5 Things You Must Do Before A Snowboard Lesson

I’m sure you’ll agree that getting a snowboard lesson can be a bit stressful. You’re spending serious coin to go through what many point out as a frustrating experience. I work as a snowboard instructor everyday and I see people turn up in all sorts of states.

Here are the 5 most important things that you should do before your snowboard lesson.

1. Get the best fitting boots: Because rental boots suck, here are some tips:

• Tie the boots up and walk in them for 60 seconds before you decide they’re too small/big.
• Make sure that your toes are touching the end when they are tied up.
• Make sure that your toes aren’t being crushed.
• Make sure there’s less than a cm of heel lift.

2. Make sure your board is the right length

• As a general guide, when you stand the board on its end, it shouldn’t be higher than your eyes or lower than the base of your neck.
• Somewhere just below the chin is good for a beginner (longer boards are better for more experienced riders because they are harder to turn).
• Try this calculator.

3. Make sure you have the correct clothing and layers on:

• A dry base laser – go for something that keeps you dry rather than warm.
• A Fleece to keep you warm.
• A water AND wind proof shell jacket.
• For more tips, read this.

4. Do the 180 second snowboarding stretch:

• 60 second seated hamstring stretch: 1. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you and straight knees. 2. Maintaining straight knees, slowly slide your hands up your legs to your feet. 3. Extend as far as you can, and hold for 30 seconds, release and repeat 1 more time (visual aid).
• 60 second hip & lower back stretch: 1. Start in a forward lunge position and drop your left knee to the ground. 2. Place your right elbow on the inside of your right knee. 3. Press the elbow into your right knee and twist your torso to the left. 4. Reach your left arm behind you until you feel a gentle stretch in your lower back and right groin. 5. Hold for about 30 seconds, release and repeat with the other leg (visual aid).
• 60 second standing quadriceps stretch: 1. Grab onto something if you need, and stand on one leg. 2. Bend your knee and bring your heel toward your butt. 3. Pull up on your ankle and straighten your posture. 4. Hold for 30 seconds, release and repeat with the other leg (visual aid). Make sure you don’t strain your knee by maintaining a slow stretch.

5. Arrive to your lesson early

• Everything is going to take longer than you expect. If you don’t get there early then the chances are that you will be late.

Enjoy your shred!
“Shredding” is the technical word for “snowboarding with purpose”. I always make sure I “shred” as much as possible.

About the author: David Raybould is a Writer, World Wonderer and Founder of a website specifically for anyone interested in snowboard instructing. You can visit his website www.SIC-World.com or connect with him on Twitter@SICWorld.

Understanding Snow Reports

You might feel like you opted for the wrong major in college when trying to read your local snow report. It’s the only thing standing between us and the lifts and we’re always waiting for that “new snowfall”. It’s important to keep in mind that there’s a language to this and that it’s important to understand exactly what fell. Resorts aim solely to sell more tickets and have invented terms like “packed powder” to get you on the slopes. Below is a summary of the basic terms and conditions to help you get through the BS when looking at your local snow report.

Type: Powder
AKA: Pow, blower, chowder, balls deep, piddly pow pow
Official Line: Cold, new, loose, fluffy snow that hasn’t compacted
True Meaning: The reason most of us get out of bed in the morning or find living in a van for a whole winter to be perfectly acceptable.

Type: Packed Powder
AKA: Tracked out, schralped, previously pow
Official Line: New snow that’s been packed down
True Meaning: Seems like an oxymoron, no? Usually means it hasn’t snowed in a while.

Type: Hard Packed
AKA: Gnar, groomers
Official Line: When natural or machine-made snow becomes firmly packed.
True Meaning: Hard and fast but can still edge into it.

Type: Frozen Granular
AKA: Golf balls, death cookies
Official Line: Hard surface of old snow formed by granules freezing together after rain or warm temperatures.
True Meaning: Snowboarding on ball bearings sometimes accompanied by shin whacks.

Type: Corn
AKA: Slush, mash potatoes, peanut butter
Official Line: Large semi-loose granules, which freeze during the night then loosen during the day.
True Meaning: Slushy and possibly choppy. Classic spring ripping.

Type: Variable Conditions
AKA: Anything and everything
Official Line: No primary surface condition can be determined. A wide range of various surfaces can be encountered.
True Meaning: A blanket term for resorts to cover their ass. Could mean lots of rocks, bare patches, and/or sheer ice.

Type: Icy
AKA: Boiler plate, cement
Official Line: Hard-glazed surface, ice spots
True Meaning: Consider staying home unless you grew up riding the ice coast or enjoy donning a spandex one-piece.

Don’t fall for it folks!

Ultimate Snowboarding Work Out Plan

Sure, sliding down on a board sounds like it doesn’t require much effort, but don’t be fooled. There are only two reasons why you don’t feel exhausted at the end of snowboarding day: 1. You’re already in good shape as it is as a result of your person gym sessions, treadmill sessions, healthy lifestyle, 2. You’re one of those people that buy the gear, spend 30 minutes on the slopes and chill by the fireplace the rest of the day. To have a kick ass time riding, you need to be in good shape and this guide is my personal plan to keeping fit. It’s simple but does the trick!

Basic Facts

• Freeride/all-mountain snowboarding is roughly 90% lower body and 10% upper body.
• Freestyle snowboarding is roughly 70% lower body and 30% upper body (the tricks involved require upper body muscles).
• The most used muscle is the Quadriceps (your thighs), followed by the Tibialis Anterior (side of the leg), followed by the Calves.
• This plan is not designed to give you ripped and big muscles, but rather to train your muscles and get them toned and fit (there will be more focus on repetition than on strength building).
• You can burn anywhere between 250-600 calories/hour of snowboarding (No, this doesn’t include the time you spend waiting in line, on the lift, or knocking back a few beers).

1. Stretch (do this every time before you work out – I can’t stress enough how important this is)

Hamstring Stretch: Lie on floor with knees bent. Straighten one leg and slowly pull it towards you, clasping the thigh, calf or ankle. Keep knee slightly bent. Switch legs.

Inner Thigh Stretch: Sit on floor with feet pressed together (butterfly). Keeping abs in, lean forward until you feel a gentle stretch in your inner thighs.

Calf Stretch: On hands and knees, straighten your legs, but keep them slightly bent. Gently press one or both feet towards the floor, keeping back flat and abs in.

Spine Twist (my personal favorite): Lying on the floor, place right foot on the left knee. Using your left hand, gently pull your right knee towards the floor, twisting your spine and keeping left arm straight out, hips and shoulders on the floor. Switch sides.

Quad Stretch: Lie down on your side using elbow for balance. Using other arm, slowly pull your foot towards your glutes, keeping both knees together and bent knee pointing down. Switch legs.

2. Exercise (3 sets of 20 repetitions per exercise & increase the weight between each set)

Lunges: This movement is great for working the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. This exercise also works many smaller stabilizer muscles because it requires a lot of balance.

Leg Extensions: This movement isolates the quadriceps. This exercise is good for developing muscle detail between the individual segments of your quadriceps muscles.

Squat Resistance: This one is great for building stamina in your in Quadriceps, the most used muscle in snowboarding.

Lying Leg Curls: This exercise is great for the hamstring muscle.

Calf Raises: Like the name points out, this exercise will help you build stronger calves.

Snowboarding Stance 101

You might find yourself “asking what makes them better riders than me?” A lot of factors affect your snowboarding abilities and skill level. One that is commonly overlooked is your stance. Stance can make a world of a difference to your riding, and making sure that you’re properly setup for YOUR style of riding will make your life much easier. For those wondering, stance is the angle at which your bindings are set to.

What To Do
1. Figure out whether you are a regular (left foot forward) or goofy (right foot forward) rider. My favorite method (also the funnest one) is to run across a smooth floor with socks on and try stopping yourself. The foot that creeps its way in front of the other will be the foot you place at the tip of your board.

2. Angle the front binding outwards a bit and set the back one at zero.

3. After you’re no longer falling on your ass every few meters, start testing out different stances. Two things to focus on are stance width and angle.

Stance Width
Stance width affects your ease of turning and board control as you go down a hill. Riding too narrow or to wide will just make you uncomfortable and you’ll feel the pain in the side of your legs (one too many friends have complained about it, so I feel I must point this out). A good starting point is roughly an inch wider than your shoulder width and then feel free to adjust if you need. Theoretically, go wider for more stability.

Stance Angle
There are two main variances in stance direction that are used:

• Forward stance – this is where the front food is angled forward and the back is just slightly angled forward or not at all (this is most popular with free riding where the board is primarily facing one direction).
• Duck-footed – this is where your front food points outwards towards your tip (similar to forward stance) AND your back foot points out towards the tail of the board, thus forming a crude V (this is most popular with freestyle riders).

Tip – Center yourself on the board, put your feet where they feel the most comfortable and squat and stand up like you would if you were turning down the mountain (at this point your bindings should not be mounted on your board). This will give you a good idea of what is a good width and angle for you, but feel free to change it up as your riding gets better.

Should I buy online or from the local store?

I’m a huge, nay, the hugest, proponent and advocate of the internet. I’ve been drinking the internet koolaid since I was 10, back when the internet cost $60/month, Google did not exist, Yahoo was still a rudimentary directory in the making, and text-only websites were the recommended viewing choice). And when it comes to online buying, I feel the same way.

I buy whatever I want online, not because I’m lazy, but because it’s more convenient, and usually cheaper (and I’m lazy). With same-day shipping and next-day delivery, why waste the gas and time going into a store if I know what I want. What’s more is that, if you’re not doing your research online, then you’re not being smart . Websites like this and thousands of others dedicated to providing honest reviews on just about anything (I mean com’on, there are websites out there that review sex toys and birth control products for your sake) are available to help you make a better shopping decision.

So when it comes to buying your snowboarding gear online, I say go for it, BUT given the nature of snowboarding gear, it’s always best to go into your local store first. “But dude, doesn’t that defeat the point?” In a way it does, but here’s why buying your gear online is a smart choice:

Deals - you will always find deals on the gear you want. If it’s not website X, then it’ll be website Y. There’s always a website out there that’ll offer you a good deal on what you’re finding. Tip: If website X has a deal on a snowboard you want, but not on the boots, buy the snowboard from website X, and go to website Y for a deal on the boots.

Fast and Free Delivery – when you’re forking over an arm and a leg (and even a kidney sometimes) for your gear, websites selling you the gear will offer same-day AND free delivery.

Cheaper – Even if there are no deals on the gear you want, you can find the same gear for a better price online than at your local shop.

Last Year’s Model – I love buying last year’s models, because they’re always significantly cheaper. My new 2008 Burton T6 cost me $450 instead of $850 when I bought it. Unless you’re at a board show, you won’t find last year’s models except for online stores. Most local shops, don’t stock previous models.

I contemplated making a list of online stores, but in an effort to remain neutral, I’d have to compare each one fairly and I’ll leave that for another post.

So if you’re looking for new gear: check out snowboard reviews, go to your local store, figure out what you want, compare prices, and buy from the cheaper source.