Rotations

G’day guys,

Had a ye ol yarn earlier with Jeff over at Chemical Storm and he said i should come say hi. So hi.

Anyway whilst i’m here i thought i may as well ask a question. I did have a quick search but didn’t really find anything. There’s plenty of information out on the web about it but i thought i would get some opinions from you fellas.

I just got back from Japan and i spent a good day in the park learning how to do 360’s. After probably about 20 or 30 stacks (determination!) i started to make some progress and actually rode away from a 360.

My question is - What is the best way to initiate and maintain a spin - whilst doing a grab?

I’ve found two methods. One is going at the jump straight and rotating the shoulders and head preemptively and then hitting the jump and letting the body do the work.  The second method is by taking a heel edge and hitting the jump at a slight angle also with a twisted upper.

What are your thoughts? My next snow trip (NZ this winter) i plan on focusing a lot more on this.

<3 Jason

Cheers for the link!

I’ve seen a few off these snowboard addiction vids as well as 20 tricks. Just wanted some other opinions from people who arent professional paid riders

*Edit* Kuma for the win! (Japanese bear mascot or something right?)

There’s two things that will allow you to rotate a spin smoothly off a jump, and really you should be doing both almost simultaneously (watch the video to see an example of the timing). The first is pre-winding; as you approach the jump, you need to pre-wind your body in the opposite directing than you’re intending to spin. As you approach the lip of the jump, you should start unwinding in the direction of the spin. This will give you the necessary momentum to initiate the spin. The second thing is edging as you leave the lip; generally speaking it’s easiest to leave on your heel edge fom a frontside or cab spin, and off your toes for backside or switch backside. When you’re in the air, you need to keep looking over your shoulder, leading with the upper body, in the direction of the spin; this will keep the rotation going in the air. Don’t forget to spot your landing; the sooner you spot your landing, the easier it will be to land the jump.

The Snowboard Addiction videos are great. They are seriously a great learning tool if you want to progress your freestyle riding. Nev who runs the program is a top coach, and he actually trains snowboard instructors here at Whistler Blackcomb on how to teach freestyle properly. If you are interested, they offer Boardworld members a special discount. Just use the code ‘boardworld’ at checkout and you will get 10% off any of their products.

Of course if you have any other questions please let me know. Welcome to the community Jason! 

Top answer. I think when i was trying to learn i was winding and edging too much for the size of the jump and over spinning. Yeah there’s plenty of vids out there, but its nice to see it in writing sometimes.