Are you ready to learn the secret system that will force you to snowboard like a pro?

It’s simple, SnowboardAcademy.com teaches a system that weaves 3 critical training elements together:
1. Focused Training
2. Physical training
3. Mental training

In this sample lesson we are going to apply this system to learning jump tricks. Our teaching example will be a backside 360.

1. FOCUSED TRAINING:

Focused Training is understanding the fundamentals of the trick written (training manual), visually (video), and verbally (MP3’s) combining dry-land and on hill drills specifically designed for each trick.

Begin with learning how to spin. Stand at home and jump 25 backside 360’s or more. Really focus on “what makes you spin” your head, arms, shoulders, core, hips, knees, it’s a full body movement. Continue to jump flat land 360’s until you completely understand how to spin smoothly and properly.

On-hill exercises: Spin 360’s on the snow focusing on technique. Jump a 180 then slide around another 180 pretending to do a 360. If you have never done a 360, attempt spinning off small jumps and corner jumps you find on the hill.

Spinning a back 3 off a straight jump: With Nev Lapwood
First off you should be able to comfortably do straights airs with an assortment of different grabs and 180’s in both the frontside and backside directions. It is unsafe to learn a back 3 without mastering these basic tricks first, therefore you may need to order the full SnowboardAcademy.com camp to learn these skills before applying the information below.

1. Make sure you have practiced this trick with both the physical and mental training aspects incorporated in SnowboardAcademy.com and you’re confident in you ability to stomp the trick.

2. Do several straight airs to find the right speed for the jump.

3. Find a good spot where you drop relatively straight for the jump with the perfect speed, avoid doing any speed-checks as they tend to throw off you concentration.

4. There is a point I like to call the setup point. This point is right between the downwards slope of the hill and the upwards slope of the kicker, or in other words, the point where the ground is flat. At this setup point you should just be completing a very slight heel-edge carve.

5. The heel-edge carve allows you to now transfer your weight lightly onto your toe edge, performing a light toe edge carve up the entire wedge of the jump. This toe edge carve is what I call the platform, where you can create balance to pop and spin off. The more solid your toe-edge platform is, the better you will be able to spin off the lip.

6. After the setup point you also need begin to pre-wind your body in the opposite direction you wish to spin. For a backside 3 you will open up your shoulders, hips and front knee towards the nose of the board. This wind up is also called counter-rotation. Try to avoid winding up too early for the spin, the setup point (flat point between the downwards transition and upwards wedge) is a good point to begin the pre-wind.

7. A large jump (example 30 feet plus) requires very little wind-up to perform a back 3 where as a small jump (example 10 feet) requires substantially more. Initially more wind-up is better than less. As you gain experience in spinning backside you will naturally use more of your body together, (shoulders, hips and knees) and will require very little pre-wind to spin a 360.
Note: the pictures here displaying a back 3 are on a very large jump of approximately 50 foot and therefore the amount of pre-wind in the photo appears small.

8. As you pass the setup point your legs should be slightly flexed, at the knees and ankles, which will allow to extend you legs as your about to leave the lip of the jump and create pop. Pop helps to spin better. Try to keep your back up straight. Try not to bend down and touch the snow with your back hand.

9. Just before you pop off the lip of the wedge is when you should release the wind-up into the backside direction. The shoulders, hips and front knee, which were opened towards the nose of the board are now released around the front of the body into the direction of the tail. Try to keep the body rotation on a flat horizontal axis.

10. This release of the wind up occurs simultaneously with the lower body extension creating pop and spin together. The hardest thing about this trick is to time these movements together. Try not to release the spin too early. It should happen just before you leave the lip of the wedge. So you leave straight off the jump.

11. When you are in the air, there is really little you can do. It is possible to slow down and speed up your rotation which will come with practice. Grabbing your board will stabilize your spin and make it look sweet too. In the picture sequence I’m pulling an indy grab (back hand on the toe edge between the bindings), this is an easy grab to start trying with back 3’s.

12. When you have rotated 270 degrees in the air, the landing will come into view. Landing a back 3 is easy because you will have full view of where to spot your landing. Release the grab (if you have one) and start to open up. Keep rotating the last 90 degrees as you get ready to stomp the trick.

13. Absorb your landing by flexing the lower body joints (knees and ankles) as you hit the ground. As you land your upper body can keep rotating to avoid re-verting. Re-verting is where you land the trick then spin another 180 on the ground, it’s not cool.

14. Once you’ve got basic back 3’s on lock, try getting different grabs in conjunction with the spin and bone them out. Also try to create more pop off the lip of the wedge by using a more active lower body extension.

15. When your friends comment on how dope your back 3’s are, try not to brag, just let them know you learnt it at SnowboardAcademy.com

Physical Training:

Learning easy and effective workouts/exercises that will instantly explode your balance, pop, and style.

When your learning to do jumps it helps to have strong legs and a nice loose flexible body. Here are a couple easy exercises you can do to help your jumping.

ONE MINUTE AND 30 SECONDS TO BECOMING A JUMPING POWERHOUSE! Perform each exercise for 30 seconds.

1. High Knees: (see pictures below) Jump up and down bringing your knees to your chest as fast as you can. Make sure you bring your knees as high as they can go each time. Bringing your knees up when hitting jumps allows you to spin faster, have more control, and give you more pop and style.

2. Situps: Your core is the connecting factor between your upper body and lower body which needs be kept in unison while spinning off kickers. This is why a strong core is helpful when spinning.

3. Jump dry-land 360’s. Simply stand there and jump 360 after 360. Go front side and backside, switch and regular. Focus on the technique of the spin not only using your arms but also using your feet, knees, and core to assist in the spin.

Remember do each exercise for 30 seconds. If you can do 3 sets a day you’ll be in pretty good shape next time you hit the park.

Bonus tip: spinning on a trampoline will help you time the spin as if you were going off the lip of a jump.

Mental Training:

By far the most overlooked aspect of snowboarding that almost no one else in the world teaches. Fortunately, your about to fill a huge hole in your snowboard game and this is the only place you can learn it at a reasonable price.

Simply visualize yourself doing the 360 perfectly. The important thing here is that you have the perfect picture inside of your head of what the back 3 looks like, otherwise you might be visualizing the wrong image. Use snowboard videos in slow motion or the detailed video sections on SnowboardAcademy.com (coming soon). Sequenced photos are also very useful for understanding the correct body position.

1. Close your eyes, take in 3 deep breaths and imagine that your watching yourself on T.V like a friend just videoed you do the trick perfectly. Play with the angles of the camera and really imagine what it would look like if you did that 360 perfectly right now. Watch it from the right, left, front, back and top. Pay specific attention to watching your wind-up/take off and where you spot the landing.

2. The second way to visualize is to focus on the “feeling“. Take a quick second before you attempt to do the 360 and imagine what it will be like to ride toward the jump, ride off the take off, and spin the 360 perfectly. How will it feel to jump, spin, and land a 360 perfectly? Imagine it, believe you can do it, and try it.

If this sample lesson has inspired you to go out and learn a back 3, perfect the back 3’s you can already do or better yet, inspired you to learn a new different jump trick, then order the full coaching program:

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PROGRAM

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