Switch riding means snowboarding in the opposite direction to normal. If you usually ride regular, you will be riding switch with your right foot forward. If you usually ride goofy, you will be riding switch with your left foot forward.

Switch riding is often neglected; most snowboarders don’t even realise how important it really is to progression. Snowboarding is a lot of fun, and the reason a lot of people neglect learning switch is because they are having fun just riding around in their dominant stance. What they fail to realise is how much more fun they could have by learning this skill.

Freestyle

If you want to learn any tricks on your snowboard (freestyle), the first thing you should learn is switch. Think about basic progression; you can’t learn a 360 until you can do a 180, and you can’t learn a 180 unless you can take off or land switch.

Learning to ride switch is the key to freestyle progression.

If you are serious about your snowboarding, getting strong at switch will make you a well-rounded and versatile snowboarder.

Switch is fun

Once you learn how to ride switch the fun factor increases dramatically. Spins, butters, presses, boardslides - the options and combinations are endless. The challenge of learning a new skill and getting better at it will also give you a great sense of achievement. Just like you have fun improving your riding in your normal stance, the same goes for switch.

Full-body workout

When you incorporate switch into your snowboarding you will get a much better full-body workout. If you constantly ride in one direction, you are only working certain muscles on either side; this often leads to rapid muscle fatigue (think about your back leg on cat-tracks or towards the end of the day). You are working the different sides of your body in different ways; not only will this lead to fatigue, but you increase the chance of injury.

If you ride switch during the day you are using your whole body and will significantly prolong the time it takes for your muscles to fatigue, not to mention giving your body a balanced workout.

How to

• Learning to ride switch is much like learning to link turns in your normal stance; all the same principles apply. It is important to think about all the techniques you used when learning to link turns. If you didn’t learn to link turns with correct technique or you want to revise your technique, you should definitely read over the following articles: isolated turns and basic turns. The articles cover turning in detail - including step-by-step instruction, common problems, and video tutorial.


• Be patient when learning to ride switch; it doesn’t usually come together in one run. Set aside a few runs a day to only ride switch; with a bit of dedicated practise you will progress quickly. It is common for snowboarders to progress quicker learning switch compared to when they were learning to link turns in their normal stance; this is because there is already an understanding of the principles of turning, with strong edging and rotation/steering skills aquired from previous riding.


• There is however a few things you can do to your stance that will make riding switch easier. Placing a negative angle on your back binding (duck stance) opens your body to travel in both directions. Setting up your stance to be more centred (stance setback) or completely centred places you in a better position on your snowboard for riding switch; your snowboard will initiate turns with greater ease.


• The type of board you ride (board shape) will also make a difference. A twin shaped snowboard is designed to travel equally well in both directions, making it easier to ride switch.


• I suggest you read the following articles to gain a better understanding of how stance and board type affects your ride: stance and board characteristics.

If you have any questions, ask one of our qualified snowboard instructors on the Boardworld Forums.