# How to start doing tricks as a fat old fart?



## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

I'm fairly intermediate. Very comfortable at speed on blues, I can carve fine and I have started riding switch on greens.

I just feel like a chicken when it comes to learning tricks, I'm chicken even with small jumps. I'm 40 years old and over weight so I know hard landings are gonna hurt. I strained the MCL in my knee doing jumps at 26, I know I could do more damage now. I quit jumping after I hurt my knee but I feel a bit more confident to try again.

I have heard that presses and butters are good low-risk tricks to start with. I tried a few presses on flat ground this weekend and they felt weird, board lifted maybe an inch. I tried to shift my weight forward and back but it didn't feel like I was doing much. My board felt really stiff but I'm 260lbs so I should be able to bend it. I'm riding a 2001 Burton Rippey. I know I need a newer board, but that board is super fun to ride. I don't have any friends that can show me tricks on the hill so I have no one to get tips from. I will try to get some pics or video this weekend.

I would love to be able to do butter 180 nose rolls at slow to medium speed and be comfortable on small jumps. Is that realistic and my age and size?

I have watched several trick tutorial videos on youtube but they make everything look so easy and I feel so awkward with this freestyle stuff.

Any tips to start these basic tricks safely would be greatly appreciated.


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

Do you not have powder to keep you busy? If I were to do the math, I'd say don't fight gravity. Or find natural jumps with powder landings. And btw, I'm 34 and 230 at the moment and I avoid the park.


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## augie (Mar 14, 2012)

It's never too late to learn new tricks. Start slow, built little skills before jumping right into bigger tricks. Any tutorial that breaks a trick into individual steps that you can practice each one independently before linking them together is a good tutorial.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

ridinbend said:


> Do you not have powder to keep you busy? If I were to do the math, I'd say don't fight gravity. Or find natural jumps with powder landings. And btw, I'm 34 and 230 at the moment and I avoid the park.


Unfortunately, not much powder around here. I'm not going into the park either, just going to do side hits and small bumps.


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## Staff_Sav (Jan 5, 2016)

I first learnt to do jumps at the sides of the pistes where the snow had been pushed to the side to make small jumps into the off piste. And then jumped back from the off piste on to the piste. You don't need to pop your jumps to get extra height, but get used to landings. Start small, you soon get used to the way it feels and get faster and higher when you get more confident


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

I'm 45 and pretty new to all this. Part of the problem with me is all the years skiing and having to retrain my muscles. For example for jumps I find myself rotating to be forward, probably because that is the way I was in the air for close to 30 years (crap I just did the math, more than 30 years! doh! That sucks).

I also seem to have issues getting the motions of a simple ollie down. I find myself thinking way to much about it and while I can press back getting the motion of the pop and knees up just isn't natural for m anymore. I think its all subconscious and in my head, I just have a hard time getting my older knees popping with any force.

I don't have a weight issue, I just don't bend and my legs seem tight. I'm thinking I should start doing some squats or lunges or something to try to loosen myself up a bit. But I hate doing shit like that so its hard to get motivated.


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## Davichin (Jan 7, 2016)

I would not worry about age, nor weight (although, of course, it would be of help to be lighter). It is your knee that you should take care of IMHO. If you are confident about it, I would start with straight jumps increasing speed as you gain confidence, and I would wear butt, wrist and head protection. It is very rewarding when you are able to go fast and just take off with the smallest of bumps.


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## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

My intermediate to advanced SO does his own style thing, never airborne 180s like a lot of the other guys you'll see even more basic ones. He's Not chicken or an fat old fart either lol, just says he "has to work for a living" and has zero interest in spinning in the air. My whole family has a lot to lose if something goes wrong, so like you it makes sense to scale back risk. He goes after quiet and big air and is excellent at riding switch, 360s on the ground. We each have our own risk profiles - I don't think that makes you chicken. I was chicken at start of this season with even small jumps too... not anymore> just took me taking my first one committed with right speed and authority and it is just like hitting other terrain/features I was good on already and you probably are too. For me when I fall the hardest it is when I tighten up or let fear take over so having confidence is key. 

What worked for me to begin buttering was: pick a spot 6" from nose/tail of board, THAT is where you will imagine shifting your weight to . Also controlled small butter is better than wacky large.

Edit: I worked on ollies, pops, & butters (poor) then widened my stance and got lots more with less effort- ollies and pops seemed immediately bigger, easiesr, and more stable.


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Well, from my own experience I can say it's definitely easier to learn as a "_Skinny_" old fart.  I've packed on sum significant weight since my injury as well as losing muscle & conditioning & I notice the difference! (...altho I wasn't exactly _"svelte"_ before my back surgery either!) :laugh:

I have a serious mental block when it comes to attempting to get any kind of air!! I freaked the hell outa myself near the end of my first season. I was going thru the parks jump line, just to ride over the rollers & accidentally found myself airborne having misjudged my speed! My ass Left a BIG enough hole below the jump, I thought it wise to warn the lifties about it so they could fill it in. :lol: since then, I get anxious just thinking about trying to lift off! 

I have been hoping for a day of soft, 18-20+ pow to try doing a few small pops & ollies off some natural features tho. So far, no luck. 

The Butters, nose & tail rolls etc. are fairly simple, easy and probably a lot lower risk. That said,.. On my recent trip north, while trying to get my pre injury mojo working again, I scorp'd a switch frontside tail roll! Before I got fully rotated 180° the nose dug in and I slammed *hard*. :blink: (...thankfully the snow _wasnt!_). Still, my neck & between my shoulder blades was stiff & sore as hell the next two days! 

And with your knee, the butter position definitely puts some stress on the knees! (...does mine anyway!) :dunno: So just be aware, none of it is completely without risk. Had that scorpion happened on icy hardpack? I'm sure it would have ended my night if not the rest of the week!

This short, (...some might say laughable) edit is me on the bunny hill, practicing my butters, flat spins, nose & tail rolls at the end of the 2012/13 season! Obviously I'm nuthin special but I thought I was doing pretty ok for a NooB rider & a 53 year old codger! 

At the time, I added the music to it in the hopes that it would be a little less boring to watch! (...not really sure I succeeded!)  :laugh:




No Fool like an Old Fool! Eh?


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## ItchEtrigR (Jan 1, 2012)

Old buttered fool at that! Way to smear it on Chomps!!!

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Snowboard addiction and comfortability.

Here is a testimonial from a 47 year old who says he learned everything from them.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

As a fellow 40 year old I can relate.
If your comfortable at speeds I'd say hitting rollers as fast as you can is super fun. Otherwise your on the right track with side hits and such. Straight air grabs still give me a feeling of satisfaction. I love to do shiftys, in the air I can make the decision if I feel like landing straight or turning another 90 and doing a 180. I'm afraid my days of spinning 3's might be done unless it's a nice big wedge into pow. 
I've been riding stiff planks for a long ass time, so I have never really got buttering down as much as I should have. My butter style is more like I'll hang on the tail as I approach a roller then pop off. I hear you on the it looks so easy on vids, but hard in practice. Once I start riding with my daughters I might pick up a softer deck and do more switch and butters on the bunny hill with them. For now I'd much rather 
I still can air out of halfpipes and do alleyoops at least.

Don't write off the park completely the kiddie hits can still be fun and when you get the courage to hit the big ones they are usually shaped very well and all you need is the proper speed. I can do rails but I prefer not to because I can't afford to break any limbs. I never really hit the park anymore, but it's only because I usually only go on powder days and I'd rather ride pow than anything else.

Bottom line just stick to your comfort level, you don't have as much to gain and what you can potentially lose. If you have a background in freestyle or skateboarding and need to brush off copious amounts of rust that's another story.


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## tokyo_dom (Jan 7, 2013)

I dont see the problem with spinning into my 40s. My biggest slam has been while trying to do a straight air, so its not like restricting yourself to straight airs will save you from hurting yourself. In fact i believe many pro boarders use spins as a "safety jump" for big jumps on their first attempt, because you are more stable in the air when spinning, rather than trying to keep straight on a 50+ ft straight air.

I am not sure about the overweight thing though. I have never let myself go that far - when the scales start moving upwards, i either diet, increase exercise or both until its back to a healthy range. Perhaps you can use the desire to start doing jumps and airs to motivate you to lose some weight this year? Just start on the smaller stuff this season in preparation for the lean mean jumping machine that you could be next season...


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

ItchEtrigR said:


> *Old buttered fool* at that! Way to smear it on Chomps!!!


:laugh:
...I just found my "Rapper" name!!! >


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## Mizu Kuma (Apr 13, 2014)

Definitely use the beginner parks, cause the jumps are designed to learn properly!!!!!

When jumping, go for a grab (doesn't matter if you don't make it), cause this will help keep you stable in the air!!!!! 

Go at the end of the day after everyone's loosened up the cement, or the sun has had a chance to soften it a bit!!!!! And Spring Time is even better!!!!!


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## tokyo_dom (Jan 7, 2013)

Being mid winter and very cold means that the end of the day on the beginner jumps the landing zone will be packed down to being rock hard ice patch, with a big divot where all the noobs are falling. Its actually quite challenging to land jumps there unless you intentionally overshoot the landing zone.


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## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

freshy said:


> Don't write off the park completely the kiddie hits can still be fun and when you get the courage to hit the big ones they are usually shaped very well and all you need is the proper speed.


I get an earful about this every single time I ride past the bigger jumps ... "all u need is speed" so I second this, and hope by seasons end ill have found the courage.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

XxGoGirlxX said:


> I get an earful about this every single time I ride past the bigger jumps ... "all u need is speed" so I second this, and hope by seasons end ill have found the courage.


Haha it's so true, it feels completely unnatural to bomb down as fast as you pretty much can and hit a jump something taller than you, and have to fly a certain distance just to make it without wiping out. But then you get board of it and start grabbing, then spinning ect. 

Actually grabbing puts you in the optimal position, so just grab a big fat indy the first time you get the courage to hit it.


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## tokyo_dom (Jan 7, 2013)

XxGoGirlxX said:


> I get an earful about this every single time I ride past the bigger jumps ... "all u need is speed" so I second this, and hope by seasons end ill have found the courage.


"Confidence"

Be 100% confident riding at the speed required to hit the jump. Be able to ollie at that speed (on flat) or drop off a step at that speed and stick the landing

The massive jumps that those pros are hitting, apparently they are doing something like 50mph. Thats more than my top speed done while bombing a massive wide open hill with barely anyone on it, and i am very sure i wouldnt have felt comfortable getting air at that speed. I doubt i will ever hit those sorts of jumps though.


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## zenboarder (Mar 5, 2009)

Spins and jumps can be learned quite easily in low consequence manners. 360 are also quite easy and safe to learn. You can do them off pretty much nothing with the correct technique. Backside 360's are commonly used a safety trick by most people when hitting bigger jumps. The trick is safe progression. You want to learn outside of the park on rollers or side hits stuff that has almost no consequences. A simple 180 is well within the grasp of anyone. You need less than a foot of air to spin either a 180 or a 360 so don't let that scare you off from learning them if thats something you want to do. The common noob mistake is thinking you need a big jump because you need more hang time. Yeah thats just dumb spins 360 and less are so quick you hardly need any air. Ryan Knapton has some nice example of this if you are in disbelief...

As for the larger jumps anyone telling you to just commit that's a load of BS. The bigger the jump the more it magnifies technical errors. That slight bias on your toes and opening up of the shoulders that has no impact on smaller jumps? Yeah don't try that crap on a larger table... You should be really comfortable hitting smaller jumps and compressing into a tight tuck/grab before you step it up to larger jumps. Otherwise you're going to be posting here about having wrecked yourself...


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## timmytard (Mar 19, 2009)

freshy said:


> As a fellow 40 year old I can relate.
> If your comfortable at speeds I'd say hitting rollers as fast as you can is super fun. Otherwise your on the right track with side hits and such. Straight air grabs still give me a feeling of satisfaction. I love to do shiftys, in the air I can make the decision if I feel like landing straight or turning another 90 and doing a 180. I'm afraid my days of spinning 3's might be done unless it's a nice big wedge into pow.
> I've been riding stiff planks for a long ass time, so I have never really got buttering down as much as I should have. My butter style is more like I'll hang on the tail as I approach a roller then pop off. I hear you on the it looks so easy on vids, but hard in practice. Once I start riding with my daughters I might pick up a softer deck and do more switch and butters on the bunny hill with them. For now I'd much rather
> I still can air out of halfpipes and do alleyoops at least.
> ...


Yup, nothin' wrong with the kiddy park.
Stay in there for as long as you want.

It's pretty much the only park I go into, they build shitty fuckin' jumps @ my hill

Right now or for the past month actually, I've been in negotiations with the guy @ Snowboard Addiction.

I suck @ rail slides, I've just never had a desire to do them. Haha well not true I just don't like eating shit on them, steel is fuckin' hard.

I'm trying to explain to him that I could sell a million of those rail slide trainer things he's got, if he sends me one.

If they work that is, haha if it doesn't work, you guys'll see it. haha

But if it does work, which I think it should?
I'll be able to show people my progression from super shit ass to rail slide master.

People just need to see it work, from someone who doesn't bull shit.

Haha I already told him if it doesn't work, I'll be forced to show people that. haha

For some reason he doesn't think I'll be able to sell them?

I'm trying to explain, I don't have to try & sell them, if they work they'll sell themselves. 

I sold more than 100 seasons passes to my local hill last year & the Underground in Whistler doesn't have any Dupraz except the 6'3.
All my friends have em, haha, the rest, you guys bought.

So far though all I've gotten is a discount, I said I'd throw it out there, so I will.

So if you were looking @ anything over there, here's a discount code for ya. 

gnarlyniles


TT


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## Seppuccu (Dec 4, 2012)

1. Lose weight. Or better yet, replace fat with muscles.
2. Wear a shitload of protection: helmet, wrist guards, back protector/impact vest, chrash shorts, knee protectors.
3. Ride a softer and more forgiving board. I doubt a 2001 board (= camber?) is soft or forgiving.
4. Check your stance width. Is it very wide? That'll make it more difficult to bend your knees.
5. Start small: Pop (don't ollie) and make very, very small straight airs off rollers on green runs. Presses don't need to be big, they need to be right.

Have you checked Jed's (snomie.com) tutorials? I think he breaks everything down very nicely - even an idiot like me can understand it.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm stoked to try more stuff. Small, easy, low risk stuff. 

I have been trying to lose weight. Seems to be getting harder and harder as I age. I'm one of those always been chubby kind of guys. But I'm not a complete tub of lard. I workout 5 days a week and I'm pretty strong, somewhat fit, and I have good strong legs. For example, I can shoulder press a 32kg kettlebell multiple times. Just drink too many beers I guess.

I love the video by Chomps, I will be working to duplicate some of those tricks, I'm very close to being able to do most of that stuff.


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## ItchEtrigR (Jan 1, 2012)

Chomps video is a prime example, age, size & health might slow him down, but he's working harder than all those three at just getting it done.


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## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

timmytard said:


> But if it does work, which I think it should?
> I'll be able to show people my progression from super shit ass to rail slide master.
> 
> People just need to see it work, from someone who doesn't bull shit.


Pretty short sighted of them if you ask me, considering how many ppl join and lurk specifically for product advice and reviews from youse guys.

I was thinking of asking for a SA trainer or membership for my birthday but prob wouldn't waste my time if none of the ppl here whose advice I respected had tried em. 

What's their motto? Our goal is to make you a better rider. What's your motto? Um.... ........save the whales!!:embarrased1:


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Tt saves the whales every Thurs to sat after last call


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## Motogp990 (Mar 10, 2013)

I'm no spring chicken and I've only recently started focusing more on my freestyle and that only been jumps and basic grabs.

Physically, the #1 thing that has helped me with my freestyle was lose weight. Being 10-15 lbs lighter than last year, I have more endurance, body recovers faster, I take any crashes way better and I feel more athletic.

I like watching tutorials on youtube as well, but for me since I'm not a natural athlete, where I can do something a few times and be good at it, I need lots of repetition. And I mean lots. At my local hill, if I'm there for 2-3 hours, I'll spend the entire time going over, over, over and over the same jumps the whole session.


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## timmytard (Mar 19, 2009)

f00bar said:


> Tt saves the whales every Thurs to sat after last call


I got a story I can't say, but it's pretty good.
It's not even an old story, it's ongoing.....


TT


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

One of my favorite places to jump is on the roller next to the larger kickers. Many of the landing zones for those medium-large jumps drop away so well that if you just pop a little at the top next to the kicker you can take nice air. (Be careful though - with a bit more speed you can still take a shit ton of air, too!) This approach also gives you the best steep landing of any feature out there. Many of the small kickers I don't find particularly well built so just popping off the top into the landing zone of the bigger hits is much more controllable.


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## zenboarder (Mar 5, 2009)

Kenai said:


> One of my favorite places to jump is on the roller next to the larger kickers. Many of the landing zones for those medium-large jumps drop away so well that if you just pop a little at the top next to the kicker you can take nice air. (Be careful though - with a bit more speed you can still take a shit ton of air, too!) This approach also gives you the best steep landing of any feature out there. Many of the small kickers I don't find particularly well built so just popping off the top into the landing zone of the bigger hits is much more controllable.


You gotta be really careful doing this though since the larger jumps are designed assuming you are taking off the lips. On some of the big park jumps if you pop the roller with too much enthusiasm/speed you can easily send to flat. That is not going to end well...


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

zenboarder said:


> You gotta be really careful doing this though since the larger jumps are designed assuming you are taking off the lips. On some of the big park jumps if you pop the roller with too much enthusiasm/speed you can easily send to flat. That is not going to end well...


Totally true, but from the conversation it didn't sound like the OP was going that hard! I find it a good way to practice the timing to pop off a roller and control your body in the air without getting kicked up a steep lip they sometimes build on otherwise little jumps.


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Old fart playing on boxes and little jumps. Couple runs of box, jump, side jump. 1st person sucks, but my son has strep :frown:

Actually did about 5 more much better runs after the camera ran out of juice. The last hour of the day the head of the snowboard school showed up with all the younger instructors to tutor. I'm sure I failed miserably in my attempts to impress her >


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