# (VIDEO) Please help me keep my back straight!



## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Have you ever had any lessons...??? If not, then get a couple, it looks like you are "uncomfortable" and can't relax, there could be any number of reasons for that, but i would say that it is more psychological than anything else, you "feel" more comfortable to ride how you do, but it is not necessarily the right way...

I have a friend who rides exactly the same way as you, he is looking at lessons for next season... It is almost like you are off balance all the time is what he said and that is why he rides that way...

By the way, i am also an old man, there are lots of us on here, so don't think it is an age thing...


----------



## Andy K (Feb 9, 2013)

Thanks for the reply Kevin. I had three lessons when I started many years ago and a more recent lesson for a couple of hours. The only thing my instructor said was that I wasn't bending my knees enough.... I have tried to improve that but I feel it just ends up with my back bent further over than ever to compensate for the bent knees. I can quite easily get down all runs at a reasonable speed without falling but how I imagine I look when I am boarding is nothing like I actually look in reality. But you are dead right, I do look uncomfortable and forced... I might try a different instructor and go back to basics.


----------



## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

You are probably stressing about it too much, if you other think things they become complicated, if you are comfortable in how you ride, then ride that way, does it matter how you look...???

You could say the same in many other sports people do, i look like a complete twat when i run...! I probably don't look much better when i snowboard either, but i enjoy myself, and can get down every hill and have fun. And that is really all that matters, if you want to take it seriously though, lessons are the way to go, i will be having another at the start of next season, but a park lesson this time, my jumping while i can do it, scares me, and i stiffen up a lot when i get to the jump, i know this is an issue, that i am hoping an instructor can help me with, but i know most f it is in my brain and i just need some reassurance i am doing it right... I hope anyway... Haha


----------



## stillz (Jan 5, 2010)

I think "horrified" is a bit too strong of a reaction to your riding. We all can be our own worst critics sometimes, especially when we have high expectations for ourselves. I've been guilty of this myself, describing my riding as "garbage" when really it was just a little off. I see the things you've described as stylistic tics with minimal detrimental effect on your balance and overall board performance. Your problem with it is more aesthetic than anything.


If you want to tune up your style, just try to ride mindfully. Be aware of your posture and breathing as you ride, without judging or even trying to change anything. Perhaps you can visualize your head as a big helium balloon, gently decompressing and lengthening the entire spine (gently!). Be aware of where all your limbs are in space. If you don't like your back arm coming forward, don't let it! Often these things can self-correct just because you're aware of them.


----------



## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

I've watched your vid and all i see is that you DO need to bend your knees, but your posture is fine(if you feel comfortable with it). I'm 48 and this just past season was my 4th season snowboarding. I know my posture some what mimicks your because i am used to that stance especially when i have to start going edge to edge, i ride and power thru turns when i'm low. I ski the same way(gorilla stance). the one thing you need to practice more is initiating your turns with your front foot. Also, as how to keep your back straight, push your hip out just a bit when you are just cruising and keep your shoulders aligned with your board, place your arms either to your side or just hold them tgether across your belly and relax, upper body steady while your lower part does the small edge to edges movements.


----------



## Jed (May 11, 2011)

For bending your knees, crank the highbacks of your binding to a higher angle. 

This will basically force you to bend your knees (if you don't bend your knees they will dig into the back of your calves). This is an old instructor trick to force people to get used to bending your knees. Once it becomes more natural for you to bend your knees, you can lessen the angle or remove it completely if you wish.

If you're not sure how to do this, just have a look at the back of your bindings (the part that goes behind your calves) and you'll typically see an adjustment knob/lever of some sort - this is what controls your highback angle and you want to make it so it bends forward more.


----------



## Adam718 (Jan 15, 2015)

I had the same problem for a few weeks until I watched myself and noticed that the reason I was bending my back over so much was because my knees weren't bent. I see the same thing in your riding.

What I did to help fix this was ride ALL day with the intention of bending my knees and keeping my back straight and shoulders in line with my board.

So go out there and ride a full day, not with the intention of enjoying yourself, but with the intention of getting your form right. Once that's down, your riding will improve and you're going to have a blast.


----------



## Justin (Jun 2, 2010)

Like Jed said you can crank your forward lean or you can focus on bending your knees forward past your toes while bringing your pelvis over your feet. When your pelvis is on the heal side of your board then you kind of have to bend at the waist or upper back to balance so that you are not turning heal side.


----------



## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Stick your butt out.


----------



## Parker (Apr 29, 2015)

I recently made a gopro park edit from one of our days up at the park and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to improve my style and riding? tricks to progress too? video editing advice? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr3JKYf_BUI

All feedback is really appreciated!


----------



## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

Parker said:


> I recently made a gopro park edit from one of our days up at the park and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to improve my style and riding? tricks to progress too? video editing advice?
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr3JKYf_BUI
> 
> All feedback is really appreciated!


This is not your thread to dump your video on. Delete your post and start your own thread.


----------



## Parker (Apr 29, 2015)

I recently made a gopro park edit from one of our days up at the park and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to improve my style and riding? tricks to progress too? video editing advice? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr3JKYf_BUI

All feedback is really appreciated!


----------



## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

We got a badass up in here.


----------



## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

ridinbend said:


> This is not your thread to dump your video on. Delete your post and start your own thread.


^this^ _Seconded!!!_

_Not_ a good start to your time here! Instead of acknowledging making a noob mistake and doing the right thing by starting your own thread? You repost the same shit, thumbing your nose at us and continuing to try and threadjack this one!

Start your own thread and ask again or prepare for,.. :storm:


----------



## SAddiction (Feb 21, 2009)

*Snowboard Addiction*

Hi Glenshee G Style!

You ride well mate. Don't beat yourself up. Your buttering around like a pro and you clearly understand your edges.

If you wanted a tip that comes to mind when I view your riding, I would recommend steering more with your shoulders.

What you want, is the energy of your shoulders initiating a turn to transfer down...through your hips...through your knees...through your ankles and into your board. 

You are occasionally trying to "whip" or "counter-rotate" the board in turning. This is most commonly observed in your toe side turns. 

A suggestion may be to think of your back hand as steering an outboard motor. As you initiate your toe side turn, allow that back hand to sweep behind you, just like it would if you were steering an outboard motor. 

What this will do, is bring your back hand behind you as you turn, allowing the shoulders to freely steer.

You will notice that when you "whip" a turn, it is because you have left that back hand in front of you, locking your shoulder and forcing you to whip the board around to turn.

I hope this helps you out. My Dad just turned 63 and I have just been working on this very tip with him over the past week. It takes a bit of practice to unlearn the old method, and reinstate the shoulder turns...but it is so worth it!

www.snowboardaddiction.com


----------



## Ciscokid22 (Jun 28, 2015)

*I agree with SA, with a few more points*

Your back knee looks like it is bent at a good angle, but the front leg is extended more at almost every point in your riding. Without getting into the intricacies of fore-aft weighting through a turn, both knees should be equally bent pretty much all the time, which would mean you need to bend your front knee more. As SA said, your left shoulder is behind the mid-line of the board almost all the time, which puts the right shoulder in front of it. You want both shoulders parallel to the direction of travel, which means your head should be turned 90* to look forward. Initiating by looking/following with your shoulders in both directions will make your turns more clean. Your riding is not bad, but if you can adjust these things it will make it easier to initiate and quickly link turns, and you will feel more powerful riding in all conditions, especially ice, mixed slush and powder. It will also make it easier to pop ollies on short notice as well. Get out there and have fun, don't try to work on too many things at once, that will just cause problems.


----------



## CMOOO (Aug 23, 2015)

Looks to me like you need more responsive bindings. How long have you been snowboarding for?? Novice snowboarders tend to look at bit awkward anyway. And by how long I don't mean how many years but how many hours about


----------

