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riding switch

25K views 133 replies 59 participants last post by  poutanen 
#1 ·
i am terrible at riding switch i tried a couple times over last weekend but i just can't manage to do it. any1 have some tips that might make learning to ride switch easier? also my bindings are set at about 14 and 12. my front foot being 14.
 
#2 ·
Are you riding +14 and +12 OR +14 and -12? Clarifying this would help. If you're riding +/+ it would help to set your rear binding to either 0 or anywhere between 0 and -15.

A "negative" on your back foot would mean your back foot is pointing away from your opposite foot. Doing this first will help your setup to be more switch-friendly.

As for actually riding switch, practice, practice, practice. Force yourself to do it. Set goals. (I.e. I'll ride this green circle trail entirely switch).

I find that when I coach my athletes (who are younger), all have a tendency to ride in the backseat, meaning they lean back onto their back foot to try and control their board, which is wrong. Your weight should be on your front foot 100% of the time.

Can you give us more info on what you're doing wrong? What it feels like? I'm sure Snowolf will chime in eventually...but any more info would help.
 
#5 ·
For me, I ride switch very often. I like to ride with my stance angles the same (+18,-18). I know people who ride switch more like yourself (+14,-12), so it is possible.

The reality of switch for most people is that you have to consider it starting over, and assume you can't actually ride a snowboard. Otherwise people try and ride switch on blues or blacks and wonder why they crash so much. Head back to the bunny hills (Suck it up, if you think you are too good for greens).

When riding switch, people usually have the same problems they used to:

- Riding in the back seat which means too much weight on the back foot
- Riding open, not keeping your shoulders and body in general in line with the board.
- Riding too tall, not keeping your knees, ankles slightly bent with the back up straight.

So, in summary head back to the greens and try out some novice turns switch. Trying to focus on keeping the weight mostly balanced, with a little extra on the front foot.
 
#7 · (Edited)
best advice i can give is go ride some easy greens or blues, even the bunny hill! and have fun with it. laugh when you fall, and get into. focus on figuring out how your turning regular and just slow it down and do it switch. just go slow at first.

If you really wanna go big, strap in switch and skate around one footed for a bit. Just get really comfortable lifting the board with your non dominant foot. get it used to being it front. do the lift switch(nice and easy, remember you always have your back foot free to the "chicken skate" off and on. and remember to laugh and have fun. I bet I look like a fool laughing to myself when i fall, but I swear youll never get down and out if your just rollin with it.

^ Also dont forget you you can always flip back around to your regular stance. This might also get you nice and comfy with switching back and forth.

Riding switch confidently was definitely my biggest accomplishment as a rider. you really realize snowboards are twin tipped for a reason. :yahoo: It took a while to get just as comfortable as regular but the trip there is a blast and it only gets better.

nice and slow, and lets see those big turns!

EDIT: Im a avid believer that if you do alot of switch riding you should have an even stance, mines ducked out at 15/-15 extra wide and love it. A narrowed duck might suit you better, but Id at least reccomend trying 12/-12 out regular.
 
#8 ·
resist the urge to revert back into your normal riding position & challenge yourself to link 4 turns, then 6, then 8 and so on. the best tip i got for switch riding was to periodically rest my front hand palm on my front thigh while riding switch. this keeps even weight on your feet and helps you to not lean away from the nose.
 
#9 ·
some random tips that may or may not work for you:

- ride moguls switch

- strap in switch in and do it the whole day.

- concentrate on learning with a new foot forward, as opposed to trying to learn how to "ride backwards." This is just semantics in your brain, but it has helped me personally.

- go extra athletic, no lazy stance, really get into your quads and lower your hips, press your shins over your toes, keep your body square. I tend to ride a pretty lazy stance in primary with no worries but that laziness will get me an instant scorpion riding switch.
 
#10 ·
- go extra athletic, no lazy stance, really get into your quads and lower your hips, press your shins over your toes, keep your body square. I tend to ride a pretty lazy stance in primary with no worries but that laziness will get me an instant scorpion riding switch.
This is great advice! That was a huge thing for me, riding lazy when learning switch caused me a lot of pain. I forgot how much slamming on cat tracks hurt. I feel like its almost worse than knuckling a small jump. learning switch on a mellow blue or a steeper green opposed to a gentle slope is key.
 
#12 · (Edited)
i personally would think that you pick it up quicker if you already have a good feel of the board, i haven't tried it too much on green runs. when i tried i fell like 4 times on a blue and gave up haha. im probably not snowboarding for a while 3 weeks+ but i feel like i can do it now.

i can go pretty quick regular stance on groomed runs but moguls are challenging for me. i ride a magnetraction 161 wide (supposedly flex rating of 7), size 12 feet, 6'3, 135-140 pounds. would a smaller flexier board be easier in the moguls? or should i stick with it?
 
#14 ·
Resist the urge to switch back to regular when things get gnarly.
I used to do it all time, so I wouldn't crash and look stupid, but the only way to learn switch is stay committed to it until its in muscle memory.

Don't be embarrassed to go back to the bunny hill. Just don't wear your snowboard thug outfit that day that all the kids like to dress these days.
 
#15 ·
I was doing pretty good and decided to pick up the tempo on a blue run. Then I caught a nasty edge and wrenched my wrist. At that point I pretty much decided that switch riding will be used when coming out of 180s and that is it. I get too cocky and confident riding switch on groomers and then always pay a price with a nasty fall. I don't find it difficult at all to ride switch. It is difficult to avoid injury....haha
 
#16 ·
It really is a weird feeling. I have been riding 24 years and never felt the need to ride switch but decided this year I'd give it a try. I REALLY wish I had tried sooner as that is a lot of years of habit to overcome. I will get it one day.:laugh:
 
#17 ·
Here's a comment to similar question that I posted elsewhere... maybe this will help you.

Remember the first time you ever strapped in? You probably sucked riding regular, too. I did. So did pretty much everyone else. You got good at riding regular only through days or weeks of practice and repetition, developing your muscle memory, board feel, balance, etc.

If you have no control it's probably because you're favoring your back leg (which is normally your front leg -- there's that pesky muscle memory doing you a disservice!). You want your weight forward when riding regular and likewise for switch. But you're very accustomed to weighting a particular leg, and this habit is impeding your ability to ride switch. When you're in the back seat, you lose the ability to effectively control your board. (Think of all the beginners who, when riding regular, instinctually "lean back" like they're afraid of the hill, and weight the back leg which results in crashes).

When teaching yourself how to ride switch, you're gonna have to break it down to baby steps.

First, start riding regular and actually pause to reflect on what you're doing, and why (if you can't mentally break down your motions, you're going to have a hard time trying to reconstruct that technique to switch stance). If you can't do this, do not proceed to steps 2 et seq. Get a lesson and tell them you are specifically interested in learning how to ride switch.

Then, apply it. Take those steps (where do I weight, how should I properly initiate a turn, then how do I link another turn, balance, etc.) and very deliberately put them in to practice.

Third, once you're OK linking the pieces, force yourself to ride an entire trail in your switch stance. Do it until you can ride the entire trail without falling or stopping. You can go as slow as you need, just don't stop, stay in motion.

Fourth Once your comfy riding switch, pop some 180s at low, then moderate, then higher speeds and make at least a few turns before reverting to forward stance. Get used to riding switch at higher speeds. Then go back to step three and ride an entire trail a little faster.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Just like riding regular, practice makes perfect.

Do these slowly at first. Preferably on blue terrain. You will fall a few times. You will probably be able to negotiate a trail within 1-2 days. With repeated practice, you'll increase confidence. Shortly, you'll be decent enough that you don't fall anymore. Then it's just a matter of practice, practice, practice as you increase the speeds at which you're comfortable.
 
#18 ·
Like Wolf said, keeping the weight forward or stance centered was/is hardest for me. I will be riding and start to get sketchy it is almost always because my weight is back. I often tell myself, even out loud at times. " Keep your weight forward " and as stated already take it on greens and gentle blues. I'm glad I learned it. If nothing it is another skill I have learned during my short career as a snowboarder :)
 
#19 ·
through my 2 day instructor training I spend 80% of the time riding switch, so i basically learned how to ride switch by practicing and revisiting the very basics, in level 1-3 rider progression. After 2 days of doing this I can ride switch very confidently on steeper/rough blue terrain (at night with 3" of fresh snow to be precise :laugh:)

Biggest things I had to fix when taking my switch to blue terrain where I really found where my weak points were, basic skills that seemed to just get lost when I went switch:

Commit the entire edge to the turn! Because you are not confident with the switch turn you are not mentally fully committing the entire edge into that turn, so make sure when you are going to turn you take special note to just sack up and push that entire edge in the snow.

Dip your body to match the slope of the hill through the turn! It was amazing the difference it made when when i went to switch, and I committed that edge and I put more weight on that front foot and i laterally dipped my upper body to the slope of the hill through the turn.

Until you can carve switch and get more comfortable, get that back leg around quickly soy you are not lingering on finishing the turn. Weather this is with a sweeping motion or some counter rotation get that turn done.


jumping and spinning 180 on a run then ripping down half the hill switch feels great :D

Good luck with it!
 
#20 ·
through my 2 day instructor training I spend 80% of the time riding switch, so i basically learned how to ride switch by practicing and revisiting the very basics, in level 1-3 rider progression. After 2 days of doing this I can ride switch very confidently on steeper/rough blue terrain (at night with 3" of fresh snow to be precise :laugh:)

Biggest things I had to fix when taking my switch to blue terrain where I really found where my weak points were, basic skills that seemed to just get lost when I went switch:

Commit the entire edge to the turn! Because you are not confident with the switch turn you are not mentally fully committing the entire edge into that turn, so make sure when you are going to turn you take special note to just sack up and push that entire edge in the snow.

Dip your body to match the slope of the hill through the turn! It was amazing the difference it made when when i went to switch, and I committed that edge and I put more weight on that front foot and i laterally dipped my upper body to the slope of the hill through the turn.

Until you can carve switch and get more comfortable, get that back leg around quickly soy you are not lingering on finishing the turn. Weather this is with a sweeping motion or some counter rotation get that turn done.


jumping and spinning 180 on a run then ripping down half the hill switch feels great :D

Good luck with it!
Not to get OT to much, but I love it when the apline skiers try to race by me through the rolls and ill pop back to back 180's, end on switch and keep cruisin with them.

Prob one of the coolest "oh yea" moments haha
 
#21 ·
Not only are we one foot dominant, our front foot when riding regular, but that entire side of our body is dominant.

When learning to ride switch, I found it really helps to think of keeping your shoulders in line with your board. That forces your dominant side to stay at the "back of the bus" over the back of your board, where it belongs.

When learning switch your dominant side will still want to "lead" and that is completely counter productive. You goal is to learn to be comfortable with either side of your body being the "boss".
 
#22 ·
I learned to ride switch on a set back, directional twin, board. So when I was switch, the geometry of the board was different, shorter, stiffer nose etc.

I was lucky though because early in learning to ride reg. I had a problem where when turning I often would go all way round and end up switch!! I could ride it out straight & heel side turn back to reg, but it kept happening and I didn't know why! Got some instruction/advice about not opening my shoulders and keeping them in alignment with the board,.. paying particular attention to that & it worked. I stopped spinning round when turning!

The upside being, switch didn't freak me out! BUT,.. I could NOT do a toe side turn switch!! At ALL! Crashed every time I tried! I figured it was the directional board that was the problem! (...it wasn't!!)

I took a lesson specifically for switch, (...from same guy who helped with spinning.) Two tips made the diff. for me,..

1. Point my lead arm & shoulder into my turns! Just like when I was learning to link turns reg.

2. Flex/pull my bent knees together towards ea. other for toe side turns, causing my feet & bindings to twist/flex board's contact points for the turn,..

Flex/push my knees out, away from ea. other for heel side! All while using my arms and shoulders to point into the turn & keep my upper body in the proper config.!

if you can't picture the motion I'm talking about,.. stand on the floor, slightly on your toes, feet apart, bend your knees, now bring your knees together till they touch, now push them apart. That's the movement that flexes the board! once I could do that slowly and in control, I started adding more dynamic movement to my switch riding & turning!

I ride switch on greens and blues top to bottom on my directional twin now, and my new true twin?? Shit, I almost look like I know what I'm doing!! :)
 
#23 ·
All that advise is good but might just get confusing. When I learned someone just told me do one turn, next time try linking 2 turns, then 3 ect...just set small obtainable goals and practice. Practicing is by far the most important thing you can do.
 
#25 ·
i was lucky enough to have a confused brain from childhood..i skateboard goofy but ollie regular, skimboard goofy, ripstick goofy, surf regular and snowboard regular..so what it boiled down to was that turning switch for me was just about reversing my movements..it took a day or two to figure out how to do that smoothly..now im just sharpening up my carving
 
#26 · (Edited)
Well, my story is I rode regular and was able to do double black diamonds my second time snowboarding. Not really fast, but maybe fall only 20% of the way? I took me so much more switch riding I lost count before I can do double blacks. I think like snowolf says, you pretty much are imprinted with your usual riding. Then when you do switch, it feels really arward and scary. Not only muscle memory, but just looking in that direction and having a blind spot on the opposite side is really weird and you just have to force yourself to do it.

Now, to date, I prolly logged more switch than regular because I use it to "save energy" for doing hard stuff regular when the opportunity arises. But STILL if I had to guess, my switch is 80% as good as regular! :laugh:

But I would agree somewhat on the front foot weighting. That's one way to keep your stance switch and not reverting when you don't want to. It's a matter of conciously doing it to break that habit before you body will get used to switch.
 
#33 ·
Well, my story is I rode regular and was able to do double black diamonds my second time snowboarding. Not really fast, but maybe fall only 20% of the way? I took me so much more switch riding I lost count before I can do double blacks. I think like snowolf says, you pretty much are imprinted with your usual riding. Then when you do switch, it feels really arward and scary. Not only muscle memory, but just looking in that direction and having a blind spot on the opposite side is really weird and you just have to force yourself to do it.

Now, to date, I prolly logged more switch than regular because I use it to "save energy" for doing hard stuff regular when the opportunity arises. But STILL if I had to guess, my switch is 80% as good as regular! :laugh:

But I would agree somewhat on the front foot weighting. That's one way to keep your stance switch and not reverting when you don't want to. It's a matter of conciously doing it to break that habit before you body will get used to switch.
god i just love claims like that.:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
#27 ·
Because of the relatively poor snow conditions this week, I've been practicing switch a lot the last couple of days. It takes a day or two of practice to be able to ride green runs while linking turns cleanly. I think by the end of the week I'll be able to ride anything short of tough blacks in switch.

Biggest problem I'm having right now is that I find my edge transition is delayed when going from heelside to toeside. Kind of a reluctance to commit. I can overcome it by concentrating on it, and eventually I'll be confident enough that it'll be automatic.
 
#31 ·
Because of the relatively poor snow conditions this week, I've been practicing switch a lot the last couple of days. It takes a day or two of practice to be able to ride green runs while linking turns cleanly. I think by the end of the week I'll be able to ride anything short of tough blacks in switch.

Biggest problem I'm having right now is that I find my edge transition is delayed when going from heelside to toeside. Kind of a reluctance to commit. I can overcome it by concentrating on it, and eventually I'll be confident enough that it'll be automatic.

Thats the same problem I have that I'm trying to improve on. My turn initiation feels slow and sloppy when Im riding switch. I'm sure my directional board doesn't help things much but i think i really just need to force myself to ride switch more often. let me know if you find any secrets to getting this down quickly

I wish i learned switch when i was first starting out, i hate going back to riding like a beginner...its like going from a fancy mountain bike back to using training wheels
 
#35 · (Edited)
I don't know much this will help. I've been learning switch the past 2-3 seasons. Once I get into what feels like a proper position, I grab the cargo pocket on my pants. I guess I feel this help me stay in that position and keep things lined up while concentrating on edge transition. Maybe it's just a mental thing because I learned to ride that way, but I'm self taught so I have no idea if this is a good practice for others. Oh and I'm at the point where I can ride most blues some blacks comfortably at speed, but still revert back to normal when I get into crowded areas. Again could be a mental block, it just doesn't feel like I have quite the fine edge control at lower speeds, and I'm not as quick edge to edge.
 
#30 ·
In an AASI training clinic where we did a lot of switch riding, the TD brought up the whole dominant eye thing as well.
Yeah I went through the same thing, never knew there was a dominant eye until I bought guns! I'm left eye dominant, but shoot my rifles and shotguns right, which really screws me up.

I ride goofy so maybe that's why I'm always trying to rotate my upper body more to get that left eye in front where it wants to be. :dunno:
 
#36 ·
The best advice I have for you, is honestly stop sounding like a puss and go for it. It's just like learning it all over, you just gotta man up and do it. your gonna suck at first so it'll take some patience.

Best advice as to making the learning process easier is start by moving into switch from regular all the time and back until it starts to get old and comfy then just go for a switch turn. Then when you get into switch try to stay there for a while don't always resort to regular at the first sign of difficulty.
 
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