distribution balances that agility with the stability and spin needed to maintain control.

You can see that balance in action in “Can I Go Godspeed Faster Than When I Was World Yo-Yo Champion?,” where I perform the original Razor Sharp speed combo with the G Speed more than a decade later.

Quick Reminder: No yo-yo can replace practice, but the right design can help you play faster without giving up control. 

My complete guide to the best yo-yos for Godspeed explains how diameter, width, weight, stability, and agility can affect speed play.

From Your First Throw to Godspeed

Godspeed can look impossible when you first see it, but speed was not one of my natural strengths either. I had to break the movements down, practice them slowly, and keep working until they became smooth enough to perform at full speed.

Whether you are learning your first throw, building your own speed combo, or preparing for the Worlds stage, there is always another trick to learn and another way to improve. Even the best players in the world are still learning from one another.

If speed does not come naturally to you, that does not mean you cannot learn it. Keep showing up, never give up, and when you learn something new, help someone else learn it too.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick

Is Godspeed One Specific Yo-Yo Trick?

No. Although certain speed combos became closely associated with Godspeed, going Godspeed is not limited to one exact sequence. Today, it generally means performing a speed combo or other advanced yo-yo tricks at extreme speed while maintaining control and accuracy.

Speed combos remain at the heart of Godspeed, but players do not all perform the same sequence. Many top players have developed signature speed combos built around their own tricks, timing, and style, which means two players can both go Godspeed while performing completely different combos.

Can Beginners Learn the Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick?

Beginners can experiment with performing simple yo-yo tricks as fast as possible, but the famous speed combos associated with Godspeed are not beginner-level. These combos usually require strong control of an unresponsive yo-yo and experience with intermediate and advanced string tricks.

Before attempting a complete speed combo, you should be able to land string hits consistently, move smoothly between mounts, and connect elements such as rolls, passes, pops, and boings without stopping.

If you are still building these skills, my beginner unresponsive yo-yo tutorial series can help you develop the control and trick foundation needed before attempting advanced speed combos.

Once you have developed those skills, you can learn another player’s speed combo or create your own from elements that feel natural to you. Practice the complete sequence slowly and consistently before gradually increasing your speed.

What Tricks Should You Learn Before Godspeed?

There is no single list of tricks every player must learn because every speed combo contains different elements. If you want to perform a specific combo, you will first need to learn each element and transition used within it.

It helps to be comfortable with common speed-combo movements such as rolls, redirects, string hits, pops, and boings. Tricks including Split the Atom, Barrel Rolls, Pop N’ Fresh, Boingy-Boing, and Seasick can help you develop the control, timing, and rhythm these movements require. The Split Bottom Mount, which I teach in my unresponsive yo-yo tutorial series, is also an important foundation for many classic frontstyle tricks and speed combos.

You do not need to master every trick on this list before experimenting with speed. Use them to strengthen your overall control, then either learn an established speed combo one element at a time or begin connecting movements that fit naturally into a combo of your own.

Do You Need a Special Yo-Yo to Go Godspeed?

You do not need a special yo-yo to go Godspeed. You can push almost any trick to your fastest speed with many modern unresponsive yo-yos. However, if your goal is to perform advanced speed combos as fast as you possibly can, choosing a yo-yo designed for this style can help.

A good yo-yo for Godspeed should feel quick and agile while still providing enough stability and spin time to maintain control. It should also have a wide enough catch zone to make fast string hits easier to land.

That is why I designed the G Speed Yo-Yo. Its compact 52 mm diameter contributes to its quick, agile feel, while its 50 mm width still provides a forgiving catch zone for fast string hits. Its weight distribution and overall design balance that agility with the stability and spin needed to maintain control. You do not need the G Speed to go Godspeed, but if you want to find out how fast you can truly go, using a yo-yo designed specifically for speed can make a difference.

Who Invented the Godspeed Yo-Yo Trick?

No single player invented Godspeed as one specific yo-yo trick. It grew out of competitive speed play as different players developed their own fast, efficient combos. In the early 2000s, players such as Brent Dellinger helped demonstrate fast, repeatable frontstyle combinations, while Japanese World Champion Hiroyuki Suzuki later pushed speed play further and became one of the players most closely associated with modern speed combos.

Many of the world’s best players eventually became known for their own signature speed combos. My “Razor Sharp” speed combo from my 2014 World Championship routine is one example. It became one of the defining tricks in my freestyle and helped me win my first World Yo-Yo Championship.

The term “Godspeed” became popular much later through social media. Angel2Up became one of the players most closely associated with the online movement and helped bring Godspeed challenges and extreme-speed combos to a much larger audience. From there, players and creators around the world continued pushing the style through their own combos, videos, tutorials, and challenges.