How To Method

A Method is one of most iconic tricks in snowboarding that never goes out of style. In this tutorial, we'll be sharing the best way to learn this seriously cool trick and show you how to tweak it out.

Loving the Method? Then you'll love the rest of our tutorials in our Grabs series. Check them out now and add some serious style to your jumping.

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

What Is A Method?

It’s one of the most difficult grabs to execute because it involves a combination of different techniques. It’s a Melon grab tweaked up behind your back combined with a Backside Shifty.

The Method in all its glory.

Step 1) Melon Grab To Tourist

Start with a Melon grab, which is your front hand on your heel edge between your feet. Now, tweak your Melon grab up behind your back while arching your hips forward. This is the Tourist Method.

There it is, the Tourist Method.

This is pretty easy to execute but don’t practice it too much, it’s not a proper Method and it doesn't look very good.

Step 2) Adding A Backside Shifty

The key to turning this into a real Method is adding a Backside Shifty. This is the most important part of the trick and the difficult part to execute. Make sure you’ve practiced a lot of Backside Shifties first as they are much easier without a grab.

SA mini-shredder Gabe adding that Backside Shifty to his Method.

Your first attempts at a real Method will probably have a small shifty movement. If this is the case, you need to use more counter rotation which will allow you to get a better shifty.

Try to poke out your back leg, extending it while pushing forward with your back arm to increase the twist. Continue to arch your back by pushing your hips forward.

Quick Tip

On straight jumps, use a little toe edge while taking off. This gives you some grip as you leave the lip and helps with pushing out your back leg. At the peak of your Method, your board should be parallel to the ground or your back foot higher than your front foot.

That being said, Backside Hips are the perfect jumps for Methods. The orientation helps with a Backside Shifty because you don’t have to bring your Method back to straight. You can take off with a slight toe edge from the hip which helps to push out your back leg.

Backside Hips are also a great feature to learn on.

Talking Point - Where To Grab

Methods can be grabbed on either the inside or your binding like a Melon on or the outside of your binding. Grabbing outside of the bindings is usually frowned upon, but for a Method you get to bend the rules a bit and add your own style.

A classic Method grab comparison. Chase Baines on the left with a more traditional grab. Cody Shepard on the right with a more modern, styled out version. What do you prefer?

Training Your Methods - The Tramp

A trampoline is the ultimate place to dial in your Methods because you can practice all the steps above in a very short period of time! For the in-depth tutorial, check out our How To Method On A Tramp Board tutorial here.

Want Even More Training Tips?

Alex McCann 
Snowboard Addiction
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