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Snowboarding absolutely is as fun as it looks, but don't underestimate how much it's going to hurt the day after. I've gone nearly a dozen times and I still end

Snowboarding absolutely is as fun as it looks, but don't underestimate how much it's going to hurt the day after. I've gone nearly a dozen times and I still end up bruised by the end of the day. Admittedly, I'm a bit clumsier than most, but I've never collided with another human being at least. Also, I was surprised that the article didn't mention the one aspect that I actually found way harder than anything else to learn do reliably: going from sitting to standing on the board with your feet strapped in is HARD. I thought it was something I'd be able to learn through technique since I'm mostly in shape from a cardio perspective, but I just don't have the core strength to get up the proper way. While I absolutely could never once manage to get up with my heels dug into the snow, I can easily get up from my toes. It sort of stinks though because I'm never facing downhill when I first get up, so I can't really see great downhill, but at least I know when people are coming behind me. The obvious solution to the standing problem is just to fall less, but I haven't quite figured that out. So instead I've tried to do more lunges when I exercise. Probably won't be enough though.

ambicapter 8y ago
Its "easier" when you bring your hips real low, isn't it? The downside is you need more balance to not tip over entirely.
- fhbdukfrh 8y ago
  It's also easier on a steeper slope. Kind of counter intuitive but similar it's easier weight a bit of speed,... until you find yourself floating and catch an edge
- sudosteph 8y ago
  Sometimes when I try it earlier in the day, I am able to get up if I keep my hips real low and give myself a good push against the snow behind me, then I can go from a low crouch to standing while the board starts to go in motion. But as soon as I get a bit fatigued, I just lose balance and fall as soon as my butt leaves the snow. I still have never managed it by myself with my heels properly dug in so that I don't slide around while standing.
grecy 8y ago
The trick to sanding up on your heel edge is to throw one hand out in front of you for balance, and "walk" your other hand closer to the board as you stand up, keeping some weight on it as you go. Kind of this: https://youtu.be/PRyQXSZfO0A?t=32 https://youtu.be/PRyQXSZfO0A?t=32 It takes practice, and it's about building muscles you have never used before!
- stefanmichael 8y ago
  I use two tricks to stand up on my board. I started with the hand out but that wasn't working too well for me because I still couldn't compress my hips. Now on heelside I grab with my front hand in the middle of my board like a mute-grab, then I use that as leverage to pull my hips in close to the board, then I stand up. Alternatively I go toe-side and stand up super easily because its just like getting up off of your knees if you fell to your knees on the ground. I stand up on my toe-side about 95% of the time now.
dragosmocrii 8y ago
I stand on my heels all the time, never thought this could be a burden to other people. Thank you for making me be grateful for things I did not know I was good at
mdn0420 8y ago
You'll also learn much faster by going consecutive days rather than going a single day with weeks or months in between.
- beezle 8y ago
  This is true, but even going once a week works. I find also that beginners take far too many breaks during the day, claiming physical fatique when it is usually just mental. I would always rather see someone quit the day early than stop and start and finish at 4pm.
randyrand 8y ago
Here’s a great tip - learn to strap up without sitting down. Or, go to a steeper part before strapping up.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  That definitely is useful, and I do usually end up doing that when I first get off the lift. The problem is more that when I fall on the hill, it's more difficult for me to unstrap a foot, stand, and strap it back in than it would be just to get up from my toes and turn. The upside to all this is I've actually got pretty decent at doing toe-to-heel turns quickly.
chaostheory 8y ago
It's easier to get back up by facing the ground and pushing up; instead of pushing up from a sitting position facing the descending slope. You need a lot of core strength and acclimation to higher altitudes if you want to do the later. Misc For beginners who are also skateboarders, you're used to turning and moving by pivoting on your foot behind you. In snowboarding (and surfing) it's the opposite foot, your front, that you pivot on.
- doktrin 8y ago
  > acclimation to higher altitudes Is this really much of an issue? I'm sure altitude sickness can occur at some places like breckenridge, but even there most people seem to adjust within a day or two. Altitude over 4km is a different story, but don't think there's a single resort in the world at that height. edit : ok I was wrong, there are at least 5 resorts with a peak over 4km across China, India and Bolivia. still think those are outliers :D
Phenomenit 8y ago
Taught myself riding at an adult age with a lot of pain and preservance. In my experience the hardest thing to do on a board is standing still or going really fast straight. Regarding your problem just try and go back directly instead of standing on your heals. And then do it slower and slower till you can control the action.
- beezle 8y ago
  Many people you see going fast and straight on a board are riding flat and not on edge. This is bad form and will result in some very painful wrecks. Carving is actually riding faster than riding flat and straight.
jondiggsit 8y ago
The secret to learning snowboarding is to wear HOCKEY PANTS. You might look ridiculous, but you look ridiculous anyway because you don't know how to snowboard. So add the hockey pants and save you bum. The confidence of protection will eliminate the fear of constantly falling.
- viraptor 8y ago
  Or get some Azzpadz https://azzpadz.com/ https://azzpadz.com/ They're pretty comfortable. Used them for the first two years. Also the wrist guards - save yourself an visit to the emergency.
  - beezle 8y ago
    Or learn instead how to fall down properly. Pain is also a great motivator to not fall down.
    - viraptor 8y ago
      There's place and time for falling down properly. Then there are situations when you're learning and suddenly you're down. If it saves you a broken coxis or wrist, why wouldn't you do this? I guarantee it still hurts when you fall down.
nullecksor 8y ago
It hurts. True! The day one of snowboarding is knowing exactly how much it hurts to fall. The next day is all about learning how to not fall. As you learn how to not fall, the day 3 begins with how to move your weight and balance your center of gravity and so forth. The trick to learning snowboarding is knowing how to avoid the hurt;)
antcas 8y ago
I've snowboarded for years and I still get up toe-side! It's way easier in general and also easier to keep my toe-side edge dug in so that I don't start sliding before I'm ready. It's been way too long since I've snowboarded anywhere, hope I can get out there at least once this season.
H1Supreme 8y ago
I skateboarded regularly for approx. 15 years before my first snowboarding trip. I was certain that all my time on a skateboard would prepare me, and I'd pick it up easy. How wrong I was. Fell more times than I could count that day.
- fokinsean 8y ago
  > I skateboarded regularly for approx. 15 years before my first snowboarding trip. Same! I went for the first time earlier this year. I plopped around for about a half day, but by the end of the second day I was doing some easier blues without too much problems. I think the one thing skateboarding helped most with was being comfortable riding sideways. Also backside powersliding (carving?) is one of the most amazing feelings on a snowboard.
- afpx 8y ago
  Did you skateboard in hilly or flatter areas? We grew up skating on hills, so we often had to carve downhill slides, often at considerable speed. Transitioning to snowboarding seemed easy for us. I remember us snowboarding the first time and being able to do blue slopes within a couple hours. I’m guessing it was because we had already spent lots of time sliding down hills.
dgzl 8y ago
I didn't see this mentioned, but as advice for getting up and operating on a snowboard in general: practice learning how to rock back on forth, leaning into the nose and tail and bending it. Don't worry, any snowboard worth it's weight will support you. You can use this technique to help you stand up from sitting on flat. Simply bend your back leg and bring your tail (or nose if you want to start in switch) closer to a riding position, and push your Central weight onto that side of the board. The board should flex, as you'd be doing a sort of manual as you stand up. Balancing like this might be difficult at first, but the technique is better than trying to stand up without using the board's flexible property. Likewise, butter tricks are very fun and can be useful for beginners. Another example: if you get get stuck on flat and think you need to unbuckle and walk, try this: stand facing the direction you want to go, and start running while still in the bindings. Use your nose and tail's flexibility to help popup the opposite side, to swing forward and continue the cycle. It looks ridiculous until you realize you can make good distance on flat without much efforts or unbuckling. Happy shredding.
krschultz 8y ago
Ideally when you are getting up (from either side) you don't need your arms at all. When sitting (front side downhill) pull your heel side edge as close as possible to your butt (more knee bend, how close are your calves to your thighs?) Dig the edge in hard as if you were carving. Lean your chest forward between your legs, including arms downhill of the board, so you center of gravity is close to over the board. Now stand UP with your legs. It's actually about flexibility more than strength. Your legs will be plenty strong if you have the starting position right. You can practice this by sitting on the floor at home (no board, boots, snow pants, perfectly level floor) and just stand up without using your hands. One nice thing about this way of standing up - if you slip you fall on your butt again instead of jamming your hand / wrist / arm.
- beezle 8y ago
  The reason it seems harder to get up on heel rather than toe edge is the center of gravity tends to stay over the board when using toe edge. The reason why most beginners have trouble is their calves are weak (you may think they are strong, they are not) The most serious problem for most beginners is not knowing how to fall down properly. Roll on your shoulders or belly flop. Do not jam arms out front or behind you. Your wrists will thank me. The reason why beginners fall down a lot is a combination of two factors: 1) they go to slow making it harder to turn and 2) they fail to look where they want to go. Looking down at the snow, at trees or at other people usually results in some type of wreck. If you want to get better, learn to do moguls.
Gys 8y ago
> going from sitting to standing on the board with your feet strapped in is HARD I was going to teach my girlfriend snowboarding. So we go up a hill with an easy lift. Once out we strapped the board, while sitting in the snow. I got up to get started. She did not get how to do that... and for me it was so natural that i could not understand the problem... To sum up we survived a very severe crisis in our young relationship and she ended up taking lessons from a real teacher ;-)
JaRail 8y ago
Yea, it can be a pain. Certainly you'll improve at it over time. While strength always helps, especially with getting tired, I do think this is primarily a balance/timing skill. That said, with experience a couple things also mitigate the annoyance. * Stopping in locations that have a little extra slope makes standing back up easy. On the far edge of a cat-track, on top of a bump, etc. * Keeping an eye on snow conditions. Soft snow or powder makes standing up on your heel edge difficult to impossible. If you arm just pushes straight down 2' into the snow, you aren't getting up that way. Sometimes when you fall in fresh snow, you'll need to refill a hole five times over to create a stable packed spot to push off of. Those are the good days :) But basically, experienced riders will stand up in the appropriate way for the terrain, on toe or heel. From there, they'll hop a 180, make a turn, etc to get in the direction you want. Forcing yourself to stand up in the non-optimal direction is a lot of extra work.
ftrsprvln 8y ago
Absolutely. I'm fortunate enough to have had the opportunity once or twice to try it out in the Pacific NW area and was floored by how sore I was the day after. Wish it was a more accessible sport in terms of economics.
- chiefalchemist 8y ago
  You can get used gear pretty cheap. I've seen boards at my local Good Will, and occasionally people offering gear on FreeCycle. Tickets can hurt. But most hills have specials, etc. Perhaps the times are a bit less convenient but none the less you can avoid full price with some tricks and effort.
chiefalchemist 8y ago
I've been riding close to 20 yrs. For the last 10 to 15 I've taught, on average 3 to 5 newbies per year. The first couple hrs are critical, as is the overall aggregate experience of the first weekend. That is, some falling aside, enjoyment and a sense of progression is more important than actually skill. Skill increases with time. With that said, after 6 weekends you should be past the crash & burn phase. Have you had a proper lesson? Something feels a miss.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  I've only had one proper lesson, but even so I have definitely experienced a sense of progression. I don't fall getting off lifts, I can do traversals without getting stuck, I can turn smoothly between my edges, I don't have trouble with blues, even moguls are fun. The problem is that I'm not great at paying attention to my surroundings (a problem not exclusive to snowboarding) and end up choosing to fall semi-safely rather than risk knocking a kid or someone. I also have a knack for scheduling my trips when the local slope is too icey to be very enjoyable. The getting up thing is purely a strength problem. I can't do it from the floor either, can't do pushups, and I don't do enough strength training otherwise to fix that.
confiscate 8y ago
there is an easy way to stand up heel-side. the trick is to first, roll in the "opposite" direction. When you are sitting down, roll backwards so the back of your neck is touching the snow, and the bottom of your board is pointing towards the sky At this point, gravity is trying to pull you back down. Now, along with gravity, kick your legs to roll forward quickly. Gravity and momentum should effortlessly roll your upper body to be above the board. this allows you to avoid having to use your arms to "push" your upper body above the board. it's also much quicker, so you don't waste effort standing up, and can save your energy for actually snowboarding down hill
malmsteen 8y ago
R you a girl ? never had a problem standing up. you just jump from sitting and land on your feets
- panda888888 8y ago
  Why does gender matter for this?
  - malmsteen 8y ago
    Why not ? Girls have less strength than dudes and strength may help when u start learning snowboard. I was doing black slopes in 3 days when i learnt with my military unit guys.. a bit hardcorz sure bjt i cant even imagine its that hard to "stand up"

ambicapter 8y ago

Its "easier" when you bring your hips real low, isn't it? The downside is you need more balance to not tip over entirely.

fhbdukfrh 8y ago
It's also easier on a steeper slope. Kind of counter intuitive but similar it's easier weight a bit of speed,... until you find yourself floating and catch an edge
sudosteph 8y ago
Sometimes when I try it earlier in the day, I am able to get up if I keep my hips real low and give myself a good push against the snow behind me, then I can go from a low crouch to standing while the board starts to go in motion. But as soon as I get a bit fatigued, I just lose balance and fall as soon as my butt leaves the snow. I still have never managed it by myself with my heels properly dug in so that I don't slide around while standing.

grecy 8y ago

The trick to sanding up on your heel edge is to throw one hand out in front of you for balance, and "walk" your other hand closer to the board as you stand up, keeping some weight on it as you go. Kind of this: https://youtu.be/PRyQXSZfO0A?t=32 https://youtu.be/PRyQXSZfO0A?t=32 It takes practice, and it's about building muscles you have never used before!

stefanmichael 8y ago
I use two tricks to stand up on my board. I started with the hand out but that wasn't working too well for me because I still couldn't compress my hips. Now on heelside I grab with my front hand in the middle of my board like a mute-grab, then I use that as leverage to pull my hips in close to the board, then I stand up. Alternatively I go toe-side and stand up super easily because its just like getting up off of your knees if you fell to your knees on the ground. I stand up on my toe-side about 95% of the time now.

dragosmocrii 8y ago

I stand on my heels all the time, never thought this could be a burden to other people. Thank you for making me be grateful for things I did not know I was good at

mdn0420 8y ago

You'll also learn much faster by going consecutive days rather than going a single day with weeks or months in between.

beezle 8y ago
This is true, but even going once a week works. I find also that beginners take far too many breaks during the day, claiming physical fatique when it is usually just mental. I would always rather see someone quit the day early than stop and start and finish at 4pm.

randyrand 8y ago

Here’s a great tip - learn to strap up without sitting down. Or, go to a steeper part before strapping up.

sudosteph 8y ago
That definitely is useful, and I do usually end up doing that when I first get off the lift. The problem is more that when I fall on the hill, it's more difficult for me to unstrap a foot, stand, and strap it back in than it would be just to get up from my toes and turn. The upside to all this is I've actually got pretty decent at doing toe-to-heel turns quickly.

chaostheory 8y ago

It's easier to get back up by facing the ground and pushing up; instead of pushing up from a sitting position facing the descending slope. You need a lot of core strength and acclimation to higher altitudes if you want to do the later. Misc For beginners who are also skateboarders, you're used to turning and moving by pivoting on your foot behind you. In snowboarding (and surfing) it's the opposite foot, your front, that you pivot on.

doktrin 8y ago
> acclimation to higher altitudes Is this really much of an issue? I'm sure altitude sickness can occur at some places like breckenridge, but even there most people seem to adjust within a day or two. Altitude over 4km is a different story, but don't think there's a single resort in the world at that height. edit : ok I was wrong, there are at least 5 resorts with a peak over 4km across China, India and Bolivia. still think those are outliers :D

Phenomenit 8y ago

Taught myself riding at an adult age with a lot of pain and preservance. In my experience the hardest thing to do on a board is standing still or going really fast straight. Regarding your problem just try and go back directly instead of standing on your heals. And then do it slower and slower till you can control the action.

beezle 8y ago
Many people you see going fast and straight on a board are riding flat and not on edge. This is bad form and will result in some very painful wrecks. Carving is actually riding faster than riding flat and straight.

jondiggsit 8y ago

The secret to learning snowboarding is to wear HOCKEY PANTS. You might look ridiculous, but you look ridiculous anyway because you don't know how to snowboard. So add the hockey pants and save you bum. The confidence of protection will eliminate the fear of constantly falling.

viraptor 8y ago
Or get some Azzpadz https://azzpadz.com/ https://azzpadz.com/ They're pretty comfortable. Used them for the first two years. Also the wrist guards - save yourself an visit to the emergency.
- beezle 8y ago
  Or learn instead how to fall down properly. Pain is also a great motivator to not fall down.
  - viraptor 8y ago
    There's place and time for falling down properly. Then there are situations when you're learning and suddenly you're down. If it saves you a broken coxis or wrist, why wouldn't you do this? I guarantee it still hurts when you fall down.

nullecksor 8y ago

It hurts. True! The day one of snowboarding is knowing exactly how much it hurts to fall. The next day is all about learning how to not fall. As you learn how to not fall, the day 3 begins with how to move your weight and balance your center of gravity and so forth. The trick to learning snowboarding is knowing how to avoid the hurt;)

antcas 8y ago

I've snowboarded for years and I still get up toe-side! It's way easier in general and also easier to keep my toe-side edge dug in so that I don't start sliding before I'm ready. It's been way too long since I've snowboarded anywhere, hope I can get out there at least once this season.

H1Supreme 8y ago

I skateboarded regularly for approx. 15 years before my first snowboarding trip. I was certain that all my time on a skateboard would prepare me, and I'd pick it up easy. How wrong I was. Fell more times than I could count that day.

fokinsean 8y ago
> I skateboarded regularly for approx. 15 years before my first snowboarding trip. Same! I went for the first time earlier this year. I plopped around for about a half day, but by the end of the second day I was doing some easier blues without too much problems. I think the one thing skateboarding helped most with was being comfortable riding sideways. Also backside powersliding (carving?) is one of the most amazing feelings on a snowboard.
afpx 8y ago
Did you skateboard in hilly or flatter areas? We grew up skating on hills, so we often had to carve downhill slides, often at considerable speed. Transitioning to snowboarding seemed easy for us. I remember us snowboarding the first time and being able to do blue slopes within a couple hours. I’m guessing it was because we had already spent lots of time sliding down hills.

dgzl 8y ago

I didn't see this mentioned, but as advice for getting up and operating on a snowboard in general: practice learning how to rock back on forth, leaning into the nose and tail and bending it. Don't worry, any snowboard worth it's weight will support you. You can use this technique to help you stand up from sitting on flat. Simply bend your back leg and bring your tail (or nose if you want to start in switch) closer to a riding position, and push your Central weight onto that side of the board. The board should flex, as you'd be doing a sort of manual as you stand up. Balancing like this might be difficult at first, but the technique is better than trying to stand up without using the board's flexible property. Likewise, butter tricks are very fun and can be useful for beginners. Another example: if you get get stuck on flat and think you need to unbuckle and walk, try this: stand facing the direction you want to go, and start running while still in the bindings. Use your nose and tail's flexibility to help popup the opposite side, to swing forward and continue the cycle. It looks ridiculous until you realize you can make good distance on flat without much efforts or unbuckling. Happy shredding.

krschultz 8y ago

Ideally when you are getting up (from either side) you don't need your arms at all. When sitting (front side downhill) pull your heel side edge as close as possible to your butt (more knee bend, how close are your calves to your thighs?) Dig the edge in hard as if you were carving. Lean your chest forward between your legs, including arms downhill of the board, so you center of gravity is close to over the board. Now stand UP with your legs. It's actually about flexibility more than strength. Your legs will be plenty strong if you have the starting position right. You can practice this by sitting on the floor at home (no board, boots, snow pants, perfectly level floor) and just stand up without using your hands. One nice thing about this way of standing up - if you slip you fall on your butt again instead of jamming your hand / wrist / arm.

beezle 8y ago
The reason it seems harder to get up on heel rather than toe edge is the center of gravity tends to stay over the board when using toe edge. The reason why most beginners have trouble is their calves are weak (you may think they are strong, they are not) The most serious problem for most beginners is not knowing how to fall down properly. Roll on your shoulders or belly flop. Do not jam arms out front or behind you. Your wrists will thank me. The reason why beginners fall down a lot is a combination of two factors: 1) they go to slow making it harder to turn and 2) they fail to look where they want to go. Looking down at the snow, at trees or at other people usually results in some type of wreck. If you want to get better, learn to do moguls.

Gys 8y ago

> going from sitting to standing on the board with your feet strapped in is HARD I was going to teach my girlfriend snowboarding. So we go up a hill with an easy lift. Once out we strapped the board, while sitting in the snow. I got up to get started. She did not get how to do that... and for me it was so natural that i could not understand the problem... To sum up we survived a very severe crisis in our young relationship and she ended up taking lessons from a real teacher ;-)

JaRail 8y ago

Yea, it can be a pain. Certainly you'll improve at it over time. While strength always helps, especially with getting tired, I do think this is primarily a balance/timing skill. That said, with experience a couple things also mitigate the annoyance. * Stopping in locations that have a little extra slope makes standing back up easy. On the far edge of a cat-track, on top of a bump, etc. * Keeping an eye on snow conditions. Soft snow or powder makes standing up on your heel edge difficult to impossible. If you arm just pushes straight down 2' into the snow, you aren't getting up that way. Sometimes when you fall in fresh snow, you'll need to refill a hole five times over to create a stable packed spot to push off of. Those are the good days :) But basically, experienced riders will stand up in the appropriate way for the terrain, on toe or heel. From there, they'll hop a 180, make a turn, etc to get in the direction you want. Forcing yourself to stand up in the non-optimal direction is a lot of extra work.

ftrsprvln 8y ago

Absolutely. I'm fortunate enough to have had the opportunity once or twice to try it out in the Pacific NW area and was floored by how sore I was the day after. Wish it was a more accessible sport in terms of economics.

chiefalchemist 8y ago
You can get used gear pretty cheap. I've seen boards at my local Good Will, and occasionally people offering gear on FreeCycle. Tickets can hurt. But most hills have specials, etc. Perhaps the times are a bit less convenient but none the less you can avoid full price with some tricks and effort.

chiefalchemist 8y ago

I've been riding close to 20 yrs. For the last 10 to 15 I've taught, on average 3 to 5 newbies per year. The first couple hrs are critical, as is the overall aggregate experience of the first weekend. That is, some falling aside, enjoyment and a sense of progression is more important than actually skill. Skill increases with time. With that said, after 6 weekends you should be past the crash & burn phase. Have you had a proper lesson? Something feels a miss.

sudosteph 8y ago
I've only had one proper lesson, but even so I have definitely experienced a sense of progression. I don't fall getting off lifts, I can do traversals without getting stuck, I can turn smoothly between my edges, I don't have trouble with blues, even moguls are fun. The problem is that I'm not great at paying attention to my surroundings (a problem not exclusive to snowboarding) and end up choosing to fall semi-safely rather than risk knocking a kid or someone. I also have a knack for scheduling my trips when the local slope is too icey to be very enjoyable. The getting up thing is purely a strength problem. I can't do it from the floor either, can't do pushups, and I don't do enough strength training otherwise to fix that.

confiscate 8y ago

there is an easy way to stand up heel-side. the trick is to first, roll in the "opposite" direction. When you are sitting down, roll backwards so the back of your neck is touching the snow, and the bottom of your board is pointing towards the sky At this point, gravity is trying to pull you back down. Now, along with gravity, kick your legs to roll forward quickly. Gravity and momentum should effortlessly roll your upper body to be above the board. this allows you to avoid having to use your arms to "push" your upper body above the board. it's also much quicker, so you don't waste effort standing up, and can save your energy for actually snowboarding down hill

malmsteen 8y ago

R you a girl ? never had a problem standing up. you just jump from sitting and land on your feets

panda888888 8y ago
Why does gender matter for this?
- malmsteen 8y ago
  Why not ? Girls have less strength than dudes and strength may help when u start learning snowboard. I was doing black slopes in 3 days when i learnt with my military unit guys.. a bit hardcorz sure bjt i cant even imagine its that hard to "stand up"