Snowboarders Don't Workout: Cartwheels

It's mid-July, and we are at the peak of summer heat and unpleasantness.  We are all dying for the cold crispness of winter and the chance to strap into our boards again.  Maybe you've even strapped in, stood in front your air conditioner at full blast, and pretended you were flying down your favorite slope.

Carpet boarding isn't uncommon at this point.  You accidentally look at your snowboard, and the next thing you know are trying to nose/tail press, ollie, and spin in your living room.  This is all good for cheap thrills, but who's up for taking carpet boarding to a whole new level?

Cartwheels on a snowboard are just plain fun.  They are that trick you know you can do, but always forget to try on hill because there are so many distractions (rails, bonks, kickers, halfpipes).  Well, there's no snow right now, and obviously you are bored, so maybe it's time to finally get around to trying a cartwheel.

First, practice just doing regular cartwheels.  For me, it had been a long time since my upper body had come into the equation, and the first few cartwheels I tried were awkward to say the least.

As you start to get your cartwheels back, think about what will be different when you strap in.  With the nose in front of you, you will have to sort of jump into the cartwheel to keep from hooking.  The nose will also flex, which is a good thing if you get your weight past it to where it will help pop you into the cartwheel, but it can also fight you.

In landing, you will have to deal with the tail of your board.  Where it is easy to roll onto your back foot in a normal cartwheel, the tail gives you an extra foot or so of material you'll need to clear and throw your body weight over in order to land.

With all of that in mind, strap in and give it a go...

Rock back and forth to get a feel for the flex and how much you'll have to throw your weight to get your arms past the nose.  Remember, the nose needs to leave the ground first to avoid hooking, so whenever you are ready, pop a nollie and explode over the nose, putting your front hand about where the tip of the nose was.

If all goes well, you will be cartwheeling whether you like it or not.  The next step is landing.  At the top of your cartwheel, where your board is over your head and both hands are on the ground, push off the ground to give yourself a little extra oomph to bring the tail back underneath you.  When the base of the tail hits the ground, throw your weight forward so you land centered over the board.

Bam! That's a snowboard cartwheel.  Here's what mine looked like; not that impressive but still fun:

These are way easier to do on small rollers thanks to added momentum uphill, and a little extra space to bring the tail around on the downhill.  Unfortunately, no rollers until we get some snow, but now you've got another fun trick to try on your living room carpet--actually, you should probably try these outside.

Snowboarders Don't Workout: Ledge Hops

Snowboarding is highly physical, and often summer finds us shredheads buried indoors with the air condition cranked and the television remote handy; not a pretty picture when next season comes around. Riding out of shape means not only having to work extra hard to catch up to where you were, but can also leave you open for injury.

The Snowboarders Don't Workout is nothing more than a bunch of exercises meant to work the muscles we use when we ride without expensive equipment or fancy gym memberships.  Today's exercise, ledge hops, is a simple exercise meant to build strength and explosiveness in your legs as well as improve your timing and bodily awareness.

Your first task is to find a suitable ledge or similar object, the fallen tree behind my house works great.  Ideally, you want something high enough that it takes a bit of effort for you to jump onto it--something about knee height or maybe taller if you are in good shape.

Straight Jumps (50-50s)

Start with straight jumps.  These are pretty self explanatory; stand at the side of the ledge like you would to ollie into a 50-50.  Imagine you are approaching this feature on snow... you would load up the tail and pop up onto it, catching the rail lightly with your heel or toe (depending on your stance) to keep from sliding off the other side.

Try doing 5 repetitions of this--frontside and backside--for a total of 10; then do it switch.


Spin Jumps (180-on)

Spinning onto rails and boxes can be a challenge.  A lot of it has to do with being able to trust your body to complete the rotation on.  Practicing this stationary on a ledge is a low consequence way to dial in how you position your head, arms, and shoulders to lock in a proper 180-on.

Again, visualizing that you are riding up to a real feature on snow, do 5 rotations spinning frontside and backside (a total of 10) and then repeat switch.

As you get comfortable with this, start throwing in 180-pretzel-outs where you spin the opposite 180 of the feature that you did on to it (landing in your original stance).  You can even take it one step further to 360-pretzel-outs.

One-legs (boardslides)

While doing this exercise won't teach you how to lock in or balance a boardslide, it can help you become more confident approaching taller feature.  It will also build up the muscles in each leg individually.

From your imaginary stance, ollie onto the ledge and shift yourself so you land sideways on your lead leg.  You will have to play around with your arms and shoulders to get the balance just right.  Especially with frontside boardslides, play around with your upper body.

Watch some videos and try to emulate the body position of your favorite riders' boardslides; Lucas Magoon has a killer front board:

Do these one-legs 5 times both frontside and backside, then repeat switch.  Feeling saucy? Throw in some 270-outs to nail down your technique.

If you follow this workout to a T, you will have hopped onto your chosen ledge or feature 60 times. Feel free to add or subtract repetitions as you see fit.

Even if this exercise won't necessarily help you land these tricks, a day of shred equals jumping hundreds of times; doing ledge hops onto a feature much higher than what you generally hit will leave you far more prepared for your first run of 2011.

Skateboarding

One thing all snowboarders have to realize is that the sport as we know it would not exist if it weren't for skateboarding.  All of the tricks, all of the features, all of the style--it was all pioneered from skate influences; so, returning to our roots makes perfect sense once the snow melts.  Take a look at the most obvious off-season activity a snowboarder can partake in: skateboarding.
Skateboarding itself has many different variations depending on your skill level and what you are looking to get out of it going into the season.  You get to choose between shortboards, longboards, and a more recent snowboard-inspired alternative called the Freebord.

Shortboarding is by far the most accessible option for most.  Complete decks are relatively affordable, and with several options for deck width and wheel size you can customize your shortboard for just about any riding style be it cruising around town, ripping up transition, or technical rail and flatland tricks.

Shortboards serve as great off-season trainers due the technical movements required to land tricks.   Mastering even basic tricks with a shortboard will have a dramatic impact on your overall balance, timing, and help make control of your lower body (hips, knees and ankles) more precise.

If where you live summer temperatures average 115ºF--like say, the desert--grab your shortboard and look for an indoor skatepark nearby... just pray that their AC is working.

Remember that shortboards aren't very stable when you start going fast, and while some of the more talented skaters can take on the steepest hills of San Francisco at full speed, the rest of us will more then likely be paying a visit to the hospital or at the very least the local drugstore to buy up their stock of band-aids and Neosporin.

If you love to point it down double diamonds and high speed snowboarding is your thing, consider a longboard instead.

Longboards are much wider, much longer, and therefore much more stable than their shortboard counterparts.  Turn any local hill into a full speed snowboard run with a longboard so you can experience the wind in your hair and the thrill of carving with every turn.  They also work for cruising.

The downside to longboarding is usually the cost.  Most run at over $100.  Also keep in mind that since these boards let you get going pretty darn fast, which can turn into something really painful if you aren't experienced.

A few years ago some engineers got together and incorporated the lateral slide (sliding sideways) that makes snowboarding so unique into longboarding to create the Freebord.

The motions of Freebording are by far the closest you can get to snowboarding on pavement, which is why they have been slowly but surely catching on in the industry.

Freebord Team Highlight Reel from Freebord Mfg. on Vimeo.
  

Three things that are holding the invention back: first, the start up cost is close to and in many cases over $200; second, friction from sliding sideways wreaks havoc on urethane wheels and you will likely need to replace them often; third, controlling a Freebord is not anything like controlling a snowboard where you manipulate edge pressure to create turns and can teach some bad habits.

Even so, there is no denying that Freebording is a fun new alternative to ease that snowboard craving during the summer months.

Well, what are you waiting for?  We've still got a few months of summer ahead of us; head to your local skate shop and get at it!

Snowboarders Don't Workout - The Importance of Fitness

Snowsports are most commonly associated with relaxing vacations, or for the younger generations as party central. Since the ideal day of riding for most is capped with an alcoholic beverage and a few hours in a jacuzzi, it is hard to see snowboarding as a sport that you necessarily "train" for. Yet, snowboarding is an immensely physical activity--think back to your first day of riding and how sore you were... in fact for some who only get a week or two to ride a year, you might remember just how much that first day back on your board can really whip your ass? It's obvious that personal fitness plays a crucial role in every aspect of snowboarding, from how long your day of riding lasts to maintaining an injury-free season.

First Chair, Last Call

Some of us don't get to ride as much as others, which means when the chance to snowboard does come around it has to be from first chair in the morning to last call in the resort bar later that night. If you don't prepare your legs with exercises like squats or activities like skateboarding, they are going to burn out in a couple of days. Even just standing in place and jumping as high as you can 20 times a day can make an enormous impact on leg strength.

What about how winded you can get just riding a snowboard down a hill? High altitude warnings dictate that at least one week after rising into mountain altitudes you should limit physical activity. For those who only get a two-week snowboarding vacation each year, you don't have one week. A lot of people do not maintain their cardiovascular fitness, so when they go on a shred vacation they go from no exercise all year to a full-day of exertion at an altitude where they can't draw as much oxygen from the air... then they pass out or worse. Swimming underwater, practicing how long you hold your breath, is an awesome way to grow accustom to optimizing the oxygen in your body and making the transition to higher altitudes easier on your lungs.


Maintain a Balance, Spin to Win

Balance is not so much how you manipulate your arms or legs, but more your core's ability to keep things centered. Look at the "extreme gymnastics" seen above; those guys have their legs flailing about as though independent of their bodies. If you neglect your core muscles, it can be the difference between sliding a ten foot rail and sliding a 30 foot rail. Your core also puts the umph into your spin tricks; the prewind and release to initiate spins are 100% core muscles, your arms only serve as weights thrown to hold the spins momentum. Otherwise your core serves to initiate and hold your turns, and it also helps keep you upright in general. The core and the legs are two musclegroups you can't neglect if you want to snowboard.

Brace For Impact

Nobody, and I mean nobody doesn't fall. When you start snowboarding you fall a hell of a lot, and once you've got the basics you'll fall learning learning every new skill from there on out; it's almost guaranteed. In fact many, including myself, have come to understand that snowboarding is nothing more than controlled falling. And as we fall our natural instinct is always hands first. This is why the upper body cannot be taken out of the equation. When you take an impact to your wrist or arms, the muscles and ligaments tense very quickly to oppose the blow. Stiff, unused ligaments are susceptible to snapping when that quick tension occurs. If you aren't taking the time to at least stretch your upper body you are inviting serious injury.

In terms of bone breaking, the force of impact is primarily absorbed by muscle and what bite the muscles don't take off transfers into our bones. So, doing even a few pushups a day helps to keep the muscles in your chest and arms strong enough to avoid minor fractures and breaks. So say you get yourself into some twisted position and not breaking something seems impossible; stretching often improves flexibility and lessens the likelihood of an injury from being put into an awkward position... it's how contortionists do what they do!

Snowboarders Don't Workout - Philosophy

Photoshopped?

How much is too much? Where do you draw the line between workouts that will benefit you come snowboarding season and those that further hinder performance? The Snowboarders Don't Workout is designed around an important philosophy: the best way to train for snowboarding in the off-season is to emulate it.

All of the exercises to be presented in the Snowboarders Don't Workout are broken down into specific muscles used when riding, all of the conditioning exercises (burpees, squat jumps, etc.) are meant to promote speed and agility in those muscles, and all of the activities (skateboarding, swimming) are targeted towards working out those specific muscles as a whole. Each individual exercise will go into more detail about what its designed to strengthen and how that will improve your riding, but the most important thing is to realize what snowboarding is as a whole...

Whether you are into powder runs and you use your whole body to whip turns and control speed; whether you are a euro-carver that makes quick, precise movements to negotiate terrain; whether you are a rail kid able to quickly distribute bodyweight and hold your balance; whether you are a pipe jock hucking spin after spin after flip after spin with textbook execution...

Success in all of these aspects of snowboarding centers on your ability to maneuver your bodyweight quickly, powerfully and repeatedly (literally hundreds of times a day). This concept is especially important with weightlifting exercises; you should be able to do sets of 12-15 reps with the weight you choose to lift. Snowboarding fitness is not a matter of how much you can lift one time, but how much you can lift many times.

Another part of the Snowboarders Don't Workout philosophy, and perhaps the motivating factor in posting this information is to keep muscles loose, limber and injury free into the season. The number one reason most professional snowboarders have routines is to avoid serious injuries and long rehabilitation times.

Next to come in the Snowboarders Don't Workout: How To Utilize the Exercises

Snowboarders Don't Workout - Introduction

With the snow melting, resorts closing and temperatures rising the focus now shifts from snowboarding to ways to keep our minds off snowboarding. We surf, skate, wakeboard or weightlift to stay in shape in anticipation of the next season.

The big project for the summer here at Deserts Don't Snow is going to be a comprehensive series of posts outlining ways to stay fit and ready for the coming season without succumbing to the label of "gym jockey".

Let's face it, we are snowboarders. We don't spend three to four hours in the gym every day downing protein smoothies and Human Growth Hormone. We are more likely to be found eating $1 cheesburgers from McDonald's while skating the local mini ramp.

The goal of Snowboarders Don't Workout is to isolate the most important and influential parts of the body we use in snowboarding and present several effective exercises to develop and maintain them. These "exercises" will range from minor weightlifting (dumbbells, sandbags), body weight exercises (Push-ups, pull-ups), cardio routines (burpees, squat jumps) and awesome activities (skating, basketball, swimming).

Using any combination of these exercises will have you strengthening everything you use when you ride while at the same time hopefully keep your mind off of the fact that you can't go snowboarding for months... on top of that, you will be able to do them without spending hundreds of dollars at some fancy gym:

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Look out for upcoming posts with the title "Snowboarders Don't Workout"!