Top Three Rules for beginner Snowboarding – Rule Two – Don’t do the beginning snowboarder dance

How To Snowboard

What is the beginning snowboarder dance, you ask? Good question. Imagine standing on a snowboard, bopping your arms, rolling back and forth, leaning over, as if you are doing the Pee Wee Herman dance or the freug. That’s what beginners do, believe it or not. They flap their arms like a bird sometimes, or act like they are swimming through the air. This doesn’t help you slow down or turn or even keep your balance. It’s all fear-based reactions that make you fall. Worse still, it makes you look like a beginner. Which you might be, but you might as well try to look like you can handle yourself.

So what should you be doing? Stand still, in your athletic pose. Knees bent, chest out, arms relaxed. You want to keep your center of balance over your feet. Every time you bend over or flap around you are changing your center of balance. And this is going to cause you to fall. And it will not help you control your board. Watch a good snowboarder, and notice how they barely move. They are not just trying to look cool. They are keeping their center of gravity over their feet and not doing any movements that cause their balance to change. (There are of course exceptions to this rule – like doing tricks -but we will cover those at another time)