HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR SNOWBOARD STANCE

Your stance can play into how stable your snowboard is and how easy it is to turn. Finding your natural stance will take a bit of time and experimentation. It's based on height, personal preference and riding style. We're gonna break down a few common stances and how they correspond to riding styles.  

The very first thing you'll need to figure out is which of your legs are more dominant, this dictates if you are regular stance or goofy. Typically your back leg will be your dominant leg and provide powerful steering control while the front leg provides balance. Left foot forward is called Regular and right foot forward is called Goofy. You can test which foot should be forward by having someone push you lightly and seeing which leg naturally catches your fall. 

Now that you know which foot will be forward on your board you can mount your bindings and set your stance with that in mind. 

STANCE WIDTH

Stance width plays a big part in both balancing on your board and turning. A good starting point for stance width is slightly wider than shoulder width. Don't be afraid to try a few different widths until you feel the most comfortable, because it's all about personal preference. If you spend more time in the park or bombing big side hits, a wider stance lends itself to stable landings, so that's something to keep in mind.

REFERENCE STANCE

Snowboards come with a reference stance that illustrates the optimal mounting holes to use when mounting your bindings. The board is designed for best performance using the reference stance or within one inch of the reference stance. Though it's not critical to use the reference stance, it will give you the best intended performance.

SETBACK VS CENTERED STANCE

Centered stances mean you have equal nose and tail length. The key to a good park stance is keeping your body centred over the middle of the board to allow for regular and switch take off's and landings.

A setback stance is when your bindings are pushed father back on your board giving you a shorter tail and longer nose. It's important to be able to lift the nose of your board to stay afloat in the powder and this stance helps with that. Some directional free ride boards are designed with a set back stance already. On deep powder days you may opt for adjusting your stance to be more set back to allow for better nose float.

STANCE ANGLES

You want to make sure you optimize your bodies natural alignment when developing your stance. Your knees and hips will have a different range of motion depending on your foot placement and alignment on your board. A zero angle setting would be your binding set completely perpendicular to your board. Most every rider likes to have their forward foot angled slightly towards the nose of their board. This is called a positive angle setting typically between +9-15. Your hind foot can be angled 3 different ways outlined below.

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE DUCK (+/-)

Negative angle rear foot (+/-) is when both feet angle slightly outwards to the nose and tail, also known as duck stance. It's the optimal stance for those who frequently ride switch in the park. It allows you to have that positive angle for your front foot regardless of if you're riding normal or switch and it can really help if you're struggling landing tricks switch. If you're a big park rider a gentle duck stance would be a great place to start.


Front Foot + 9-15 | Rear Foot - 9-15

(equally spaced from center)

POSITIVE/ZERO (+/0)

Zero angle rear foot (+/ 0) is when your rear foot is perpendicular to the board. This is a really common snowboard setup for all mountain riding. Its a great place to start as you develop your bodies natural stance. 

If you tend to ride more park than powder you may want a slightly duck stance. If you tend to ride more powder than park you may want your front foot angled more forward. Experiment and you'll soon find the sweet spot for you.

Front Foot + 6-12 | Rear Foot 0

POSITIVE/POSITIVE (+/+)

Positive angle rear foot (+/+) is when both feet are slightly angled to the nose of the board. This style lends itself to hard carving. With both knees facing the same direction, it may be easier and more comfortable to lean into your toe side turns.

This stance option makes riding switch more of a challenge, but riders who choose this stance are often on a directional free ride/powder board anyways, and don't spend much time switch. A stance like this isn't super common but is still a favorite of Jeremy Jones.

Front Foot + 20 | Rear Foot +6