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Old Forum Snowboard racer S & C

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EricKenyonSFG

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Great success so far with my new student, Evan Strong. After two sessions He felt stronger and faster on the slopes, especially in heelside turns. I gave him the dirt simple basics: Deadlift, and swing. Since then I've given him double kb front squat, striker's floor press, arm-bar.

He's in season right now, so I am following Easy Strength guidelines. Evan just got a super fast board which he was worried about handling before we started working together. Last week he did three national time trials with that board, came in fastest all three. He is totally controlling the board.

So far Hardstyle/Easy Strength methods are making me look like a genius. So much so, that up until tonight I have done no research at all on snowboarding, and have asked for no help. My conversations with Evan have been my only snowboarding instruction. Any one have any experience or advice in this realm?
 
I have a ton of experience here.  What would you like to know?  Happy to answer any questions.

 
 
Thanks Adam, anything I may be missing? What has been your biggest bang for buck thing with your snowboarders?

 
 
Sounds like you are doing the right things with him in season.  I switched to zercher squats this season, as they don't tax my legs like back squatting does.  Off season...heavy squats and deadlifts (wipeout/ impact survivability), and I like to work on Clean and jerk, and snatches for power (driving hard out of the bottom of turns).
 
Thanks Adam! Anything you do for starts? These guys spend a lot of time working on exploding out of the gates. They even build mock-up gates indoors and practice starts, lots of 'em.
 
I think barbell cleans would be the best thing for training the explosiveness of the start;  explosive opening of the hip with a redirection into a squat.  If you don't know how to teach them, then heavy kettlebell dead swings would probably be a good idea too.
 
Any plans to incorporate/start "balance training" as well?  I've seen tremendous sport specific results (surfing, snowboarding) from  using/playing w/ a homemade balance/"Rola Bola"/"Indo" board.
 
Thank you again Adam! And thank you Russell.

Channing, when someone tells me they have "seen tremendous sport specific results from using X," I always ask, "Compared to what?"
 
Compared to not doing it?  I just know that when I balance training consistently I ride better and long term lay offs from riding didn't seem to have as pronounced an effect.
 
So something is better than nothing according to your experience.

I find there is a lot of confusion in the realm of balance training, That is I find other people are confused.

Evan just won a big race in Tahoe this weekend. He has done plenty of advanced balance training, but nowhere near the amount of time wasting I have seen other athletes do. I have reduced his "balance training" and replaced it with SFG  strength training. We are already seeing the results of the comparison. That is what I mean by "compared to what?" You could try such an experiment yourself.
 
Only time I have done "balance training" was post shattered ankle about 15 years ago.  Still have the vewdew balance board, and I hop on it from time to time, but I'm just playing around.  It doesn't really translate into better riding, and your guys are riding a number of days a week I would imagine; all the balance work they need is in practicing their sport.  These days I have been having a lot of fun playing around on a slack line, but I would hesitate to call it balance training.  I'm just goofing around trying something new, I don't expect it to translate into better riding just because it incorporates a serious focus on balancing.  Way back we used to jump on trampolines with old boards and the edges all taped over to get a feel for body position in the air.  It may have been slightly helpful, but it was also a bit counterproductive in that you never launch off a jump the way you jump into a trick on a tramp; so ultimately we just got sore low backs from the trampoline with added board, and a screwy take off.  Side note, my last time on a tramp, 3 bears showed up to watch and everyone bailed in a panic while I was left trying to unstrap while still bouncing!  Some things just don't carry over from training as well as just doing the thing itself.  Everyones milage may vary, just my 2 cents.
 
LOL! Great stories!

Evan does a bit of slack line and a bit of just standing on a partially deflated swiss ball. We are able to have sensible discussions about whether these things carry over. I asked him if he would still use them if he could get on the slopes as often as he wanted. After careful consideration his answer was yes, but,  he is leaning and experiencing some new things, his attitude might change. I respect his opinion on these subjects. Also he does happen to have one leg missing from the knee down, and this sometimes changes the way we do things. Single leg DL's are tough on that mechanical leg for instance.

BTW, When Evan started to really get the swing, he flipped! He thinks it is the best S & C for snowboard racing. Before the season we did 30/30's with a 40 pounder, 4 to 7 cycles, so the work volume equals the time of a race. Now it's only one or two sets of 10 reps to keep his hips fast and fluid.

Thanks again Adam.
 
Evan just got 2nd in a big race at Copper Mountain. There is a video going around of him wiping out at the beginning of the race, sprawled out on his stomach, scrambling up, finishing and getting 2nd place! Evan is a real competitor, determined and resourceful.
 
hell yeah. that's the kind of competitor i'd like to cheer for. maybe link to schedule of his upcoming races for the season, especially if any happen at winter park...
 
That is awesome!!!  Great job to your client!  I'm actually competing this Saturday for the first time since 1998 in the Volcom JLA Foundation 1st annual Banked Slalom at Mammoth mountain.  This will be interesting, we will see how it goes.  Wish they had an old guys division!
 
I took 14th place (out of 51 I think) after not racing for 15 years.  Not bad considering everyone who beat me is half my age hahahaha.  But for a little sketch at the bottom, I could have been top finisher...Going to try and redeem it this Sat. in the Mt. Baldy banked slalom.
 
OK, update. Evan just won gold in Sochi Russia and bronze in Slovenia.

Here is a link to Evan's blog and a piece a local sports reporter wrote about us:

http://www.strongevan.com/1/archives/02-2013/1.html

 
 
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