5 Rules to Improve ALL of your Tricks! -1

​Watch any how to videos with these 5 rules!

This tutorial shows you how to manage your practicing by having a coach in mind.
Tips in this video might not telling you how to do a trick specifically, but you will be noticed that they helps you more than typical trick tips later.
So you can learn tricks faster and more reliably with these 5 rules.

OK!
Now I’ll let you in on some secrets straight from a coach’s brain

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① How to check your stance and balance

You can’t perform in any sport properly without natural standing position.
As all sports have a basic standing position, snowboarding also has it and it helps to stabilize performance.
So learning how to check your stance and balance is the first subject to improve any skill.

You are always in an unstable situation while snowboarding.
So your balance can’t remain constant and goes from side to side, up and down, forwards and back.
Here I will introduce the 4 elements to check your balance while snowboarding.

• Toe to Heel
• Nose to Tail
• Vertical
• Rotational

You can’t improve your riding unless you learn these 4 elements.
These ideas are pretty simple but they are hard in practice.
Most of the time if you’re not improving anymore, it’s probably due to these 4 elements.

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​Toe to Heel Balance

Also called edge to edge balance.
When seen from the side, the head, hips and upper stomach should be aligned straight above the board.
Failure related to this balance is typically seen during turning and taking off for jumps.
For example, on the toe edge turn with bowed upper body or on the heel edge turn with ankles extended and hips out far from heel edge, they are all out of balance.
As for the failure in turning, your unstable balance messes up your take off.
This failure happens because your ankles are extended causing you knees to be on the board and not the toe edge.
So your hips are far out from the heel edge.
Bend your ankles so your knees are on the toe edge and your hips and head are on the board.

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​Nose to Tail Balance

When looking at the body from the toe or heel side, head, hips should be over the center of the board.
Failures related to this balance also typically can be seen on turning and taking off for jumps.
For example, on a toe or a heel edge turn pressing the nose will cause you tail to slide too much.
Taking off while popping on your front leg will be cause a nollie.
Advanced level snowboarders stand slightly back putting their hips on the back leg and head on the center of the board so it helps high level performance.

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Vertical Balance

This is the balance of height.
Stand your upper body straight, but bend your lower body little bit.
Bend your ankles and knees to find where your muscle perform best.
Leg muscles doesn’t work well if you are standing too high or too low.
Also if you are standing low, your hips and head will be out from the board so keeping balance will be not easy.
And if you are standing too high, your head and board are largely apart which means it’s also not easy to keep your balance.
Failures related to this balance can typically be seen in turning, intermediate level jibbing and taking off the jump.
For example, many beginners can’t stand lower so they typically stand too high while turning.
At the end of a turn with this position will cause chattering, which the edge can’t hold its pressure so the board bounce outside of its turn arc.
Intermediate level snowboarders are typically sitting low on jib items.
So their head and hips are outside their board while on the very slippery obstacle.
This position is not easy to control balance in.
Also some intermediate riders get low on the lip before hitting the jump.
It is absorbing pressure from the jump and it also means that the rider is squashing by lip.
So once again, your lower body should be at where your muscles work best so you can push and absorb pressure at any time.

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​Rotational Balance

We rotate our bodies to generate spins or turning and so on.
However if you rotate the other way or rotate too much, you will mess up its performance and it will cause you to lose your balance.
For example, to start turns we rotate our front hip and shoulder but if we rotate too much to one direction the board will start sliding.
Also if we rotate our hips and shoulders in opposite directions, turning won’t start or you will fall because of losing balance.
Even strong riders, when they generate spins, they rotate their upper body to opposite directions to prepare for generating a spin.
And they feel the loss of their base so they can’t generate spins well.
Rotation is a useful skill but must be used in a minimum angle.
Too much rotation and rotating to opposite directions will cause you to lose your balance.

In turning and freestyle riding, use those 4 ways of balance to analyze and fix your riding position.
Not only one of those can be seen in your balance.
But don’t get confused due to the complicated positions that come from all 4 balance issues.
Try to find out 1 by 1 from those 4 balances and  fix your position 1 by 1.​


Author:
Snowboard Dojo Wiz
Shu Takaishi

#ridingpositionsnowboard #howtosnowboardbeginner #howtoturnsnowboard ​