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Snowboarding For Beginners - Make sure you have the right kit
The first thing you need to think about before setting off on a snowboarding holiday is having the right gear. Boards and boots can be hired at your chosen resort but snowboarding clothing should be bought in advance. Having the right kind of clothing is essential to making the most of your experience. If you have never strapped a snowboard to your feet then the second thing you should consider is taking lessons. Once you are wearing the right gear and lessons booked, the third thing to consider is you. In the excitement of trying a new sport and the thrill of flying down a mountainside, people often focus on looking cool and forget to think about protecting themselves from injury. Another important consideration for those starting out is picking a resort which has plenty of easy slopes to practice on such as Kitzbuhel in Austria and Alpe d'Huez in France.
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Snowboarding For Beginners - Preparing for your snowboarding holiday
There are things you can do before you depart for your snowboarding holiday that will help you make the most of your time on the slopes. Whilst anyone with a decent level of fitness can have fun on the snow, the more prepared you are physically, the more you will be able to push yourself while staying injury free. A few days of stretching and strengthening at home or in the gym should prepare your muscles and joints sufficiently for being thrown around strapped to your board. Suppleness and flexibility are key to snowboarding and you will discover muscles you never knew you had. If you don't have time to prepare before your holiday then each morning, make sure you do some basic exercises to get blood flowing to muscles and get the heart pumping. This could be star-jumps, running on the spot or squatting. Don't worry about looking silly - worry about avoiding injury. Stretching is also essential and shoulder rolls, neck rolls and gentle back arches for the upper body and quad, hamstring and thigh stretches for the legs will wake up the body and help prepare your muscles and joints for the physical exertion of boarding.
Snowboarding For Beginners - Learn the basics
There is so much to learn about snowboarding that you cannot possibly learn it all in one go. Many essential tips will be passed on by instructors and fellow boarders but there are some basics that will help you avoid some of the beginners’ pitfalls. Always keep your board attached to your wrist via the leash when carrying your board on the slopes. Watching your expensive board disappear over a cliff is no fun and could mean a quick end to your holiday. It is a given with snowboarding that you will fall over. This is unavoidable but you can make this less painful firstly by wearing wrist guards and possibly kneepads but also by thinking about how you fall. Try not to automatically let your wrists and knees take your weight falling forwards. Instead, throw your arms out and straighten your legs ensuring your forearms take the impact. When falling backwards, make yourself small by curling into a ball as much as possible and sliding on your back with the fall.
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