The Complicated World Of Snowboard Grabs

Every snowboarder wants to add style in their riding and the best way of achieving this is by adding grabs to your jumps and spins. You can tell how skilled a rider is by the quality of their grabs. Grabs are not just about style. They also help to stabilize and control you through the air, improving your riding. Today we're teaching you the general jist of various snowboard grabs. To learn specific grabs, join our Snowboard Tutorial Membership.

(Narrating/Riding: Nev Lapwood. Filmed At: Whistler Blackcomb)

How To Practice

The trampoline is the best place to practice your snowboard grabs before taking your skills to the mountain. Take our Training Board down to your local trampoline facility or jump on your backyard tramp to practice the various grabs.

1. Strap into your training board
2. Bend down and grab your board
3. Hold the grab for a few seconds then stand up again (this helps muscle memory)
4. Try to stay balanced while doing this

Check out our How To Warm Up For Grabs blog for on snow warmups so you can flex and tweak your grabs.

Snowboard Types of Grabs

There are many different ways to grab your board in snowboarding and although most are pretty easy, there are some super difficult grabs which definitely look the sickest! Most grabs are either on the toeside or heelside edge between your two feet, with a few on the nose and tail. Try to avoid grabbing between your nose and binding and tail and binding. These aren't considered stylish. The following diagram shows you where and how to grab your snowboard.

All Grabs

Front Hand Grabs

Nose Grab

A Nose Grab is when your front hand grabs the front tip (nose) of your board. Lift your front leg up and extend your back leg to bring your board up towards your hand.

Nose Grab

Mute Grab

The front hand grabs the toe edge preferably in-between the bindings (otherwise it’s a slob grab, which is considered as bad style). To finish the tweak, the rear leg is often stretched tailbone style.

Mute Grab

Seatbelt Grab

The front hand reaches across the front of the body and grabs the tail, while the front leg is entirely boned (nosebone). Once you’ve got the grab, it’s easy to style, because you only have to stretch everything out.

Seatbelt Grab

Melon Grab

A Melon is where you grab your heelside edge (between your feet) with your front hand. It’s similar to the Stalefish grab but with the front hand.

Melon Grab

Method Grab

One of the most iconic grabs! A Method is a tweaked Melon grab. You combine a backside shifty with a Melon and extend your legs behind your back to perform one of the most stylish grabs in snowboarding.

Japan

A Japan is when you tweak out a Mute behind your back.

Japan Grab

Front Hand Through Legs Grabs

Chicken Salad

Similar to a Roast Beef Grab but reaching through your legs to your heel edge with your front hand.

Chicken Salad Grab

Taipan

Similar to a Japan Grab but with your front hand behind you all the way through your legs to your front edge.

Taipan Grab

Rear Hand Grabs

Indy

One of the most basic grabs. Your rear hand grabs your toe edge slightly inside your rear foot.

Indy Grab

Stalefish

A Stalefish is when you grab your heelside edge (between your feet) with your rear hand.

Stalefish Grab

Tindy

The Indy’s ugly cousin! Don’t grab here, as it is considered a “panic grab” and is generally associated with bad style.

Tindy Grab

Tail Grab

A Tail Grab is where your back hand grabs the back tip (tail) of your board. Bring your back leg up and reach backward with your hand to grab the board. Extend your front leg to help reaching the grab.

Tail Grab

Crail

The rear hand reaches across the front of your body and ideally grabs the nose (front tip). The rear leg is stretched as much as possible tailbone style and your arm should be stretched too. The front hand pokes away to the backside to open up your upper body for the grab.

Crail Grab

Rear Hand Through Legs Grabs

Roast Beef

A Roast Beef is when you reach between your feet with your back hand, through your legs and grab the heel edge of your snowboard.

Saxon with a Roast Beef sandwich for breakfast

Canadian Bacon

The opposite of a Taipan grab, back hand behind you through the legs to the toe edge.

Canadian Bacon Grab

Both Hand Grabs

Rocket Air

A two handed nose grab, while the rear leg is boned and the front leg is pulled up.

Rocket Air Grab

Cross Rocket

Similar to the Rocket Air, this is a 2 handed nose grab where you cross your hands in order to grab opposite sides of the nose of the board, while the rear leg is boned straight and the front leg is tucked up.

Cross Rocket Grab

Adding Style & Boning Out Grabs

You can add style to a grab which will really make it your own by "boning-out" (otherwise known as "tweaking"). The term “boning out ” refers to a rider extending or straightening out either their front or back leg while performing a trick. This straightening of a leg “pokes” or “bones” out that end of the snowboard while the opposite leg is bent or tucked up.

For more information on how to style out your grabs, check out our How To Grab With Style blog!

That's It!

These are the more common and accepted snowboard grabs, but if you want to learn every grab out there and how to style it out, check out our world famous Snowboard Tutorial Membership. The next step, get out there, be creative and invent your own grabs!

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Jake Adams
Snowboard Addiction
Our Goal Is To Improve Your Riding