How to Lose Snowboard Edge Pressure when Riding Steeps.
Breaking at the waist…
If you’ve ever found yourself losing edge pressure or falling over when on your toe edge when snowboarding, then chances are that you are a victim of breaking the waist!
This generally starts to happen in a snowboarder’s journey when they start to improve their riding…
Once they venture onto steeper terrain (blue & black trails) this becomes a problem and most riders find themselves breaking at the waist…especially on steeper terrain.
Fortunately for this type of snowboarder it is not a big problem to fix.
The main problem with breaking at the waist when you’re a intermediate (even advanced) snowboarder is that, it can be very discreet and can cause a lot of frustration and confusion if left for too long without correction.
Not only will it cause you to fall but it will also greatly limit the amount of pressure you need to carve correctly, or ride steep terrain with confidence and rhythm when snowboarding.
Let’s look at what problems breaking at the waist cause:
1) Loss of balance (beginner habit)
2) Loss of edge control (edge chatter)
3) Loss of edge pressure (Advanced snowboarders bad habit)
4) Poor foot pleading pressure (carving pressure)
I can honestly say that 90%of snowboarders out there today have some sort of form of breaking at the waist when snowboarding.
So how do you fix a bad habit like breaking at the waist? (click the image above)
The thing is, it’s easier said than done and will take time to fix…
Here’s a tip: physically start to feel your back shoulder blades pinch behind you when standing in a stationary position, this is the starting point of how to correct your breaking at the waist bad habit.
Start learning how to ride in this position and this with this feeling, it will help you keep your weight centred and balanced over the snowboard where it should be!
There is obviously a lot more to it than that but this should definitely be a starting point for all you bad habit snowboarders out there who haven’t had a lesson on the board in a while…
…and, if you never had a lesson then you truly are in for a slow progression into the advanced stages of snowboarding!
Breaking at the waist will not only slow your progression down but keep you stuck at a certain a stage of your snowboarding journey…You MUST fix this bad habit to move forward.
I highly recommend you send us some footage of yourself snowboarding so we can give you some video analysis to help your fix the problem.
This will no doubt help you improve your riding and set you up for a easy progression into advanced snowboarding
NOTE: Want to learn how to stay balanced and controlled when Riding steeps on a snowboard? Simply download this bad habits cheat sheet to gain an unfair advantage on the hill. Learn what bad habits snowboarders make so you can AVOID them to progress faster and maintain balance and control easier…check it out now!
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