It’s easy to go snowboarding when you’re in shape. So what can you do in the off-season to keep yourself sharp? One option is to go biking.
Mike Doyle says that biking produces many benefits for skiers. I suspect that snowboarders gain some of those benefits as well, which include keeping your legs strong and enhancing cardiovascular fitness.
Summer is here and the snow is not. But can you simulate some of the sensations of snowboarding? Perhaps.
“The Pro Rider” is the annual publication of the American Association of Snowboard Instructors. The 2008 edition has an article, “Summertime Shredding?,” which describes several different boards that might be worth trying out … this summer.
Here’s are a few quick comments on the options, as presented by the article.
1. The standard skateboard is good for snowborders interested in refining freestyle basics such as ollies, grinds and jibs. But if, like most adult snowboarders, you’re more interested in cruising and big-mountain riding, read on, especially to the third item.
2. To use either the Ripstick or the Wave, imagine that you’re standing on a snowboard. Now twist your feet from edge to edge–independently–so that you push down on the toes of one foot and lift up the toes of your other foot. That motion gets the board moving. Along with the Flowboard (see below), it’s one of the cheaper options mentioned. It’s too unstable for use on hills, but works well on flat areas.
These boards can help you learn how to move your feet independent of each other. That’s the upside. The downside is that they might encourage you to use your shoulders a lot, which is not considered the best form by today’s snowboarding instructors.
3. The Freeboard looks more like a standard skateboard, but with some important differences. On top, it has bindings. On the underside, it has two extra wheels. One is near the nose and the other is near the tail. The company says that the standard wheels are like your snowboard edges, while the spinning wheels are like the p-tex base of a snowboard, in that they allow you to slide.
The Freeboard has this advantage over the other boards: You can skid (the only board tested that allows you to do so) and come to a complete stop (no dismounting required) in a fashion similar to putting your snowboard across the fall line.
Be warned, though. The testers say that riding this board “is a very realistic experience, including the distinct possibility of catching a downhill edge.” Another warning: Some assembly required. Unlike the Ripstick, you can’t use it on entirely flat surfaces.
4. The Tierney Rides T-Board (downhill model) does away with traditional skateboard wheels altogether. Instead, it has just two wheels. The front one swivels, the back one does not. (As you might expect, this is a directional board.) Like a snowboard, you can’t use it on entirely flat surfaces.
Give the T-board some credit. It’s the most readable site among those mentioned here.
A word of warning: if you tilt the board too severely, it will touch the pavement, which could stop you rather quickly. Ouch!
5. The Flowboard is one of the cheaper options in the list. Flip it upside down and you’ll notice something unusual. There are a set of wheels underneath both the nose and tail–7 on each end! Even more unusual, they’re aligned a concave fashion, so they make the image of a smile. You don’t all the wheels at once; when you tilt the board, you’ll be changing which wheels you ride on. (Compare this with a typical skateboard, in which the board top–the deck–pivots, but the wheels do not.)
6. Many companies will sell you a traditional longboard, which is (to put it crudely) an extra-long skateboard. As with the Freeboard and T-Board, longboards got high marks from the testers for offering a freeriding experience.
So there you go. Any of these boards can give you some aspect of snowboarding. But none can provide the snow-on-mountain experience, and you may have to make some adjustments once you get back on your snowboard.
One great thing about snowboarding is that it can provide the motivation to get fit. And if you want to get into shape, one good guide to doing so is “Open Your Heart to Winter Fitness,” by Lisa Marie Mercer.
I’m only sixty or so pages into it, but it provides both inspiration and instruction. The techno-babble can be a bit heavy in a few spots, but if you can understand that, you’ll have a better appreciation for what the exercises will do for you. If you’re not interested in understanding biomechanics, read the first few chapters and then plunge into part 2 for specific exercises.
I came across a new (to this season) blog called Snowboard Women. I’m not sure how old Erica (riding since 1999) and the rest of her Southern California-based gang are, so I’m not sure if they’d be comfortable identifying with the Grays on Trays demographic, but they do get “age points” for remembering vinyl records.
Also, I liked the post “Snowboarders Getting Older.” At least I plan to be snowboarding while getting older, as are the folks on the Grays on Trays discussion board.
The blog has a post on pre-season conditioning that comes with this twist: strengthen those triceps.
Say what?
“You heard me. Unless you have step-ins, you’re gonna spend a fair amount of time sitting at the top of the run strapping in. Once your gear’s all set, you gotta push yourself up off your seated position… over and over! Getting your arms prepped will prevent you from being too sore the next day.”
Not a bad idea to tone those arms, of course. But you could also get some Flow bindings and avoid that sitting on your bum.
Success in snowboarding depends in part on having strong abdominal, or core muscles. There are lots of exercises that you can do to develop a stronger core.
Are you pressed for time and can’t make it to the gym? Here’s one thing you can do without even leaving the office: Replace that office chair (at least temporarily) with an exercise ball.
The Wall Street Journal has the story, which you can read on its free site Career Journal.
“Devotees,” reports the Journal, “say exercise balls, whose diameter ranges from about 18 to 30 inches, help improve posture and concentration. Sitting upright on them requires using abdominal and lower back muscles.”
As an adult, you may not be as fit as when you were at a younger age. But that’s no reason for sinking into the living room furniture and becoming a couch potato. The exercise ball can be one tool for improving your fitness, and making that on-the-snow experience less of a workout, and more a sheer session of enjoyment.
Live somewhere where it’s too warm for snow, but you want to get ready for a trip to the mountains? I’ve come across some instructors who say that the Ripstick is a useful training device. The video below makes it look worthwhile.
You don’t have to be in great physical shape to go riding. But it helps.
I spent most of last week indoors, 24/7. I was at a hotel for a conference, and from 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday until 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, I never left the building.
Over the last year I have gotten into an exercise routine that includes leg curls, crunches, and some upper-body workouts. In the last month I added some boxing. It’s just me and a punching bag, but it’s enough to be an aerobic workout.
This all started in October of last year, out of two objectives. One was the “it’s good for you” concern–exercise because it’s a good thing to do. But the other objective was to have more endurance while riding. I’m happy to say that both objectives have been achieved.
So it was with some concern that I gave up on getting much exercise in during the conference. When Saturday morning came around, I was ready for the 5k run/walk, even though I had not run in 30 years.
Twelve of the conference attendees met in the hotel lobby at the appointed (early) hour. I had no plan for whether I would take on the whole route, or double-back and return part-way through. I expected to walk, not run.
We gathered at the starting line, and took off. To my surprise, I started jogging near the head of the pack. And I stayed there for perhaps half a mile. Then I retreated into a walk some, jog some routine.
All was going well until the halfway point. That’s when some rubbing on my left foot really kicked in. It hurt. A lot. There was a sharp pain on my instep.
After that, I walked, with the occasional jog to get across the street. I thought of taking off my shoes and running in bare feet, or perhaps stocking feet. But the air temperature was about 50, and I figured that the pavement would be pretty cold, too. Plus, I was concerned about stubbing my toe–or doing something worse–on the occasionally uneven sidewalks.
I figured that I would be the last person back to the hotel, and that the organizer would be there waiting for me, making sure that nobody had died along the way.
Instead, I could hear the entire crowd of runners as I ran out the last two or three blocks. When I arrived near the party, they let out a bigger cheer. Someone took some photos of us all, and I sheepishly blamed my slow time on “equipment failure.” I don’t know that anyone believed me.
So what sorts of ailments did I suffer? A blister on my instep. It hasn’t popped, and if I am lucky, it won’t. Though a few people warned me of crushed knees, they feel fine. Oh, I have some soreness in the muscles on the tops of my feet, and my thighs ache the way they used to after I went on 20-mile walks. But overall, I feel fine.
For that, I can credit–or if you will, blame–snowboarding.
The 2006 January edition of Men’s Journal (not online) has an article about a group guys who took Alpine skills to North Africa. The trip involved skiing and snowboarding on both snow and sand.
Here’s are some excerpts from the sand portion of the trip:
“A few miles out we can see the larger dunes; they are smooth, shapely mountains, nearly 1,000 feet high. I had been skeptical about the possibility of dune skiing–it seemed a little like a stunt, a few uneasy turns for a camera. But now as I gave over the terrain, I think it just might work.
[snip]
The sand is different from your average American beach sand. It’s very fine–sort of like orange baby powder–and inevitably finds it way up your nose.
[snip]
The view is remarkable: Giant waves of orange stretch as far as I can see. … We step into our skis and onto our snowboard, confident that we are the only skiers and rider for hundreds of miles. Fresh tracks, indeed.
The slopes is steep and perfectly smooth. If it were fresh powder we’d be in heaven, but none of us are sure how this will play out on sand.
[Snip]
(My skis) slide fairly easily and soon enough I’m moving along at a good, but controlled clip. The slowed motion is similar to skiing in deep powder.
[snip]
I start to find a rhythm, going very easy on the edges so as not to lose speed. … I reach the bottom and look up with pride at the pretty line of s’s I’ve carved. I’m out of breath and happy. Dune skiing is good. It’s even worth climbing up for another run.
Massimo comes screaming down on his snowboard, which gains considerably higher speeds on the sand. We’ve all been wondering what it would feel like to fall, and Massimo is the first to find out. He kicks up an impressive cloud of dust as he tumbles down after catching an edge. He recovers, though, and smiles the rest of the way down.”
I’m not sure what the author, Arthur Bradford, means when he talks about “considerably higher speeds on the sand.” Does he mean that the snowboarder had greater speed than the skier? If so, I suspect it has more to do with the rider than the equipment (though Bradford was using telemark skis, which, I think, would slow him down.) Or maybe he is saying that it’s the sand itself which is considerably faster than snow? But since he’s talking about the sand like it was powder, I’m not sure.
You can get more information, and see some photos, here.
Oh yes, there are plenty of sites for sandboarding, including Sandboard magazine.
