# trying to improve my turns



## edwinx (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks snowolf, I will try those tips next week when I hit the mountain again and see if I improve. :thumbsup:


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2010)

^ snowolf, as ever, gave a lot of great advice. that's a lot to try to remember on your own when out riding. consider taking a lesson - your riding will improve more in 2 or 3 hours than you can likely teach yourself in a couple of days. also, having a positive lesson experience will get you pumped up to ride even more...

alasdair


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> 4) Pressure the edge of the board on the side you are turning to. For a toe side turn, you need to pressure the toes and ball of the foot, unweighting the heel. For a heel side turn, you need to lift the toes to pressure the heel of the foot. Do this *only* with the front foot; the rear foot should still be *gently* pressuring the opposite or uphill edge.


So when you initiate a turn with pressure change in the front foot, you are also applying opposite pressure on the back foot also? 

So for a heelside turn, as I start bending my knees and gently applying pressure on my front heel, I should be applying pressure on my back foot toes? Then at what point do you apply pressure on the back foot heel to finish the heelside turn?

I think I've been learning the wrong way by kicking out my back foot in a ruddering motion to initiate a toeside turn (aggravating my MCL area) while trying to link turns, similar to the snowprofessors video on dynamic turning.


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## csf (May 1, 2009)

I had picked up a bad habbit of catching my toeside edge slightly as I went from toeside to heelside which was really annoying. Seems I had too much weight on my rear foot which is bad. Then I read something on these boards about moving your back knee towards your front knee when initializing your turn. That worked like a charm and cured my bad habbit. From what I can tell, by moving your back knee in towards the front knee shifts weight to the front foot and reduces weight on the rear foot. As you get into the turn then I start varying pressure on the rear foot to maintain edge contact and edge control.

Hope that helps, good luck!

edit: read snowolf's response several times as he's done an excellent job of describing the correct technique! Thanks Snowolf!


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

I have a bad habit of doing the "rear foot rudder" and the "shoulder flail" myself. I only do it toward the end of the day when I'm worn out. It's a good sign that it's time to hang it up for the day.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

alasdairm said:


> ^ snowolf, as ever, gave a lot of great advice. that's a lot to try to remember on your own when out riding. consider taking a lesson - your riding will improve more in 2 or 3 hours than you can likely teach yourself in a couple of days. also, having a positive lesson experience will get you pumped up to ride even more...
> 
> alasdair


Absolutely. It took a lesson for me to finally nail down linking turns and going from heel to toe. A good instructor will be able to see exactly what you're doing wrong and then be able to work on exactly what you need to do to correct that. I was getting really frustrated before taking a lesson. I progressed more in that session and the 3-4 days of riding following that lesson than I had in the previous entire season.

My advice to new riders:
1. buy boots that fit
2. get a lesson!


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2010)

csf said:


> Then I read something on these boards about moving your back knee towards your front knee when initializing your turn. That worked like a charm and cured my bad habbit. From what I can tell, by moving your back knee in towards the front knee shifts weight to the front foot and reduces weight on the rear foot.


Thanks for the tip, does this work for both heel/toe and toe/heel transitions?

Also, do you feel that you initiate a turn by using torsional flex in both feet (ex: for a heelside turn, pressure on front heel and pressure on back toes). 

I've read a bunch of Snowolf's posts concerning torsional flex that has left me somewhat confused.


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## csf (May 1, 2009)

ons said:


> Thanks for the tip, does this work for both heel/toe and toe/heel transitions?
> 
> Also, do you feel that you initiate a turn by using torsional flex in both feet (ex: for a heelside turn, pressure on front heel and pressure on back toes).
> 
> I've read a bunch of Snowolf's posts concerning torsional flex that has left me somewhat confused.


Ons: yes, I do this for both turns, toe to heel and heel to toe. As far as torsional flex goes, yes, I think that's what's happening. As I bring my back knee forward it automatically forces my front knee forward and weighting the front foot more than the back foot. The next movement would be rotating the hips a bit to point the board in the direction of the turn. It's the rotation of your hips that causes the torsional flex-at least that's how feels to me! 

you can try this at home-get into your riding stance and move you back knee towards the front knee, I think the natural reaction is your front knee will also move forward a bit, which adds more weight to your front foot. Now try rotating your hip in the direction you would be turning, see how that adds additional pressure to the front foot and creates a little less on the back?

Hope that helps, I'm far from an expert but this seems to really have helped my carving, if you can call it that, and increase my turn initiations on steeper slopes. I've also noticed that I have less skidded turns and more carve(more on edge and longer) to my turns. My wife started doing this as well and she noticed a big improvement to her riding as well.

Hopefully this is the "correct" technique and I'm not promoting something incorrect! Have fun w/ it!


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## stillz (Jan 5, 2010)

ons said:


> Thanks for the tip, does this work for both heel/toe and toe/heel transitions?
> 
> Also, *do you feel that you initiate a turn by using torsional flex in both feet (ex: for a heelside turn, pressure on front heel and pressure on back toes). *
> 
> I've read a bunch of Snowolf's posts concerning torsional flex that has left me somewhat confused.


You might want to check out SnowProRick's video on how to do basic turns. It's extremely clear and should eliminate any confusion you have. 

Personally, I initiate the turn with the *front foot only*, then follow through with the back foot. So in your example of a heelside turn, I'd put pressure on my front heel, then press with the back heel AFTER the turn has been established (at higher speeds it's almost at the same time, but not quite).


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## edwinx (Jan 2, 2010)

@snowolf
Thanks, I trid the tips today and it helped ALOT. This is my 3 season and prior to paying attention to my turns, I felt that I have plateaued. Like I am not improving and my boarding still looks amateurish but its a lot better now.

@alasdairm
Thanks for the suggestion, I was trying to visualize the steps in my head for a while since the weather here sucks and I just got up to the mountain today. I did OK, I was almost able to switch my technique to the front foot and not use the rudder technique anymore except in situations where I need something FAST. With more practice, I should be able to use the front method when I need it fast too.


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## edwinx (Jan 2, 2010)

quick question, when I start my turn I also lean a bit towards the front and into that direction. During my turn I am still leaning front and into that direction right? or should I go back to a neutral weighed stance? or can I board with a front biased all the time?

thanks,


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## edwinx (Jan 2, 2010)

ok, I will try that next time I get up on the mountain, snow sucks here so I might have to wait a week 

In the past, I just shift my weight from front and back to speed or slow myself down.

thanks


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