My form for rails needs help

get lower

.zoidbergget lower

Agreed. Looks like you get off balance a little on takeoff and that's why you are using your arms so much to compensate.

only focusing on the pop and getting on to rails, you already said you ski like a boner and thats exactly what you want to fix. Exaggerate bending your knees (your legs look way too straight when you get on rails) and lowering your shoulders. I had the same form as you until Brady Perron told me getting low is the key to rail skiing. When I learn new tricks that I struggle with, I try bending my knees more than I think I should and I usually get much closer/get the trick.

You said you have forward pressure in your boots, but you can definitely have more which would solve the problem of feeling like you don't have enough control to front 2.

Just practice ollies with a low stance and work on sending your tips up then popping/ forcing your tips up more when you ollie. Then just bring that to rails when you feel comfortable with it.

parkplaygroundonly focusing on the pop and getting on to rails, you already said you ski like a boner and thats exactly what you want to fix. Exaggerate bending your knees (your legs look way too straight when you get on rails) and lowering your shoulders. I had the same form as you until Brady Perron told me getting low is the key to rail skiing. When I learn new tricks that I struggle with, I try bending my knees more than I think I should and I usually get much closer/get the trick.

You said you have forward pressure in your boots, but you can definitely have more which would solve the problem of feeling like you don't have enough control to front 2.

Just practice ollies with a low stance and work on sending your tips up then popping/ forcing your tips up more when you ollie. Then just bring that to rails when you feel comfortable with it.

The only one i tried to have shin pressure with was the dfd cause you had to have no speed unless you wanted to land in the kink.

Id say use your lower body. It seems like you try to pop with your upper body and your lower body stays the same, which causes you to barely get on the rail. Pop with your hips up, your flailing most likely to compensate your balance and bad pop.

Youre not popping at all getting onto the rail. Bend your knees before the rail to be able to pop on. You're leaning backseat or whatever on the rail because you're basically just riding on. Also when you're on the rail try to keep your center of gravity lower (different people do it differently)

Okay, so few things...

1.) When you're coming up to the rail, bend your knees like you're about to jump. If you don't do this, there's nothing for you to work with once it's time to jump. Also it helps if your skis aren't too close together.

2.) When you come from the side of the rail to urban on, you don't want to bunny hop per-say, but more of a j-hop style. Also you don't want to aim too soon on the rail, but more down it so you don't fall off the other side or overshoot yourself.

3.) When you get on the rail, try keeping both of your skis completely parallel, so you don't risk straddling and nutting yourself by accident. Honestly pelvis trauma is far worse than dead trauma most of the time, so this is very important to remember.

4.) If you feel like the rail is under your tips, then lean forward. If you feel the rail is under your feet, enjoy it. If you feel the rail is under your tails, act like your taking a dump in the woods.

5.) Try hiking just one rail for awhile and get really used to it. Try getting lower each time you hit it. What helped me I remember was telling myself like what I needed to do in order kinda like Okay... "Get low, pop on, get low again, & pop off."


There's a crap-ton of youtube tutorials that teach you all the basics with examples too.

Keep with it, as it only gets easier.

To keep from falling off the other side don't aim to land on top of the rail but more on the side/corner and then roll onto the top. That way you can stop your momentum from going over the rail.

youve got to want to land the trick, and understand what youre doing wrong to fix it. If you don't understand how to control your body in a certain way than you might be stuck for a little bit so take your time. For keeping your arms under control, personally i used tiny poles for a month to try and keep my arms down. After that they stayed down without poles.

My progression originally went this way (if this helps you decide on tricks to do)
First year:
Rail, box, switch out, front 2, blind 2, front 4, sw on, 540 and below sw/reg, sw 2 on, front/backswap, 7/9 reg, backy, blind 4, kfed/bfed
Second year:
sw kfed, 2 on kfed tube, 2 on 4 out tube, unnaty grinds, lincoln 180/360, cork 7, d-spin, mute/japan disaster, illusive, unnaty frontswap front 4, super fed, back 3 swap, 2 on to thinner rails, urban 2 on, 2 on front/blind 2 out, sw 2 on front 2 out.

You can see that progression is everything, and practicing the most simple tricks over and over again will help so much. I used to hit one tube rail on every lap i took, and on a good day i probably hit that at least 50 times. This was the biggest thing for me to get comfortable on rails because i always used to be so stiff and flaily, but now i would say im not. My first year i remember wanting to try 3's over and over because my friends could do them but honestly it was a terrible idea because i wasnt ready. Just hitting the same rail over and over gave me so much balance and when i finally got front 2 it gave me the hype to progress really fast. Get a summer setup or go to a camp to get more practice good luck.

Here give this a watch, I find learning through example much easier than through a bunch of words written by stoned ski bums.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/818757/How-to-slide-kinked-rails-on-skis---Down-flat-down-rails

Like I tried to tell you this day, speed always helps. The faster you go the more pop the kickers helps give you

jordanj801Like I tried to tell you this day, speed always helps. The faster you go the more pop the kickers helps give you

Your the one who kept telling me less speed...

The.FishYour the one who kept telling me less speed...

Actually I was telling you to go slower for the specific situation of learning. You were not getting around 90 so I suggested going slower to help get more of an edge. If you wanna improve on them (what you made this thread for) then you got faster it will help you get more comfy

i dont understand you know you look like a boner so bend your knees and fix it. If you are hitting rails from the side take off the kicker with the tips of your skis pointing toward the end of the rail

Don't focus so much on your "style" when you're trying to get your bag of tricks established. Make a conscious effort to put your feet on the rail. To help with your feet sliding out, it's best to have your skis slide at a perfect 90 to the rail. To do this, practice getting on the rail like you are and coming out switch. This will help prevent you reverting back to forward too early

Focus on your general skiing technique first, your posture is bad. Flex your ankles, hips and knees.

Bend ya knees.