Intermediate Snowboarding Tips
So you finally found your balance on the snowboard and got off the beginner slopes, now You need some Intermediate snowboarding tips to help you start changing edges on steeper terrain with more confidence and style….
Ok, maybe not good style, but some style nonetheless!
Now it’s time for you to start exploring the mountain with friends and family…only problem is, you’ve had a quick taste of steeper terrain already and now you understand that your beginner turns just won’t cut it anymore!
It’s time you become an intermediate snowboarder…
That’s exactly what this post is all about! Today you are going to learn about some of the intermediate snowboarding tips and techniques that you must understand, and implement if you ever want to lose the fear or lack of confidence when riding steep terrain on your snowboard.
The hardest thing about learning how to snowboard, is turning, but once you’ve got that, it’s easy to Progress…’ if you have the right training and coach behind you’
That’s where we come in, Online Snowboard Coach takes all of the guesswork out of how to keep you progressing from beginner snowboarder into an intermediate snowboarder, even Advanced snowboarder!
So, Today I am going to outline 11 basic topics you must be aware of if you are serious about taking your snowboarding to the next level:
-
ABSORPTION IN THE LEGS
-
ANTICIPATION IN THE TURN
-
COUNTER ROTATION
-
BREAKING AT THE WAIST
-
FASTER RANGE OF MOVEMENTS
-
SNOWBOARDING BY YOURSELF
-
BUMPY TERRAIN
-
TOE AND HEELSIDE SNOWBOARD TURNS
-
LOSS OF EDGE PRESSURE
-
SNOWBOARD S TURNS
-
CONCLUSION
These are intermediate snowboarding tips that will take some time to develop but keep at it and soon you’ll be riding like an advanced snowboarder!
I’m assuming you already know what your basic snowboard stance is and can link turns on green or some blue trails around the mountain?
And with that being said, let’s begin…
ABSORPTION IN THE LEGS:
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you tend to fall over a lot or lose edge control when hitting small bumps in the snow pack, then there is a very strong possibility that you are not using your lower half of your body enough to help with snowboard control and edge pressure and balance!
80% of snowboarders ride with very little ABSORPTION in the legs, in fact, most snowboarders I see today tend to get excruciating pain or stiff calf’s muscles because of this…
They are relying to heavily on the skeletal bones which tend to burn the smaller muscle groups out quickly. By using the full range of your lower body ‘FLEXION AND EXTENSION’ you can spread the load evenly and ride a lot longer.
ABSORPTION IN THE LEGS is a major player when learning how to ride your snowboard like a pro, for a more in depth conversation, follow this link and unlock the secrets to you becoming a very strong snowboarder! Learn more here: Absorption in the legs
ANTICIPATION IN THE TURN:
This is another major problem that must be addressed for intermediate snowboarders… in fact, this is so important and detrimental to your snowboarding that if you don’t learn how to do this you will unfortunately create an extremely hard bad habit to break called counter rotation.
Anticipation into the turn will enable you to take your intermediate snowboarding to a completely new level all on its own!
By learning how to anticipate correctly into every turn on the snowboard you will start riding steep terrain naturally, you will find bumpy terrain (off piste) turns easier to make and in general, your speed and control will increase tenfold.
It’s time for you to leave the other 90% of snowboarders on the mountain in your dust and finally learn this ANTICIPATION IN THE TURN technique that will fast forward your learning curve to advanced snowboarding.
NOTE: if you struggle to make turns on one edge, then you have a very high chance of COUNTER ROTATION and ANTICIPATION INTO THE TURN is how we fix this issue…
Download our ‘Master the Turns’ Ep and start Riding like a pro in no time…
BREAKING AT THE WAIST:
If you’ve even been riding down the hill and made a turn only to have the snowboard drift down the fall line instead of across and in the direction you want to travel, then this can be a problem related to breaking at the waist.
It is very common for beginner and intermediate snowboarders to break at the waist when riding steeper terrain than they are use too.
The main problem with this is that you are essentially transferring weight from your snowboard edge to the snow and in return, sacrificing all control and edge pressure that is needed to snowboard correctly!
This will also cause you to lose control, gain speed and create a lot of edge chatter on steep terrain.
If you want to learn how to snowboard at an advanced level then it is extremely important to maintain a strong basic stance, especially when learning how to ride blue and trails on the board.
COUNTER ROTATION:
As I was talking in the previous post (above), Counter rotation is one of the most common intermediate snowboarders mistakes that developing Riders tend to make when learning how to ride faster and harders on steeper terrain.
One of the major consequences for snowboarding with this BAD HABIT is loss of steering and control…
This will generally be on your heel to toe turn and always shows itself when you start learning how to ride steep terrain!
Another consequence is loss of edge pressure and balance…by not correcting this problem area in your snowboarding skill se, you will ultimately destroy your success to ride your snowboard on steeps at an advanced level that is required to ride it.
Learn more here: Counter Rotation snowboarding tips
FASTER RANGE OF MOVEMENTS:
As you become a more confident and capable Intermediate snowboarder, you will naturally start wanting to explore the terrain with family and friends.
The only problem with this is that more than likely you find yourself in situations where you feel uncomfortable with speed and lack of balance with control due to steep terrain.
In the beginning stages of snowboarding, we encourage the rider to slowly release and apply edge pressure to the snowboard edge. We also control the pitch of the slope in the beginning stages to help control speed.
When you start riding steeper terrain, it is absolutely vital you become more consciously aware of your Range of movements with in the lower and upper body parts.
Steeper terrain means you MUST start controlling your speed more effectively, and one way to do this, is to get your snowboard around and through the fall line quickly!
Everything becomes faster, releasing and applying edge pressure movements should be exaggerated and your Timing tempo increased.
Not only is it detrimental to your intermediate snowboarding progression but without you won’t be able to Carve or generate a dynamic turn style as you become an advanced snowboarder.
Learn more Intermediate snowboarding Tips here: Faster Range of Movements when snowboarding
SNOWBOARDING BY YOURSELF:
Sometimes a little time by yourself when snowboarding can generate massive results in your favour…
I remember when I first started learning how to ride at an advanced snowboard level and a lot of the skills I developed came from snowboarding by myself.
It’s a great time to slow things down and really focus on the body movements without feeling insecure or being ridiculed by your peers!
Snowboarding by yourself is great for learning how to ride switch as well. For most riders, switch seems twice as hard as regular, but the truth is that with a little time alone and no judgement from others, you will quickly find yourself riding switch just as easy as your regular riding style.
NOTE: I RECOMMEND YOU RIDE SWITCH FOR AN ENTIRE DAY BY YOURSELF
Another reason to have the occasional day snowboarding by yourself is to de-stress, chuck some headphones on, play your favourite song and go for a shred…On powder days, this works very well, as the old saying goes “No friends on a powder day” now get out there and rip it up!
BUMPY TERRAIN:
Another common intermediate snowboarders struggle with is riding in tracked out conditions or in general riding off piste or bumpy terrain.
I guess you could say this is where the boys are separated from the men…
This is why it is so important to practice the things I keep telling you. The problem with green/blue groomed trails is that depending in the snow condition, they can be very forgiving (and that fine) but it’s not until you grab the bull by its horns and go and test your skill set in difficult terrain feature that the true level of your snowboarding is exposed!
It’s at this stage where all the confidence you once gained goes out the door and you finally start to break down some limiting beliefs about what you thought was possible on the snowboard for yourself.
It is also at this stage that you will develop more bad habits if your basic stance and snowboarding style are flawed.
For a greater understanding of how to ride these types of snow conditions and terrain features then I highly recommend you read our Bumpy terrain blog post…the tips in it will be the difference between hospital and taking your riding to the next level!
TOE AND HEEL SIDE SNOWBOARD TURNS:
I find it quite interesting for beginner snowboarders, it can quickly turn from beginner to expert snowboarder in an extremely quick format when learning how to become a stronger rider.
Your basic skidded turns on green slopes quickly become foreign and unforgiving, every little bit of knowledge you have acquired on the learners slope has quickly gone out the door. You lose faith in your focus, balance, control and sometimes it feels like your trying to steer a school bus down the hill.
If this is you…’Try not to worry’ too much!
Most riders experience a very similar situation when learning how to become a strong intermediate snowboarder at some point in their riding journey.
Toe and heel side snowboard turns can be easy to learn or frustratingly hard?
Depending on your coach that is!
In my opinion most instructors (90%) fail to understand the fundamental learning structure that is essential for people to understand in order to achieve results quickly and fast!
And this is why so many snowboarders don’t understand the correct technique for riding at an advanced snowboard level….
If you’re reading this then you have obviously found the right page and your snowboarding is about to Improve!!!!
LOSS OF EDGE PRESSURE:
Some of the challenges when learning how to ride steeper terrain as a intermediate snowboarder can be Loss of edge pressure…
What exactly do I mean when I say loss of edge pressure?
Loss of edge pressure will normally result in edge chatter when trying to slow down or turn down steep terrain.
Or it could be that you struggle to make turns in a timely matter…
As you become more confident within your ability you must understand what causes this issue amongst intermediate riders.
Some of the reasons you could be losing edge pressure on the snowboard could be from a number of reasons like:
- Breaking at the waist
- Not knowing your range of movement or,
- Your timing technique is out!
All of these Intermediate snowboarding problem areas could be causing you trouble when riding at this level and if they are not corrected quickly, unfortunately you will just create more bad habits and continue the circle of poor snowboarding technique.
…and this is where most of the snowboarders on the hill are…in no man’s land, stuck at a skill set that truly limits their ability to ride the mountain the way they wish they could!
To fix Loss of edge pressure, Click here
SNOWBOARD S TURNS:
I know what you’re going to say…
I can already do S turns and I’m not here to learn s turns? I’m here to improve my snowboarding skills, not learn beginner snowboarding again!
The problem with this attitude is that being over confident on blue/black terrain (when learning) can be a curse for the average intermediate snowboarder.
It’s at this stage when your potential to create bad habits is at its highest…
Here’s some just to name a few:
- Breaking at the waist
- Steering with the back foot
- Not Looking in the direction of travel
- Counter rotation
- Kicking the back foot out
And the list goes on…
It is essential you don’t push too hard when learning steeps or how to ride faster on bumpy terrain when snowboarding.
Not all victories are good and sometime it may even hurt your progression in the sport.
BAD HABITS ARE EXTREMELY HARD TO BREAK
Take your time and master each stage carefully. Especially the breakdown of the Intermediate snowboarding S Turn Technique.
This way you will naturally progress and your technique will quickly trump everyone else who never took the time to do it right!
CONCLUSION:
I hope you’ve learnt a lot from this blog post…please feel free to leave a question and I’d be happy to help you out.
Everything outlined above is most of the topics you need to understand/implement and master if you ever want to become a competent intermediate snowboarder.
Just remember that it takes time to create the muscle memory required to ride with all of the above topics in alignment and unison with each other!
Focus on 1 topic at a time, master it and move on, soon you will become a Jedi snowboarder at isolating certain body parts (snowboarding exercises). This ultimately will unlock the keys to your success when snowboarding at a higher level.
To get the full HD video exercises (128 video tutorials) and demonstrations, including one personal feedback session a month, then JOIN our OSC Lab and get instant access to all of it, including our snowboard coaches.
Our Intermediate ‘Master the Turns’ EP is our cornerstone product and will literally transform your average snowboarding turns into someone everyone watches from the chairlift. Not only does your ability improve but your style and confidence go into hyperdrive.
Learn the secrets to advanced snowboarding by clicking here!
‘ATTENTION INTERMEDIATE SNOWBOARDERS’
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!
Want more Intermediate snowboarding Tips and Techniques?
Then Join our other members and ask our OSC snowboard Coaches anything you want about how to snowboard!
Not a member of the OSC Engage Facebook Group. Learn more here….
