# Uping my freestyle to another level!



## 209Cali (Jan 11, 2010)

Yoo morning forum!

I'd like to start this post off with a thanks to everyone who posts! Learned alot so far!

Anyways I'm really looking to progressing my freestyle skills up another level. The problem is.. I don't really know where to start?

This season I've really worked on just my riding, I can ride switch almost as well as I can ride regular. I can butter well and I'd just say that my overall control of my riding has improved big time. I feel really comfortable on the snow. I can carve down double diamonds pretty well (not trying to brag because there are people who are waaaaay better just trying to give a sense of where i'm at skill wise).

So I can ride decently but when it comes to jumps and mostly rails, I'm just pretty much clueless. I can get good straight air, do 180's and do some grabs easily. I can ride straight off boxes, do nose and tell presses and ride off cliffs without a prob.

Where do I go from here? I want to be able to hit up the rails in the park! I can boardslide on a skateboard how much different is it on a snowboard? How do I make that step up to 360's? I don't even know what half the tricks are! I think most of it is just mental for me and I need to just go for it and see what happens..I feel like a pretty big poser but whatever.

Also how much of a difference does a freestyle board and bindings make? I ride a 08' nidecker axis 153 (all mtn board) with 08' flow nxt bindings. I'm really looking at investing in a capitah board with rome 390's? Would this help me at all?

Sorry the post is kinda lengthy and sorry if my grammer isn't the greatest, english is not my first language. But thanks for reading and i'd appreciate any feedback / advice!

out


----------



## sook (Oct 25, 2009)

If you want to start learning rails, start with the basics on small features. 50-50 and boardslides. Boardslides aren't that much different than skating, you just have to get a good bit of momentum going and then keep your weight stacked over your board so that you're sliding on the base of your board and not involving the edges at all. You might want to consider some crash shorts because almost everyone leans too far back and ends up on their ass at one point. Once you get comfortable with your weight distribution on rails, you can integrate on/off variations.

As far as your gear goes, a softer capita and some 390's will be good for the park, but I would go ride what you have and get some experience on these new features. Then you can evaluate what you might like to buy.

Also, read the Park Etiquette thread on here. Some good advice for first timers.


----------



## 270 faceplant (Jan 11, 2010)

You gotta start with doing tricks off smaller jumps and work your way up. Start spinning off smaller jumps and once you've done 360 off small jumps all it comes down to is practicing off big jumps, just tell yourself it won't hurt to bad if you wipeout and trust your abilities. It comes down to commitment and not backing out at the last second which will help you with your spinning


----------



## xxfinnellxx (Aug 30, 2009)

Im a heavy park ripper and ill lend you some advice.

That capita board with rome 390's will be god BTW for park, but wont really accelerate your progressions. Knowing what to do will accelerate your progression.

*Progression Aids* "Bring the outside in" meaning learn things out side of the park, and bring them in
-Ride a lot of switch 
-Hop BS and FS 180's off every little bump you can find
-Hop ollies over everything asweel
-Carving before hopping your 180's
-Really flex those butters and feel your board as you do so
-Take a few runs standing straight up, turning only with your ankles, Then take another few runs while squatting very low. It strengthens all muscle groups in your body and makes you find a sweet spot for your stance.
-Just fricken rip your heart out and show those losers around you how its done!

*Boxes and rails*
1)start with boxes that are fat and flat
2)try different poses (squat over your front binding/back binding, dont necesarily press, just get loose)
3)Try backside boardslides (where your body is looking forward as you travel)
4)Try mellow frontside boardslides (Where your body is traveling "backwards" just get your front binding in front of your stomach, hence frontside.)
5)try 180's on (this is where that mountain riding comes in). Remember, get good at both frontside and backside rotations.
6)try 180's off the feature (FS and BS)
7)Try spinning or doing heavily rotated shifty's on the feature to add steez(easyest on boxes)
*get comfortable with different features, such as up/down boxes, and combo's such as up/flat/down boxes (Aka Battle ships). Also, get comfortable going a little faster than you think you might be safe with.
*Jib Terminology*
-Lipslide= Boardslide, but back binding hops over the box/rail/jib instead of your front
-Polish Doughnut= Spin 180+ out of the feature in the same direction that you spun on with. ex= cab 180/nosepress/bs 180 out
-Pretzel = Spin 180+ one way on a feature, but spin the oposite direction when dismounting
-Hardway = Approach a feature from the left or the right (if you need to ollie up to the feature in the first place) and rotate 180+ opposite of the facing direction. Ex, you roll up to a feature, and you need to hop off your toe edge to mount it, well instead of rotatating a bs 180 off your toe edge, you rotate fs 180 off your toe edge (very hard if bs off heel)

*Jumps*
1)Start small and slow
2)Keep using a little more speed each time you hit the jump. Land in the middle of the landing for small jumps, it makes the larger jumps less scary because your used to the hang time.
3) Try many different grabs. Like nose, tail, indy, melon, stalefish, and mute. My fav is the scorpion sty'led methods, but you have to practice those alot to make them look filthy like jamie lynn. Another fav of mine is a nose to tail grab off the larger jumps for testin my speed (they look filthy)
4) Try to work your 180's (spinning is way different than straight airing) Here's a spin video, and its applicable to all spins, not just advanced, im working on my front 5's cuz i feel uncomfortable spinning frontside)
If your goofy footed...YouTube - How to 360, 540 and 720 Frontside or Backside (goofy riders) from Snowboard Addiction.
If your Regular footed...YouTube - How to 360, 540 and 720 Frontside or Backside (regular riders) from Snowboard Addiction.
5)work on those platforms that they mention in those video's!!!!! (they help so damn much)
6)Grab while spins, and try to tweak if you can
*always try to step up to larger jumps when you feel like you might have a chance of clearing them. If im trying different jumps at different parks, then i take a coupple straight airs just to feel them out before i start spining

And thats all i have to offer. Lots of good advice in there for you. And if your gonna spin on boxes, then do the platform thingy show in the advanced spinning vids.


----------



## GC24 (Sep 2, 2009)

Listen to what this guy is saying^^^^

I would also like to add that once you feel confident to try hitting a feature make sure that you fully commit to it. Fully committing makes things easier.

For example if you are hitting a larger jump make sure you have enough speed to clear the knuckle. Don't puss out at the last second and speed check right before hitting the transition because landing on the knuckle sucks and will inevitably result in a fall.

Also when attempting to boardslide rather it be front or back make sure that you get the full 90 degree rotation. If you only spin 45 it will make it harder for you to stay balanced on the box or rail and you will most likely slip off halfway through the feature leading to a greater chance of you wrecking yourself on the rail.
When you get to the end of the rail, turn your shoulders 90 degrees to land back regular or switch. Your board will follow once it leaves the feature, suck up the landing with your knees and ride away clean.


----------



## 209Cali (Jan 11, 2010)

Finnell thanks for gnarly feedback! So many things to work on, but thats whats great about boarding.... ALWAYS room to improve. Really appreciate it man.

And Gc24 yeah man I agree about just going for it and fully commiting makes a big difference!

The work week is over, tomorrow let the shredding begin!


----------



## Guest (Jan 20, 2010)

think positive man and have fun. make sure you fully commit to any tricks you're going to do, don't hesitate cause thats when you get in trouble.


----------



## kobemtl (Jan 19, 2010)

xxfinnellxx said:


> Im a heavy park ripper and ill lend you some advice.


Thx a lot for ur post, its so helpful for me.:thumbsup:


----------

