# Am I relying on binding's High Back too much?



## iMachi (Jan 2, 2022)

I've been riding for 20 days. Since the first day of riding I put my forward lean to max. I can ride blue without any trouble. And some easier black diamond as well. One thing I still couldn't do until today is stand up strap into binding.. I tried lowering my forward lean down a notch. (there is 6 notch for my union binding). Then finally I can stand up strap-in easier. I put my forward lean now to 4/6, and I can stand up strap in with no problem anymore. However, I noticed I can't heelside turn as good anymore. It feels so unresponsive, and I start to catch a lot of edge. This bothers me a lot because I see most ppl have way less forward lean than I do. And I thought to myself have I been riding wrong this whole time? How are people making turns so good with so little forward lean. I think what I've been doing with heelside turn these whole time is lowering my butt down and shift my weight onto the high back. Is this wrong? I mean yea I'm pretty sure it is since this doesn't work anymore after I lower the forward lean lol


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## Manicmouse (Apr 7, 2014)

As a beginner I wouldn’t push your high backs forward at all.

Can you post a video of your riding?


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## Radialhead (Jan 3, 2018)

It's just the way it works. It's much easier to engage the heel edge with forward lean using the highbacks because physics (leverage). You can still do that, but your knees need to be further back over the heel edge, which means you're leaning more 'off' the board, which means you need to be going faster to stop you falling on your back, because... physics. So you need to play around with bending your knees more, lifting the toe edge and using your front knee to engage the edge. Have a look at Malcolm Moore's videos on YouTube.


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## easyrider16 (Sep 28, 2020)

I have learned to set my highbacks by placing the boot in the binding and lining up the highback with the natural forward lean of the boot. More than that and you create too much pressure back there, less than that and you get balance issues. I think the highback is more about helping you balance as it is naturally much easier to balance on your toe side than your heel side due to anatomy.

In any case, yes I think you need to work on your technique. The pressure on the edge from your heel side turns should come primarily from the weight in your heel, not from the leverage you get from the highback. Sticking your butt out is not how you should think about a heel side turn. You should think about applying pressure to the heel side by rocking your feet onto your heels and pressing into your heels. This works best with bent knees in an athletic stance, which often results in your butt sticking out, but not always (depending on your position, the terrain, etc).


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

As you advance you’ll find that carving is more to do with fore/aft movement than heel toe movement. People put too much thought into forward lean. Most id suggest would be to match the contour of your boot.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

A test to answer your question of relying on the highbacks.

Take the highbacks off your bindings and then go ride. If you can ride, then you are relying too much on your high backs. And it is possible to ride without high backs. I inadvertently ride without my highbacks  and it works surprisingly well for certain conditions and terrain.


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## Rip154 (Sep 23, 2017)

You just have to adapt to a new highback setting, if you want. You can rely on the highback for as much as it can take, but once you’re on edge, there shouldn’t be that much pressure on it. If you are sliding, it’s a different matter. If your highback folds or you ride without a highback, you can’t rely on it, and you use more strength and straps. Shifting the CoG through a highback with no forward lean is easier with a more directional stance. If I wanted to carve with a duckstance I’d prolly use some forward lean.


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## QReuCk2 (11 mo ago)

If I remember correctly, Nicolas Muller was (is still?) riding with a lot of forward lean. I will not go into pro-bashing just because they set up their board differently than me. Obviously other pros do ride with no forward lean at all, some with no highbacks and some even bindingless. So there might be a place for personnal preference there.

I've rode with no forward lean at all for the best part of 20 years. I've recently decided to try a again a bit of it (like what @MrDavey2Shoes suggests, just matching the boots lean) and I think I found a happy medium. It's difficult to describe, but I like the bit of support from the spoiler, especially during the toe to heel edge change, to make it just a tad quicker and responsive to the bit of a front knee roll I apply there, without overdoing it as I like some play and forgiveness around the heel joint anyway.
As you're only on 20 days of riding, I would suggest experimenting honestly, which means actually trying to adapt to it, but dont think this is an absolument must one way or the other. It's more a matter of understanding what it does and deciding for yourself.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

MrDavey2Shoes said:


> As you advance you’ll find that carving is more to do with fore/aft movement than heel toe movement. People put too much thought into forward lean. Most id suggest would be to match the contour of your boot.


Yeah dude, today was a fore and aft session on lower angle groomers. So much smoother. Also I’m digging on my worn out boots. Who needs stiffness? I need mobility. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

Scalpelman said:


> Yeah dude, today was a fore and aft session on lower angle groomers. So much smoother. Also I’m digging on my worn out boots. Who needs stiffness? I need mobility.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Following the lead of a couple guys on here I picked up a much softer boot than I’d usually go for this year (Ride Fuse) and the added mobility is such a game changer!


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## kieloa (Sep 20, 2019)

MrDavey2Shoes said:


> Following the lead of a couple guys on here I picked up a much softer boot than I’d usually go for this year (Ride Fuse) and the added mobility is such a game changer!


Im going in the same direction. With solids I'v been using Lineups and left my Flux at home. 
One descent with my split I accidentaly left my Sparks in touring mode, so my highback was in negative angles. Felt great! 😅
My Lexicons are gettin softer too and I like it..


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

kieloa said:


> Im going in the same direction. With solids I'v been using Lineups and left my Flux at home.
> One descent with my split I accidentaly left my Sparks in touring mode, so my highback was in negative angles. Felt great! 😅
> My Lexicons are gettin softer too and I like it..


I've forgotten to latch my AT cuffs...and it works fine on dropping a nice pow line until I hit a cat track or groomer, then its wtf.


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