Applying Movements

Understanding of movements should extend beyond the four directions and includes how each movement (and blend of movements) affects the snowboard to achieve a specific outcome or level of performance.

On top of this, understanding of the specific body parts that are moving will help to give clarity when describing to students. Once the best movement option is established to get the desired outcome and board performance, consider how these movements are best applied.

Here are three ways to think about the application of movements:

The three questions above can be thought of as:

With an understanding of how range, timing and power can be applied to movements we can begin to explore each movement deeper and how they can blend together to make efficient riding.

Vertical Movement: Extended-Edge-Changes

An extended-edge-change turn consists of an extension movement to help the rider flatten the board and move to the new edge. During this extension, pressure will begin to decrease as the edge’s grip on the snow is released. Then the rider will begin to flex down helping to increase edge grip and manage the pressure building up in the board through the control and completion of the turn.

Once a student is able to make flexing and extending movements in this way, with appropriate timing, they can start to explore the amount of vertical movement and the parts of the body that they are able to use. As a general rule, the further away from the board the movement is, the slower it is; however, it can be more powerful. Ankles are typically fast but with limited power. Knees and hips are slower but with more power. They will also be at a stage where students can experiment with faster, slower or independent vertical movement to match up with the terrain, task and speed they are riding.

Vertical movement is also used as a blending tool and will often be needed to help make other movements work effectively.

Lateral Movement: Angulation vs Inclination

Efficient lateral movement is having the ability to move across the board whilst keeping the COM in balance. To be able to do this the rider must understand that there is a blend of vertical and lateral movements required to create tilt and stay in balance. As a rider begins to explore steeper blue terrain and travel faster they will need to learn how to tilt their board on edge more. This can be achieved through a balance of angulation and inclination.

Angulation is to create angles within the joints by flexing vertically with the ankles, knees, hips and spine keeping the COM over the top of the board. It is possible to angulate without inclining.

Inclination is to shift the COM further away from the edge by inclining the whole body to the inside of the turn. A snowboarder can incline without angulation.

For any balanced turn there needs to be both inclination and angulation to allow the COM to move to the inside of the turn efficiently. If a rider inclines excessively they will be more vulnerable to falling, as their COM is too far away from their base of support. If the rider does not incline enough, the board will skid and lose grip on the snow, or they may even fall to the outside of the turn. This is where angulation is needed. The rider is able to flex their ankles, knees and hips, to tilt the board on edge, whilst keeping the COM balanced over and closer to the base of support.

Rotational Movement: Whole Body & Counter Rotation

Efficient rotational movement is a combination of the body parts and how much they are rotated, mixed with appropriate vertical, lateral and longitudinal movements. By changing any or all of these, pivoting and steering the board (and spinning in the air) will also change, creating a different outcome.

As a rider progresses and attempts more challenging terrain or tasks they will need to increase their use and awareness of rotational movement by mixing and blending upper and lower body rotation with the other movements. They will also need to change the timing of these movements making them faster, slower, sooner or later. Rotational movement can also be utilised as a whole body rotation and a counter-rotation movement.

Whole body rotation is to rotate the entire body, from ankles to head, at the same time yet potentially with varying degrees. This happens to a small degree in the majority of turns made; however, it is more commonly used as riders increase their forward momentum and use of side-cut.

Counter-rotation is when the upper and lower body move in opposite directions rotationally, at the same time. This form of rotation is commonly used in freestyle and in making fast adjustments; however, it is also often seen in self-taught riders as a means of turning, which is less effective.

Longitudinal Movement: Exploring Longitudinal Range

As a rider progresses and begins to explore different terrain, simple tricks and riding at speed, they will need to distribute pressure to different parts of the board for specific purposes. This is done by actively moving the COM along the length of the board or through moving the board longitudinally underneath the COM. The rider is able to blend their longitudinal movement with vertical movement to create a form of independent vertical, utilising different amounts of flexion and extension within each side of the body. This helps to keep the rider’s COM in balance.

As a rider begins to fine-tune which specific body parts they are using to blend the longitudinal and vertical movements together, they can be more precise with their pressure distribution. This will allow the rider to store and release pressure in the snowboard.

Longitudinal movement can also be blended with lateral movements to aid edge grip, or with rotational movements when performing tricks like a butter.

Once a rider has learnt to blend longitudinal movement with vertical, rotational and lateral, they are ready to explore how power and timing can be applied to increase performance. As discussed earlier, the stance a rider is using is relative to the level of performance.