Rotation vs. Counter-Rotation, what’s that about? It’s a concept/technique rather than a variation on a trick. For example, you probably won’t hear anyone say “I just did a 50-50 to counter-rotated 180 out on the box”. That would just be a “50-50, 180 out”. That doesn’t mean you should forget about the different ways you can setup for your rotation and how it applies to your snowboarding tricks. Quite the opposite, you need to know!

Rotation – try this: stand up in your snowboarding position, arms out to the side, looking forward. You’re going to jump a little frontside 180. To prepare, turn your arms/shoulders backwards toward where the tail of the board would be. This is called winding-up. As you jump the 180, use your arms/shoulders to help – they’ll rotate in the same direction of the spin. That’s “rotation”.

Counter-Rotation – thy this: same example of jumping a frontside 180. This time, before jumping, turn your arms/shoulders forwards toward where the nose of the board would be, the direction you’re looking in. As you jump the 180, swing your arms/shoulder back, so that they rotate in the opposite direction to the spin. That’s “counter-rotation”.

Counter rotation is especially important at times when you can’t use an edge to help you spin. For example:

• You’re on a rail or box, and the base has to be flat
• You’re in the air

This makes counter-rotation essential for things like shifties and rail/box riding. For example, with a shifty, you turn your board one way in the air, and then bring it back to straight before you land. You need to use your upper body as a counter-balance. It’s the same with riding rails.

If you’d like to know more, read this article: Snowboard Tricks: The Concepts of Rotation and Counter-Rotation.

The exact terminology isn’t the important thing here – what you need to know is that there are different ways you can use your upper body in conjunction with your lower body – to do rotation. Snowboard Addiction have a video-based freestyle program and they show this technique really well.

Snowboard Tricks Guide

This article is part of the afterbang Guide to Snowboard Tricks.