# Leg Pain/Burn.. What To Work On To Minimize..



## qsilvr99

You have to build up your lactic acid threshold. Maybe pick up cycling in the snowboarding off-season, 15+mph on road or 7+mph mountain biking. It's my first year riding (snowboard) but I have been a longtime cyclist and have had little to no issues with my quads/calfs.

Other than I have really been wanting to snowboard for a long time, the main reason was to keep my legs working out in my off-season (mountain biking). It just makes it better that I have become addicted to snowboarding as much as biking.


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## Anthony

qsilvr99 said:


> You have to build up your lactic acid threshold. Maybe pick up cycling in the snowboarding off-season, 15+mph on road or 7+mph mountain biking. It's my first year riding (snowboard) but I have been a longtime cyclist and have had little to no issues with my quads/calfs.
> 
> Other than I have really been wanting to snowboard for a long time, the main reason was to keep my legs working out in my off-season (mountain biking). It just makes it better that I have become addicted to snowboarding as much as biking.


maybe ill start to hit up the bikes at the gym instead of the treadmill and see how that goes.. what you said about lactic acid kind of makes sense... when i first started to lift i had really bad muscle burn, drinking a lot of water during and after kind of seemed to help.. thanks for the advice..


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## Shteff

This could also be related to your stance? it may be setup too wide or wrong? Refer to the board setup guides if you are unsure if your board is setup correctly


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## fredericp64

^^ yep, like the previous guy said. Your stance might be too wide. 

If that's not the case however, your muscle might be weak or another muscle may be trying to compensate for it. Nothing a little muscle activation exercises can't fix though. No worries.


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## Guest

Do you ride regular? And what angles do you have your bindings at now?

From what you posted, it sounds like you need to reduce your back binding angle. I had the same problem with the muscle group you describe, to the point where the muscle was cramping after 4-5 hours. I was riding with a duck stance, with the back binding at about
20 deg and dialed it back to about 15 and it was all good.

Hope this helps.


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## DC5R

You're just learning to ride. I'm guessing you're hitting some big hills and are plowing a lot on the ride down. Am I right? If so, you need to head back to some smaller hills and master linking turns, etc. etc. Then when you head back to the bigger hill, I guarantee you won't feel the burn any more.


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## Adrii

Just takes time and if ur outta shape ofcourse its gonna burn...burning is a good things, know u worked something out lol


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## Officer Shred

The best advice I can give you is *learn to ride switch!*

The following paragraph is from an article I wrote on Switch Riding <- full article

Full-body workout: When you incorporate switch into your snowboarding you will get a much better full-body workout. If you constantly ride in one direction, you are only working certain muscles on either side; this often leads to rapid muscle fatigue (think about your back leg on cat-tracks or towards the end of the day). You are working the different sides of your body in different ways; not only will this lead to fatigue, but you increase the chance of injury.


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## Pistachio

I just can't see this being related to being in shape or not at all. I never do any exercise and smoke and drink as much as possible, I'm fine shredding all day and days in a row.

However, stance and technique can play a simply massive role in these things. I had the same problem as you when I first started, and I would hazard a guess your issue is the exact same. When I was on my first couple days all I knew was falling leaf and snow snowploughing. I would pick up speed and break hard on my heel side and then go the other way in switch and then snowplough again. Thats all I would do and it burns the crap out of that exact muscle you are talking about. The second I learned to link turns that pain was gone forever. I used turns to control speed instead of heel-side breaking.

If you aren't linking turns yet and this sounds like what your doing then I would say get a lesson, you sound like your in good shape, once you get your technique down you should be able to shred all day without a problem.


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## AlexS

Pistachio said:


> I just can't see this being related to being in shape or not at all. I never do any exercise and smoke and drink as much as possible, I'm fine shredding all day and days in a row.
> 
> However, stance and technique can play a simply massive role in these things. I had the same problem as you when I first started, and I would hazard a guess your issue is the exact same. When I was on my first couple days all I knew was falling leaf and snow snowploughing. I would pick up speed and break hard on my heel side and then go the other way in switch and then snowplough again. Thats all I would do and it burns the crap out of that exact muscle you are talking about. The second I learned to link turns that pain was gone forever. I used turns to control speed instead of heel-side breaking.
> 
> If you aren't linking turns yet and this sounds like what your doing then I would say get a lesson, you sound like your in good shape, once you get your technique down you should be able to shred all day without a problem.


This exactly. I ride duck stance, so at first I'd go straight, then slow with heal turns. By the end of a few runs, my legs burned. I quickly learned my problem and haven't had it at all past 2 seasons. You need to use both heel and toe turns to slow. Just start using both turns and you should see a huge improvement.


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## pencap75

I agree with switch riding. When my back leg gets tired, I go switch, let it recover, then go back to regular riding.


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## GNU-LOVE

wall sits every other day... I'm also 6'3 215 lbs and us bigger guys are not these lil weasles you mainly see on the mountain . We have more weight to shift and more pressure on our knees off those kickers...

Wall sits every other day should help do 3 sets of 2-3 minute wall sits... gives a good burn


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## Jeklund

I'm thinking your problem is more with technique than anything. I noticed at the start of this season i was still working on transitioning from doing skidded turns and using my back foot as a rudder. The main thing that helped me out was starting to use the flex of the board to turn and trying as hard as i could to keep my body centered and not allow my back foot to wander. After i got the hang of it i had zero problems with the exact pain your describing. Just keep at it and try to work on keeping your body centered and using your edges and before you even know it you will be going full days with no issues at all. Of course this is if its a technique thing then i have no clue and my only suggestion would be to go do some squats and deadlifts lol.


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## anti-bling

ride more. You're technique will improve and your legs will get stronger.


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## Milo303

anti-bling said:


> ride more. You're technique will improve and your legs will get stronger.


That's pretty much it...

Just ride more and mess around with your angles and width to see if you find something that works better for you. Every person is different and you're situation is kind of unique. You may find someone who's had the exact same issue though, so no harm with posting, that's for sure.


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## Guest

its all those hidden and magical muscles that burn arent' they the ones that never exsisted i found them my first couple times but 9 years later they dont hurt haha u find them in every sport u use crazy unique muscles


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## Leo

Nobody mentioned stretching for a full 15-30 minutes before *AND* after snowboarding??? YOU NOOBS!!! :cheeky4:

No really, you'll be surprised at how much less your muscles will ache if you follow this regime during any type of physical demanding activities.

Couple this with all of the other advice on here and you'll be golden.

I particularly like the wall sit advice. Those burn the hell out of your leg muscles. You can also progress to what I call "iron chair." This is like wall sits without the wall. You mimic sitting on a chair in an open area with your arms out like they are on chair arms.


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## HoboMaster

Cycling will certainly help, I'm a biker in the summer so when I get back on the board in the winter the steadfast leg transition is much faster. Other then that though your just gonna have to snowboard a shitload and deal with the pain, because you will be working those specific muscles you use for snowboarding, muscles you dont always use alott for anything else. For example skiing is a completely different muscle set. I popped on some skis at the end of this season and got tired really fast, even after having my legs be monsters for boarding.


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## wrathfuldeity

besides technique, more riding...

Doing stairs 2-3 steps at a time...slowly...like doing lunges but going up stairs and end the step by balancing on the ball of your foot and doing a calf rise. This gives the added bonus of developing your proprioceptive neuro-muscular system for balance.

Also, I just jump rope or you could do pylometric stuff.

I'm not a PT, but am old, fat and ride my bicycle along with the above and have very little problems with leg pain/burn...have noticed a huge difference in endurance, joint strength and able to shred all day since doing this for the past few years.


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## Anthony

well lost touch with the forum completely.. life went on.. and totally forgot about this thread.. ended up not getting out that much last season.. anyway.. something dawned on me yesterday.. when I set my board down next to my girls... and that was this.. she is under 5 foot.. I am over 6 foot.. the fact that our bindings were spaced the same width.. probably a problem.. lol also my angles were the same front and back.. and probably not really right.. so I did a little reading online.. and the back foot is at a very light negative angle now.. and the front one is at a more reasonable positive angle.. at work so I don't remember exactly what they are at (I think it is like +12 in the front and -3 in the back).. but more importantly I spaced the bindings out more.. and getting down low feels far more natural.. the way they were spaced before was just about shoulder width or maybe even less than that.. obviously not right.. I am trying to go ride tomorrow.. and we will see what difference that makes.. but what I do know is when I lock into my bindings now they do FEEL better.. hoping for the best..


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## Anthony

HOLY SHIT... it was definitely the bindings.. they were WAY too close.. went riding today.. HOURS later.. NO pain.. thanks so much to all of you!..


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## pdxrealtor

Anthony said:


> HOLY SHIT... it was definitely the bindings.. they were WAY too close.. went riding today.. HOURS later.. NO pain.. thanks so much to all of you!..


Could have also been closing up that rear binding angle. I've been experiencing a lot of rear leg burn and I realized yesterday it's been since I went from -3 to -15 on my back binding. 

I've also been riding a new board... But I never ever had leg burn with my rear binding closed in. 

Glad your feeling much better!! :thumbsup:


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