Sit in the Chair?

[AK in PA]

My wife and son took their first snowboard lesson a couple of weekends ago. I watched them learn to skate and get used to the feel of their boards for a while with their instructor before going to catch some runs of my own. When I returned to check on them, they were working on taking short, on-edge runs down a gentle hill. My jaw dropped though, when their instructor executed a perfect toilet squat and said, "OK, remember. Sit in the chair." to describe the proper riding form.

My first lesson was probably 18 years ago and I've never instructed, but I distinctly remember being taught to rotate my waist and shoulders towards the front of the board, on Lesson 1. I'm sure alot has changed in 18 years, but "sit in the chair"? How in God's green earth can I eventually get them carving if they think they're to sit in a chair, dead 90* to the board? Is this the standard for what is being taught? Is the current idea to teach baby steps from the simplest of form, and then to try to erase that when more complex form is taught later?

[Vandalrob08]

Well, A lot has changed in 18 years! When a instructor says "Sit In Your Chair" he is right. On a freestyle board, you want to have the most comfortable, fluent riding position possible. With your knees bent, body relaxed, it allows you to make complete fluent carves with very little body movement. You, as a hardbooter can also take something out of the "Sit In Your Chair" instruction. Keep your body aligned with the angles of your feet and "Sit In Your Chair". Allow yourself to really collapse into the middle of your board on a heelside turn. try it, you might be surprised.

[philfell]

For a never-ever snowboarder on a common freestyle set-up. "sitting in the chair" is way, way, way, advice than "to rotate my waist and shoulders towards the front of the board".

Stand in your living room with your feet at a standard soft-boot set-up (usually around 12f -9r), now rotate your waist and shoulders toward the front of your board.......How unnatual do you feel, it would be very hard to carve like this. Now bring your wais and shoulders back in line with your feet and bend you knees, kind of like sitting in a chair and it's natural to feel on a heelside. Granted William is right about it putting you mass away from your edge and you get tippy, but for someone who has never snowboarded before it isn't that bad to phrase it that way. Remember that someone who has never snowboarded before, you need to use terms that non-snow sliders can understand.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I distinctly remember being taught to rotate my waist and shoulders towards the front of the board, on Lesson 1.

The current thinking is to line your shoulders up with your binding angles. For most people on soft setups, that will mean your shoulders face the edge, rather than the nose as you were taught.

[Rob Stevens]

I think you showed up when the instructor was teaching the class how to edge in a sideslip to get a little speed control and to show a stopping motion.

I always tried to avoid using the phrase "sit in a chair" because as a student did this, they would send their butt back, but their shoulders forward. Sometimes the two would cancel each other out and nothing would happen.

If I want them to put the board on edge, while maintaining a more upright posture in the torso, I would say "lean back to the wall". This was after showing them how I wanted them to "lean" to the "wall" with their hips and shoulders at the same time, so their hips and shoulders would make contact with the "wall" at the same time. I would do this at the bottom and use an actual wall to demonstrate on, so they could see exactly what I was talking about. This would take a bit longer than just going to the old saw, "sit in the chair" because as Phil pointed out, the student will inherently know what that feels like. "Move to the wall", if not properly demo'ed can lead to pure inclining which makes it hard to balance at less than walking speed. After a few minutes, I could get them angulating properly so that when they did it on snow the torso would stay in a more vertical position, with angulation making the edging happen.

As for the "Rotate to face the nose" bit, that sounds like the part where they're getting you to turn from your toes to your heels for the first time.

In CASI, we still introduce rotation as the method for making a beginner turn. We're one of the last associations to still do this and not everyone agrees with this method. I dont have a problem with it as it still works after all these years (like the mullet, bitches) and in my mind does not introduce any bad habits that need to be broken later. You just gradually use less as you learn to "steer" with your lower body and it does a good job of keeping first timers from doing that floppy counter-rotation thing.