3 Keys To Get an All-Around Riding Position - Part 2

​2. Bend Your Ankles

When we talk about standing position, we know that the center of the board is where we should be.
However how do you check your position?
There are 4 ways to check your standing position.

1. Nose to Tail balance
2. Toe to Heel balance
3. Rotational balance
4. Vertical balance

We talked about Nose to tail balance in the other tutorial “Key #1 Weight on the back leg” which is about checking your position from nose to tail.
This time I will talk about “Toe to Heel balance” which is typically overlooked.
To check this balance, pay attention to your body position between the edges of the snowboard, while sliding down the hill.
Then we can see where our head and hips are toward the toe or heel side to find out this balance.

When we do turns on the hill, our body leans to the toe or heel side to make an edge angle.
Beginner and intermediate riders tend to lean their body more than the edge angle which will put your head or hips out of alignment over the board.
A strong rider won't be out of alignment with their head and hips over the board, so their weight will stay in between the edges.
Why do our hips and head fall out of alignment?

We get low while turning in order to keep a low centre of gravity.  
To do this we bend our hips and knee joints.
This causes our head and hips to naturally leave alignment over the board which is not easy position to keep balanced, but a strong rider is stable even if they are in low standing position.
How do they stabilize this position?
They bend their hip joints and knees but they bend their ankles too!

When a rider bends their ankles, their knees come over the toe edge.
If your knees are over the toe edge, your hips will be closer to the center of your board,
and so the head doesn't need to be out of alignment to keep balanced with the hips.

If the head and hips are over the board, staying in good balance and controlling performance will be much easier.

This is why a strong rider is always looking stable.

So remember, bending your ankles is key to getting more stability.
Here are a few more tips to keep your body in alignment while turning.

1. Keep your head straight
2. Keep your upper body straight
3. Knees stay aligned with the toe edge

These key points are effective in most riding situations, on groomed terrain, in the park, and so on.
Now you can watch these 2 videos once more and better understand their body alignment!

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Make sure to come back again for key #3 on how to get a better all-around riding position!!




Author:
Snowboard Dojo Wiz
Shu Takaishi



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