---
title: Backside shifty
seo_title: How to do a backside shifty on a snowboard
skill: do a backside shifty
tags: [jumps]
switch: true
image: backside-shifty.mp4
image_source: https://youtu.be/ciXpKu1iaX4
image_credit: Snowboard Addiction
image_credit_url: https://www.youtube.com/@SnowboardAddiction
image_title: "How To Backside Shifty On A Snowboard"
image_clip: https://youtu.be/ciXpKu1iaX4?2:59.5-3:06
prerequisite: frontside-shifty
authors:
- renec112
published: 2026-08-08
---

## What you'll learn

**A Backside Shifty** is a freestyle snowboard trick where you rotate the board 90 degrees in the air, then counter rotate back to straight before landing. 

## The idea

The mechanic is **counter-rotation**: your upper and lower body twist against each other. You wind the twist up in the air, hold it for style, then release it back to straight. Nothing rotates as a whole - the board goes one way, your shoulders resist the other.

Backside is the harder of the two shifties ([Frontside Shifty](/snowboarding/frontside-shifty)). The movement feels awkward at first because the natural instinct when you pop is to open your shoulders forwards, which is exactly the direction that kills a backside twist.


**Ride straight down a gentle slope on a flat base.**

1. Shifty the board backside and hold it for a couple of seconds
+ Bring it back to straight
+ Actively use your upper body to counter rotate both into and out of the shift

**Take It to a Jump**

1. **Approach**
    - Ride in flat-based and relaxed
    - Keep your upper body aligned with your lower body
    - Do not let your shoulders face forwards as you jump, or the backside twist becomes very difficult
2. **Takeoff**
    - Get a solid pop first
    - Be patient. Trying to shifty before you leave the lip is the most common mistake
3. **The Shifty**
    - Twist your lower body backside until the board is 90 degrees across
    - Think about getting your back hand over your nose at the peak
    - On bigger jumps you can slow it down and pause the shifty out
4. **Bring It Back**
    - Untwist and return the board to straight
    - Align with the landing slope
5. **Land Clean**
    - Absorb with bent knees, stay centered, ride away on a flat base


Learn more here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciXpKu1iaX4

## Key Tips
- Learn it on a trampoline first. Repetition is what makes backside feel natural
- Pop first, shift second
- Keep your shoulders aligned or slightly back on takeoff, never open forwards
- The perfect shifty is 90 degrees at the peak of the jump
- Your first ones will be small and messy. They get better as the movement gets efficient
- Combines great with an [Indy grab](/snowboarding/indy-grab), and a [method](/snowboarding/method-grab) is essentially a huge backside shifty