HELP: Leaning foward when going off table tops in snowboarding?

Question

Alright so ive progressed a lot since i started snowboarding a year ago and now i want to start doing front 180's and eventually 3's to start off of but when i go off a bigger table top im so scared i lean way back and have to use my arms to correct my retarded air and i know i need to lean forward to keep my balance in line so i can do a trick and not have to catch my balance, but how far do i need to lean forward and how do i get over the fear i have, i mean i always go for it but for some reason I'm still really scared and i freeze up and just air over the jump, i mean iv'e gone really big before also and landed at the bottom of the landing but I'm always frozen in fear. but i really want to be confident going in that i will be able to pull off the trick ill probably get an advanced lesson but i just wanted to see if anyone could give me some advice.

Answer 1

Try not to lean in any direction.

Try to stay centered over you're board. It should help a lot.

Answer 2

I think that a good way to get rid of this habit is to really lower yourself into the board, bend your knees a bit further than you normally would. This should even out your weight a bit. And if that doesn't help, try leaning your weight onto the outside edge of your leading foot. This may not help you, so if not, I'd strongly recommend you get a freestyle specific lesson :)

Answer 3

If you have the bucks to get the lesson - got for it.  It is much easier for a trained eye to figure out what you are doing than trying to guess what is going on from a written description.  if you want to learn how to spin safely, you start on the groomed runs, then take it too little kickers, then when that is going well you can try take it to the table tops.