# How to go about first boxes/rails



## Nefarious (Dec 26, 2010)

Nickx said:


> Last season was my first season, and just towards the end of the season I started venturing into the park. I never really gave the boxes/rails a try. They were always kind of sketchy, I'm going to be shredding somewhere else this season and I'd like some advice on my first boxes/rails so I don't make a complete fool of myself. Any advice is welcome! thanks!


Since no one has showed you any love, I'll lend my experiences...limited as they may be. 

I started boxes at the end of last season. Start small, first of all. Find a nice, short flat box with a well groomed landing. Don't try boxes on a day where the ride up to it is sketchy and wiped out. 

Take it slow...it's harder to balance at a slower speed, but it will give you extra comfort and potentially save you some pain. 

As for rails...I'd wait until you can hit boxes without thinking about it to try them. The weight distribution is precarious the first few times. 

Best of luck and post on how it goes.


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## myschims (Jan 11, 2010)

While i agree with the guy above me that you shouldn't hit it going full speed, don't go to slow, it will be really hard to stay up and you will most likely slip out. 
Just come up to it carving like normal and when you get within a few feet, try to get flat based and just ride on. The main part about boxes is that you must stay flat based. do not get up on your edges, you will fall. the biggest problem i see with people is they start to turn a few degrees and then try to get up on there toe edge and rotate back to being straight and just slip out on their toes. If you are turning, try to just point with your head/shoulders in which direction you want to go, your board will follow.
The biggest thing is just commiting and going for it, once you get the hang of it they're fun!


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

i am no park rat, so my "advice" is pretty limited. but most hills have a beginner park...go there first. it will have small jumps and ride on boxes and maybe rails. but get good and confident on ride on features. first ride on boxes, get the hang of the slight tweaks and how to stay centered. then take it to some ride on rails, again, get good at balancing. Your first attempts at rails and boxes will be 50/50s, its just how people start. 
after that go back to the ride on boxes and board slide them, then once you have that down go to ride on rails and board slide thoes. 

after you have that down move on to hop on boxes close to the ground. keep a decent speed, not too fast or you will freak yourself out, and not too slow or you will slip right off. again, your first slides will be 50/50s. come at it on a side (toeside is easier because you can see where you are landing) at a slight angle, pop off of the transfer and land hopefully even on the box. i dont know enough to go in depth about the mechanics of it. 

if you just go out and put the fear of eating shit out of your mind and just take a few slams you will get the hang of it pretty quickly. honestly the fear aspect of park is what holds most beginners back. Yes you will fall, and yes rails and boxes hurt like a bitch. But if you want to progress you have to wipe that from your mind and stop caring about that for a while. when i am sitting there at the top of the park staring at the features picking out my line is the scariest part for me. I just stare at my first hit for a while visualizing my self and what i am going to do on it over and over until i have sufficiently rehearsed it in my head. Once i get the first hit out of the way the fear of falling goes away and, unless i fall of course, i hit one feature after another without stopping. Once i have my momentum started i am in the zone and ignore any thoughts of fear.


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## Tech420 (Jul 1, 2011)

You shouldn't assume he will do 50/50's first. My first time on a rail I was board sliding it. I felt more comfortable doing a board slide than I did a 50/50.


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## Deviant (Dec 22, 2009)

All good advice above. A few points previously mentioned that I'd really stress..

1. Stay low and keep the knees bent. Biggest time I see people come out on an edge is when they are learning and standing too straight up or getting too tense. 

2. If you're on box or rail and you're coming off the side of it, don't fight it, just come off and hit it again.

3. When you're on the box/rail, don't look down at your feet, look at the end of the obstacle. Don't go too slow either (as said above)

4. This may be personal opinion but if you're doing a ride-on box and you decide to boardslide it, don't just shift the board when you come to it, hop into it. That's another thing I see a lot, people trying to set up for the boardslide too early. The natural tendency on a snowboard when you are moving on-snow and the board is no longer pointing down the fall line is that you want to be on an edge. If you hop into it (I say hop as in both feet because a specific ollie isn't really necessary at this point), you can land flat based. I know there's threads here of people building balance beams for off-slope practice so you may want to look into doing something like that if you have stuff laying around you can build one with. It would probably be a huge learning aide when getting on rails from the side, but I learned the hard way (..CLANK!)

5. Take this one with a grain of salt because it's more comfortable for me but may not be for you. I find it easier to slide a box or a rail if it's directly under my foot so I usually do more nose slides than I do boardslides. I think it looks better as well and I feel like I have a ton more control when it's directly under my foot.


Anyways, good luck and have fun. You're gonna fall, but just like the first days on a board don't let it get to you.


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## Tech420 (Jul 1, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> Not assuming anything; recommending a logical progression. In 7 years of instructing and doing park progression, I have not seen anyone do board slides before doing a 50-50 so it is logical to start a progression with 50-50`s. A 50-50 is a technically much easier and safer task to do for the first time box rider. If he does not want to try that, I am sure he will ask about board slides and I will be happy to work with him on that too.


I guess progression is a bit different for everyone. I come from a wake-boarding background and rarely does anyone do a 50/50. Naturally you need to learn to hop on from the side and board slide the rail. I guess it was just instinct for me to go straight into board slides when I started snowboarding. I find them to be a much easier slide.


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## Tech420 (Jul 1, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> Oh definitely! If I have a student that is like you, then definitely we would start with the boardslide. In general, AASI recognizes that "most" people are way more comfortable riding on an artificial feature sliding "normally" at first. Most people have a very natural fear of catching an edge when boardsliding and this is why 99% of falls boardsliding are backwards; people almost always lean way too far back out fear of catching the toe edge. This is the reason that when a new park rider talks about hitting their first boxes everyone does assume that the 50-50 will be the best intro....


:laugh: the first thing that was taught to me with wake-boarding was to almost lean forward....applied the same thing to snowboarding and it seems to work out for me.


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## GreatScott (Jan 5, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> ATML


Did you really type that all out or did you cut and paste it from elsewhere? Wow!


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## Nefarious (Dec 26, 2010)

I was thinking about this earlier and came up with some questions. Generic in nature, but maybe someone can enlighten me. 

I've got a couple junk boards that I swing around on to get some exercise. I've got an old army trunk that's maybe 1.5 feet tall that I put some blankets on and practice hopping up onto it. Various spins on and off. I'm mainly trying to get the feel of committing to the rail/box. 

My question is this: The trunk is about 2 feet wide. Do you think it's actually counterproductive to be practicing on something so wide? I.E. when I actually try it, will the width difference be so substantial that the practice is actually counterproductive?


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## Nickx (Aug 27, 2011)

thanks everyone! im after saturday ill post up how it went!


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Nefarious said:


> My question is this: The trunk is about 2 feet wide. Do you think it's actually counterproductive to be practicing on something so wide? I.E. when I actually try it, will the width difference be so substantial that the practice is actually counterproductive?


No. I've been using a balance beam, which is a lot narrower. But balancing on a narrow plank isn't the main thing I'm getting out of it. It's learning how much hop is required to clear it, how to get spin going, stuff like that. Also I've taken several tumbles and I've learned that they aren't fatal.

What you're really doing is taking the "unknown" out of screwing around on a feature.


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## GreatScott (Jan 5, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> Typed it out, why?


Lol, because that's a lot of material. Might as well make that post a sticky. Good stuff and nice of you to be so helpful to the guy.


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## Tech420 (Jul 1, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> Yep! I have gone home with a black and blue ass from boardsliding more than once.....:laugh:


Last time I was on a wake-board I was knocked out cold when I caught an edge hitting a rail backside. Helmet wasn't strapped and only know what I was told.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

GreatScott said:


> Did you really type that all out or did you cut and paste it from elsewhere? Wow!


well he typed out his summary of it...but the ATML is a widley taught concept on riding park, and he has probably explained it while teaching in a manner similar to how he explained it here more times than he can count.


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

I'm new to park as well. Like Donutz I also have been practicing on a balance beam. Doing this also gives me the feel of hitting a street style or ollie onto rail, as you need to have a small angle with your board to the rail to keep from just sliding off the opposite side you get on from.
I think the wide board or trunk or any item is good for a while. As you get the feel though, I would start to go small to simiulate the box or rail better.
Some very good tips in all the preivous comments as well.

Now that I am trying to get better in park. When I watch any video, I really pay attention to their take-off, how they angle their board, type of rotation they use, everything. I'm becoming quite good at alalizing the tricks, but still need to execute them myself lol


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## ScottVD (Jan 19, 2011)

slyder said:


> I'm new to park as well. Like Donutz I also have been practicing on a balance beam. Doing this also gives me the feel of hitting a street style or ollie onto rail, as you need to have a small angle with your board to the rail to keep from just sliding off the opposite side you get on from.
> I think the wide board or trunk or any item is good for a while. As you get the feel though, I would start to go small to simiulate the box or rail better.
> Some very good tips in all the preivous comments as well.
> 
> Now that I am trying to get better in park. When I watch any video, I really pay attention to their take-off, how they angle their board, type of rotation they use, everything. I'm becoming quite good at alalizing the tricks, but still need to execute them myself lol


lol- sounds like my brother watching pro football- quite good at analyzing what everyone on the field is doing WRONG. Would pay to see him out there himself!


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

ScottVD said:


> lol- sounds like my brother watching pro football- quite good at analyzing what everyone on the field is doing WRONG. Would pay to see him out there himself!


I did a lot of coaching so that is where the analyzing comes from.
LOL I know I can't do most of the park stuff I watch, I openly admit that.
Is there such a thing as "arm chair snowboarding" "indoor shred analysis" :laugh:


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## Nickx (Aug 27, 2011)

today was great. I put together all the info you guys told me and hit my first box. after the first few times i got the hang of it! Towards the end of the day I started to try BS boardslides. they felt more natural than FS. 
Thnks everyone!


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## Peaceryder (Nov 21, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> For your first boxes, ride through the park once and scope out a feature you wnt to session. When starting out it is best to pick one feature and work with that one rather taking the entire line if they exist. What you looking for is an easy ride on box that is low to the ground and fairly wide (1 to 2 feet is ideal 3 if they have one). Ride by it and look at the approach and landing to make sure it looks good without any weird angles, trenches or divots.
> 
> In all freestyle riding, you can break the "trick" into 4 basic components we call ATML. You have your approach, takeoff, maneuver and landing.
> 
> ...


Just wanting to clarify what I should do so my head is already focused on the task opening day. Okay, so I'm riding on the box/rail and coming to the end. When I pop off will I feel my board start to slip or is this process quite smooth? If it does slip out a bit, what ways can you prepare to alter this or correct yourself once it begins?

I may want to start popping onto features because you watch so many videos of these guys just riding up onto the feature all stiff legged and relaxed (lol, although these two thoughts kinda contradict, I'm sure you know what I mean. It's that popping motion before the feature that has your legs already in a good posture. I'll have to give it a try in a week, but the thought of just riding onto something that's virtually on the surface of the ground sounds a bit too easy. As mentioned by others in this thread, most of what holds back beginning riders is that 'sketched' out factor. I think riding onto a feature could lead my weight to be too far in the back as well, but if I pop onto the feature my body will be more ready. Maybe that's just me.. I'll let you know after this Saturday what happens, lol. Just more or less wanting to know if I should expect my board to try to slip out from under me when I put down pressure to pop. 

Cheers!


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## semajgnik (Feb 28, 2011)

I started doing park stuff just this year, i ate it a grip of times. all i gotta say is:

stay low.
stay light.
STAY FLAT!

i did not know that 3rd part and it was the reason i ate it so many times even when doing 50-50. i was stupid and did not watch any instructional videos or read about how to jib safely, i kinda just tried to figure it out on my own.

again 50-50, backslide, frontslide, nose slide, tail slide, nose press, tail press... STAY FLAT! 

it is very natural to go on an edge since that's what you do on snow, but when jibbing, NEVER slide on ANY edge!

stay safe!


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## semajgnik (Feb 28, 2011)

Peaceryder said:


> Just wanting to clarify what I should do so my head is already focused on the task opening day. Okay, so I'm riding on the box/rail and coming to the end. When I pop off will I feel my board start to slip or is this process quite smooth? If it does slip out a bit, what ways can you prepare to alter this or correct yourself once it begins?



if you're balanced on the box, it should be smooth. this is the whole "don't fight it" thing, just let your board slide off it, even if you're veering to the side. 
you will feel your board when its no longer on the feature, and when you do, just stop putting weight on your board and kind pull your legs a little and kinda float or glide to the landing. when you get more comfortable, you can pop off of it a little, and you can progress to pretzeling out of features, but remember to stay flat when you do.


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## Peaceryder (Nov 21, 2011)

semajgnik said:


> if you're balanced on the box, it should be smooth. this is the whole "don't fight it" thing, just let your board slide off it, even if you're veering to the side.
> you will feel your board when its no longer on the feature, and when you do, just stop putting weight on your board and kind pull your legs a little and kinda float or glide to the landing. when you get more comfortable, you can pop off of it a little, and you can progress to pretzeling out of features, but remember to stay flat when you do.


Okay, awesome. Think I'm good to go then and yeah, the pretzel would be a great progression. I'm already practicing a mount and dismount like that on dry land, so should give that a try. Good tips, Cheers


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