How To Add Style To Your Grabs

Style is one of, if not the most important aspects of snowboarding. Without it, snowboarding wouldn't be what it is today and probably wouldn't even be worth doing. After you’ve learnt the six main snowboard grabs, use the tips in this tutorial to start to styling out your grabs.

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(Narrating/Riding: Nev Lapwood. Riding: Duncan Mainland. Film/Edit: Vince Emond. Filmed At: Whistler Blackcomb & Whistler Bounce)

How To Style

Adding style to your grabs is done with a combination of two techniques at the same time. The first is leg extensions, where you extend one leg out while pulling the opposite leg in.

This technique will help clean up your Nose and Tail Grabs.

Shifties is the other and is where you twist the position of the board in the air and bring it back straight for landing.

Get it twisted.

When you add these techniques to your grabs it’s called boning, tweaking or poking your grab. They all mean the same thing and add up to better style while flying through the air.

Styling An Indy

With an Indy grab, there’s two popular ways to bone it out. Extend your front leg while adding a bit of Backside Shifty. This method works best if you grab close to your back binding. Or, extend your back leg while adding a bit of Frontside Shifty, grabbing close to your front binding.

You can see there's a big difference in style with a standard Indy grab vs. a boned out Indy grab.

Styling A Mute

When styling your Mute grab, extend your back leg and combine with a Frontside Shifty.

 It works best if you grab close to your front binding.

Styling A Melon

For the Melon grab, it is common to extend your front leg and add a little Backside Shifty.

A classic.

Styling A Stalefish

When doing the Stalefish, extend your back leg and add a Frontside Shifty.

The more you tweak, the better it looks.

Pro Tip: The leg extensions, Shifties and grabs can either happen simultaneously as you grab, or you can grab first, then bone it out.

No Grab Zones

There are certain parts of your board you should NEVER grab because they are associated with bad style. If you grab any where from your back binding to your tail on the toe edge, it’s called a Tindy. 

Halfway between an Indy and a Tail Grab = Tindy.

If you grab anywhere from your back binding to your tail but on the heel edge, it’s called a Tailfish.

Halfway between a Tail Grab and a Stalefish = Tailfish. 

That's how you add style to your grabs! Get out there and use these tips to up your style game and please stay away from the Tindy and Tailfish.

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Alex McCann
Snowboard Addiction
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