# Some help needed on down unweighted, up unweighted and retraction turns?



## Radialhead (Jan 3, 2018)

meisterhammies said:


> Hi,
> Just joined the forum and looking for some advice/tips/hints on these types of turns? I think I understand up unweighted turns and how they can help you make the edge change faster as it unweights the board but I'm not sure how down unweighted can make the board 'lighter' to change edge faster? If I understand it correctly, down unweighted is where you move your centre of gravity fast towards the board but by doing this, wouldn't I actually increase pressure/weight on the board making it harder to change edge?


No, exactly the opposite. You'll increase the pressure when you stop dropping, by whilst your body's still moving down your effective weight is reduced.

I was going through some of Malcolm Moore's videos yesterday & funnily enough this topic was one of them. I find his technique videos about the best out there. Down Unweighted Snowboard Turns - YouTube


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## BoardieK (Dec 21, 2015)

I just find that if I'm carving hard and fast I have a lot of force in my compressed rear leg at the end of the turn which I release by popping my body up through the transition, but if I'm carving mellow and slow my body stays neutral (more upright stance) and I just slightly "lift the board" through the transition.
That's not hard and fast but pretty much the way it seems to pan out.


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

https://www.nzsia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SBINZ_Manual_2017.pdf


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## MCrides (Feb 25, 2019)

Up unweighting and down unweighting are just two different ways to _*momentarily get your body weight off the board.*_

Up unweighting: stand on a bathroom scale and jump a few inches into the air. What you'll see is that as your body moves up, the weight on the scale will drop. Once you're fully in the air, it will drop to zero. That's up unweighting--getting your body weight off your snowboard by "jumping" it up. (of course, you don't actually have to leave the ground to get enough of your weight off of it, although sometimes it's fun to do!)

Down unweighting: stand on the same bathroom scale. This time, instead of jumping, pull your legs rapidly up towards your torso. Eventually, gravity will catch up and you'll move down towards the scale and put weight back on it. But if you pull your legs up fast enough, there will be a moment where your body is suspended in air not exerting any weight onto the scale. That's down unweighting.

If you ask me we should call them "push" unweighting and "pull" unweighting. I've never heard the term "retracted" before, but it sounds like another way of describing down unweighting.


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

MCrides said:


> If you ask me we should call them "push" unweighting and "pull" unweighting. I've never heard the term "retracted" before, but it sounds like another way of describing down unweighting.


I'm going to start calling them that. Pushing and pulling are probably better descriptions than up and down.


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