Essential Body Boarding Tricks with Amazing Techniques

Bodyboarding has been a popular water sport among the surfers for a long time. In this sport, the surfers ride shoreward waves in prone positions. Bodyboarding, as a water sport, arrived before surfing, and the bodyboard is an evolved form of “Alaia” or “Paipo” boards that indigenous Polynesian people used to ride hundreds of years ago. Bodyboarding has been constantly proven to be the superior form of wave riding.

The body boarding tricks are so amazing that you don’t have to wait for the perfect wave to surf. Bodyboarders can access the water in the waves that are not reachable by regular surfers. It’s a very casual and thus easy form of water surfing. The article will discuss further about the bodyboarding tricks that will enable you to ride the waves like you’re supposed to.

General Bodyboarding Tips

Although bodyboarding is not that difficult to perform, you have to abide by some general rules and conditions that will make your bodyboarding experience safe and enjoyable. These are some of the preliminary tips that every bodyboarder at any level of experience should keep in mind:

1. Understanding the Basics

Bodyboarding is a fun sport that doesn’t require so much skill from the rider’s part and yet it fills the bodyboarder with adventurous zeal. The board of this product is inexpensive, foam-made and has a slippery bottom. The incredible thing about this great water sport is that you can just lie on your stomach while surfing and don’t have to stand on the board.

2. Using Your Eyes and the Claw Smartly

Bodyboarding isn’t any different from other board sports in that it follows the same principle that your body only follows what your eyes can see. You have to learn to look through instead of doing spins, carves or rolls to really improve your water riding.

The claw grip decides the pressure with which you hold onto the rail of the board. With the claw grip, you get pressure on the elbow which enables you to hold the board effectively. You can ride the steeper waves more smoothly if you get the required pressure. The claw grip takes you to an upright position and this increases your surfing speed.

3. Being Aware of the RIP Currents

You have to be very cautious of the rip currents while bodyboarding. Before you actually go in the water, take a good look around to identify the position of the rip currents. You can easily track the rip currents by watching the other bodyboarders and see carefully whether they’re drifting towards or away from the shore. Then, find out the spots where the water is turbulent and the waves are not breaking.

Even if you get into a rip current, don’t start panicking. The most common mistake in this situation is to paddle against the rip currents. But you can just swim through the rip currents to get to the calmer waters before you get tied up in the torrent.

4. Getting Ready with the Bodyboarding Stuff

Except for the knowledge on bodyboarding, the most important thing for the sport is to keep the essentials with you. You’re going on to the sea and you’re not attuned to the condition of seas. You have to keep the necessary things that are required for bodyboarding to help you keep safe in all conditions. Here’s a list of the bodyboarding gears from which you can choose what you can keep with yourself:

5. Being Ready to Surf with Experts

Don’t just stop at bodyboarding by yourself. While it’s essential that you avoid too many people for the sake of safety and keeping a calm mind, you have to find yourself a group of bodyboarding experts. Without getting the expert exposure, you can’t improvise on your techniques.

When you have expert eyes around you, they’re going to tell you whenever you’re making a wrong move or you can do better. The instant feedback on techniques and being exposed to the energy and expertise of such bodyboarders will drive you towards being a better bodyboarder. You’ll strive to become a better bodyboarder by pushing yourself hard.

6. Surfing in All Weathers

If you’re planning on challenging yourself to become a better bodyboarder or participating in the bodyboarding contests, you have to be prepared for surfing in all weather and water conditions. You might even have to practice surfing on onshore and offshore muck to master the board.

Also, bodyboarding in different weathers comes with their own predicaments. For example, you have to get exposed to severe heat during surfing in the summer. In this case, taking a good position in the waves and wearing suitable dresses like bodyboarding shorts really do the trick.

7. Practice on Different Wave Varieties

For the optimum performance, travel further with a reliable bodyboard to experience different kinds of waves. This is the most practical way of improving your bodyboarding skills. Also, you get to experience different bodyboarders in this way who perform the bodyboarding using completely different techniques. You can always learn from them and improvise.

8. Body Boarding Tricks

The bodyboarding tricks and moves add professional rhythm to this unique sport. The sport of bodyboarding has progressed so far that each and every move has been categorized and yet there are scopes of doing freestyles if you join these moves. There are three different levels of bodyboarding tricks depending on the three levels of bodyboarders: beginners, intermediate and advanced boarders. This categorization has been made according to the skill sets that are essential for each level. The tricks are described elaborately in the following sections.

Body Boarding Tricks for Beginners

The tricks for the beginners in bodyboarding are described in details in the next section.

i) Cut Back

Bodyboarders deploy this trick to turn back to the wave or to regulate the speed. The trick is especially used when you’re boarding so fast that you’re getting out of the wave and you need to get back on the wave for further boarding. You can also use this trick for repositioning yourself, so you can wait for another section of the wave.

Cut back is most likely the first or the second move you’re going to learn while bodyboarding. Here’s a process of how you can perform a cut back:

ii) Drop Knee

It’s a pretty common trick used and seen among the bodyboarders. It’s a kneeling position on the board while having a foot up in the front. It’s a pretty hard trick to perform and is close to the style of surfing. Here’s how you can perform a drop knee:

iii) Bottom Turn

This trick is used when you’ve reached the bottom of a wave and want to turn without any speed loss. Without mastering this trick, you can’t do a lot of other tricks. To do this trick, you have to follow these steps carefully:

iv) Spin 360 and Reverse 360

This is a relatively advanced trick that can only be learned once you perform. In this trick, you need to position your body properly and move your bodyweight to the front of the board and then do a spin on the board for a full rotation. You can perform both forward and reverse 360. You can only use this technique in a flat wave or even while you’re in the air.

The best position for a 360 turn is when you’ve taken off from a wave, made a bottom turn and then you’ve gotten yourself in the curl of a wave. Here’s how you do a forward 360:

The reverse 360 is the same as the forward 360 but you start on the right side and not on the left. This is how you do a reverse 360:

v) Aerial

This is a modern bodyboarding trick in which the board extends above the wave lip. This trick incorporates moves from both the intermediate and the advanced bodyboarding tricks.

vii) El Rollo

It’s like the aerial maneuver but ends with a roll. This can be a complicated and, at the same time, compelling trick to perform with your board. By the end of the trick, you’ll feel vigorous, refreshed and energetic.

Body Boarding Tricks for Intermediate Boarders

These are the tricks for those who have mastered their skills with the beginner’s tricks. The different tricks for intermediate boarders are described in the next section.

i) Air 360 and Reverse

This is a combination of the aerial and the 360 moves described in the previous section. However, incorporating the two most difficult and desperate tricks into one can be pretty hard. When you get the hang of the trick, you’re going to cherish it for the ecstasy it adds to the bodyboarding.

The reverse 360 is almost identical to the 360, except it’s in the opposite direction.

ii) Double and Reverse Rollo

The Reverse Rollo is the trick where you rotate from right to left and don’t use the wave’s arc for rolling down. It is simply going against nature.

iii) Invert Aerial

This is an exciting trick where both your body and bodyboard engage in an inverted position. After you’re in this position for some time, straighten yourself the same way you warped yourself.

This trick is very tough to execute but the uniqueness of the bodyboarders can be seen in this trick which is the final step towards the advanced tricks.

Advanced Body Boarding Tricks

As the name suggests, the advanced tricks for bodyboarding are the toughest to execute and are only done by the professionals. Without honing the skills and tricks discussed above, you cannot perfect the advanced tricks.

i) Front and Back Flips

The black flips are as hard as it looks. You have to complete a 360 in a reverse order. It’s an unnatural and hence a very challenging movement. Professionals suggest practicing backflips on a trampoline where you can practice backdrop, handspring and finally a back handspring before you can actually practice doing backflips. When you’re prepared to do backflips, follow these steps:

ii) Air Roll Spin

It’s a combination of the two distinct body boarding tricks: the el rollo and the forward spin. The ARS is a progressive bodyboarding trick which allows you to take your skill and ambition to a whole new level. For doing the ARS, you need to get in front of a three foot wave with a lip that’s still intact. You’ll do lots of error in the trial period but will get to it eventually with training.

iii) Barrel

Doing a barrel is like a dream for most of the bodyboarders. Only professional bodyboarders can perform a heavy and deep barrel. Starting with the small waves is the best decision for barreling. The steps to becoming a great master at barreling:

Conclusion

Bodyboarding has emerged as an art form and is not just a “summer sport” anymore. It is the ultimate wave riding sport that has replaced surfing from its position for a long time due to the radicalness it brings to the sport of wave riding. The techniques used in this sport are so unique that they offer the greatest pleasure and adventure while riding waves. However, to ride waves entails learning the body boarding tricks properly and mastering them.

The bodyboarding tips and tricks discussed in the article will help you have a comprehensive outlook on the sport. You can get the closest experience to surfing with your body when you’re bodyboarding.