Finding your snowboard stance is not as easy as flipping a coin or tails, discovering the best riding stance of your size, your riding position, and snowboard measure can be complicated for many snowboard riders, even hard for the veteran riders.
It is not hard to bolt your bindings and go for a ride, but not very easy to realize how stance angle and width are influencing your skill to turn, stomp, carve or pop on a snowboard. To be on the highest level, it all depends on you to find your natural stance. Your main stance is the one that works best for your special body and which enhances your main skill to do your best.
Understanding your natural stance may take you some experiment, but if you begin with a good awareness of the stance basics, you will be able to grab the shore of your position very quickly.
What snowboard is the stance
Snowboard stance can be defined as the placement of your foot on the snowboard, with the first foot in front of the second foot while standing sideways. Because of the sideways orientation, your balance is very important, and as a rider, you need to choose the natural stance that provides ultimate durability. But when we are talking about snowboarding, there are some more significant details.
Goofy or Regular
If you are still guessing about the way you wish to go down the mountain, this is a perfect point to begin. Most of the riders may have known this already but if you are just into the sport and not sure if you are good with goofy or regular, you will want to measure it out first.
Some snowboarders have known that goofy is what they are good at because it will feel more natural to them.
Just to let you know that what is goofy or regular we have been blabbering all about, goofy means that, you will be going down the mountain, with your right foot, it will be in the front while your left will be at your back, regular means that your left feet will be in the front while your right foot will be in the back. Now let’s do a test
First Trail
The very best way you can test yourself is to try and visualize yourself accelerating down a hill with a snowboard ( well you might have never done it before ) and visualize yourself going very fast. Just use your mind to analyze the foot you feel has the most influence.
Another way is to have someone that will push you in the back, is not that simple and is not that hard, I know you do not want to fall, that is fine, but unless you do not want to learn it. If you take your left that means you are likely to be regular, or if you take your right foot to lead your body means you are likely to be goofy.
Another way to push technique is to stand on the perimeter of the step ( the lowest step, do not try this at the top of the flight of stairs ). Count a little step backward from ten and then step off. Take notice of the feet that go first.
Slide Test
Finally, the favorite way is if you own nice sliding socks and a good smooth floor to slide on you can perform the slide test. This can be easy – just affect your slides ( this is the technical term) socks, take a quick run-up, and slide on the ground. Try and notice the leg you take as the lead, if it’s right, you are goofy, if left that means you are a regular.
Determining The Correct Snowboard Stance Width
Often, the overlooked on your snowboard stance width will implicate your proportion on your board, therefore influencing how easy it’s to maneuver the board. Like most aspects of snowboard stance, there is going to be some trial and error affected in selecting the valid width of your snowboard stance and personal appreciation.
The company producing the snowboard often puts a recommended stance width noted on the board. Which is also known as your consideration stance. However it is a decent guide, it’s not a one size fits all direction and you should authorize some flexibility with your stance width. Is the reference stance that the board has been constructed around but banking on whether you would like to ride a slightly lower or higher board, this may need some adjustments.
For my friend James, he is 6ft and he rides with a 22.5inch stance width. The took him some refining over time and that is the width he feels comfortable with all the time. It is likely to be that if you are shorter than James, you will want to narrow your stance width. Similarly, if you are taller than James, you will need to increase your stance.
Making use of the snowboard stance calculator is a good position to begin. You should enhance this advice over time to get the needed stance width.
Centered or Setback stance
If you are thinking of riding with a centered or setback stance on your snowboard it will potentially depend on two aspects; when you are riding(piste, park, or powder) and how many periods you spend riding.
Let’s say, you are a person that loves riding with the switch then having a centered stance is better for guaranteeing that your snowboard rides and feels the same in both your regular and switch stance. Though, it is useful for landings for 180s, 560s, and so on, where you land facing the reverse of how you take off. A centered stance does help you realize the balance on the snowboard whilst performing ground tricks and butter as well.
If you also love to ride directly either on or off-piste, having a set-back stance might suit your riding technique. Retaining a set-back stance in powder reduces the amount of action you need to put in to maintain your board nose lifted out of the snow. It does mean that you are less likely to have the dreaded back leg burn on those powder days. Another great thing to ride with a setback stance is that your snowboard has a shorter tail. This also means that the board can be simpler to drive through your turns utilizing your back foot.
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR SNOWBOARD STANCE ANGLES
Setting up your snowboard angles correctly is the most significant factor in your snowboard format. Your binding angles will infer how efficient your body can be at driving the board through a turn. You might want to adjust your binding angles banking on the category of snowboarding you are achieving. Let’s dive deeper into the snowboard binding angle selections.
WHAT ARE SNOWBOARD STANCE ANGLES?
Configuring your binding angles refers to how the bindings are flexed on the board. The bindings come with the base plate that authorizes you to see the stance angles between +30 and -30 degrees. It is most common for the front angle to be + angle and the back foot to be – angle.
FRONT FOOT
I haven’t seen a snowboarder that does not have their front foot angled towards the nose of their board. Likewise, it is impossible to think of any reason why you would not. The length to which you angle your front binding will bank on your technique of riding and what you want to accomplish. Usually, an angle of +15 degrees is famous and is in the inner of the possible choices. Using a +15 to +18 for the front foot angle seems to be a nice spot for most of the ones I have interviewed.
BACK FOOT
Most of the back foot is where people grow to have more differences in their binding stance angles. It can be influenced by the technique of riding that person prefers to do the most. Let’s look at some options.
DUCK
Duck likes to have your front and back foot facing differently. True duck is where those angles were the same: EG; +15 for front and -15 for back degrees. While a duck stance is famous with freestyle-orientated riders that like to disburse time riding switches as well as regular. Snowboard binding angles for the park don’t need to be true duck stance but this may assist you to feel more balanced when riding switch.
BACK FOOT ZERO
utilizing a zero angle on your back foot means your back foot rides straight to the snowboard. Manipulating a zero binding angle on your back foot is what I first begin with before I start getting involved in other stance options. Possessing a zero angle can help you drop your back knee linearly towards the snow assisting you’re an into toe-edge carves.
BACKFOOT POSITIVE
I have never felt nice with this but it is somehow popular, most particularly among the free-riders who are likely to carve. Running a back foot positive binding angle can make it more complicated to ride switch, but it remains possible with practice.
CHANGING YOUR STANCE
Improving and modifying your stance over time is normal and it’s an aspect of how you and your snowboarding develops. Speaking of the time to adapt your stance will allow you to feel out your choice stance with micro-adjustment that will ultimately land on your chosen stance. You may wish to harmonize your stance differently banking on the snowboard you are riding and where you are planning to go that day. Though my stance width tends to remain the same regardless of the snowboard I use, well my angles and setbacks will change relying on where I want to ride that day
