# Forward or Duck?



## legallyillegal (Oct 6, 2008)

forward stance is for skiers


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## Method (Apr 3, 2009)

Just go out and ride, if you want to eventually do some park you'll want the duck stance. If you think all you're going to do is freeride then go back to forward, either way changing you stance isn't going to make you have to learn all over again, it'll just feel a little awkward and eventually you'll get use to it... if not change around the angles of the duck stance till you find what you like.


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## Qball (Jun 22, 2010)

For me forward feels completely awkward and unatural. I've played sports my whole life so a natural athletic stance is what feels most comfortable to me. I've varied from 15, 0 to 18, -9, which is what I currently ride. When riding with duck angles you need to make sure you have a proper stance because your back knee can take a beating if you don't. I see people riding around with duck angles but have their back knee pointing downhill


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## Altephor (Feb 4, 2010)

Will it be harder for me to learn to progress in Duck? Or is it strictly a comfort thing?


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## KIRKRIDER (Mar 18, 2008)

Snowolf said:


> Mostly a comfort thing. Now, learning to ride switch will be a lot easier with a duck stance. From a "learning to ride" perspective, I favor setting my students duck right from the start. A large part of this logic is about 50% have no idea whether they are regular or goofy, so an even duck setting around 9 and -9 is right in the middle of the bell curve for most people.
> 
> Another reason, I like setting students up evenly duck is tends to be conducive for proper ankle and knee flexion. The rider starts developing good riding posture right from the start. A forward stance can create some weird lower body postures that are hard to break as the riders moves into an intermediate level.


I always thought that the stance is dictated by the type of riding, and board (directional or twin). You are saying that duck is a better and more correct posture than forward, in general or that is more practical for your classes and/or the learning periond? I never tried duck because I don't do park. I'll try this season and see how it feel.


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## HoboMaster (May 16, 2010)

I think duck is a more "natural" posture because like it's been stated, it's basically the way you normally stand, (with both feet facing outward). Riding with a forward stand gives you more of a lean which gives you more torque/force in your turns, but if you really think about it its a pretty unnatural way to have your feet setup. How often do you have your back knee bent forwards on a day-to-day basis?


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## SiKBOY (Oct 1, 2010)

I normally set up my beginner students to be 15 on the front foot and 0 on the back. If you are just a beginner , 90% of the time, you are going to be going one way. When you go to intermediate to advanced riding, you will be wanting to sink down and towards the tail of the board when you are finishing your turns. Its kind of un-natural and harder to sink down on the backfoot when your knee is pointing towards the tail of the board.

Just do a simple experiment, lay your board flat on the ground and stand on the board as if you have your both your bindings at 0 degrees. Now bend both knees the same evenly, Your butt should be in the middle of the board. 
Now turn both your feet say 45 degrees forward (just to exagerate) and now bend both knees evenly, your butt should be moving towards the tail of the board. which is where you want your to be moving your weight during at at the end of your turn.

Also if you have a massive duck stance, draw a line along the binding angle toe edge to the heel edge. Compare the distance between the 2 feet on the toe side to the distance between the lines on the heel side. 

When are you are flexing, naturally on the toeside you are pressuring the outsides of the board which is what you want to be generally doing when turning. On the heelside, if you have a big duck stance, you will be pressuring the middle of the board which is not what you want to be doing at the beginning or the end of your turns.

Hope this helps a little bit! I'm not against a duck stance as I ride a little duck myself, but if you are just into free riding and going in one direction, the forward stance will be working better for you especially on the heelside which if you ask any intermediate/advanced rider is the harder of the 2 turns.

There is a reason why racers have a forward stance


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## Altephor (Feb 4, 2010)

SiKBOY said:


> Hope this helps a little bit! I'm not against a duck stance as I ride a little duck myself, but if you are just into free riding and going in one direction, the forward stance will be working better for you especially on the heelside which if you ask any intermediate/advanced rider is the harder of the 2 turns.
> 
> There is a reason why racers have a forward stance


I have no problem with heelside turns.. big problem with toeside though.


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## SiKBOY (Oct 1, 2010)

Altephor said:


> I have no problem with heelside turns.. big problem with toeside though.


yeh, thats normal when you first start out. Depending on your ability, and a few lessons, you should be able to dial in your basic toe turn pretty quickly. Normally in my group lessons, most of the students are linking basic turns on a mellow slope by the end of their 2nd 2hr lesson.

What problems are you having with your toe turn?


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## Altephor (Feb 4, 2010)

SiKBOY said:


> What problems are you having with your toe turn?


I guess not so much problems as a lack of confidence. My heels I feel solid on, then it feels unnatural to get on the toeside. Usually where I catch an edge, but hopefully my confidence will improve now that I have a nice board.


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## Jeklund (Dec 14, 2009)

Toeside turns will come with time just start gradually making an effort to lean over more and more. I think my breakthrough moment was the first time i went out west and was just forced to start making them because my quads where burning from just doing heel side turns all the way down the mountain. After that when i came back to my local hill i just kept progressing because the hardest run here were like a green in the mountains and i was more confident. A season and a half later I'm ripping up stuff that i could only dream of then. Just keep at it and every time you go out choose a skill or part of a skill that you want to focus on.

As for Forward or Duck stance i started out at +15/+12 my first year and ending up adjusting my stance every time i went out until i ended up at +12/-9 by the end of the season. The key to a good stance is setting it up where you think you will feel comfortable then after a couple runs if its not working out change it a small bit until you finally dial in that perfect stance for you.


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