How To Frontside 180 On A Training Board

Frontside 180's are usually the first spin that snowboarders learn. Spinning frontside is when your chest faces downhill during the first 90 degrees of your rotation. In this tutorial, we teach you how to slay dragons and stomp laaaazy looking front 1's off the mountain, so you stomp them clean on the snow!

(Narrating/Riders: Duncan Mainland & Nev Lapwood. Film/Edit: Vince Emond)

Check out our Streaming Membership for tonnes of snowboard videos on how to spin, along with brand new tutorials we add every month.

Featured in this tutorial:

Frontside 180's. Check out our other blog on Frontside 180's
Counter-Rotated Frontside 180's. Check out our tutorial on Rotation Vs. Counter Rotation which will help.

Frontside 180

To initiate the Frontside 180, you’ll need to time 2 movements together:

An extension of your legs (jumping)
Frontside rotation of your body (think shoulders and hips)

These movements need to be timed pretty closely together. The better you can time them, the more efficient and stylish your spin is going to be.

As You Jump, Let Your Legs Follow Your Shoulders

Aim to leave the ground as your shoulders come about 90 degrees to the board.

This Is When You POP The 180

As you jump, bring your legs up towards your chest and continue to follow through with your shoulders until your back hand is pointing forward.

You can even wind up before you spin to gain a little extra momentum. Not extremely necessary for 180's, but it will really help you when you graduate to 360's, 540's and the great beyond.

The Wind Up

Trick Tip: It's easy to rush the spin when your learning, trying to huck the board around as fast as possible. Slow down the movements and concentrate on making them BIG. It’s harder to spin with fast and jerky movements, and you'll look like a jerry.

Using Counter Rotation

You can also do Frontside 180's by counter rotating your body. This isn't the best way to learn to spin, but it's an essential skill for doing 180's off jib features. Counter rotation, for this trick, occurs when you spin your board frontside and your upper body goes in the opposite direction.

Rotate Just Your Upper Body Frontside, Then Jump And Counter Rotate The 180

If you can’t make the full 180, you may need to rotate your upper body more before you jump, to allow movement through your core.

When your trying to do 180's off a box or rail, you just don’t get enough grip to develop rotation so counter rotation is the best way to make it work.

Let Your Body Do The Work And Enjoy The Ride

Practice both techniques on the Jib Training Board until it's second nature and take it to the snow.

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Jordan Harrington
Snowboard Addiction
Our Goal Is To Improve Your Riding

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