Freestyle Snowboard: how to do an Indy Grab?

The Indy Grab is one of the most important grabs to learn for Freestyle snowboarders. It is a very classic trick that is quite easy to learn. The Indy Grab feels very natural due to the open position you have to adopt. In addition, Advanced Freestyle riders like to jump their Straight Airs, with an Indy Grab, to stabilize a jump. This way you can avoid flapping your arms like a bird 😉

You grab an Indy Grab centrally between the snowboard bindings, with your back hand. You grab the front of the snowboard, at the Toe Side Edge. You do this while bringing your knees to your chest.

In this article

Pre workout

What most snowboarders forget, whether casual or amateur, is the warm-up. Freestyle nowboard is fun, but it is also a sport. One where you use a lot of muscles. Before we learn our Indy Grab, we start by warming up our muscles, after which the stunt work will be a lot easier.

Base

Start by jogging on the spot for about 2 minutes. In this way, all functions in your body are activated: your muscles, heart, circulatory system and nervous system. Your body temperature will increase and once your muscles are warm, you can start with some stretching exercises. Target specific muscle groups (neck, calves, hamstrings, back muscles…). Try to hold each stretch for 6 to 8 seconds.

Grab specifically

When snowboarding you already use quite a few muscles, but with Freestyle snowboarding you use even more. For example, with an Indy Grab you raise your lower body and twist and stretch your upper body to touch the snowboard. That's why some specific stretches are useful;

• The Quadriceps Stretch because we are increasingly working/learning while sitting down.
• Knees to the chest because we warm up almost all the muscles used.
• The lower back can quickly become overloaded, so this is a must do stretch.

Trampoline training

The best way to train your Freestyle snowboard skills is to use the Wax&Board Trampoline Board. With us Freestyle Training Gearmaterial, you don't have to wait until snowflakes fall first.

The Trampoline Board is useful for improving muscle reflexes. You can train muscles for various reasons. For example, a bodybuilder wants to become stronger, a runner wants to improve his endurance, etc.

As a Freestyle snowboarder, on the one hand we need to improve our agility and reaction time, and on the other hand we want to train muscle memory so that we can perform movements blindly. The Trampoline Board helps with this because you can perform the exercises very frequently one after the other. Without having to wait for a ski lift. Ain't that cool?

Next to the trampoline

You do not necessarily need a Trampoline Board for this exercise: Strap yourself onto your Trampoline Board, Jib Board – or put on snowboard boots and then a snowboard. Stand somewhere where you have space and where the surface is not too slippery, if you are not using a Trampoline Board - use a yoga mat, for example.

1. Assume a normal snowboarding position.
2. Bend your knees as deeply as you can.
3. Grab the Toe Side Edge with your back hand, centrally between your feet. Look in the direction of your jump.
4. Hold this Indy Grab for a few seconds and stand up again.

To be clear, in step 3 you grip the edge of the snowboard, on the side of your toes, with the hand with which you not will send. Point your front, or steering hand, horizontally in the direction you would be driving. Try to maintain a stable position the entire time. Do this exercise 10 to 20 times.

Tip! Do you have pain in your knees, or can't you reach that deep?
Then you stand Training Bindings wrong. Adjust the binding angles to suit your body type and try again. Find a position that works for you and start with the duck stance +15/-15, adjusting each binding separately. Until you find your comfortable position.

On the trampoline

Ok, you've now taken the first steps towards hopping an Indy Grab. Before we do this with a snowboard, we will practice on the trampoline. This has 4 advantages;

• You land softly if you land badly.
• you practice landing after the grab in different ways.
• You will gain more confidence by getting used to airtime: the period when you float.
• You can practice dozens of times in a short period of time, making muscle memory work faster.

Standing still

As a first step, we repeat the exercises, while standing, that we did next to the trampoline;

1. Position yourself centrally on the trampoline, do it Freestyle snowboard On.
2. Look in the direction you would jump and keep your front, steering hand and arm horizontal.
3. Bend your knees and grab the Toe Side Edge with your back hand.
4. Hold the Indy Grab for a few seconds and try to maintain your balance.
5. Come back up into a relaxed snowboarding position.

While jumping

Now it's almost time for the real work. Place yourself in the middle of the trampoline, with the Trampoline Board jump straight into the air and land on your knees. Repeat this several times so that you can get used to jumping with a practice board.

When you get the rhythm, pull your knees up to your chest. Make sure that you do NOT point your upper body downwards. You are supposed to bring your knees up. You do this on the way to the highest point of the jump. When you fall back down, extend your legs to a normal snowboard position. So do not land with your legs extended, but in a slightly bent position.

Simple, no?

When you're ready, try the Indy Grab at the highest point of your jump. Because you raise your knees, you actually only have to reach between your feet with your back arm. If this does not work immediately - repeat several times. You will notice that the more you do this, the easier it will become as your muscles stretch and memorize this movement.

Remember to keep your front hand and arm horizontal during the jump. Because once on the slopes you have to steer in the direction you want to go! Of course, also look in this direction.

Tip! When you have done this exercise 10 to 20 times, try to look around enough, and mainly in the direction in which you would perform the jump. You will notice that you see more and more of your surroundings during the jump. We call this airtime habituation, and it is super useful for other Freestyle snowboard stunts!

On the slope

The supreme moment has arrived! The first snow of the season is still fresh under your boots, or you just took the lift into that indoor refrigerator 😉 Time to throw that Indy Grab with a real snowboard. Let's do some Freestyle!

We assume that Straight Air Jumps are nothing new. It doesn't have to be a big jump to show off an Indy Grab, as long as you have a few seconds of airtime to place the grab.

Drive to the kicker

A small repetition of the basic principles;
Start directly behind the Kicker, at a point where you know you can land safely on the Deck, or just beyond the Knuckle. Move to the Jump and do speed checks where necessary. Make some turns with focus to drive onto the Kicker (Take Off) in the middle. Your cornering therefore forms an imaginary funnel-shaped tunnel.

Push off on the kicker

Try to ride the kicker flat with your snowboard. Keep your upper body aligned above the snowboard. There is nothing wrong with keeping the arms horizontal, front and back. Some people prefer to keep the board flat, others tilt slightly on the Toe Side Edge while starting a Pop or Ollie.

You can approach the jump a little more with your knees, so you reduce the distance between your upper body and the snowboard. This makes an Indy Grab easier to grab.

The Indy Grab

After training at home, with it Trampoline Board, there isn't much more to say about an Indy Grab. Grab the Toe Side Edge with your back hand, centrally between the bindings. Keep your front arm horizontal and point to the direction you are jumping. This way you have an ideal posture and your Straight Jump will also feel more stable.

Land your jump

During the Indy Grab, focus on the landing you are going to make with the snowboard. Through training on the trampoline you will notice that airtime habituation is a useful skillset. Instead of a jump being instantaneous, you now feel like you have all the time in the world and you can spot the landing better.

Absorb the landing, to do this you bend through your knees. Just like during trampoline training. Try to land lightly on your Toe Side Edge. This gives you more control to drive off the land safely and with more style.

Tip! Is your back bothering you after jumping with a snowboard? Then you do not bend your knees sufficiently when landing. Do some Straight Airs paying specific attention to this. Once you've mastered this (..) that annoying back pain will disappear and you'll enjoy freestyling more!

Points of attention

• Drive onto the kicker lower than normal. Lower knees make an Indy Grab easier to grab!
• Pop or Ollie, which helps the snowboard to rise, after which the Indy Grab is easier.
• Don't try to grab your Indy Grab during the Take Off: Pop or Ollie into the air first.
• Snowboarding is fun, training and stretching your muscles helps you become a better Freestyler!
• Use a Trampoline Board to train muscle memory and improve your skills!
• With an Indy Grab you grab the front of the snowboard with your back hand, centrally between the snowboard boots.