Everything You Need to Know About Snowboarding

Snowboarding is not for those who have a faint heart. This is an extreme sport and a very risky one that needs proper training and precaution.

Before attempting to engage yourself in snowboarding, do some research first. Try to assess, if this sport is really intended for you. Can you be a snowboarder who slides on steep mountain slopes or would you rather stay at home and watch others do it for you? The bottom line is you have to be fit and not just healthy to be in this sport. It would help if you consult your health provider first to know whether you are ready for this feat.

After doing some assessment, you still can't just hop on your snowboard right away. Engaging in snowboarding also requires having the right gadgets and proper apparel not only to look sheik on ice but also to ensure your safety. Once you have all you need. you may now begin taking lessons. At least, this time you get to do actual snowboarding even under the eye of a pro.

As a beginner, you first need to undergo a series of lessons before heading to the mountains. Usually, the first things you need to master are about basic safety, proper stretching, injury prevention, and maybe rules and policies of the resort. To learn the basic skills you need to master, you can take private lessons with an instructor but it will be more expensive. A better alternative is to learn with a group. Aside from it's practical, you can also interact from other snowboarders and also learn from them too.

As you advance your skills, you need to immerse yourself more in the sport. You have to learn new skills and continuously practice what you have already acquired especially if you are planning to compete in a tournament. Through time you will also need better and more challenging courses so that you'll learn how to adjust to a variety of settings while performing at the top of your game. Learning how to adapt to any weather condition and knowing what strategy to employ to such will also help you to be more competitive and unaffected by things beyond your control.

But practicing on the snow with your board is not the only way to make yourself more adept in snowboarding. You may also learn about snowboarding from Transworld Snowboarding magazine. By doing this, you don't need to wear your thermal gears or leave the comfort of your home. Subscribing to this will surely qualify you as a true-blooded snowboarder.

Transworld Snowboarding was a significant catalyst for the recognition of snowboarding as a sport. When snowboarding was still a young sport and skiing dominated the snow, many resorts were initially closed to snowboarders. To counteract this, Transworld Snowboarding hyped the sport by popularizing t-shirts called "Answers," which contains answers to numerous inquiries of curious skiers. Eventually, snowboarding was recognized as an official sport. In 1985, the first World Cup was organized for snowboarding. Then, in 1995, the International Snowboarding Association was founded.

This magazine owned by Time Warner, showcases everything you need to know about snowboarding and snowboarding culture. Whether you are interested about the latest gadgets or has news about your favorite snowboarder, Transworld Snowboarding has it. If you are interested to learn about events or to read just about any article on snowboarding, you'll find it here. It also contains tricks and features great resorts that snowboarding enthusiasts will love to consider as part of his itinerary.

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Slick and Stylish Skateboarding

When most people think of skateboarding magazines, their thoughts immediately turn to Thrasher magazine, with it's gritty edges and hardcore presentation. They envision articles about grunge skateboarders with tattoos and body piercing spinning their stunts on public streets.

However, the more professional and discriminating skateboarders actually turn to another publication for their monthly fix on the latest buzz in the skateboarding community. This magazine is Transworld.

Aside from skateboarding, Transworld's other publications run quite an impressive gauntlet of offerings of other extreme sports, including snowboarding, surfing, BMX, and even OffRoad vehicles. All of them follow the same pattern of excellence that Transworld Skateboarding has set.

Transworld skateboarding offers a very professional approach to it's articles, presenting facts in an easy manner and giving out tips which are quite simple to understand and absorb. Other skateboarding publications seem to focus primarily on mindless bling bling and the use of light shows and radical senses of humor to get relatively minor points across. Transworld, on the other hand, maintains a systematic and factual approach to it's articles that appeals to more mature and professional skateboarders.

It features interviews with the pros, but splits it's focus equally between questions about the backgrounds of the pros, their lifestyle, and tips or advice they have to offer aspiring professional skateboarders. Instead of turning these interviews into simple jamming sessions for the entertainment of the interviewee's fanboys, the staff of Transworld actually tries to get as much useful information as possible from the pros to help other skaters.

Transworld also covers every major skateboarding competition and event with an article, not letting any of the big ones slip though their fingers. Their writers give descriptive, blow by blow accounts of each of these events, and give greater focus on highlights of the events, like crucial turning points in competitions that gave the edge to the winners, or especially impressive stunts pulled off by people during a demo.

They also do feature articles on the latest cutting edge of skateboarding tech, with buyer's guides showing the hottest new equipment as well as special feature articles that cover radical new tech entries into the field of skateboarding. The information for most of these tech articles are usually taken straight from the manufacturers themselves.

It isn't all seriousness and numbers, of course. Most of these articles, while written with an emphasis on fact, still retain enough wisecracks and kidding around to keep the readers entertained. Still, given that the staff of transworld tends to cater to a more mature audience of skateboarders, the type of humor generally displayed tends towards the dry and witty, as opposed to the more common and brain dead slapstick approach.

Transworld Skateboarding's primary goal is to further the expansion and support of the world skateboarding community by keeping the heart of the sport alive in it's participants, as well as being enticing and understandable enough that it can also attract those who don't know anything about it into the sport. All of it's otherpublications follow the same theme.

By and large Transworld's magazines have been contributing admirably to the growth and development of every sport that they feature, not only by giving the readers better information, but by actually setting an example for a higher standard of maturity and professionalism while maintaining a good degree of fun factor.

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Book Review: The Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding

Kevin Ryan's The Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding offers one of the most useful guides to snowboarding for people from any level, whether beginners wanting to learn more about the sport and get their techniques sharpened, up to instructors and professionals seeking to further hone their skills on the slope.

Reader reviews and feedback on this book showed that it has a lot of useful drills featured that helped them improve their game immensely after repeated practise. The drills are written in a step by step fashion that seems ambiguous at first, but makes complete sense once you actually try them out. Furthermore, the book's coverage is all-encompassing, including tips for beginning, to intermediate, to advanced skill levels.

The approach taken by the author is both humorous and scientific, employing small drawn illustrations to show drills and techniques. While there are few actual pictures involved, these hand drawn illustrations are funny to look at and yet maintain a good degree of accuracy in portraying the skills and techniques being demonstrated. The author uses a lot of jokes and quips interspersed with facts and the illustrations are likewise a mix of serious, factual ones and cute, cartoony renderings of snowboarding stuff.

Most professional instructors in snowboarding who read this book found new drills and skills they could teach their classes inside the beginner sections, so this book's coverage is quite extensive. Furthermore, the author knows that certain skills can ONLY be conveyed though actual practice and demonstration, so he goes out of his way to state when certain skills are best acquired through a snowboarding instructor.

One of the sections that a lot of readers will probably find useful is the chapter on snowboard care and maintenance. Where most how-to books devote footnotes or at best, a few pages to the care and maintenance of equipment, Kevin Ryan actually goes out of his way to write an in depth full chapter on tips for taking proper care of your snowboard.

There is even a section on the ergonomics of skateboarding, covering the proper way to carry and ride a board to minimize the physical strain on the snowboarder. This also includes explanations on the physics and mechanics of snowboarding. While not exactly necessary for most people, this chapter is useful for people who are more technically inclined, like say, industrial designers who might be out to design a new type of snowboard.

Unlike some instructional books, this book does not seek to replace the need for an instructor, but instead seeks to augment and expand on the knowledge gained from working with a good qualified snowboarding instructor. For those who insist on learning everything from a book and doing it themselves, however, the book's attention to detail and exhaustive explanations of the mechanics of snowboarding are actually enough to let them get by and teach themselves through practice and repetition.

This book is 336 pages long, and it's first edition was published by the renowned book company McGraw-Hill back in 1998. Despite being published 8 years ago, to this day it remains one of the most popular and sought after instructional books for snowboarders. No matter what your skill level, it's guaranteed that you will benefit from reading this book that is already considered a classic "encyclopedia" in the sport by avid snowboarding enthusiasts.

Snowboarding on Screen

As snowboarding becomes more popular, different enthusiasts created various channels to express their love and interest in the sport. As the years went by, the roads paved by the pioneers of snowboarding opened the way to more prestigious tournaments, to a category in the Olympics, and later on even to snowboarding videos.

The progression in the world of snowboarding made snowboarding films part of the sport's culture. Since its recognition as an official sport 1985, many snowboarding videos have documented the events that happen each season which are usually released in the fall just before the winter, the peak season of snowboarding. While hobbyists were initially the only ones interested to film the sport, over the years, the number of companies covering snowboarding events have grown.

What initially started as something for personal use became an industry that is filming for various purposes. Some video productions companies have seen its commercial value and are manufacturing these specific type of films for advertisements. In fact, most snowboarding videos usually contain footages of famous professional snowboarders advertising their sponsors. An example where snowboarding films were used for commercials would be the film by Dave Seone about Shaun White called The White Album. This was sponsored by Mountain Dew, Burton Snowboards, and even Playstation for its snowboarding game.

Snowboarding has also been a subject of interest in Hollywood films, like the movie Out Cold released in 2001. The movie included appearances by several famous professional riders as either stunt performers or actual characters, or both. Out Cold is one of few major film productions that realistically depicted snowboarding and exhibited a true understanding of the sport's real nature and culture.

Snowboarding films have also been documented to showcase the current trends and styles in the sport. Whether you are a beginner or a professional, watching snowboarding videos will be a great help in developing your skills as a rider. Although videos can never substitute actual learning from an instructor, this may help supplement lessons that are being taught in the field. You can find many downloadable videos from the internet and you may also order copies of documented events from either websites or stores for snowboarding.

For those who just want to have a souvenir, don't hesitate to film yourself while on your board. You need not climb mountains to go snowboarding since there many other places that you can use like ski hills. And, contrary to popular belief, you do not need large amounts of snow to do some slides. You can take your personal snowboarding video anywhere where there is enough snow and a nice slope. If it's hilarious enough, you can send it to America's Funniest Home Video and who knows, you might even win.

However, for those novices who want to be discovered, you can also create your own videos to document your talent. Though it is not necessary to have someone professional take your footages, it may help when you intend to replicate it and send it to different scouts looking for a rookie. But if you intend to do this, make sure that you use a high end camera to clearly capture your moves. This will be a good strategy to present and market your skill and style. Also remember that it is easier to send a scout a copy of your snowboarding video for him to see the talent in you than to wait for a scout to find while you doing your best trick.

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Capture the Perfect Snowboarding Moment Using These Tips

Another growing aspect of snowboarding is photography. Yes! Snowboarding pictures are part of the sport’s culture. Taking snowboard riders at their best form has created a great interest for photographers. Now if you are newly venturing into this quest, there are three things that you should consider.

Extreme Weather Condition

You should know how to handle your camera in cold conditions. The primary problem that you will encounter with your camera is cold temperature. Batteries most often do not work in very cold conditions. It may also affect the camera's shutter and your film.

To keep your camera and batteries warm when dealing with cold weather, keep them inside the parka and close to your body. Take them out only when you are prepared to shoot. However, it will be a problem if you have a huge camera. But if you are only taking pictures for souvenir, then a smaller camera will do. Meanwhile, if you are taking professional pictures, then get the best camera you can afford and try to keep it as warm as you can.

Timing and Sharp Focus

When taking a snowboarding picture, you want to capture the agility of the rider and the illusion of speed. To capture that moment, you need great timing and very sharp focus. You have to get yourself in the right position and be in the right location to have a clear visual of the subject and to have a good chance of photographing the moment. However, it will still be very difficult to take a shot without coordinating with the snowboarder. So instead of waiting for the right time, plan the right time.

Have an agreement with the snowboarder about simple signals, location, and the time you will need to set up for the winning shot. Once you have this arranged, agree on what kind of poses you are looking for. It is important to communicate to the subject what you want to capture on film. Before choosing a location, try to survey whether there is enough room for you to move and cover. Meanwhile, when giving signals, it is better to use verbal signs but if that is not possible try to have clear non-verbal signals that both you and the snowboarder will understand.

Pay also special attention on your camera. You have to be adept in using your camera to avoid losing a split second chance of shooting a great snowboarding photo. Run a few shots to check if everything is working. Most importantly check the film. You don't want to put all your efforts in vain when you find out that your film has been exposed or you simply forgot to bring enough of them.

Film Exposure

Another terrible problem that you might encounter when taking pictures is film exposure. Most often than not, your camera is dealing with too much light. The snow is bright. The sky is bright. Both these elements appear nicely on your film but when you take a picture of your subject, he becomes a dark silhouette. To remedy this problem, you can use a light filter to control the light of the background as well as the subject. This will place light on where you want it to be. You should also you fill flash, this way you will avoid having dark silhouettes on your subject.

You may also encounter having bluish colored pictures especially when you are in a high altitude and surrounded with snow. A good solution to these problems is using a UV filter. It will lessen the blue light. This is very useful when you are taking snowboarding pictures at higher altitudes.

Considering these factors will help you come up with great snowboarding photos. Treat your camera as an extension of yourself by protecting it from cold, so that like your body it can function well. Plan the things that you need to do to capture the moment that you want. Lastly, invest on your camera. Add devices that will help you immortalize the perfect moment on your film.

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Tips When Buying Snowboarding Pants

Like any piece of al fresco sports’ wear, snowboarding pants serves one main purpose and that is to ensure your protection from injury, weather conditions, and any other external force. There is generally an accepted method to maintain your core temperature and prevent you from cooling off easily and this is known as the Three Layer System. This system is composed of a base layer, an insulation layer and an outer shell. The base layer is the only layer directly in contact with your skin and its sole purpose is to turn the moisture away from the skin. On top of the base layer lies the insulation layer which is also intended to get rid of moisture away from the body but its more important function is to insulate your body by confining your body heat. The outer shell is the layer directly exposed to the environment. It is expected to be waterproof, windproof and has also a breathable outlet for moisture.

Most snowboarding pants combine 2 or contain all the 3 layers in one piece. Most will also have waterproofing, a thin outer shell, and an efficient insulation layer.. During warmer conditions, you have the option to wear only the snowboarding pants. Meanwhile, when the weather turns colder, you can add a base layer bottom beneath your snowboarding pants. However, when the weather goes extremely cold, have the liberty to wear all three layers while wearing a layer of extra insulation between the base layer of your bottoms and your snowboarding pants.

Before buying your snowboarding pants, consider these tips.

-Never make the mistake of wearing normal pants for snowboarding. You really need to buy your snowboarding pants especially if you are just a beginner. Remember that if you are a neophyte, you are most likely to be the one stumbling most of the time on your knees or on your behind. Hence, if you happen to be wearing casual jeans then the ice will melt every time you fall on the snow and you will eventually get soaked and cold. This is not a good way to learn.

-Although you can use ski pants as an alternative when you don’t have a snowboarding pants yet, it will not allow you to do the movements that you can normally do using a snowboard pants. Unlike the snowboard pants, ski pants are not intended for tricks like aerial spins or jumps. So unless you only want to do what a skier does, stick to the ski pants. So when you’re buying a snowboard pants, look for one that does not pinch in the crotch area or one that has enough room for you to do your tricks.

-You need to anticipate a few rough falls. So, one important aspect that you need to look for snowboarding pants is extra padding especially on the knee and buttocks area since these are the parts that commonly catch your plunges. Having extra padding will not give you enough protection to minimize the chance of any injury plus the possibility of getting your pants damaged thus losing their waterproof capacity.

-Go for quality and not for the price. You want enough protection and durability. Don’t go for cheap pants that will be ripped off after a day of practice. If you want to be a pro, get yourself the right snowboarding pants that will last you until you become one.

-Choose function over fashion. Although it’s good to be noticed for your cool clothes, it’s a lot better to be to be wearing something that gives you adequate protection and provides you with great comfort.

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Five Things You Need to Do When Buying a Snowboarding Jacket

You may want to consider investing on a snowboard jacket before hitting the slopes on winter. Although it is important to have a good snowboard and other snowboard clothing accessories, spending a few more cash on your snowboard jacket will make this winter sport activity more fun and pleasurable. Remember that your jacket creates your distinctive mark among other snowboarders on the slopes. This also serves as your protection from the extreme cold making you warm and dry throughout the run. Don’t think twice when you’re buying a good snowboard jacket. Eventually, you will appreciate its great value making it your best friend at the end of the season. Here are the things you should do before making that sound investment.

Check the Price Range

When checking for the prices of jackets, you should not just be concerned on whether it fits your budget. You need to ask yourself why it is price at that. The big differences in the prices of jackets lie on the amount of jacket venting and the quality of its waterproofing. These are the two factors where the bulk of your money goes. Basically, standard jackets lack venting or added waterproofing. On the other hand, more expensive jackets will provide more vents and will have extra waterproofing to keep you dry.

Check for Jacket Breathability

When buying a jacket, you should want something that you can use comfortably during extreme cold conditions and during warmer days. You can check the flexibility of your jacket by checking for vents. The vent allows your jacket to breath. It lets out perspiration out and it also allows the jacket to release extra warmth. Before buying a jacket, look for zippers that open at the arms as well as at the chest or back that will enable you to free some of the heat.

Check the Waterproof Material

Although you can probably get a bargain by buying inexpensive jackets that has waterproofing, these jackets usually have waterproof coating that wears off over time. This, in turn, will require you to buy another one leaving you spending more than what you actually thought had saved. Meanwhile expensive jackets do not just have waterproof coating but are essentially made of a waterproof material. Top of the line jackets will also have added features that will help you like taped seams or insulated zippers.

Check the Insulation

Like in waterproofing, checking for insulation needs meticulous inspection. The goal is to buy a snowboard jacket that will maintain your core temperature and protect you from developing hypothermia. Look for a jacket that allows you to pad several layers of clothing underneath it depending on the weather. If you have low resistance to cold temperature, it is advisable to look for a jacket that has a built-in insulation. However, remember that a good jacket gives you enough insulation while at the same time giving you enough mobility.

Check for Added Features

When checking for added features, inspect the jacket for extra pockets for your goggles, some handy tools, snack, water, etc. Check the design if it has a hood preferably a detachable one that can be removed during good weather and can be attached during a stormy day. Check for cuffs too. These are good for keeping out chilly breeze from entering your sleeves.

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