Eliminating Sluggish Edge Transitions
"I feel like my edge transitions are slow."
"When I start the next turn, it feels like a heavy, laborious effort."
I often hear this concern.
Even though we use the single word "transition," the cause varies from person to person.
However, there is one thing they have in common.
That is,thinking of the body's transition and the board's transition as the same thing.
The slower a person's transition is, the more they try to move their entire body to flip the board.
If the body moves, the board moves too.
That is certainly not wrong.
But large objects do not move quickly.
That is why the transition feels like a "heavy, laborious effort."
Here, I would like you to try changing your perspective for a moment.
Think of the body's transition and the board's transition separately.
Just doing this will change the scenery you see.
Perhaps you have an image like,
"The center of gravity is always directly above the deck surface of the board."
And don't you think,
"Changing the edge angle equals shifting the center of gravity."
?
With this way of thinking, you have to move your center of gravity significantly every time you switch edges.
Naturally, it takes time.
But in reality,
the deck and the center of gravity are not always facing each other.
You can move just the board first.
You can change just the edge angle.
In other words, the board can be transitioned faster than the body.
What is necessary for that is
fine control at your feet.
Ankles.
Boots.
Bindings.
By using this area effectively, you can quickly transition just the board.
Even though your body isn't moving much,
only the edge changes smoothly.
That is the kind of riding you will achieve.
Think about it.
When you turn your palm over, you don't move your whole arm from the shoulder, do you?
If you use your wrist and fingers, the orientation changes in an instant.
Snowboarding is the same.
Just because you want to flip the board, you don't need to use your whole body every time.
There is a place where you can perform small, precise movements: your feet.
Of course, body movement is important.
But its role is to respond to external forces.
Flipping the board is not its only job.
The board is operated by the feet,
and the body absorbs external forces.
Once you can divide these roles, the transition becomes surprisingly light.
The smaller the movement, the faster it is.
This is common across all sports.
The reason for sluggish transitions might not be that your body is slow.
It might be because you are trying to move the board with your body.
For once, try thinking of
the body's transitionand
the board's transitionseparately.
And try to find the sensation of changing the edge angle using only your feet.
The deck surface and the center of gravity are not always facing each other.
Once you master this way of thinking, your transitions will become more natural and more effortless.
This was Rei Aoki, the master of verbalization.