# Who rides 'duck' stance?



## 3vod (Jan 7, 2009)

Spent the last two days on the mountain playing with my stance.. tried regular and strapped my left in.. awkward, but not if i'm strapped goofy, riding switch..

but anyway, I'm going to try the 'duck' stance.. isn't this more for park? I got a twin tip board.. Any of you who ride duck, what are your degrees? Do you have a harder time linking turns?


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## Thad Osprey (Feb 18, 2009)

Im +15/-15... like you i tried mucking around with my stances alot. It takes time getting used to. At first was very uncomfortable with my backfoot degrees moving away from the beginner +15/0 when I first started out. Then I was like +21/-6, +18/-3, +21/-9, +18/-6, +18/-9, +18/-12, then +15/-12, then now +15/-15... more or less I'll stick with it.

Makes riding switch easier and is more suited for freestyle stuff. But it takes some getting used to at first. Then as you grow into it, it "should" become comfortable duck altho there is no such thing as a textbook ideal stance. You kinda ride your way into it and one day you will find one that you like more than others...key is to be gradual with your changes and see how you feel as you go along? 

My 2 cents...


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## nzboardlife (Mar 25, 2008)

from last check i think im at +15/-9, each to their own


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## Flick Montana (Jul 9, 2007)

I ride +15/-15.

I'm not park at all, I ride all mountain. I ride duck because I like to go switch a lot and I like to take little jumps on the hill. I find it a lot more fun to ride switch.


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## twin89 (Jan 21, 2009)

i ride 18/-6 but im slowly working towards 15/-15 cause im looking to learn to ride switch. but as long as you have some close to proper technique it shouldn't be a problem linking turns or anything, just takes some time to get used to it.


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2009)

+/-12 here. I was +12/0 and +12/-9 before that.


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## ScBlack (Dec 9, 2008)

Tried +15/0 before, didn't like it at all, for some reason didn't feel nature to me even though I am freeriding on a Supermodel. Switched it to +15/-13 works pretty good so far. I think it all comes down to personal preference, althought duck would defintely be more beneficial for riding switch.


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2009)

18/-12. I just find it to be more comfortable :dunno:

I ride all-mountain btw, no park.

If you want to go into a duck stance, progress slowly. I went from a -3 to a -15 and it was horrible. Go through the degree incriments until you find what you are comfortable with. Also experiment with stance width.


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2009)

3vod said:


> Any of you who ride duck, what are your degrees? Do you have a harder time linking turns?


i ride 18/-18. i do not have a harder time linking turns these days but it felt a bit odd at first.

alasdair


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## Enigmatic (Feb 6, 2009)

+9 / -6 

used to ride way more ducked out but then it felt like my presses were suffering so I adjusted...I think I have better control like this


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

95%+ on this forum ride duck stance, its just more common nowadays. i switch it up wayy too much lol, but im riding a 24 inch stance, 18,-12 right now. i switch it up to -15 alot too...


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## scottland (Jan 8, 2008)

24", 15/-12. I'm tall though (6'2"), with longer legs, so 24" stance isn't all that wide for me.


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## VenomousSVT (Feb 17, 2009)

i still ride witha beginner stance being 0/15... i tried to set up duck a while back and it totally cramped my legs up.. it was totally screwy for me. I think I am gonna try -5/+15 this monday when I go. If I can ride that way all day I will try and go -10/+15 on friday when I go. I ride switch just fine with a 0* stance on my back foot too.. weird huh?


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## Gnarly (Mar 12, 2008)

I ride +90/-90 with a 28" stance width...Oh wait. Duck it out and ride switch more often.


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2009)

you can't have a positive angle in the back and negative in the front! :laugh: That won't get you very far...


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## Tmoney (Jan 14, 2009)

-21 / +21 !!!! Pigeon toe anyone?


j/k... I'm 15/-15 with 23.5" width. By the way, I'm 6'3" and all torso


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

Tmoney said:


> -21 / +21 !!!! Pigeon toe anyone?
> 
> 
> j/k... I'm 15/-15 with 23.5" width. By the way, I'm 6'3" and all torso


you have 8 inches on me and my stance is half an inch wider:laugh::laugh:


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2009)

I have a +15 on my front binding and -12 on my back one. I'm regular footed. It took me about 3 day to find a stance I was comfortable with. I mostly ride park.


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## 3vod (Jan 7, 2009)

I just stumbled onto this, its a stance finder.. width, binding degrees etc.. could be pretty useful but I have never seen one.

what do you all think about this?

YouTube - StanceFind - Snowboard Stance Machine Intro #1


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## max_tm (Dec 7, 2008)

> I just stumbled onto this, its a stance finder.. width, binding degrees etc.. could be pretty useful but I have never seen one.
> 
> what do you all think about this?
> 
> YouTube - StanceFind - Snowboard Stance Machine Intro #1


Hmmm, kind of an interesting concept but I'm not sure it's really as effective as the dude in the video makes it out to be. When he was talking about getting a position that gets all your bones stacked for solid balance, it jogged my memory about an article in the latest CASI instructor's magazine about balance vs. stability, I'll paste out the important parts here:



> *Defining Balance*
> From a biomechanical standpoint, balance is an “on” or “off” state. Either it’s there or
> it’s not. You’re standing up, or you’ve fallen down (or somewhere in the middle). This
> is an important thing to remember when snowboarding, or teaching snowboarders.
> ...


I guess the point I'm trying to make is, for a more advanced rider, what you feel is the optimal position with the limited range of motion offered on that device may or may not be the optimal position for maintaining stability throughout a dynamic movement like a turn (where you are inherently unbalanced throughout). 

That being said, for a beginner it could be a very suitable tool to get a good idea of what they think their stance should be like: 
1) Because they have no idea where to begin stance-wise and 
2) Because a beginner turn is spent much more in a up-right "balanced" position.


EDIT: Woops I just realized I made not mention of OPs initial question

I ride slightly duck (something like 18 front/-7 back) and I find that anything less in the back is really uncomfortable (at least for general free-riding).


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2009)

It works for me. I ride 15/-15.


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## BigC_ 13 (Dec 28, 2008)

+15/-13 here,
took a couple days to get used to the stance, i gradually adjusted from +15/ -5 and moved up to duck. 
I don't have any problems with turns or anything now that i'm used to the stance


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