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How To Ollie On A Snowboard – Getting More Height

By Jedidiah Tan | Follow Him on Twitter

This week we’re looking at how to ollie on a snowboard, in particular we’ll be looking at how to separate the two main parts of an ollie to get more height and air time:

The important tips to remember:

1) Your tail is the spring (don’t just jump!)

Most people try to jump off their back leg when they ollie, but in reality the trick to getting height is to use that tail as a spring instead of relying on just jumping off the back leg.

Think of it this way… would you get more height jumping off your back leg OR jumping off your back leg with a giant spring underneath it?

2) It’s a 2 step trick

While it’s true that you want a smooth/fluid motion for your snowboard tricks, you still need to break up each part correctly.

In this case, you want to make sure you’re doing 2 steps:

  1. Loading the tail with spring power
  2. Springing off the tail with your back foot

Don’t try to do both at the same time or you won’t be able to load up your tail to get enough height in your ollie.

The next step…

If you’re interested in joining our VIP snowboarding group (which includes snowboard trick tip tutorials and our video analysis and coaching group), click here and sign up for our free lesson series.

You’ll get details for our VIP program after you finish our free lessons 🙂

– Jed

Buttering & Frontside 180 / 360 – The Key To Smooth Snowboard Tricks

By Jedidiah Tan | Follow Him on Twitter

This week we’re looking at buttering and frontside 180s / 360s, in particular we’ll be looking at what makes a a good snowboarder able to execute smooth snowboard tricks:

The important tips to remember:

1) Less is more

Style and smoothness isn’t always about what you need to add, it’s about what you need to remove. All those extra hand movements and extra upper body movements are the difference between someone who looks like they’re ‘hucking’ tricks and someone who looks ‘natural’ and smooth when they snowboard.

Focus on quiet upper body movements and good technique first instead of trying to power through tricks.

2) Watch your carve line

I probably say this every single blog in some way or another, but your carve line has a huge effect on your spin and landing. Planning your carve line ahead of time to get the correct entry line is one of the most important things to learn in snowboarding.

3) Master the 4 180s first (backside, frontside, switch fs, switch bs)

People get amped on landing big spins like 540s, 720s etc. etc., but it’s often how good you are at 180s that determines how good you are at everything else.

180s teach you how to use and control your upper body correctly, and 99% of people I see don’t master them properly before trying to learn 360s and 540s. Master 180s first – the rest will follow.

Basically if you can’t do a smooth 180 all 4 directions 9 times out of 10, than you aren’t ready to be trying big spins anyway.

The next step…

If you’re interested in joining our VIP snowboarding group (which includes snowboard trick tip tutorials and our video analysis and coaching group), click here and sign up for our free lesson series.

You’ll get details for our VIP program after you finish our free lessons 🙂

– Jed

How To Frontside 360 / 540 – Getting More Spin Power & Fixing Your Timing

By Jedidiah Tan | Follow Him on Twitter

Welcome to our video series where I take real snowboarding footage from my students and breakdown a key mistake in their technique and how to fix it.

This week we’re looking at a frontside 360 and frontside 540, in particular we’ll be looking at getting more spin power, fixing your approach timing and body position in the air.

The important tips to remember:

1) Don’t start your final carve too early!

You should be approaching the jump take-off for your final carve at an angle. If you’re riding in a straight line as you ride up the take-off ramp, than you started your final carve too early and that means you’ve lost all the spin power from your carve.

Tip: Start your final carve as you ride up the uphill sloping take-off section of the jump.

2) Spot your landing in the right direction

You should always know which way to look for landing each trick. For a frontside 360, you need to land blind while looking back up the hill. For a frontside 540, you land looking back down the hill for a normal forward looking landing.

3) Lead with your upper body – even in the air

Don’t let your upper body un-wind and get out of position in the air – this will kill your rotation and landing. Continue to lead with your upper body slightly ahead of your lower body until you’re setting up to spot the landing and land.

The next step…

If you’re interested in joining our VIP snowboarding group (which includes snowboard trick tip tutorials and our video analysis and coaching group), click here and sign up for our free lesson series.

You’ll get details for our VIP program after you finish our free lessons 🙂

– Jed

How To Land Perfect Frontside Boardslides On A Snowboard

By Jedidiah Tan | Follow Him on Twitter

Welcome to our video series where I take real snowboarding footage from my students and breakdown a key mistake in their technique and how to fix it.

This week we’re looking at frontside boardslides, in particular we’ll be looking at frontside boardslides with a regular landing.

The trick to the perfect frontside boardslide to regular (hint… it’s all in the body positioning):

The important tips to remember:

1) Twist your upper and lower body in opposite directions

Remember, the key to a perfect frontside boardslide to regular is all in the body rotation. You want to twist your upper body one way, and your lower body the other way.

Think of it like bowling a ball as you bring your back hand forward and kick your back leg horizontal.

2) Push your heels down (keep that board flat)

The biggest mistake once landing is landing toe heavy. That’s where 9/10 people faceplant because they aren’t keeping their board flat.

To fix this, aim to push your heels down and flat as you slide across the box. You always want to keep your board flat against the box as you slide across during the frontside boardslide.

The next step…

If you’re interested in joining our VIP snowboarding group (which includes our video analysis and coaching group), click here and sign up for our free lesson series.

You’ll get details for our VIP program after you finish our free lessons 🙂

– Jed

How To Get More Rotation On Your 360 Spins

By Jedidiah Tan | Follow Him on Twitter

Welcome to our video series where I take footage from my Snomie VIP member’s group and breakdown a key mistake in their technique and how to fix it.

This week we’re looking at 360s!

How to fix your approach line, carve correctly and get more power in your 360 rotation:

The important tips to remember:

1) Speed is your friend

Before fixing anything else, make sure you have enough speed when approaching any jump. If you don’t land in the sweet spot (the steepest part of the landing), you need to go faster.

Pay attention to your run in and if you come up short of the sweet spot, you’ll know to drop in higher or eliminate a speed check on your next attempt.

2) Edging is not carving

Most of your power to spin comes from carving on an edge, but just because you’re on your toe or heel edge, doesn’t mean you’re carving. If you don’t carve, you lose a lot of rotation power and that’s a huge reason why people fail to rotate enough on their 360s.

The easy way to tell whether you’re carving is to ask yourself this question: “Am I riding in a straight line while riding on my edge?”

If you’re carving, your board will be turning. If you aren’t carving, you’ll be riding in a straight line (which means you won’t have any rotation power to help you spin).

Make sure you’re carving and not just riding on an edge.

3) Approach from an angle from one side of the jump

When you carve, you turn your board right? This means you can’t approach from right in front of the jump.

You need to approach at an angle from one side of the jump to compensate for the turning that will happen once you start carving, otherwise you’ll run into the trap of sitting on an edge without carving.

Want your riding analysed with 1 on 1 feedback to help you stomp new tricks?

If you’re interested in joining our VIP snowboarding group (which includes our video analysis and coaching group), click here and sign up for our free lesson series. You’ll get details for our VIP program after you finish our free series.

– Jed

ps – The latest Snomie snowboard podcast is recorded and should be up within the next week 🙂

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