Weak ancles or bad boots?

Just started snowboarding a few days ago, and it has far surpassed
my expectations; the only problem is that I tend to experience
moderate pain in my front ankle while doing toeside turns.

I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing, caused by me stressing
parts of my body that have never seen this much abuse before.
I've been doing six hours straight every day since I started,
so I wouldn't be surprised that I felt something. Still,
I'm wondering if this could also be caused by ill-fitting boots.

If anyone here has experienced the same problem, I'd love to hear
about it.

--
Haakon

Hard to tell without knowing what boots you got, and what injury you
have.
Snowboarding, you should completely relax the ankle when you go
toeside, allowing the natural lockout to edge the board, so your knees
are very bent and low to the snow.
Completely relax the ankle!
But if you're hitting big bumps and flying around, correcting and
compensating, then your ankle gets a workout.
Stiffer the boot, the more shock goes to your knees and hips.

[LeeD]

Hard to tell without knowing what boots you got,

Cycab C30 boots; they were part of a cheap beginner's package, and
they have a somewhat hard outer shell and a removable inner layer.
Here's a picture of them:
http://www.g-sport.no/upload/12152/CycpkSR.jpg

I'm sure you get what you pay for, but when I bought them, I hoped
that wouldn't be an issue until I progressed enough to start doing
jumps and stuff.

and what injury you have.

Right now, it hurts when I rotate my front (left) foot.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the anatomy of the ankle to
specify exactly which parts hurt.

Snowboarding, you should completely relax the ankle when you go
toeside, allowing the natural lockout to edge the board, so your knees
are very bent and low to the snow.
Completely relax the ankle!

Sounds like my technique may be the problem here. As it is now, I
can relax during heelside turns, but I'm fighting the board's
tendency to flatten out while doing toeside. I'll try to bend more
in the knees, and we'll see if that helps. Thanks for the tip!

But if you're hitting big bumps and flying around, correcting and
compensating, then your ankle gets a workout.
Stiffer the boot, the more shock goes to your knees and hips.

I feel a little in the knees too, but only later in the day,
not while snowboarding.

--
Haakon

[Mike M. Miskulin]

Haakon Riiser wrote in
:

my expectations; the only problem is that I tend to experience
moderate pain in my front ankle while doing toeside turns.

Could this be where you are tightening the heel strap?

No, the other side.

Anyway, while riding today, I discovered that I could make most
of the ankle stress go away by letting the back foot do more of
the work when I'm resting on the edges.

The reason I put so much weight on the front foot was that I read
some beginner's guides on the net, and they said that the proper
way to turn was to put the weight on the front foot and tilt it
up/down to make turns, while using the back foot to gently lead
the board through the turn.

I still do it that way when switching between heelside and toeside,
but not while I'm just gliding on one of the edges.

--
Haakon

Haakon Riiser wrote:
Just started snowboarding a few days ago, and it has far surpassed
my expectations; the only problem is that I tend to experience
moderate pain in my front ankle while doing toeside turns.

I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing, caused by me stressing
parts of my body that have never seen this much abuse before.
I've been doing six hours straight every day since I started,
so I wouldn't be surprised that I felt something. Still,
I'm wondering if this could also be caused by ill-fitting boots.

If anyone here has experienced the same problem, I'd love to hear
about it.


Is your heel lifting? This will put a lot of strain on your feet when
doing toe edge turns.

[Octessence]

Haakon Riiser wrote:
Just started snowboarding a few days ago, and it has far surpassed
my expectations; the only problem is that I tend to experience
moderate pain in my front ankle while doing toeside turns.

Is your heel lifting? This will put a lot of strain on your feet when
doing toe edge turns.

Yes, I was kind of standing on my toes to keep the board on its
edge and, at the same time, put most of the weight on the front
foot.

--
Haakon

Utmost importantance to relax your calf and shin muscles, and allow
the natural lockout to determine toeside pressure, controlled by
flexing the quads and lowering your knees close to the snow.
That's softboot style. Hardboots, you use the stiffness of the boots
to toeside pressure, but you still roll your knees close to the snow on
toeside turns.
DO NOT ever stand on your toes.
Think about it.... a surfer can toeside turn, and he doesn't even
have bindings!

[LeeD]

Utmost importantance to relax your calf and shin muscles, and allow
the natural lockout to determine toeside pressure, controlled by
flexing the quads and lowering your knees close to the snow.

As close to the snow as this:
http://www.masterclass.f9.co.uk/imag...arding%202.jpg
?

I tried this today, but I always fall forward. Perhaps it would
work in _really_ steep slopes, or if I went extremely fast, but
I didn't try that. I can make the same angle in the knees as the
picture shows, but I can't maintain the board's angle like that.
(At least I don't think so -- I haven't had anyone take a picture
of me yet.)

That's softboot style. Hardboots, you use the stiffness of the boots
to toeside pressure, but you still roll your knees close to the snow on
toeside turns.

I can feel that the stiffness in my softboots also factor when
doing toeside turns. I can't bend in the knees without feeling
the boots pressing against the shins.

--
Haakon

Sorry, didn't know you ride flatter slopes.
Advanced riding techniques only work if you ride in an advanced
manner, and going slow on bunny slopes is NOT advanced riding.
That guy is doing the casual toe turn. Easy to get waay lower, and
actually CARVE the turns.

Haakon Riiser wrote:
[LeeD]

I tried this today, but I always fall forward. Perhaps it would
work in _really_ steep slopes, or if I went extremely fast, but
I didn't try that. I can make the same angle in the knees as the
picture shows, but I can't maintain the board's angle like that.
(At least I don't think so -- I haven't had anyone take a picture
of me yet.)

You probably are trying to lean your upper body into the turn... this
is wrong, you actually want to get all the "angulation" from your lower
body (well for now, once you kow what you are doing you are free to try
out really laid out extreme carving like the guys in
extremecarving.com). What you should be doing is "squatting" down and
getting low while keeping your weight *over* the board. The motion you
need is basically a hindu squat - here is a link
(http://www.cbass.com/Furey.htm) , scroll down to the third image.
Here, like LeeD said, your knees are bent and close to the ground, but
your upper body is straight and upright and you are nicely balanced and
not tipping forward. You can do this on virtually any slope. I do it on
shallow slopes when I get boarded (usually traversing back to a lift) -
I'll be squatting so low that on a toeside my butt is touching the top
of my highbacks and I can easily grab the upturned edge of my board.

I can feel that the stiffness in my softboots also factor when
doing toeside turns. I can't bend in the knees without feeling
the boots pressing against the shins.

That's a very good thing. That stiffness is "true" way of getting your
board up on this toeside edge, it lets you transfer the power of you
quad/hamstring muscle down into the board, levering it up. This is a
much, much more powerful than trying to use your calves.