switch ups

I was hoping for a bit of help with switchups, in particular i’m trying to do what i think is the easiest (?) boardslide to switch front board over a kink.  What i’m interested in is how people throw the trick, where they look, what their shoulders, hips are doing and anything else that people find useful when doing this trick. Just in case there is any confusion i’m talking about the switchup where your doing a rotation over the kink rather than just shiftying the hips.

Tar very much.

Hey Aidy,
Switch ups are rad, kind of easy once you get the correct technique but they always look good.
The key is to understand both rotation and/or counter-rotation and apply it correctly to which ever change up you are trying to do.
Change up’s that continue in the same direction use rotation of the upper and lower body where as changes ups that switch direction use counter-rotation where the upper and lower body resist against each other.
The bad think about me typing this is that it’s pretty much impossible to understand through the written word.
The good new is (and here comes the plug, sorry for the cheese) I just yesterday release all the brand new Snowboard Addiction instructional material for the 2009-2010 season. There’s 2 brand new DVD’s of material.
One of the new videos is dedicated to advanced jibbing techniques and tactics. It actually covers 4 different change ups and shows how to use rotation and counter-rotation.
Here is the teaser for the specific advanced jibbing video that covers the change ups:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TuuJDp7Ud8

And this link will show you the teaser for all the new material that was just released yesterday:
http://www.snowboardaddiction.com/products/freestyle/

Sorry for plugging so hard but I couldn’t resist because one of these new videos covers exactly what you were after.
I’d love to give these vids away for free to everyone but production of them costs a bunch so I’ll have to keep charging for it at the moment.
Cheers bud
I hope you become part of the Snowboard Addiction team.
Nev

Nev I love your videos and the contributions you make to BW!
I am seriously thinking that I need your videos.
Hmmm.
I know if I dont buy the full pack, I will want the full pack.
I will be visiting your website and considering the purchase.

Nev’s program is awesome, so well explained and will help anyone greatly with their freestyle progression. I have been lucky enough to check out the new content Nev is talking about, and I highly recommend making the purchase.

Nev, the teaser for your program is great! A pity my snowboarding will be put on hold for the next couple of years :(

I’ve got a couple of different ideas on this one.

I think it the same technique as 270 out of a rail. With a 270 out your body needs to turn at least 180 degrees then shifty the last ninety degrees but you are landing on the snow so can get away with more. Whereas with the changeup you just need to turn 90 degrees then shifty the rest so it is a bit easier in that sense but you have to land back on the rail so that does make it harder, plus you have less time as you are not dropping onto the snow so everything has to be quicker. So doing lots of 270 outs definitely helps.

The easiest way to think about it is having the prewind so that when you pop up off the rail your upper body is already leading in the direction you want to go and your lower body follows. If you want to turn in the opposite direction to the way you stepped on to the rail then you need to be massively counter rotated in the peak of your slide, like a pretzl. If you want to turn in the same way that you stepped onto the rail then you need to be rotated further than your board is. Whether you are counter or over rotated you would have to lead with your head of course.

To help preload your rotation you can push into your slide, tweak out one foot and get down low and preload the other foot and then you have a solid platform to push off when you pop. I’m not sure if other people have noticed this and it can be quite hard to conceptualize so be good to discuss. When you are standing straight up on a boardslide you have nothing to push against and if you try and start to rotate (if you are not previously rotating) nothing will happen but if you are tweaked out you can push against it more. It may be because by pushing out you are spreading your weight out horizontally so that means more rotational inertia is needed to start a turn, you push off this and then once you pop and pull your mass in then you can start spinning.

Thoughts on the matter please…

yeah dude… i agree with the ’ prewinding ’ comment… the dude in nevs video shows you the same thing when he does the static demo during the teaser… just watching that is a good way to get started on throwing your body around on a rail…

anyway the only real pretzle or bagel trick i have on consistent lock is a backside nose slide pretzle, and i notice before i pretzle im always looking almost back up at the take off, totally prewound so when my board snaps off the end of the feature, the spin comes naturally..

same thing with nosepress back 1 out,,, you almost look back up at the take off so the back 1 happens automatically, no hand hucking

Well if thats the trick you like try backnoseslide to front blunt/ front feeble. I know it ominous calling any trick on a snowboard feeble or blunt cause obviously can’t be compared in difficulty but thats just the easiest way to explain the weight distribution of landing front board on your back foot. Anyway enough talk that trick is really fun too. Plus if you can land that consistent then try switch front tail 270 out and swithc front tail 180 to reg front blunt. That is the same body motion, it will take a bit to get comfortable getting on switch then it will prob be easier. have fun

thanks for the info and suggestions on this topic, managed to bash myself trying a cab lipslide switchup by catching my board in the gap between two boxes!  still i’ll be figuring it out over the summer ready for some switch up mayhem next canadian winter!