Introduction
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What up shredder!
Snowboarding is arguably the funnest sport in the world!
And that’s because there are endless tricks to learn, you can always get better, and you get to express yourself however you want.
There are no rules like basketball or football, no referee… No one is telling you what to do.
The choice is yours… But sometimes, the choice can be overwhelming. So today, we’re going to make it easier for you and break down ten tricks to learn first.
Learning these tricks will help you with the hard ones, and have you stomping tricks you never thought you could do a year ago, you might even find yourself saying I wish I had watched this video a couple seasons ago..
If you want to learn ALL the pre-requisites, this week we’ve got 50% Off Shred School: https://www.edshreds.com/school
1: The Snowboarding Ollie
The ollie originated on a skateboard, but is much much easier on a snowboard. We can use the power of our tail to “pop” which uses the flex of our board to propel us into the air. The way to ollie is to bend down, and load up your weight on your back foot. You can even rock forward a little first to get some momentum.
Jump with your legs while pushing off your tail and lifting your front leg high in the air. Once your tail leaves the ground, suck your back leg up into your chest to level out your board, and float the rest of the way to the ground.
Start on flat ground and work your way up to rollers, side hits, and jumps.
2: Riding Switch While Snowboarding
Trick 2 is riding switch. While necessarily a “trick” in itself, the ability to ride switch is essential to almost everything we do in snowboarding. The problem is, most people don’t like to do things they aren’t good at so they avoid it entirely. Give yourself permission to suck, and start practicing switch for at least one full run every time you’re at the mountain. Before you know, it won’t feel so unnatural and you’ll start to enjoy it. If you’re wondering how to ride switch, you already know how. It’s the same as regular, so copy what you do in your natural stance. It’s all about time spent practicing.
3: Swivels and Reverts on a Snowboard
Next we have swivels or reverts. See I told you you needed to know how to ride switch. This is like a 180 without leaving the ground. This will get us used to riding both directions, and will teach us how to 180 without having to ollie first. The key here is to turn your shoulders first and let your lower body follow. Just be sure to keep your downhill edge up, or you could faceplant.
4: Finding Side Hits on a Snowboard
Now you’re starting to look like a real freestyle snowboarder out there. It’s time to find some side hits. Side hits are little jumps on the side of the run that are great for practicing our tricks without heading into the park. The key to finding side hits is to weave in and out of the trees, and ride the side of the runs. Use your creativity and surf the mountain with your own style.
5: Snowboard FS 180
Once you’ve dialed in some side hits, find a good heelside side hit and get ready to do your first frontside 180. A fs 180 is when the front of your body spins facing down the mountain, taking off regular and landing switch. If you’ve practiced your ollies, swivels and riding switch this should be no problem as it’s just a combination of all three. As you start to take off the jump, open up your shoulder down the mountain and let your legs follow. Land switch and ride away.
You can also practice this on the flat ground as an ollie 180.
6: Snowboard BS 180
Next up is the backside 180 which is quite a bit harder than the fs 180 because you have your first “blind landing” meaning, you don’t get to stare at the landing the whole time. The key to the backside 180 is to turn your shoulders first and let your legs follow just like any other spin, but when you land, stare straight down at your feet rather than down the mountain. Once you’ve safely landed, then you can look up and see where you’re riding. Just make sure the landing is clear before trying this.
This is going to be easiest off of a toeside side hit. You can also practice this on flat ground before taking it to the air.
7: Snowboard Butters
Next we have butters. You’ll want to have your 180s dialed in before trying these, as we usually 180 in to and out of butters. All we have to do to butter is move our hips over the nose or tail of our board. You can even reach for the tip of your snowboard with your hands to help you remember. Bend the leg you’re flexing in to and straighten the leg that’s lifted. Be sure to keep your edges up so you don’t catch, and 180 out.
There is an infinite combination of butters, so be sure to try this fs, bs and switch.
8: How to Hit Small Jumps on a Snowboard
By now, you’ve been making steady progress and building up some fundamentals. Sometimes people make the mistake of heading to the big park here. Don’t. Try to find the mini park, which almost all resorts with a park have. Find a nice small, safe jump, and roll over the jump to get a feel for it. Once you’re comfortable try an ollie and catch some air. This is where you’ll start to get hooked.
9: Basic Snowboard Grabs
Once you can ollie off small jumps and side hits, try adding in some grabs. An easy one is the indy grab where your back hand reaches down to grab your toe edge in between your bindings. One tip here is to suck your knees up into your chest rather than trying to bend the whole way over.
If you can do that, there are endless grabs available.
10: Snowboard 50-50s on Boxes
Lastly we have 50-50s on boxes. A 50-50 is where you ride straight along the box. I’ve added this last because metal hurts more than snow and you want to make sure you’re comfortable before giving this a shot. The thing you have to learn about boxes is you can’t use your edges, you have to always stay “flat based” or you will “slip out.” Find a small “ride on” box in the mini park, get up some speed and ride straight across. Keep your base flat and your board straight and you’ll be just fine.
11: Snowboarding Tricks for Beginners
That’s it, 10 snowboard tricks to learn first. Start small, work your way up, and practice practice practice. Dialing in these tricks is going to make everything easier. Mastering the fundamentals is the key to progressing faster than you ever thought possible.
Go out there, give them a try and let us know how it goes.
Be sure to check out shred school to get an in depth breakdown of all of these tricks + we’ll show you in both regular and goofy so it matches up with your stance.
That’s all for today.
Peace out shredder.
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