backside

SWBS 540

How to Switch Backside 540 on a Snowboard

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How to Switch Backside 540 on a Snowboard

Introduction

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It’s Christian from Shred School.

So you want to learn how to switch backside 540 on a snowboard?

DO you want to be an average shredder or the kind of ripper who goes where few men and women have gone before? That’s the question you have to ask yourself for today’s video, because sure, you could learn the tricks that everyone cares about…

The backflip…

The tamedog…

Maybe even a 360 or two.

But search almost any beginner to intermediate park trick on youtube, and there is an endless amount of tutorials promising to teach you how to do the trick… That is, except for this trick.

Today, we’re covering a trick that is a key trick to being a well-rounded rider who doesn’t ignore their weaknesses. It’s a trick that you’ll love once you learn it, and one that almost none of your friends will learn.

There are ZERO tutorials from the usual players on YouTube for this trick. The trick, is the switch backside 540.

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 Switch BS 540

Ok, the switch backside 540, the last 540 I learned. I just woke up one day and realized my life was incomplete because I could only spin 3 out of 4 ways on a snowboard, so I finally decided to do something about it. 

Like every trick, I’m going to be straight with you. This trick is very simple IF and only if you have mastered the fundamentals.

For this trick, you’ll want to know how to 

  • Switch backside 180, as the approach and takeoff is exactly the same 
  • Frontside 360 as the spin and the landing is exactly the same 
  • Backside 540 so you understand the axis to spin on 

This trick should feel exactly like a switch backside 180 into a frontside 360. If you can do those two tricks, you can do the swbs540. 

how to backside 360

The Switch Backside 540 Tutorial

We’re going to take a heel to toe approach in to the jump, coming in switch on our heels on the left side if we’re regular, and riding up the jump on our toes. 

Open your shoulder up on the heelside carve for a counter rotation, and then swing your front shoulder closed as you go up the lip. 

For most of us, this is going to feel extremely blind. You have to trust yourself on this one.

Look down at your toes, keep a straight line off the jump, maintain upright posture, and pop hard. As soon as I leave the lip, I like to pick my feet up into my chest a bit for the grab.

Remember not to grab too early or you’ll slow down the spin.  I like to grab switch indy on this, but I initially learned it with a switch mute or a switch melon. Switch nose works well too, and so does switch stalefish. Pretty much all the grabs are great for backside 540s. 

We’re going to keep our axis such that at 270 degrees, our weight is over our front foot to set ourselves up at the right angle for the landing. By front foot, I mean your switch front foot, this would be your back foot riding regular, so for me, halfway through the spin, my body weight is over my right foot since I’m regular. 

At 270 you should be able to see the landing for the remainder of the trick, and coming down to stomp it will feel exactly like a frontside 360. 

Put your tail down to land, look up the landing until you’re on the ground, then open up your shoulders to see where you’re riding out. 

The most common thing that goes wrong on this trick is since you’re riding up the lip blind, some riders panic on the takeoff and prespin, or bend at the waist and put their hands in the snow. Just remember to hold a straight line, stand up tall and pop

You have to trust the blind takeoff, and you’ll be good. 

Switch BS 540 Trick Tips

This trick is a favorite of backcountry riders all over the world, but it works great on park jumps, and even side hits. 

If you’ve made it this far, seriously, I commend you. Most people will never learn the swbs540 in their lives.

But, it’s not that hard… 

If Bob Burnquist can do this on a skateboard, you can do it on a snowboard with your feet attached.  Just practice the basic building blocks, work your way up and you got this. 

One more tip. We tend to avoid the tricks that we don’t practice, to think they’re harder than the other tricks. If you’ve struggled with the swbs 540, I would ask you, how many times have you tried?

Go find a small safe jump and try it 50 times in a row, and I can almost guarantee you’ll like the trick by the end. If you’ve tried it less than 10 times in the last year, this trick is going to feel super awkward and you’ll avoid it like the pandemic. 

That’s it, the switch backside 540, it’s one and a half spins riding off the jump switch and landing regularly. It feels just like a switch backside 180 into a frontside 360.

Practice your fundamentals, take a heel to toe approach, wind up, stand up tall, pop, pick your legs up into your chest and spot the landing exactly like a frontside 360.

Ride away and go rub it in your friends faces that you can do a trick that they can’t.

That’s all for today. 

Peace out shredder

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How To Carve With One Foot on a Snowboard

How To Carve With One Foot on a Snowboard

December 7, 2020 No Comments

Watch The Video How To Carve With One Foot on a Snowboard (Without Slipping Out) https://youtu.be/VoevnNfri2E Introduction 50% Off Online Snowboard School: https://www.edshreds.com/school  Whattup Shredder?

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SWBS180

How to Switch BS 180 on a Snowboard

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How to Switch BS 180 on a Snowboard

Introduction

50% Off Online Snowboard School: https://www.edshreds.com/school 

It’s Christian from Shred School.

You know those things you know you’re supposed to be doing, because they’re good for you… but you just can’t get yourself to do them…  like eating vegetables at every meal, putting away your phone a couple hours before bed… or practicing your switch backside 180’s.

Yes, that’s right, the switch backside 180 is the “Eating vegetables” of snowboard training. It’s a foundational move that is the key to amazing frontside 360’s, 720’s and switch backside 5’s, yet almost no shredder consistently practices the trick.

The good news is, just like vegetables, it’s an acquired taste, and once you start to dial in your switch backside 180, you’ll love doing it, and the rest of your riding will get so much better. It’s even been described as “the gateway trick” 

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 Switch Backside 180

christian ollie

Switch backside 180. I bet some of you are going to tune out right now. I don’t know why more people don’t love the sw backside 180.

It’s one of the most fun tricks ever. Since the day I saw Devon Walsh float one of a whistler cliff in Forum’s first movie, The Resistance, one of the greatest videos ever made, it’s been talked about in my group of friends as a trick that commands respect. 

Before you get started on this one, you should be able to ride a switch, and have your backside 180’s dialed in. 

How to do a BS 180 While Riding Switch

To do the swbs 180, take a heel to toe approach up to the jump. As you’re riding up the jump, stare straight down at your toes, and keep your edge straight. Focus on getting a good pop, and standing up tall as you takeoff. Don’t bend over at the waist. 

You want to favor your back foot here. The #1 mistake I see people make it to put their body weight over their front foot, which is usually their back foot riding regular.

Practice your switch ollies, and make sure you use your tail to pop.

Pop off your toes as you take off and turn your shoulders backside, staring straight down at the ground.

It helps to reach down and grab indy. Remember, your body weight stays over the back foot, not the front.

If you lean too far in to your front foot, you’ll wash out in the backseat when you land.

Focus on landing just like you would a fs 360, staring straight down at your tail, looking up the mountain.

Once you stomp the trick open your shoulders to the landing so you can see.

You’ll notice that pretty much this entire trick is blind.

I stare at my feet the entire time and just focus on maintaining upright posture. 

It’s really a pretty simple trick. It doesn’t even feel like you’re spinning. It almost feels like a blind straight air once you take off. 

Switch BS 180 Trick Tips

This is a great trick to try on a side hit before taking it to a jump. 

You can also do this with pretty much any grab you want. I like indy nosebone, but you can do switch melon, switch method, really whatever you want. 

Use a heel to toe approach, stare straight down at your feet the entire time, focus on a straight line off the takeoff, keep upright posture, and stare straight down at your back foot to land. Once you’re on the ground, look up, ride away and go eat your vegetables.

That’s the swbs 180, a super fun trick that you should do every time you go to the mountain if you want amazing frontside 360s, swbs 540s and the admiration of your friends. 

That’s all for today.

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Backside lipslide

How to BS Lipslide on a Snowboard

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How to BS Lipslide on a Snowboard

Introduction

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What up Shredder?

It’s Christian from Shred School.

You know you’re not a beginner anymore when you’re throwing around terms like backlip.

Built on the back of some of the basics, the backside lipslide is a more advanced trick, with more advanced consequences.

The good news is, once you have the building blocks, you’ll have no problem adding this trick to your arsenal. That’s what you’re going to learn today.

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

The Beginner's Snowboard BS Lipslide

rail sliding

The backside lipslide, also called a “back lip” is when you approach a rail on your heelside edge, bring your back foot up and over the rail, and land in what looks like a frontside boardslide.

It’s actually a mix between a backside 50-50 and a frontside boardslide, as you approach and ollie exactly as you would for a backside 50-50, and you slide the rail exactly as you would in a frontside boardslide.

If you haven’t checked out those tutorials yet, I recommend you do it now.

Like I said, the backlip is a more advanced trick, and if you see someone doing it, you can pretty much assume they have a deep bag of tricks, and at least partially know what theyr’e doing on a snowboard.

Soon, that person will be you. 

The Snowboard BS Lipslide Tutorial

To do the back lip, ride up to the rail, with the rail behind you slightly on your heel edge, and slightly pointed towards the rail. 

We want to make a triangle with our approach, the rail and the distance between the two. In other words, point your nose towards the end of the rail, and leave a slight gap between you and the rail so you have room to ollie up without hitting your tail on the way up.

That’s the hard part about this trick. You need to ollie straight up, wait for your tail to clear the rail, and at the very last second, turn 90 degree backside, and land in a frontside boardslide position.

I literally Pretend I’m going to do a backside 50-50, and then change my mind just as I’m landing on the rail.

You can even land in a backside 50-50 the first couple tries and swivel it around to a backside lipslide for practice.

When you’re landing on the rail and ready to turn, push in to your front foot, and kick out your backfoot. The more you can focus on turning a full 90 degrees here, the less likely you are to catch an edge.

Push your board in to the rail to “catch the rail” and avoid going over the other side, which is what a lot of newbies do. You might want to lean to the “inside of the rail” to really lock it in. 

Look to the end of the rail either under or over your armpit.

You’ll use counter rotation here with your legs turning under you, and your arms staying parallel with the rail, especially if you want to come back to regular.

Stay flat on your base at the angle of the rail, come of the end and turn your legs back to land.

Advanced Snowboard BS Lisplide Trick Tips

You can also do this trick to fakie, although it’s going to be a little more blind. 

This trick is great to try on a down rail, as it’s easier to get up and over the rail as it drops away under you. 

It also works well on a C rail or box, as you can push in to your nose to stay on the ruce, and is super fun on wallrides.

Once you’ve mastered the back lip, try bringing it the whole way around, 270 out, or pretzel out the other direction. 

That’s the backside lipslide, also called a backlip, It’s a combination of the approach of a backside 50-50 and the slide of a frontside boardslide.

Ollie up and over the rail, push in to your front foot to catch the rail and lock in. Slide it to the end, give a little pop off and turn your legs back to regular.

Give it a try on a wallride, or C rail, and welcome to the club of advanced shredders. 

If you’re having trouble with it, practice your backside 50-50s and your frontside boardslides, and you’ll master the backside lipslide in no time. 

That’s all for today. 

Peace out shredder

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BS 540

How to Backside 540 on a Snowboard

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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

BS 540

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

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Snowboard set up

How to Set Up Your Snowboard

September 8, 2020 No Comments

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how to backside handplant

How to Backside Handplant on a Snowboard

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How to Backside Handplant on a Snowboard

Introduction

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What up shredder… 

Ahh the handplant. Thank god for snowboarding because this would be a hard one to do on a skateboard, staring face first into a concrete bowl.

Lucky for you, you get to fall face first into a pile of slush instead, because that’s likely what will happen on your first try.

Don’t worry though, as long as you pick a soft or spring day to try it, you really won’t get very hurt on a handplant. It’s kind of like going sledding on your stomach.

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

The Dave Andrecht Handplant, or Backside Handplant

How to handplant

Ok, the andrecht handplant, invented by dave andrecht on a skateboard.

Also called a backside handplant, because we’re turning backside, this is the easiest handplant to do, and the first one I learned.

The andrecht handplant is done by riding up the wall, planting your BACK hand, grabbing your heel edge with your front hand, and turning backside 180 back into the quarter pipe to land.

If you were to plant your front hand, which is a lot harder, that would be an eggplant which is a lot less common.

The backside handplant, or andrecht,  first of all, is one of the most fun tricks EVER. Handplants are like being a kid again, going upside down and seemingly magically returning to your feet.

They aren’t that hard, just a little scary at first, so even if you’re not a pro on the snowboard, as long as you can do a backside 180 on a quarterpipe, you can try a handplant.

How to Get the Right Speed do a BS Handplant on a Snowboard

Step 1 is to find the right feature. This is easiest on a small to medium quarter pipe with some vertical at the top, also called vert.

You can also do this in a halfpipe but it’s a lot harder because you have to stay on an edge, and the wall falls away down the slope, so if possible, try this on a quarter ipe where you can ride straight up the wall.

Now, contrary to popular opinion, the hardest part about this trick is NOT the handplant.

It’s getting the speed right. If you do that, everything else is easy.

Before we start planting, let’s practice backside airs on the quarter pipe to get comfortable with the speed. 

We want the same speed as if we were going to air about 2 feet out of the quarter pipe. This is a little bit faster for this trick than most people would guess.

That’s because, we want to plant on the very top of the lip, and we want our feet to go above our heads, in an almost weightless manner.

If you go too slow, you’re not going to make it up the vert, and your full body weight will come crashing down.

If you go too fast, your hand will miss the plant and you might fly out of the quarter pipe.

If we get our speed JUST right, it’s the right amount to throw our feet over our head, and keep them weightless.

Remember, one more time, if you go too slow, you will feel the weight of your body. 

With the right speed, this trick feels weightless. That’s why you don’t need gymnast level strength to pull it off. 

How to Approach and Execute a Backside Boardslide

Ok, let’s talk about the approach. We’re going to come straight into the quarter pipe, and basically ride straight up the wall.

A lot of people try to do a huge backside carve here, but don’t. Ride straight up.

Since we are turning backside 180, a lot of people want to start turning early, and they try to plant their hand in front of them on the toe edge. That’s a recipe for a faceplant.

To do this right, You’re going to plant your hand DIRECTLY behind your tail and keep your shoulders in line with your board. Don’t turn towards your toe edge to plant your hand.

You’re not going to spin 180 at all, until  you're coming back into the QP.

So this trick is actually done, like an air to fakie, and then you just turn backside 180 to get OUT of the handplant. 

Notice that I didn’t say you turn backside 180 to get into the handplant. Turn to get out. 

Ride straight up the wall, look at your back foot, be patient, and just as you reach the lip, and not before then, heave your feet up and over your head, and reach directly behind you for your tail. PLant the hand on the QP, grab your heel edge with your front hand, also called a “melon” or “method” gab, and THEN turn your shoulders back side towards the landing.

Once you get the hand down, and turn your shoulders, you will pivot on your hand and just naturally fall back into the quarter pipe. Landing isn’t hard if you’ve gotten your speed and your pop right.

A quick note on pop. You don’t need to pop out from the quarter pipe unless the feature isn’t vertical at the top.

If it is vertical, popping OUT will send you to the flats, so take it nice and easy, and send your feet straight up rather than out. 

Now, a lot of people suggest you learn this with two hands first, and a lot of people can’t do proper handplants. I don’t recommend using two hands unless you have to mid trick to save yourself like this.

Improving Your Backside Boardslide

Using two hands is just teaching you poor form, and it’s going to mess up the trick.

Learn this right, and just learn it with one hand. I think it’s easier that way, I couldn’t do it with two hands if I wanted to. 

The handplant is all about confidence and speed. I think I learned this first or second try.

Just pick a slushy day so the landing is soft, and go for it.

The worst case scenario is you slide down the QP on your stomach, which isn’t too bad as long as you land at the top. Don’t pop out super hard or you might fall to the bottom.

This trick doesn’t require tons of pop, just simply replace your tail with your hand once you leave the lip and fall back in.  

The cool thing about this trick is, once you have them down, you can do them with all sorts of different grabs. Nose grabs, japan air and melon are the most popular.

That’s it, the handplant. Ride straight up the wall of a QP with just enough speed to air two feet out. As your tail leaves the lip, reach down directly behind your tail with your shoulders square to the board, and place your hand on the top of the QP. Grab your heel edge with your front hand. 

Turn your shoulders backside AFTER you’ve planted and fall back into the QP.

Find a slushy quarter pipe and Go give your first handplant a shot today.

That’s it. 

Peace out shredder

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why take snowboard lessons

Why Take Snowboard Lessons?

April 1, 2020 No Comments

Watch The Video Why Take Snowboard Lessons? The First Step 50% Off Online Snowboard School: https://www.edshreds.com/school The first step in becoming the pro shredder you’ve

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how to backside board slide

How to Backside Boardslide on a Snowboard

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How to Backside Boardslide on a Snowboard

Introduction

50% Off Online Snowboard School: https://www.edshreds.com/school

It’s Christian from Shred School. 

The dreaded backside boardslide.

It seems we’re either slipping out on our heel edge, catching our toe edge, or just too scared to even try.

Today we’re going to break down one of the most requested trick tips, and teach you how to finally stop fearing the boardslide. 

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

What is a Snowboard Backside Boardslide?

how to backside boardslide on a snowboard

If the backside 360 is the workhorse of jump tricks, I think the backside boardslide is the workhorse of rail tricks. It’s kind of a warm up trick, and also a building block for almost all other tricks.

For beginners, this is going to be a lot harder than a 50-50, but only because it’s new. Once you get the hang of it, it’s maybe even easier, because you can lean side to side to stay balanced on the rail. 

Now, before you step to the backside boardslide, you should learn how to ollie, bs 50-50, and frontside 180.

The bs 50-50 will teach you to approach a rail that is behind you, and the frontside 180 will get you used to feeling comfortable popping off your heels and turning into the boardslide, as this is the hardest part about this trick… it’s getting over the rail and not sliding out.

This starts with a proper ollie off the lip, and a weight adjustment in the air. 

If you don’t know, a backside boardslide is when you approach a rail backside, meaning the rail is behind you, or on your heel edge, rather than toe edge, and you turn 90 degrees towards the rail.

As opposed to a backside lipslide, where you would turn away from the rail.

Or a frontside boardslide, where you would turn towards the rail that is on your toeside edge, or in front of you. 

Or a frontside lipslide where you jump up and over the rail into a boardslide. This is often mistaken for a boardslide. 

People get really confused, because you are technically spinning frontside 90 degrees into a backside boardslide.

You should just know that the terms frontside and backside don’t mean the same thing for rails and for spins, so just separate the two in your mind. 

They’re not related, stop trying to make them mean the same thing. With rails, backside is any trick where the rail is behind you, on your heelside edge.

How to Backside Boardslide on a Snowboard

The easiest way to learn the backside boardslide is to first practice it on the flat ground. Simply do a heelside edge carve, and counter rotate your body so you’re looking down the hill, while your back turns up the hill at the same time.

If you’re regular that means the top of your body will turn to the right, and your legs will turn to the left.

You really have to twist, as you want your body to turn a full 90 degrees. I find that it sometimes helps to reach my front hand down the hill to get the full rotation. 

You can see Jess doing this on a box right here. See her reaching for the end by taking her front arm across her body?

Once you can do this, try the same thing, but put your full body weight over your front foot, and then give a little pop back to regular. Now try the back foot.

By pressing into our foot, we can control our lock into the rail, and pop out much easier. We can also get used to shifting our balance while on the rail.

You can do a boardslide directly in the center of the board, but we still want to make sure we’re pressing evenly across the entire base so we don’t catch an edge or slip out. 

Try this on a practice board if you can to get the hang of the motion before stepping to a box or rail on the slope. The more you practice off slope, the easier this will be on the mountain.

Snowboard Backside Boardslide Box and Rail Tutorial

Once you’ve mastered the boardslide on the ground, it’s time to step it up and take it to a box. 

Pick an easy ride on box that’s low to the ground. After a couple warm up 50-50s, we’re just going to switch to a backside boardslide halfway across the box.

Do a little hop, twist your lower body a FULL 90 degrees and reach your front arm towards the end of the box. 

If this feels good, it’s time to boardslide the whole thing.

Approach the box like you would a backside 50-50 at a slight angle pointing towards the rail, ollie straight up in the air, and just before you land on the box, turn your board 90 degrees and counter rotate your shoulders towards the end of the box. 

This is going to be a Transfer of the weight from back foot, when you ollie, to the center of the board when you land on the box. 

Make sure you actually complete an Ollie straight up in the air, and THEN turn after your nose has cleared the box or rail.  Most amateurs won’t do this – they’ll do some weird 45 degree hop instead of separating the two motions. 

If you don’t ollie first, you just try to turn right off the lip, you will wreck like Ben does here. And rob does here…. And Jess does here. 

You can see how important it is to ollie straight up and THEN turn. Two separate motions.

You want to approach the rail just like you’re going to do a 50-50, and in the air turn at the last second after your nose is up and over the rail.

Press evenly across your base  so the weight is spread across your entire width of your board. If you just turn and don’t press evenly across the base at the angle of the box or rail, you will likely slide out towards your heels. This is what most people do. 

You want to angle your body weight and board at the same angle as the rail. That means, if it’s a down rail, you have to lean down the slope.

Backside Boardslide Snowboarding Fails and How to Avoid Them

Again, the biggest issue here is commitment, and that’s why most people slide out on their heels. 

They’re just unwilling to commit to leaning down the hill.

Keep your board at the angle of the box, and pop off the end. Make sure to turn your board 90 degrees to ride straight out.

The other mistake people make is they lean too far down the hill, and catch an edge like Jess does here… Part of the problem here is that she didn’t turn a full 90 degrees, which makes it much easier to catch an edge. She also didn’t press evenly across the base, she was leaning too far forward.

If you bend your knees deeply it’s a lot easier to avoid all these mistakes.

Now, some people think this is a matter of shard edges, and I can tell you most of the time it’s not. I almost never detune edges unless I’m riding handrails. For park rails, if you’re using proper form, and your board is not completely new or freshly sharpened, you should be totally fine. 

Something else that goes wrong with the boardslide is people give up the counter rotation and start to turn sideways with their shoulders. If this is the case, it’s ok, just keep your shoulders turning a full 180 and you can come out switch. 

If you’ve practiced your FS 180s like I recommend, it won’t feel unfamiliar. 

You might also struggle with falling off the inside of the rail, with your nose sliding off. If this is the case, you most likely need to put the mass of your upper body directly over the rail, Some people just stick their nose up there and keep their body off to the side because they’re scared to commit. The longer the rail, the more you’re going to need to commit to lock in. 

You may also need to take a more extreme angle up to the rail if you’re having a hard time getting on top. Some people are completely parallel when they approach, and can’t get the momentum to get up top. 

The Snowboarding BS Boardslide Trick

You can do this trick on a box, a rail, a down rail, a hand rail,  anything you want.

You can do a boardslide to switch front board, or backside 270 into this trick.

You can also turn it into a blunt and 270 out, or keep it on the front foot and pretzel out.

It’s a building block for half the tricks out there, and well worth your time to learn. You will love this trick as soon as you get over the fear of leaning down the rail. 

That’s the backside boardslide, also just called a “boardslide.” It’s when you approach a box or rail that is in behind you, on your heel edge, ollie up and turn a full 90 degrees towards the rail. Your front will be facing down the mountain. You can come out regular or to switch.

Go out there, give the backside boardslide a shot. Remember, press evenly across the base and lean at the same angle as the rail. Get your bodyweight directly over top of the tail, and practice locking in on both your front foot and your back foot.

That’s all for today…

 

Peace out shredder

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How to Frontside 540 on a Snowboard

July 28, 2020 No Comments

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BS 540

How to Backside 540 on a Snowboard

July 7, 2020 No Comments

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how to backside 1180 on a snowboard

How to Backside 180 on a Snowboard

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How to Backside 180 on a Snowboard

Introduction

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It’s Christian from Shred School. 

There’s something about landing blind that’s just so fun.

It’s a full body commitment to whatever comes next.

A complete leap of faith into the unknown.

Today, we’re talking about one of the most blind tricks that exists. And also one of the coolest tricks, both the way it looks and the way it feels, to ever be done on a snowboard. 

We’re talking about the backside 180, also called a “back 1” 

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The Snowboard BS 180

toeside carve

I remember one Vail pow day morning I eagerly headed up the gondola, excited to shred the white fluffy stuff that had fallen overnight. I bounded out of the Gondola, strapped in, and launched a backside 180 off the next cat track I found into a great wide open slope below.

Only I had made a huge mistake. Really, it had only snowed about 4 inches on the front of the mountain, which was just enough to hide the massive mogul field on the slope below. Since I was doing a backside 180, even as I flew through the air, I had no idea what awaited me. When I landed, it’s like my body was in a washing machine, having hit a mogul going backwards, and catapulted through the air, tumbling over moguls, and basically ruining my day.

That’s probably the least fun backside 180 I've ever done, because it turns out that when you KNOW what is in the landing, backside 180’s are very, very fun. I just recommend you do it on a jump where you know what comes next.

A backside 180 is a 180 degree spin where you take off regular, and land switch, spinning with your back facing down the mountain.

As opposed to a frontside 180, which your front would turn down the mountain, and you would be able to see the landing the whole time.

It’s this blind landing that makes the backside 180 a bit harder than open tricks, but also one of my absolute top 3 favorite tricks on a snowboard.

How to Backside 180 on a Snowboard

Now, there are some prerequisites to this trick. 

The first is that you can ride, and ollie at least on the flat ground, as this is technically an “ollie backside 180”

That’s important, because in order to use proper form, we need to actually ollie on this trick. 

Next, you should be able to ride switch. So many people try to learn tricks with a switch landing before they can actually ride switch, and it’s just a huge mistake. Take the time to practice your switch riding first, and this is going to be so much easier. 

Now that you have the basics, it’s time to practice.

Snowboard Backside 180 Tutorial

The first thing we want to do is just ride across the fall line on our tow edge, our front facing up the mountain, and do a backside revert on the ground, coming to a stop on our switch heelside edge. Make sure when you spin, you transition from the toeside to the heelside edge, or else you’ll catch your toe edge and fall face first down the mountain.

This is good practice, because once we take this to the air, we want to avoid catching a toeside edge on the landing.

To make the turn, simply turn your shoulders backside 180 degrees, and push out your back foot to get your feet to follow. You can wind up a little bit with your shoulders if needed, but the bigger the jump, the less wind up is needed. It’s only 180 after all.

Remember, the shoulders always turn first. Don’t try to do the 180 with only your legs. 

It helps to stare straight down at your feet on this trick, and actually get around 180 before looking up at the slope.

After you can do this on the ground, try the same exact movement with a slight ollie. You can even do this off a mogul, or a bump in the snow while cutting across the slope.

Once you’re comfortable on the ground, it’s time to take it to a jump.

The easiest jump to learn on is a toeside side hit, which will naturally throw you backside into the main run. 

We’re going to do the same motion, but with an ollie this time. Come in on your toes, and as you’re taking off, pop an ollie, and turn your shoulders backside.

Your board should naturally follow. Stare down at your front foot, with your body weight slightly over the back of the board.

If you keep your weight over the front foot in the air, you might slide out when you land.

That being said, I like to land slightly nose heavy over the front of my board, with my weight falling towards the back and on a very slight toe edge though I prefer to land completely flat base off of big jumps as I think it’s safer at higher speeds. 

While coming down, Stare at the ground until you’ve made contact, and THEN look up and see where you’re going. If you look up too soon, you risk catching the toeside edge when you land.

Ride away switch, and afterbang the trick. Claim it, you’re steezy.

Advanced Backside 180 Snowboarding

As we get more advanced, it helps to use almost a frontside shifty on this trick. That means our legs stay straight for the majority of the trick, while our shoulders go backside 180.

This ensures we have a proper ollie. If you’ve done this trick on a skateboard, you’ll know this is really the only way it will work. Late backside 180

Doing this also allows you to do backside 180’s over obstacles like this cone. Notice how straight my board stays until I clear the cone.

Straight ollie, turned shoulders, then bring the feet around.

Once you’re ready for a park jump, approach the jump with a mellow heel to toe approach, coming in on the right side of the jump on your heels, if you’re regular, and switching to your toes as you go up the lip. Start to turn your shoulders, pop, grab, and stare straight down at your feet for the landing.

If you have to wreck on the landing, try to wash out on your heels like this, rather than wrecking towards your toes. The chances of getting hurt are much lower. 

Make sure you carry enough speed, because if you do knuckle on a bs 180, it tends to be a bit of a surprise, which is no fun. 

Once you have the backside 180 dialed, get creative, and try some butters and grabs.

This is one trick that really works well with any grab. Some cool ones are Japan and indy nosebone. 

Snowboard Backside 180 Rails

You can also do this trick on to rails and boxes, off side hits, down gaps and over the biggest of jumps. I just wouldn’t recommend it for your first hit on something… you know, in case there’s a mogul field below or something. 

That’s the backside 180. It’s a toeside takeoff, ollie straight with your legs while your shoulders spin backside, stare straight down at your front foot until you land, and look up to see where you’re going.  

The backside 180, one of the coolest tricks to ever exist. GO give it a shot, that’s all for today.

Peace out shredder

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How to Hit Kink Rails on a Snowboard

June 23, 2020 No Comments

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Land a Backside 360

How To Backside 360 On A Snowboard

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How To Backside 360 On A Snowboard

Introduction

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What up shredder?

It’s time to learn the easiest 360 there is. 

Not a lot of people know this, but doing a straight air over a big jump, is actually pretty difficult.

It’s a lot easier to spin, once the jump gets to 40 feet or bigger. I almost NEVER straight air big jumps. 

And there’s one trick that I always do when taking my first run through a set of big jumps, that’s safer than a straight air. 

It’s My go to test trick. Now I don’t actually have that much footage of me doing this trick because it’s a throwaway, it’s a setup trick, a test trick, but I can tell you i’ve done thousands of them, and it’s one of my favorite tricks ever. 

The trick you’re going to learn today is backside 360, the first 360 that I learned.

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What is a Backside 360?

how to backside 360

When I was 11 years old I landed my first backside 360 off a side kicker, in front of a big group of older kids, and they freaked out. Then all rode up to me, stopped me and asked me how old I was. I remember I was 11. 

Now, by today’s standard, that’s terrible. 11 years olds are doing double backflips, but this was pennsylvania in 1998. I had made it. 

At the time, it was an initiation in to the world of snowboard tricks, and I was stoked. 

Today, I want to teach you your first 360, the backside 360, the workhorse of jump tricks, and the prequisite to cab 540s and backside 720s.

Now some prerequisites for this trick are the ollie, backside 180, straight airs off jumps, and half cabs, at least on the ground. 

Even though I said this is easier than a straight air over big jumps, i have to warn you, the backside 360 is significantly harder than a straight air if you’ve never done a spin before

And that’s mostly due to the blind takeoff. A backside 360 is one full spin, a 360 degree spin here the first 90 degrees of your spin you turn your back DOWN the mountain, hence the term backside.

The cool thing about this, is because we take off blind, we get to land open. That means for the majority of the trick, we can see our landing, and the exact reason it’s so easy over big jumps.

Well, that and it gives you something to do in the air, rather than just staring down at the ground, which is part of why straight airs are so hard, and why people flail so much. There’s too much time to contemplate what could happen.

Compare this trick to a FS 360 that has an open takeoff, but a blind landing. They are two completely different tricks, and they do not feel similar at all. Backside 360s are much easier to land, but a little harder on the takeoff. 

So a backside 360 is effectively the combination of a backside 180 in to a half cab, or switch 180. 

How to Land a Backside 360 on a Snowboard

For the takeoff, we want to use a heel to toe approach, approaching the jump on our heels on the right side (if we’re regular), and switching to our toes while we’re going up the ramp.

When we get close to the takeoff, we want to start spinning our head, shoulders and arms, backside to initiate the spin.

As soon as our head gets over our back shoulder, we’ll be able to see the landing, and float the rest of the trick.

Our head is basically going to be ahead of our board the whole time, which can sometimes look like a shifty on this trick, where our board is fighting to catch up in the air.

Now, I have the bad habit of bending over, touching the snow, pre-spinning and generally leaning in to the spin too hard.

With backside spins it’s ok to lean in a little more than most tricks, but if you do it too much, something like this will happen (digging in too hard off the mogul 360)

You want to make sure you stand up straight off the jump, keep your head high, and wait to spin your board, especailly off bigger jumps. Your board should be completely straight, and you only need a slight pressure on the toe edge. DOn’t dig in too hard.

Alex forgot to do that here, and he almost landed right on me. That’s because he leaned in to his toeside edge too hard and pulled it off the lip.

If you don’t go off straight, you’ll drift, which is also part of the reason Tara Dakides fell off the side of the Letterman ramp on a backside 360, that and not enough snow on the takeoff so when she turned her board, it threw her even more than usual.

You can use a little bit of windup, like a top with this trick, but the bigger the jump, the less windup is needed.

Now most people make the mistake of spinning on the same axis in which they took off, which causes you to land in the backseat.

The way to counteract this is to put the weight of your body over your back foot when you’re 180 degrees through the spin. At this point this foot will be in front, but this is your back foot when you land.


If we spin our weight over the back foot, and look down your back shoulder for the SECOND half of the 180 we’ll come around and land nice and even. Looking over our back shoulder is going to give us a perfect view of the landing.

If you find yourself landing in the backseat, try putting your weight over your right foot in the air in the second half of the spin (if you’re regular, and your left foot (if you’re goofy).

If you still can’t fix the backseat issue, practice your half cabs.

Chances are, if you can’t land the back 3, you aren’t very good at haflcabs. Again, it’s ok to cork the backside 360, you don’t have to flatten out the spin entirely, you just have to learn how to shift your weight to the landing gear. The easist way to learn that shift is practicing half cabs which simulate the landing of a backside 360.

Like most tricks, the spin is all in your shoulders on the takeoff.

After that, it’s just floating down to the ground, and since you can see the landing, it’s incredibly easy to land as long as you have the right weight. A lot of times, people will land on their heel edge, which is perfectly fine, but if you want to keep your speed up for the next jump, try to land as flat base as possible on this one.

I would never recommend that someone intentionally land on their heel edge.

But.. The other cool thing about the landing on this trick is, if you come up short, you can lean back on your heels and scrub around the rest of the trick. Just make sure that’ if you’re coming up 270 that you’re on your heels, and not your toes, otherwise you could faceplant like Ben here.

Backside 360 Tips and Variations

What are some variations of the trick? 

You can do a backside 360 with some shiftys, a melon grab, Indy grab; I think mute is the easiest because it keeps your head turning. Stale fish,tail grab is also super easy and fun. 

You can even do it on the flat ground, and over rollers. It’s a good idea to practice this trick on side hits and rollers first, but I actually find it a lot easier with more airtime. 

If your’e out there learning for the first time, look for a side hit that naturally puts you on your toes, it will do some of the work for you. 

This is also a great trick to do off of rails, over small jumps, off cliffs. To step it up, you can even do a backside 270 on to a rail, which is the same feeling as the back 3, but you REALLY need to get that weight right so you don’t slip out.

After you master the back 3, go try a backside 540, and a cab 5 as they both tie in nicely.

Final Notes on this Snowboard Backside 360 Tutorial

So the backside 360, one of the coolest, most floaty feeling snowboard tricks, one of the easiest to land, and my very first 360 on a snowboard. I’m in my 30’s now, and I’m still doing bs 360s. That’s over 20 years of backside 360s.

Remember, keep that head up on the takeoff, be patient and don’t start spinning your board until you’re off the lip. shift your weight halfway through at 180 over your back foot, and send it as big as you want on this one. Float to the landing, and go high five your crew.

We want to know, do you like the backside 360 or frontside 360 better? Leave it in the comments, and until next time. 

Peace out shredder

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