This is Nev Lapwood, SnowboardAddiction.com. You are checking out the frontside boardslide video releasing. The frontside boardslide is where you are sliding down the rail backwards with your board facing uphill. Before you get into this trick, you are going to need to have 50-50s in normal boardslides and lock down. Make sure you have them on a whole bunch of features so you are super-familiar with how your board slides in the park.
Doing front boards properly requires a strongly counter-rotated body position. This means that your upper body is rotated in the opposite direction to your lower body like this. It means you can keep on looking downhill in the forward direction to travel while sliding backwards and allows you to come out back in your regular direction at the end of the big jump.
Hop up both feet and position your lower body into the front board direction. Notice how my upper body counter rotates in the opposite direction so that as I am sliding, I am continued to look forward. As you are imagining the feature, release the counter-rotated body position so that you land and ride away straight. You can make these movements a lot easier by actively using your arms.
Start with your arms back towards your thigh. After you hop, your arms counter-rotate and end up towards the nose of your board and as you release, your arms will return back. Back, forward, back. Get your board on and feel this body position. It feels awkward at first but this is how it is done. In magazines and videos, you will constantly see the boarders using this counter-rotated position to do front board.
A lot of riders find that front board has become a little easier with your body weight position slightly over your front foot, like I am doing here. It also gives you a bit of added start. You start slow and practice in moving into the front board position. Feel how your body uses counter-rotation and imagine you are actually hitting a box. Throw box in the snow and bump over them. Once you are feeling confident, let's take it to the park.
For your first ever front board, be sure to use a smaller flat box similar to this one with minimal consequences if you fall. Get the move out of the box by banging out a couple of mellowed 50-50s and board slides. Find a good spot where you can drop straight with the required speed. Avoid doing any speeches with the team to throw up your concentration.
When you practice front boarding on the snow, you are using a toe edge to control your speed. However on box, the most important thing is to keep the base of your board pressed completely flat using absolutely no edge. The weight of your entire body must be projected directly down at a 90-degree angle to the box. The best method to get the feel of keeping that pace deep flat is to use the 50-50 shuffle treatment. This is where you start off by 50-50 in the box and then shuffle your board into the front board direction.
Start off by only front boarding the very in and gradually shuffle into position earlier and earlier on the feature. After a few tries, you'll become accustomed to how front side views and your confidence will increase. Be sure to stop the features with your hands towards your thigh so you can actively use your arms to counter rotate.
The next step up is to pop straight into the front board position. When you take front board to different box features, you can always start again with the 50-50 shuffle before jumping straight into the front board. It is a super safety and it will greatly increase your confidence. Always look at the end or pass at the end of the feature which helps to slide the whole end. As you slide off the end, release the counter-rotated position. This will automatically point your board back downhill. Absorb your landings by flexing with your knees as you hit the ground, right away like you earn it.
When you start having kinked features, it is important to pay attention to where your body is. To keep your base flat, you must have your body weight at exactly 90 degrees to the feature, being projected down into it. So in front boarding through kinks, you need to adjust and keep that base flat.
On rails it is harder to use the 50-50 shuffle technique. However, by this stage, you will already feel confident, sliding front side. To hook down, you need to jump on from the side. The counter-rotated technique is exactly the same and your front board balance is now becoming roller point. Notice when you approach it down, it is in front of you on your front side. This is where the name frontside boardslide comes from and it is taken directly from skateboarders who are doing front boards long before us.
Mixing up with always a Ollies and Mollies on to your front boards that's a red element. We are riding it two series. Rip it off. This is Nev Lapwood, SnowboardAddiction.com. Have fun!
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services