Snowboard carving like squatting on a toilet? How open hips and angulation work together

“Squatting on the toilet.” That is KAKU’s name for the posture so many riders get stuck in as they move up in carving: weight sitting back, butt sticking out, back rounded. However hard they work, the posture stays stuck.

KAKU’s view is that the problem often lies in “opening the hips” and “angulation” (反弓, literally the “reverse bow”) not being done fully, and in not understanding how the two work together.

This is Part 10 of Carving Lab. Part 4 covered how low to crouch; this part covers what happens once you are down there: how the hips and the upper body divide the work.

This post is for you if you:

• can already carve, but keep being told your butt sticks out and your back is rounded
• hear “open hips” and “angulation” all the time, and can’t tell what each one does
• think opening the hips means twisting the waist, and angulation means leaning into the turn

What follows are KAKU’s and 西西’s teaching views, drawn from KAKU’s Threads posts and 西西’s teaching notes. It is not text from JSBA teaching materials, and it is not the only way to do it for every stance.

Opening the hips: the hips set the direction, not a twist of the waist

KAKU’s definition: opening the hips means rotating the hip joints outward so that the upper body naturally faces the nose of the board.

Opening the hips is not simply “twisting the waist”. The hips actively lead, so that as you enter the turn you keep facing your direction of travel, and your gaze flows with it.

KAKU’s original post comes with a demonstration video that helps you find where the hip joints generate force, set as “ski homework at home”. This post does not describe the movements in the video; to follow along, see the original post in the sources at the end.

If you were taught “never open the hips”, see opening the shoulders and counter-rotation. For how to fold at the hips on the heelside without bending at the waist and rounding your back, see 西西’s explanation in Part 3.

Key point: opening the hips turns your body toward where you want to go. The hips lead; it is not just a twist of the waist.

Angulation: one bow from feet to shoulders

KAKU’s description: the knees press toward the inside of the turn and the hips tuck in within the board’s footprint, so that the body forms one bow-shaped curve from the feet to the shoulders.

It lets you hold the edge steady and resist centrifugal force, instead of just "falling in".

KAKU

The teaching materials use a different set of words. The JSBA glossary renders the Japanese gaikei shisei (外傾姿勢, “outward-tilt posture”) in Chinese as 反弓姿勢, “reverse-bow posture”. Rīn auto (リーンアウト, “lean out”) means adjusting the tilt of the body axis, with the upper body tilting toward the outside of the turn; rīn (リーン, “lean”) and lean out together mean keeping balance by tilting the body axis in and out. JSBA Interview, Part 2 also notes that the manual calls lean out 反弓, the reverse bow.

西西’s teaching notes say that once your carving speed goes up, angulation becomes crucial. On the name: the JSBA system calls it lean out and the CASI system calls it angulation, and it involves the upper body tilting toward the outside of the turn. When you first start practising it, 西西’s cue is to try to keep your goggles and shoulders parallel to the ground.

The two descriptions come at it from different angles. KAKU talks about the whole shape from feet to shoulders and what it is for; the teaching materials and 西西 talk about the upper body tilting toward the outside of the turn. We set them side by side and do not merge them into a new definition.

One more note on the word: the same glossary also renders kyanbā (キャンバー, “camber”), a term for the shape of the board, as 反弓. This post is about posture, not board shape.

Key point: angulation is there to hold the edge steady and resist centrifugal force, not simply to lean into the turn.

Open the hips first, then angulation straight after

KAKU puts the division of labour in a few words: opening the hips “steers”, angulation “stabilises”. Leave out either one and you get a different problem.

Only half done	What KAKU says happens	The missing half
Open hips, no angulation	The body falls toward the inside of the turn, and the edge can’t grip the snow	Build angulation straight after entering the turn
Angulation, no open hips	The body sits back, and linking turns becomes hard	Open the hips first as you enter the turn, to lead the direction

Compare this with the toilet squat from the start: “sitting back” appears in the row for angulation without open hips. That is our reading, from putting the two passages side by side; KAKU did not say this is the only cause of the toilet squat.

KAKU’s suggested order: as you enter the turn, open the hips first to lead the direction, then straight away build angulation to hold your balance.

The two alternate like a conversation; that is how you ride an arc that is both smooth and powerful.

KAKU

Riders in a duck stance can think about it the same way. In a reply under the same post, KAKU said the basic logic of duck stance is the same as forward stance; the binding angles just restrict ankle mobility more, so you compensate with the thigh muscles and the lumbar spine. For how to choose between the two stances, see Part 11.

Key point: open hips set the direction, angulation holds it steady; open the hips first into the turn, then angulation straight after.

西西’s notes: the dynamic turn, at higher speed

西西’s teaching notes also cover the dynamic turn, which 西西 says suits higher speeds or steeper slopes. Of the features 西西 lists, these are the ones that bear on this post:

• The edge is held all the way to the end of the turn.
• The edge change takes very little time.
• The upper body is thrown toward the next turn, to increase the edge angle.
• Before the turn exit, angulation is increased, to adjust the turn radius.

On how to practise it, 西西 wrote one sentence: when practising the dynamic turn, keep your head at the same height above the ground throughout, and control the edge angle with the tilt of the upper body and angulation, the folding of the lower body, and the pressure you put on the board.

The feel 西西 describes: first you sense your body moving into the next turn; before the turn exit, the energy the board has stored by flexing releases in an instant, and the edge change comes fast.

The B-level instructor exam also uses the word Dynamic. 西西 has said on Threads that the Dynamic there doesn’t call for much carving; what counts is whether you can skid under control. See B-level instructor exam notes (in Chinese).

Key point: in 西西’s notes, at higher speed, angulation and the tilt of the upper body work together to control the edge angle.

Who this post is not for

• Riders who can’t yet carve consistently: read the five elements of carving fundamentals first.
• Anyone looking for a standard answer such as how many degrees to turn the hips or how far to tilt the upper body: neither KAKU nor 西西 gave numbers, and this post won’t make any up.
• Anyone who wants to go straight to practising the dynamic turn: 西西’s notes place it at higher speeds or on steeper slopes. First get opening the hips and angulation smooth on a slope you can control.

To have an instructor look at your hips and upper body on snow, see the Snowboard Progression Lesson in Hokkaido on the courses page; to sign up, you need to be able to link turns consistently. KAKU’s qualifications are on the principal’s profile; for 西西’s, see the vice principal’s profile. The previous part covered carving fundamentals; the next covers duck stance versus forward stance.

Opening the hips, angulation and how the two divide the work are drawn from KAKU's Threads post of 31 December 2025 and KAKU's replies the same day; the demonstration video in the original post is neither embedded nor described here. The names for angulation, the practice cue and the dynamic turn drill come from 西西's teaching notes; the passages in the same notes on pressure and turn shape are already covered in Part 7 of Carving Lab. Term translations follow the JSBA glossary. KAKU's and 西西's views are their own teaching observations, not official JSBA positions.