# Excercises to Build Proper Toe-Edge Form?



## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

He needs to be doing two things: first, trying to hump the snow, and second, trying to keep his visual horizon level. That will force him to keep his head up and his hips down.


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## BoarderHack89 (Mar 1, 2020)

Video tape him and show him. Makes a huge difference when you actually see what you are doing. Also YouTube how to turn and how to carve. My son was having trouble and those 2 really helped


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

One of the ways I find useful is dropping your knees into the turn. I you focus of getting your knees down towards the snow the rest will follow. You can't really bend over at the waist doing that and pushing the knees down will make your pelvis follow. On disadvantage of turning like that is a very locked in turn. At least for me.

Edit: maybe the feel of it is dropping the knees down into the snow.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

One more vote for fucking the snow. Tell him to imagine you are waiting for his toeside. [emoji1787]


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

It sounds like he squats heavily in his toe turns. Show him this pic and tell him to copy it for toe turns.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Scalpelman said:


> One more vote for fucking the snow. Tell him to imagine you are waiting for his toeside. [emoji1787]


A problem with that is that it doesn't really require you to tilt the board. I'm just speaking for myself, but dropping your knees will make you straighten up because it's a natural counter reaction to keep from falling over. So you will get board tilt while keeping your overall force vector a straight line through your upper body and into the board.


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## Nestaa1 (Jan 6, 2021)

Thank you all for the responses. I have already been telling him to push his pelvis forward or "fuck the snow" as you guys put it, and to bend his knees, he tells me he can't keep balance like this and just goes back to his upside-down L shape form cause it's what's been working for him. I think he's just not adjusting his upper body to counterbalance his lower body when pushing his pelvis forward. I think filming him would be a good idea, I have tried to show him YouTube videos of pros and how they toe side turn but he doesn't seem to be able to apply these techniques in person. What I'm hoping for is some sort of exercise that forces him to have to readjust him form in order to complete, maybe toe-side hops up a hill?


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

Watch the guy at 5:30, heavily squatted which gives pressure to the heel side, then he tries to weight the toe side by bending his upper body right over.


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## start_today (Mar 17, 2020)

Are you able to take a lesson together? Sometimes trying to teach a friend/parter/spouse/whatever can be kind of fraught. It can be challenging to hear criticism from someone close to you, especially from someone who started at the same level as you and has progressed more quickly.

Or, covertly take video of him, and post it here for people to critique, then send him a link. Make sure you have separate rides home if you go this route.


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

I like this creepy basement video that @wrathfuldeity made a few years ago. It's a forum classic. He makes some good distinctions and shows you how to stack weight.



Kijima said:


> Watch the guy at 5:30, heavily squatted which gives pressure to the heel side, then he tries to weight the toe side by bending his upper body right over.


That guy has all the style! You see that in snowboarding all the time too.


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## Nestaa1 (Jan 6, 2021)

start_today said:


> Are you able to take a lesson together? Sometimes trying to teach a friend/parter/spouse/whatever can be kind of fraught. It can be challenging to hear criticism from someone close to you, especially from someone who started at the same level as you and has progressed more quickly.
> 
> Or, covertly take video of him, and post it here for people to critique, then send him a link. Make sure you have separate rides home if you go this route.


Yes I agree this is definitely a problem, like I said he can be stubborn and does get defensive when he hears it from me. I have suggested lessons to get him caught up but he hasn't really been accepting of the idea. I think if we both took the lesson he may be more open but they are expensive at the resort we are headed to next, 270$ for both of us in a private lesson or 200 for a group, if we could tackle this problem without having to drop that cash, that would be best.
and hahaha oh man as tempting as it sounds to go the second route I don't think he would ever recover from the sense of betrayal that would lead to.


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## Nestaa1 (Jan 6, 2021)

WigMar said:


> I like this creepy basement video that @wrathfuldeity made a few years ago. It's a forum classic. He makes some good distinctions and shows you how to stack weight.
> 
> 
> That guy has all the style! You see that in snowboarding all the time too.


Actually, thank you, this video I think will be helpful (albeit a little discomforting to watch at times) and is something we can practice before heading out onto the snow.


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## Nestaa1 (Jan 6, 2021)

Kijima said:


> Watch the guy at 5:30, heavily squatted which gives pressure to the heel side, then he tries to weight the toe side by bending his upper body right over.


Would you say this is good or bad technique? Because my boyfriend is top heavy, so that may be why he is using the weight of his upper body to balance his toe edge like this guy, but he's not bending down into a deep squat.


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## BXNoob (Mar 20, 2020)

.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Nestaa1 said:


> Actually, thank you, this video I think will be helpful (albeit a little discomforting to watch at times) and is something we can practice before heading out onto the snow.


Bwahaha...and that's why it has the creepy rating. In the vid I make a brief note of riding stinky butt with the butt over the heel edge and shoulders over the toe side edge (your reference to the upside down L). The whole creepiness and squatting should cure yer bf's problem. Another thing to note is that women have a naturally lower center of gravity (cog) more at pelvic level where guys cog is higher at the waist and tend to be top heavy...thus for guys its all in the squat and learning to tilt the pelvis...squeeze the butt and tighten the core. Also women are naturally smoother and more flowy riding style where as guys are more of a grunt power style of riding. Anyway the pelvic tilt thing is a game changer. Also, if he is riding duck stance make sure his stance is wide enough to squat. If he learns to ride stacked and aligned in the cereal box the whole balance thing takes care of its self.

Btw...if said bf is unwilling to change, leave his slow ass on the bunny slope...you'll have the pick of the litter here


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## garikgarik (Dec 15, 2011)




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## garikgarik (Dec 15, 2011)

And sometimes people tend to ride with the leading hip forward, and leading shoulder up, so the end of the heel-side turn looks that








and the first part of a toe-side turn will be something like that


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## Snowmn (Feb 3, 2020)

If his bindings are too far forward (front of binding too close to front of board) and not centered, toe side can be really hard on a beginner. 

Let him take a lesson if his bindings are indeed centered. Need more time on board to feel comfy. One day toeside just clicks. Took several days for me to get my gf to ride toeside. Married for 13 yrs now and she can shred! Patience!


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## BoarderHack89 (Mar 1, 2020)

YouTube how to turn on a snowboard. How to carve a snowboard etc . Teaching my son has been hard because he doesn’t want to listen. He really likes Tommy Bennett on YouTube. Coming from a “pro” (he’s 8 anyone on YouTube knows better then me) he takes it more serious. Watch them in the parking lot before you go hit the hill. With YouTube you can learn 100x faster and not have to spend the money for lessons


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## Kevington (Feb 8, 2018)

A really good tip for beginners but also for anyone really is to do some runs with your hands behind your back. 

I still do it to stop the dreaded torso lean. Makes you stabilise the core and activate the knees and ankles rather than just leaning over. You can really feel what is happening, its almost like watching yourself. 

It also helps you then choose what to do with your arms rather than flail them around seeking balance. That comes from having your centre of gravity (between crotch and bellybutton) in the right place through a turn. @Kijima started a long thread about body positioning through a turn which is a huge goldmine of tips for this sort of thing. 

This video is also a great breakdown of the toeside turn from one of the best:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="



" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


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## Nestaa1 (Jan 6, 2021)

Hello All,

An Update here. But first thank you all for all the helpful advice and tips, some of it even helped with my riding to ensure that I wasn't picking up bad habits with my stance. Just came back from riding in Colorado this past weekend and I can say now that he has successfully moved past his toe edge! The issue was simply not being fully aware of how to stack his body weight so it is balanced in the moment. Before we went out to the mountain I showed him @wrathfuldeity's video as well as the one that you mentioned @Kevington, then had him practice adjusting his body position to find his center of balance in the living room. I had him do his "upside down L" or "stinky butt" position then (very gently) pushed him forward to show him how off balance that position is, he immediately fell forward. Had him adjust it to forward pelvis lean and sinking into knees then pushed him forward, he was able to retain his balance. Anyway we get on the snow and he said he immediately noticed his body's tendency towards the bad habit and was able to make the changes to his stance. Again thank you all for all the help, we were able to have a lot of fun this time on more advanced runs


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