Stuck Halfway Through a Snowboard Turn? Check for a Fake Weight Shift First

You can do the falling leaf (riding one edge only, drifting left and right across the slope on the way down), so you start practising edge changes — and you keep getting stuck halfway through the turn. Your instructor calls out “weight forward”. You do it, you press on your front leg until it aches, and the board still won’t come round.

This post is for you if:

• you can falling-leaf on your heel edge or your toe edge, and are starting to practise linked turns
• you often get stuck during the edge change, at the moment the nose of the board points downhill
• you have been told “weight forward”, but the harder you try, the less the board turns

The diagnosis and practice advice below are KAKU’s view, taken from two of KAKU’s posts on Threads. They are not quoted from JSBA teaching materials.

Standing straight on the flat puts you behind the board on a slope

KAKU compared the stance on three gradients side by side — flat ground, a green run and a red run — and concluded: the “standing straight” you are used to on flat ground is not necessarily a position you can still ride from once you are on a slope.

At the moment the nose points downhill, if your body is still trying to keep the upright feel of flat ground, it ends up behind the board. And the more scared you are, the more you want to shrink back uphill. The board runs downhill, your body stays behind, and the turn becomes even harder to finish.

The problem may not be that you aren't pressing hard enough. It may be that your body never kept up with the slope at all.

KAKU

That is why KAKU also points out that when you first learn S turns, you need to watch not only how you press on your front foot but also whether your back foot is still supporting you. The aim is not to throw yourself forward, nor to lock your back leg, but to find a position from which you can keep controlling the board.

Key point: the reason you get stuck is often that your body is behind the board, not that your front foot isn’t pressing hard enough.

Two kinds of fake weight shift

Plenty of people follow “weight forward”, yet only one part of their body actually moves forward. KAKU picks out the two most common versions:

The first: the head reach. Your head strains forward while your backside keeps backing away. You feel you are already well forward, but most of your weight is still behind — even further back than before.

The second: the hip push. Your hips drive hard forward while your head and chest pull back. Your hips look as if they have gone over, but your upper body is pulling back the opposite way, so your weight does not necessarily move forward with them.

KAKU’s reading is that both postures are often the body in a tug-of-war with fear: your mind knows you should go forward, your body does not want to go downhill, and in the end part of you goes forward and part of you goes back.

Your weight isn't about where your head is, or where your hips are. It's about how your whole body relates to the board.

KAKU

SnowWind’s instructor team also regularly sees similar problems in first lessons: the head tipped forward, the backside sticking out, the knees bent past the toes, unsteady shoulders. These mistakes often show up together.

Key point: move only your head or only your hips, and other parts of your body move the opposite way and cancel it out. What counts is how your whole body relates to the board.

How to practise

KAKU’s advice comes down to one sentence: practise first on a gradient and at a speed you can control, accept the feeling of fear, and let the parts of your body move in coordination rather than cancel each other out. KAKU gives no gradient figure; what you can control is different for everyone.

While you practise, you can put your attention on where the board is going rather than on your own head or hips. One study is worth knowing about: in a 1998 experiment on a ski simulator, Wulf and colleagues asked one group to pay attention to the wheels of the platform under their feet (something outside the body) and another group to pay attention to their own feet. The first group learned better; the second did no better than people given no such instruction. That is a simulator result, not a test on snow. The editors’ way of carrying it onto the snow: rather than watching your head or hips, watch where the board goes.

Symptom, likely cause, fix, self-check

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix	Self-check
The board won’t come round when the nose points downhill	Your body stays in the upright feel of flat ground and ends up behind the board	Go back to a gradient you can control and let your body match the slope	Step 3
You feel well forward, but your weight is still behind	Head reach: head forward, backside back	Move your head, chest and hips together	Step 1
Your hips have gone over, but your upper body pulls back	Hip push: hips forward, head and chest back	Don’t push just one part of your body	Step 2
Your front leg aches and the board still won’t turn	Thinking “forward” means pressing on the front foot all the time	Make sure your back foot is supporting you too	Step 3

30-second self-check on the spot (no board needed): on a flat floor at home, stand with your feet at your riding stance width, both feet flat.

1. Push only your head forward, and feel whether the pressure under your feet really moves forward.
2. Push only your hips forward, and feel whether your upper body moves back on its own.
3. Move your head, chest and hips forward together, just a little, and compare where the pressure under your feet sits with the first two tries.

The editors put this check together from what KAKU wrote. It is only for noticing whether just one part of you is moving; it does not replace practice on snow.

If you want to head towards carving, start with Carving Lab, Part 1, which sets out how to tell carving from skidding.

Who this post is not for

• Riders who can’t do the falling leaf yet and are still practising getting up: first read Part 2 of Snowboarding: Your First Week and practise falling until you have it down.
• Riders who can already link turns consistently and are working on carving: this post covers beginner edge changes only.

If you have practised on your own for a while and are still stuck, find a lesson for your level on the courses page. KAKU’s qualifications and teaching background are on the principal’s profile.

The technical judgements in this post are drawn from two of KAKU's Threads posts from October 2026; the common first-lesson mistakes come from SnowWind's official Threads account. The research section cites only conclusions stated in the paper's abstract.