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How to Backside 540 on a Snowboard

Introduction

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What up shredder?

It’s Christian from Shred School.

The backside 540 the very first 540 I learned, and what seemed to be the first “advanced” trick I knew, It was my go to for big air contests or video parts as a kid.

See, it’s one thing to know how to 360, pretty much anyone can learn that, but to step it up to the 540 brings you to a whole new rank of snowboarder.

Today, you’re going to learn the tried and true backside 540 and step up your game, and join the ranks of advanced snowboarders.

If you want to learn ALL the pre-requisites, this week we’ve got 50% Off Shred School: https://www.edshreds.com/school

The Snowboard Backside 540 for Beginners

The backside 540 is where you spin backside one and a half times, taking off regular and landing switch. It’s also a blind landing, which means it’s easier to get the last 180 around, and a little harder to land it.

Before you step to the backside 5, you should obviously have backside 360’s down, but also backside 180’s and… here’s the one everyone forgets and they wonder why they can’t backside 5…

Cab 360s. That’s a fakie, or switch frontside 360, which is just the last 2/3 of a backside 540.

See, a lot of people will explain the backside 5 as a backside 360 with another backside 180 at the end, but that’s not true…

The backside 540 is done on a different axis than the backside 360.

It’s more like a backside 180 to a cab 360, rather than a backside 360 to a backside 180.

Don’t let me lose you here.

See, on the backside 360 when you come around 180, your body weight is over your back foot, looking at the landing.

At this same spot in the backside 540, your weight is actually over your front foot. You are on a whole different axis. If you were to land the backside 540 early, at 360, you would be wayyyy in the backseat.

Understanding different axis of rotation is the key to getting bigger and better spins, and realizing that the backside 360 and 540 are not the same trick with just one more 180, is the key to stylish, corked spins.

So, take the time to go out and practice the cab 360… over and over again. Do it on the ground. Do it over jumps.

By the time you get to a backside 540, I promise if you’ve mastered the backsdie 360 and the cab 3 (which most people won’t do), you’re not going to have any problems.

How to BS 540 While Snowboarding

For the backside 540, we want to take a heel to toe approach, coming in on our heel on the side of the jump, and switching to our toes up the middle of the jump.

This is going to help us initiate the spin.

We can take a small windup, but if the jump is big, you don’t need much.

The challenge on this trick is standing up tall on the takeoffer without leaning over, or putting your hands in the snow.

Leaning too far into your toes is going to cause you to drift, which we definitely don’t want.

Go straight off the jump, dip your front shoulder and start to turn your shoulders backside.

On a backside 360, I typically throw my shoulders 90 degrees off the jump, and let the trick float around to the landing.

On a backside 540, I’m throwing my shoulders 270 off the jump, and floating the last 270.

See, 540s are all about getting the proper snap off the lip, and then just letting gravity do it’s work, floating yhou the rest of the way.

You don’t have to try to “spin” through the whole trick, just on the takeoff.

Now if you’ve done this right, you should come around 270 almost sitting back like you’re in a recling with your feet out in front of you.

At this point you can see the landing for the rest of the trick. Keep your shoulders and your head turning backside, and get ready to set your board down in the landing.

You want to land heavy on your nose (whcih will be your switch tail), with your weight leaning back towards your tail (switch nose). This will get you leaning at the angle of the landing, without going nose heavy and tumbling.

When you’re landing blind, remember that you want to stare straight down at your feet, almost looking UP the hill, and don’t look up to see where you’re going until you’ve stomped the trick.

If you come up short here, just lean in to your toes, and scrub it around. Be sure not to let your heel edge catch, because that could be very painful.

Remember, if you can’t seem to land at the proper angle on this trick, you need to go out and practice your cab 360s over and over again, and it will take care of itself.

BS 540 Jumps and Advanced Tricks

Where can you do this trick – You can do this trick on a side hit, but it’s a really good trick for park jumps.

So many grabs work well with the backside 540, the nose grab, indy, indy nosebone or tailbone, melon grab, stalefish is a great one.

So that’s it. The backside 540. Take a heel to toe approach, stand up tall off the takeoff, dip your shoulder to slightly cork the spin, keep your bodyweight over your front foot halfway through, spot the landing and bring it around to switch. Stare straight down at your feet until you’ve stomped it then look up to ride away.

Go give it a shot and join the ranks of advanced shredders who can 540 off a jump.

That’s all for today.

Peace out shredder