jml22

Hey, so last season was my first full season of boarding, i've once or twice a season for a few years but i put in about 15-20 sessions in last year. I progressed from falling leaf to what i think is pretty decent now for one full season. it was basically one day my buddy said, "dude put weight on your front foot when you do your toe side turn"

I tried it out the next run and turns started to just happen on their own when i shifted weight to the front foot. Is this proper technique? I would describe my toe side "turn" would be i put weight on my front foot down the hill and dig my toe in and let my knees bend, and then for heelside side transition i loosen up put weight on my front heel and just let things happens / dig in. Is this the proper way to do things?
I've basically boarded with people who bomb down and i try to keep up and mimick them along the way... they're pretty dynamic and I just wanted to know if this is the right way of doing things and if i'm progressing in the right direction/things to work on this season!

Rookie09

I would need a video to tell you for certain since your description is kinda hard to visualize. Basically if your form looks pretty much someone who is good, you should be fine. Just remember to keep your knees bent and be dynamic. I'm not really sure how to describe it, you'll just kinda know when you're doing it right.

jml22

Yeah i guess i can't really take a video right now lol. Season doesnt start for awhile in cali.
Well i know what twisting and like throwing the board around is like cause i did that for a awhile and was exhausting myself, and i know i've progressed past that at least, beacuse i can go a full day without any problems now.

Rookie09

Sounds like you're on the right track at least. The next goal is to be able to carve instead of making skidded turns. You do this smoothly and not by "throwing the board around" or "twisting." It will help you maintain speed.

Donutz

Jml, one of the biggest roadblocks that new riders have is NOT putting their weight forward. Being in the back seat means you have to fling your board from side to side, by using a lot of upper body counter-rotation and arm-flailing. Putting your weight on your forward foot and using the edge to initiate the turn is almost effortless.

Snowolf is the ranking expert on describing this, but basically the simplified view is this: You start by pushing down on your front heel or toe (depending which way you want to go). You're essentially twisting the board slightly by applying front foot pressure. The board will start to turn on its own. As soon as that happens, you shift the back foot the same way as the front to get rid of the twist and just lean into the turn and enjoy the ride.

A really good rider doesn't even seem to be doing anything, just standing on the board and balancing.

There's a lot of variations for different situations, and different techniques depending on what you're doing, but this is the basic idea for just plain turning back and forth. You build from there.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

I hate the parts between winter...

jml22

Yeah i guess that's what i felt. Once i started putting weight on my front foot, things just happened on their own