There are four basic styles of learning: doing, thinking, seeing, and feeling. Every person generally has one learning style which is most effective for them, with a combination of the other styles playing a part to various degrees. In skiing and riding instruction, these learning styles are the basis for almost every improvement suggestion. As an example, this post explores the doing learning style.
Archive for the ‘Snowboarding Tips’ Category
On the Sprint blog Seth Wescott talks about he mentally approaches competitions.
For me the mental preparation for boarding is a never-ending process. … I like presenting myself with challenges every day to overcome and get stronger both mentally and physically. I talk a lot about the big mountain and freeriding equation. … I go to Alaska every year, and put myself into situations that are completely outside of competition to push me to another level, so I can come back to competition and a more controlled environment with a clear head.
Tree skiing and riding is surely for the adventurous; there’s a new set of rules when you choose to abandon open groomed trails for the limited space and variable conditions of a glade. You’re going to have several things to worry about in a short amount of time and you’re going to want to put as many factors in your favor as possible. Under these conditions, you can prepare and plan a number of small details that can add up to make your tree skiing and riding more successful and safer.
So you’ve decided to learn to snowboard, great! Here are some tips to make your first day a success.
- Get plenty of rest the night before. The night before you learn to snowboard isn’t the night to go out clubbing. Being sore and hung over won’t help.
- Stretch a little before your lesson. I say “a little” because I’m assuming most people don’t stretch daily. If you do great, if you don’t stretch daily it will help to stretch a little, but don’t hurt yourself in the process.
- Wear the appropriate clothing. You need to stay dry and regulate your temperature. Believe it or not you can work up a good sweat learning to snowboard and that dampness will in turn make you cold. Bad cycle. Wear layered clothing so you can easily add or remove layers to regulate temperature. Jeans are a bad idea. Bring a second pair of gloves and socks in case the first pairs get wet.
- Don’t be afraid of initial challenges. What I mean by this is that snowboarding lessons are often made up of lots of different tasks. Just because you have difficulty with one task doesn’t mean you won’t be highly successful at others.
- Relax. I know, I know…. that is difficult. But you should think about relaxing both the mind and body. Learning to snowboard can be a workout. If you start to feel any muscles getting tired ask your coach/instructor for help because there is something about your posture that can be improved.
How do you ask for a private ski lesson or private snowboard lesson? You want to get the most bang for your buck, right? Take these tips into consideration.
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If you are one of the growing number of people who has a GPS device, a company called Mountain Dynamics now offers a product called SnowRanger which provide trail maps in electronic form on your GPS device.
The idea is this, let’s say you are planning to take a vacation to Steamboat, Colorado. You download the GPS map for $4.95 and install it on your GPS device. Then while skiing at Steamboat if you ever get lost or are just wondering how to get from one point to another you simply pull out the GPS and find your location.
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There’s an old saying that basically goes “That’s about as useful as yesterday’s newspaper!” The simple message is that if your news isn’t current, it isn’t really all that helpful. In skiing and riding, the situation around you changes by the moment and you’ll need to develop good mental awareness along with your physical skills. You’ll learn to know that you shouldn’t be concerned with where you are: you want to focus on where you’re going.
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In driving, your responsibility is to avoid what’s in front of you. That’s basically the Cardinal rule in skiing and riding, too; you should ignore what’s above (behind) you and avoid only what’s below you. Unlike a road, however, there’s usually little organization to a trail and there could be skiers/riders overtaking you from any direction while you are overtaking others from any direction. With so many moving objects (and no rear-view mirror), you’ll want to make every effort to know what’s around you including uphill.
When was the last time you checked the tightness of the screws on your snowboard bindings? The last time you snowboarded? Last week? Last month? Ever?
Ideally, you should check the tightness of each screw on your snowboard bindings every time you snowboard. This applies not only to the baseplate screws but also each screw on each snowboard binding strap. If you can’t manage to do this every day at least do it once every four or five times you snowboard.
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If you’re going to ski and ride, it’s going to be something you’ll want to do safely. Things can change quickly on the slopes and keeping an eye on your environment is just common sense. You’ll contribute to everyone’s safety if you pay attention while on the slopes, all the time. It isn’t enough to know where you are and where’s you’re going; you’ll also want to focus on everything that’s around you and where it’s going.