Tips to improve my 3s

Getting there!


Just a few thoughts:

- Look at where you are going to land (I think this is the main thing)
- Open your legs more
- Don't throw your arms so much

From what I can see, you are throwing your head and arms first. I'm not the best at putting this into words, but you kind of only have to rotate your chest while your head stays static first looking at the lip, then looking down sideways looking through the spin and at your landing. Once you nail that, your spin will look nice and clean.

Baggier pants will help with the thermodynamic rotation factor of the 360...

It doesn't look like you're winding up. You're preparing to swing your arms, and then swinging them, but you don't bring them back which leads you pull them around further than necessary which is what is causing you to be off balance.

There’s two kinds of spins.

contact spins: where you generate rotational moment from pre winding, then popping and unwinding at the same time. CSIA calls this a contact spin because all of that rotation force comes from your edges. Generally you can spin very hard and fast using contact spins. Most skiers learn how to contact spin first.

Cat twists: these rotations come from your head, shoulders and being tight in your core to lock up your lower body. Generally, on trampoline and acrobatics this how they teach people to do flips and spins. It offers more control than contact spins.


You sir are doing cat twists. Which is good, being able to do 3s like that will make learning corks and harder tricks a lot easier.

at your pop, your head and shoulders are getting past 0 and going to 90 while your feet are still at 0. You have 90 degrees of upper and lower body separation. Then in the air, your lower body unwinds and catches up to your shoulders. This creates some rotational interia that your upper body then compensated for to keep balance. You can tell by looking at your arms having to counter rotate at 180.



try keeping your shoulders and hips square through out the pop spin and landing.


don’t let your shoulders get ahead of your lower body at your pop.

or try learning contact spins. Pre wind with your arms, dig your inside edges in, then unwind and pop at the same time.

just keep doin them over and over

i agree with @ajbski and @SteezyYeeter. It doesn't look like you are really winding up, and you are over-rotating your upper body before you even take off. here is your takeoff compared with Jens from Stomp it Tutorials.

here is a comparison of the wind-up:

ajbskiThere’s two kinds of spins.

contact spins: where you generate rotational moment from pre winding, then popping and unwinding at the same time. CSIA calls this a contact spin because all of that rotation force comes from your edges. Generally you can spin very hard and fast using contact spins. Most skiers learn how to contact spin first.

Cat twists: these rotations come from your head, shoulders and being tight in your core to lock up your lower body. Generally, on trampoline and acrobatics this how they teach people to do flips and spins. It offers more control than contact spins.


You sir are doing cat twists. Which is good, being able to do 3s like that will make learning corks and harder tricks a lot easier.

at your pop, your head and shoulders are getting past 0 and going to 90 while your feet are still at 0. You have 90 degrees of upper and lower body separation. Then in the air, your lower body unwinds and catches up to your shoulders. This creates some rotational interia that your upper body then compensated for to keep balance. You can tell by looking at your arms having to counter rotate at 180.



try keeping your shoulders and hips square through out the pop spin and landing.


don’t let your shoulders get ahead of your lower body at your pop.

or try learning contact spins. Pre wind with your arms, dig your inside edges in, then unwind and pop at the same time.

so basically if i start spinning mid air thats a cat twist?

tutipupsso basically if i start spinning mid air thats a cat twist?

Sort of. You could take off completely straight and do a late 1 or 3 with out any winding (like in a shifty) and that would be a “cat twist”.

if you ever hit the tramps, try it out.

try doing a three using your arms and pre winding them unwinding at the pop

then try doing a three without winding and just using your head to spin.

the CSIA picked up the term from air 1 of tramp coaching. A cat twist on tramps is when you do a 3 from your back to your back. You cant wind and unwind to generate spin when you’re on your back

also the cork 3 tutorial by ski addiction tries to get people to learn cat twist type 3s before taking it to cork. They call it a starfish 3

Hopefully that didn’t sound too complicated

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/954442/How-To-Cork-360---540-On-Skis

**This post was edited on Dec 21st 2023 at 10:34:14pm

ajbskiSort of. You could take off completely straight and do a late 1 or 3 with out any winding (like in a shifty) and that would be a “cat twist”.

if you ever hit the tramps, try it out.

try doing a three using your arms and pre winding them unwinding at the pop

then try doing a three without winding and just using your head to spin.

the CSIA picked up the term from air 1 of tramp coaching. A cat twist on tramps is when you do a 3 from your back to your back. You cant wind and unwind to generate spin when you’re on your back

also the cork 3 tutorial by ski addiction tries to get people to learn cat twist type 3s before taking it to cork. They call it a starfish 3

Hopefully that didn’t sound too complicated

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/954442/How-To-Cork-360---540-On-Skis

**This post was edited on Dec 21st 2023 at 10:34:14pm

Oh yeah thanks you've made it really clear

Yo thanks appreciate the info, really helpful stuff

Don't look down at your skis, keep your head up and look forward, it helps a lot more than you would think

wyobroSorry about the lots of vids but if anyone’s willing to watch any tips are appreciated
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1083522/trim-06BE9015-B11F-4E61-88C0-672BB69B2CB3-MOV


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1083523/trim-2DC25475-3B89-40F8-93CA-E579AF45A060-MOV


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1083524/trim-D14AFCF8-AA5C-4056-B03C-043DC1B92B5C-MOV


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1083525/trim-218FAF7D-9D36-4CDB-A712-FD8A3ECD96FD-MOV


https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1083526/trim-263DFA40-4A3C-45D3-A27D-E597F077B203-MOV

watch this tutorial, listen, land it :)



https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1082779/How-To-Do-Your-First-360-on-Skis---Tutorial

icy_park_jumphere is a comparison of the wind-up:

imo that windup is overkill for a 3 (i assume that's what he's doing here.) You don't need to wind up like that for a 3, you can get plenty of power from popping properly. A lot of people who are learning focus too much on the windup and don't pop properly. Important to remember that your lower body is a lot more powerful than your upper body. For OP, I think the biggest issue with your 3 is that you're looking down and it's making you go off balance. Keep your vision up and try to look for the landing. You'll be less backseat and you'll feel a lot less blind

Christian_Baleimo that windup is overkill for a 3 (i assume that's what he's doing here.) You don't need to wind up like that for a 3, you can get plenty of power from popping properly. A lot of people who are learning focus too much on the windup and don't pop properly. Important to remember that your lower body is a lot more powerful than your upper body. For OP, I think the biggest issue with your 3 is that you're looking down and it's making you go off balance. Keep your vision up and try to look for the landing. You'll be less backseat and you'll feel a lot less blind

yeah that's fair, I think he's exaggerating the wind up for the video and he isn't throwing it a hard as he could.

beck_shredzjust keep doin them over and over

as bubbles said doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is an insane person

There are a lot of good thoughts in this thread, but perhaps they are over complicating things for you.

I want to start with a really simple concept.

Your body follows your eyes.

If you watch the video's you posted, notice that you are looking down at either the lip or the landing.
Either way, your eyes are focused down and close.
This is pulling your head down, which is making your neck bend, which is pulling your body off axis.
This forces you to compensate and try to save yourself with a flail, and you end up riding away on tails

THE SOLUTION

Your body follows your eyes, so lets keep your eyes looking up so that your whole body stays stacked on top of itself instead of at an angle.

Here is what you want to do.

When you are coming to the jump, find a tree (or other landmark) in the distance.

Keep your eyes on that tree until you set your spin

Whip your head around and find the same tree.
Don't look at anything in between. no landing, no jump, no skis, nothing else, just find that tree again.

Your head will be leading here. it should have nearly completed the 360. You'll see the the tree when your body gets to 270.

Keep your eyes on the tree. Your body will rejoin your head, your skis will finish the 360, and if everything went well, you should be riding away.

Have a much more even and balanced set, at first when learning threes when you set almost have your arms in a winded back t pose( later on when ur threes r good u don't need to do this cuz it looks shit). Also spot 180, when you do the three look at the jump at 180 and then spot landing. Thats what helped me stay in control and stay on axis when I learned 3s

Get your shins pushed way up into the front of your boot, have your weight forward, wait until the very end of the takeoff to pop, be patient with rotation, and bring your legs up to keep from going back heavy