Toby Miller is the next Shaun White

It’s very humbling. He’s the greatest halfpipe snowboarder of all time, so they’re big shoes to fill.

We first met when I was twelve when his coach invited me to ride with them for the day. I was starstruck because Shaun was like my superhero. We built a friendship right then even though there’s such an age difference. Later, we rode in Australia and New Zealand together, and now I travel and train with him and J.J. Thomas. I consider them two of my best friends.

I traveled with the US team this season to as many training camps as I could. We were in Mammoth, California, for spring camp and then went to Mt. Hood, Oregon, which is a glacier with a great facility. After that it was New Zealand, Switzerland, and back to the US. We’re trying to snowboard all year instead of just November to March. I feel very fortunate to go to all these places.

Yeah. When I travel, I pack a foam roller, yoga ball and block, and resistance bands for hip work and leg strength.

I work out with Chris at least four times a week in the off-season, and I built an at-home gym in my garage so I train there too.<br><br>Over the summer, I focus on building muscle and getting in better shape ahead of the season. Flexibility and mobility are huge. I do a lot of overhead presses, TRX work for the core, trunk rotations, explosive box jumps, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg lunges, and hurdles.

It’s one of the most important muscle groups for snowboarding, along with the core and hips. We try to keep it fun and incorporate games into our sessions.

I try to be as healthy as possible, especially on the road when I’m more likely to get sick. I’ve taken that more seriously over the past two years and it’s given me more energy.

Breakfast is scrambled eggs, spinach, and ham. For lunch, my favorite salad is ground beef with blueberries and feta cheese. J.J. Thomas introduced me to that. Dinner is usually healthy protein like chicken plus vegetables or soup. I don’t drink protein shakes but I’ll buy juices from Whole Foods.

Yeah, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a donut here and there.

All the time. But over the years I’ve gotten better at turning those nerves into excitement. When the starter says it’s your turn to drop, you don’t have to go right away. I tend to wait until I’ve visualized myself landing the run I want to do before I go. Also, I like to hike up the halfpipe instead instead of taking chairlifts. They make me feel too restricted and by the time I get to the top, I feel cold and stiff.

Sometimes. We usually practice at competition venues ahead of time to get used to them. I stay focused by listening to Trap Nation and Chill Nation playlists on Spotify. At first I only wore one headphone on low volume, but now I wear both as loud as they go. It doesn’t feel right anymore to snowboard without music.

Not really. I try to stay up for 24 hours before landing so no matter where I’m going, I can sleep through the night. I usually feel pretty good after two days.

Maybe. The nice thing about X Games is that all our practices and competitions are at night, so we can sleep during the day. Coming from Europe, that could actually be a blessing.

If you’re learning one that somebody has already done, it helps to watch video. We practice landing new moves on giant airbags like the ones stuntmen use in Hollywood before taking them to the halfpipe. Shaun White won his first Olympic medal in Italy in 2006 by doing single flips, but tricks have gone through the roof since then.

By 2010 in Vancouver, double flips were a thing. People thought that was the max and there was no way the sport would progress, but now you have even bigger back-to-back rotations with double corks, yolo flips, and 1260s. I’m excited to see where it goes in the next four years. I wouldn’t be surprised if triple flips come into the halfpipe.