More question and answer time! Today’s question from Jeff:
How long will it take me to learn a new spin?
This question is a little bit tricky because it depends on the type of spin you’re learning and how familiar you are with the spin direction/type.
Snowboard Backside Spin
1) Is it your first time learning spins?
If you’re new to spinning, you’re going to find that it can take quite a long time before you’re able to spin 180s or 360s without difficulty. It may be as long as a full season of just spinning before it becomes natural. You may find that some days you can land 360s most times and other days you can’t.
You’re aiming to reach that ‘click’ point.
It takes time to become consistently good at spinning, but trust me when I say that one day you’ll find that it just ‘clicks’ and you’ll find yourself landing 360s every time. You’ll notice yourself being able to easily spot your landing and stomp that board down. It’s the point when the spin is finally stuck into your muscle memory and you’ve become used to where you have to look and spot your landing (also called aerial awareness).
In addition, things become A LOT easier after you’ve reached that ‘click’ point. Since you’ll now understand the mechanics of spinning, it’s just a matter of initiating the spin with more force to spin a 540, 720 or beyond.
2) Are you learning a new spin direction/type?
It can take a little longer if you’ve never spun in that direction before. Not a full season, but if you’re new to spinning in that direction it can take a couple weeks of constant spinning to get comfortable with that new direction. Remember to force yourself to spin in other directions, it’s the only way to get rid of that awkward feeling when you spin your non-natural directions.
In addition, something interesting I’ve found is that you’ll find one switch spin direction way more comfortable than the other, dependant on which non switch direction you learnt to spin first. See below:
- If you learnt frontside first, you’ll find switch backside spins easier than switch frontside spins
- If you learnt backside first, you’ll find switch frontside spins easier than switch backside spins
Why is this? Because you’re spinning the same direction you’re used to, the only difference being that you’re starting switch. For example – A switch backside spin is identical to a frontside spin after the first 180 of the spin.
Hope this helps answer your question! Good luck with you’re spinning 🙂