Grabs

Grabs a little different from your normal trick. Rather than being a trick on their own, they are something that you can add to any other trick that you are doing to add style and change the look of the trick. Since there are a lot of different times and places that you can do a grab there are a lot of different names for tricks that involve grabs.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain grabs is to detail some of the more common types of grabs. Perhaps the most basic grabs are the nose and tail grabs. The nose grab is when you reach out and grab the nose of your snowboard. Once you have grabbed the nose of your snowboard you should try to stand up a bit so that your arm is stretched a little. A tail grab is exactly the same except you grab the tail instead of the nose.

Once you are comfortable with the feeling of grabbing the tail or nose of your snowboard you will wish to progress to grabbing the center of your snowboard. A perfect example of this is the Indy grab. To Indy grab you grab the toe edge of your snowboard between the bindings with your rear hand. The opposite maneuver is the Mute grab. To mute grab you grab the toe edge of your snowboard between the bindings with your leading hand.

The beautiful thing about grabs is that they can be very easily changed to modify the look and feel of what you had been doing before. The Roast Beef and Stalemaskey grabs are variations of Indy and Mute grabs. Instead of your rear hand grabbing the toe edge as you would with an Indy grab, you reach between your legs and grab the heel edge of your snowboard. This tweak of the grabs you had been doing will add to the challenge of your snowboarding and totally alter the look of the tricks that you are currently doing.

Grabs can also be used to change the position of your snowboard while in flight. Method and Lein grabs are two examples of this. With a Method grab you grab your snowboard by bringing your arm behind your back, not through your legs, to grab the heel edge of your snowboard. Once you have a grab you pull your snowboard up until it is at least level with your hips. If you are pro then you will pull the snowboard up until it is level with your head…

If your back and coordination isn’t up to a Method grab then perhaps a Suitcase Air is your style. Instead of pulling your snowboard up you must focus on bending your joints. When in the air you bend you legs at the knees so that the snowboard is a close as possible to your butt. Once there you reach under your snowboard with your front hand and grab the toe edge.

As you can see grabs are very generic and are not tricks of there own. Rather they are elements that add style and variation to the tricks that you are already doing and a simple way to make known tricks a little more challenging for you. Practice grabbing your snowboard at all points at any time and you will always be able to change the look of anything you are doing.