# give me some advice (with video)



## yusoweird (Apr 6, 2009)

What is your setup? Kind of hard to tell, but it looks like you are leaning back slightly. :dunno:


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## Officer Shred (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey maclion,

You are riding well. Keep riding and trying to improve.

The first thing I would fix is your stance. You bend at the waist, you will notice you look hunched in the upper body. To carve effectively you need to be perfectly aligned over your snowboard. This will give you better control and balance. It will also allow for stronger and more controlled edging and pressure control. It's always a good idea to focus on the most obvious and important technique flaws before even looking at anything else. For you, this is STANCE. You might find a small change to your stance will make a big difference. 

Please also read the following articles:

Improving Performance

Steering

Edging

Pressure Control

Carving

If you have any questions or would like me to look at other videos please let me know.


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## Officer Shred (Apr 21, 2010)

Just looking at your video again...

You are also counter-rotated, which means your upper body is working against what your snowboard is trying to do. Your upper body is open and your back hand is trailing out infront of you, especially towards the end of your toeside turns. Stay aligned over your snowboard throughout the turn. Keep your core strong!! Make sure your back hand is behind your bum, not reaching out infront of your body.

This image will help you see the difference:


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

yusoweird said:


> What is your setup? Kind of hard to tell, but it looks like you are leaning back slightly. :dunno:


front 18, rear 6. 
Yes, I'm leaning back, cause I just injured my right ankle.


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

Exactly!!! That's my problem. It seems I try to use my back hand to keep balance. Now I know it's inefficient for turning and looks awful. Thanks so much!




Officer Shred said:


> Just looking at your video again...
> 
> You are also counter-rotated, which means your upper body is working against what your snowboard is trying to do. Your upper body is open and your back hand is trailing out infront of you, especially towards the end of your toeside turns. Stay aligned over your snowboard throughout the turn. Keep your core strong!! Make sure your back hand is behind your bum, not reaching out infront of your body.
> 
> This image will help you see the difference:


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## Officer Shred (Apr 21, 2010)

No problem  I'm happy to help.

Make sure you read those articles too.


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

Thanks!!
I'm not sure I understand right. The "retracting you legs" thing, does this look like "cross-under"? If you can give me some video example, it will be very helpful!





Snowolf said:


> Couple of things....
> 
> Pick better terrain to begin to learn true carving. That run is really too narrow for carving at this level. It forces you to not close your turns and therefore you skid a lot through the bottoms of the turns.
> 
> ...


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

Today I went to loveland, co and practice the "push and pull" and try to keep my arms and upper body relatively still. I would say, the feeling is fantastic!!I'm far from real push and pull (especially from toe to heel), but I begin to realize how "beautiful" it is. I even got some attentions from other skiers and riders!

Thanks wolf and Shred!!




Snowolf said:


> Exactly! Instead of "popping" off the snow by rapidly extending to unweight the board, drop down to the board. It takes a while to get used to and to get the timing right (I struggled with this myself all year prepping for the exams). A down unweighting move is really, just a "collapsing" of the legs to rapidly "drop" toward your board. You can think of this as pulling your legs up toward your upper body (many instructor arguments ensue over this whole concept).
> 
> Either way you think of it, the mechanics of the movement are basically identical. Instead of pushing yourself off of the snow with a leg extension, briskly drop lower toward your board (and the snow). This has the same unweighting affect as that "pop", but keeps you lower to the snow and more stable. This becomes especially crucial for the steeps where a "pop" will throw you out and away from the slope causing balance problems as well as landing hard on the new edge and possibly causing it to break loose and skid or chatter.
> 
> ...


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Just a quick tip on how I reduced my arm movement during riding...

When you get comfortable with your turning/skidding/carving techniques, start riding with your hands on your thighs. You can even grip your pants too. It's really sketchy at first, but this forces you to balance without the use of your hands. There are times when you will sway your arms though. That is unavoidable. But practice will make you keep it to an absolute minimum.


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

I‘ll definitely try this at the NEXT season! Thanks.



Leo said:


> Just a quick tip on how I reduced my arm movement during riding...
> 
> When you get comfortable with your turning/skidding/carving techniques, start riding with your hands on your thighs. You can even grip your pants too. It's really sketchy at first, but this forces you to balance without the use of your hands. There are times when you will sway your arms though. That is unavoidable. But practice will make you keep it to an absolute minimum.


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## Officer Shred (Apr 21, 2010)

Holding onto the pants is a great exercise. It encourages lower body steering and correct stance.


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

:laugh: 
it's funny



Snowolf said:


> Leo is spot on with this. It is something we use to help our students who are throwing their arms around or have the "mystery date"...you know, the guy who rides with the back hand waving out in front of the board like it is wrapped around an invisible girlfriend....


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## BliND KiNK (Feb 22, 2010)

When I started to actually lean forward parallel to the decline, I realized it was a lot easier to turn which helped with not using my arms..

I was scared I was going to plant over my nose until my instructor dude showed me a nosepress turn.. wow, my mind was blown.


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## maclion (Oct 22, 2008)

What is the nosepress turn?



BliND KiNK said:


> When I started to actually lean forward parallel to the decline, I realized it was a lot easier to turn which helped with not using my arms..
> 
> I was scared I was going to plant over my nose until my instructor dude showed me a nosepress turn.. wow, my mind was blown.


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