Learning how to ride switch

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone has some good tips for learning to ride switch, i’ve never paid much attention to learning it properly as it seems to difficult. Now my freestyle progression has become very limited. Any help at all would be great!

Cheers

Trav

There will be an article on riding switch once the whole site goes live to the public.

I was going to make you wait for the article, but I feel switch riding is very important, so I’m going to post it here for now. I hope you take the time this season to learn how to ride switch, your riding will thank you. The article still needs to be edited so let me know if you see any mistakes. Let me know what you think. If upi have any questions just let me know.

Btw all the bold words in the paragraphs will link back to another article.

Switch

Introduction

Riding switch 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 had fun learning to improve your snowboarding 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.

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 gained 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 towards the centre (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.

Thanks very much for that, i’m definitely going to set aside a few runs a day this season to get switch conquered!

No worries, did the article help you?

It will also be better when you can read the rider progression articles and watch the videos.

Yeah the article was helpful, although the “how to” section could perhaps be a little more in depth, but maybe it will be when the additional stuff gets added. I know the couple of times i tried to start riding switch my main problem was weight distribution and was still trying to ride regular but doing it backwards which doesn’t work (if that makes sense), i dunno if this is a common problem for people or something that you can easily overcome with some perseverance. So perhaps a troubleshooting section with common problems when people ride switch and how to overcome them may be a good addition?

Yeah I hear it. Wait for the other content, we have it all covered. Every article in Rider Progression covers in depth ‘How to’ as well as ‘Common problems’ and how to overcome the problems.

Traverlater - 14 June 2009 11:04 AM

Yeah the article was helpful, although the “how to” section could perhaps be a little more in depth, but maybe it will be when the additional stuff gets added. I know the couple of times i tried to start riding switch my main problem was weight distribution and was still trying to ride regular but doing it backwards which doesn’t work (if that makes sense), i dunno if this is a common problem for people or something that you can easily overcome with some perseverance. So perhaps a troubleshooting section with common problems when people ride switch and how to overcome them may be a good addition?

This is a direct cut and paste out of the common problems section of the basic turns article. It applies to the problem you are describing. You need to commit more weight forward into the turn, dip your front shoulder downhill like you are trying to bounce a basketball with your front hand, this will shift your hips forward. Anyway here is the info:

•  Placing too much weight on the back foot causes turn initiation and completion to be very difficult. Shift your hips forward, so you are centred over your snowboard. This will also enable you to place pressure onto your front foot when needed – giving you much better control over your snowboard, as well as making turn initiation and completion much easier.

Let me know if that helps.

if you keep going with quality content like this J , you will have the best site on the intrawebs…..Keep it up Bro

Dave99 - 14 June 2009 05:38 PM

if you keep going with quality content like this J , you will have the best site on the intrawebs…..Keep it up Bro

That’s the goal !:)
Lets make it happen.

Great article, but as travelater said it needs some more depth, and possible some video that demonstartes what the article is decribing so that we can get a better picture of what we need to do?

rhino - 15 June 2009 12:56 AM

Great article, but as travelater said it needs some more depth, and possible some video that demonstartes what the article is decribing so that we can get a better picture of what we need to do?

The videos will be coming I think…..From what I know so far , there will be lots of good videos to come from Boardworld…

Yeah i think that will help out heaps. Thanks heaps. Can’t wait till the site is up and running with all the content, it’s going to be awesome!

Here is a method that I use to teach when I get a rider that can get down the hill safely and put turns together.
When learning switch…

I view a 360 as a 180 and a 180.
It is either a BS180 and a FS180, or a FS180 and then a BS180. (BS = backside, FS = frontside).

I get the rider to simply spin down the hill flat spin, keep the board in contact with the snow at all times, try to maintain a centered stance…
Spin a bunch of times over and over in the same direction.
Then spin only a 360 and stop, then another 360 and stop.
What the rider is doing, is using the momentum from the first 180 to help INITIATE the 2nd 180.
(I feel that it is the INITIATION of the turn that most riders have trouble with when learning switch, so spinning helps with creating some momentum for them to begin the new turn with.)

After turning a bunch in one direction, change directions.

Basically the rider at this point has performed both:
a left-foot-forward FS turn, into a right-foot-forward BS turn, etc.
OR
a right-foot-forward FS turn, into a left-foot-forward FS turn, etc.

This exercise has worked for me many times.
Creating stopping points for the spinning helps too.
Asking the rider to stop after a 360, or after a 540 or after a 720, this teaches basic freestyle awareness as well, and the stopping and starting again helps with the initiation and direction changes.

This is all done with reinforcement of what body movements it takes to make the board spin on the hill etc.
There are different ways to teach this, and one may be more effective than another for different riders…but I wont go into it at this time - some riders wont need those details, and I would only offer those comments and suggestions on hill if I felt the needed it, or if they were falling a lot.
This is one of the VERY few times, I tell someone to “do this” and have them copy it.

^^ hahah…There is no doubt in my mind now..Hi James

Dave99 - 15 June 2009 01:39 AM

^^ hahah…There is no doubt in my mind now..Hi James

LOL

Good to see you as a part of BW too, Dave!!