I’m going to start going through the suggested topics from the August Giveaway competition. Look forward to your topic suggestions being used as blogs over the next 2 weeks 🙂
Thu Tran asked us:
Any riding tips on how to last longer on the slopes? Does it have to do with weight distribution or riding techniques? After a couple of runs one after another, my legs are burning! I do hate having to rest and not being able to board some more during that down time. I’m rather fit as well, especially during the season.
Good question! I’ve actually had this topic come up several times during casual riding with my housemates, so let’s explore this a little bit more.
Technique
Techniques plays a huge role in how long you can last on the slopes. As you get better, you require less effort and energy to execute turns and carves because you don’t waste as much effort doing the wrong thing or using the wrong muscles.
This plays a large role in fatigue because you’re able to rest certain muscles when they’re not being used and use your weight distribution better to make turns.
Improving your execution
Simply put, a more experienced rider is able to leverage their whole body when executing turns. Practice your execution by making sure you’re using your whole body to turn.
Turns should either be executed bottom to top or top to bottom (depending on whether you are following a US or Canadian learning technique). This means you need to follow through each turn like a ripple effect.
Top to bottom example:
- Head looks where you’ll be turning
- Shoulder turns
- Body and hips turn
- Knees and ankles turn
Fitness
Balance and coordination
Don’t forget that better technique also means your body has the muscle memory in place for any balance and co-ordination required when executing turns and other manoeuvres. Many people underestimate how much energy is spent on balance and co-ordination.
Even a really fit person may not be ‘snow fit’. You’ll find that even a really fit person will get very sore and tired during the first week of the season. This is because snowboarding uses many tiny balance and stability muscles that aren’t usually trained at the gym.
Solution: Implement things such as balancing on a balance board to work those balance and stability muscles. If you’re really new to balance and stability training, even just doing simple things such as one legged squats can have a great effect on training your stability muscles.
So which area effects your endurance the most?
Well, as with many things, it’s not one or the other. I’d say that technique plays the biggest role in allowing you to ride longer, but training your balance and stability muscles also plays a large role in keeping your riding endurance up.
Hope that answers your question!