# What does stance really do?



## Consonantal (Dec 12, 2012)

I'm currently riding slightly duck, 10/-10, I like to carve down blues and occasionally hit blacks if the weather and snow is nice. 

But recently I've been hitting the terrain park, practicing boxes, rails, and small kickers. 

So what does stance really do? What does a really angled stance do compared to a 0/0? More importantly, what's recommended for me?


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## baconzoo (Nov 12, 2010)

Everybody is different and the best way is to keep trying different stances. Your body will tell you what works best for you. I ride 30/15 with maxed forward lean... :blink:


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## Cyfer (Feb 7, 2013)

baconzoo said:


> Everybody is different and the best way is to keep trying different stances. Your body will tell you what works best for you. I ride 30/15 with maxed forward lean... :blink:


Have to agree here, your stance is all about what works for you. I currently ride 12 front -12 on the back with a 23 inch wide stance. I've tried 15 but its too much on my knees, anything wider doesn't work either. It's all about comfort in my eyes. What works is what you use.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

Consonantal said:


> So what does stance really do?


It allows you to dynamically bend and rotate and an improper stance can wreak havoc on your knees.

That said there's not WRONG stance. As long as you generally keep with angle different somewhere between 15 and 30 degrees or so. Many of us that started in the early 90's rode with 0 degrees on the back foot and about 25 on the front. Carvers use forward stances upwards of 60 degrees.

I have slowly moved to symmetrical duck (-9 +9 or so) and my GF seems happy at the same setting, but everyone has to find their own stance.

The important things to think about when changing stance are:

1) change one thing at a time, don't change angle and width at the same time or you won't know what worked and what didn't

2) Reference stance width is a good starting place

3) for a noob, a relatively neutral stance is a good starting place, something like -6 on the back foot, and +15 on the front

4) Try a stance for a few runs then change again, if you try multiple stances in one day you'll learn more than trying a new stance each day. Snow conditions and body conditions change from day to day.


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## pdxrealtor (Jan 23, 2012)

I've messed with stance since day 1, last year! 

I tried a multitude of different stances last year before I settled at a 18/3 with a 21.5 width. 

This year I thought I'd go back to a 15/15 stance (same width) in an effort to correct my sometimes faulty body position that a 18/3 can promote. It felt OK, but after 3 days on the mountain I realized I was falling more and once again my back leg quad was burning out per-maturely. Also, I could no longer strap in standing up.... not a big deal but just another indicator that my stance of 15/15 was not for me

Since then I've gone back to my 18/3 stance, at a 21.5 width, and I do so much better. I do have to pay attention to my technique but that's more of an adjustment thing in my riding style vs. trying to adjust my riding style for my stance. 

It's amazing how a little bit of tweaking in binding angles can have such an effect on some people. 

Now that I'm back at what works best for my natural stance I've been able to focus more on actual riding technique vs. having to focus on why I'm falling on the simple runs I'd normally not fall on. I can also, at will, strap in standing up.

While a few degrees one way or the other seems like it shouldn't matter, In my experience it does. Sure I could learn to override my body's natural stance but why when I could work on the minor technique problem that arises out of putting my stance at the point that serves me best??????????????


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## wernersl (Dec 28, 2011)

Back when I started, I started as poutanen described. Simple symmetrical stance. As I progressed I found I was most comfortable with my front foot at a more aggressive angle. Still something was off. I was uncomfortable at speed and had a hard time laying down decent carves. Last season I finally decided to try positive angles for both feet. I now ride +21/+9 and couldnt be more comfortable. Now I dont ride switch unless my life depends on it and I could care less about the park. I ride for speed and love laying down deep carves on those early morning groomers. It also greatly improved my powder riding. As everyone here said...all personal preference. Just listen to your body. Your legs will tell you if something is off.


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

I rode 15/15 last year on twins, even though I don't ride switch much (I'm trying).

Changed it to 18/12 and it was weird. Went back to 15/15 and am more comfortable. It really is weird. Small changes have significant effects.


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## neshawnp (Jan 29, 2013)

+- 12 w ref stance status. On a 159w est Burton. 6'1"


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

wernersl said:


> Last season I finally decided to try positive angles for both feet. I now ride +21/+9 and couldnt be more comfortable. Now I dont ride switch unless my life depends on it and I could care less about the park. I ride for speed and love laying down deep carves on those early morning groomers.


Yeah and there's nothing wrong with this either. 99.9% to 100% of racers use forward stances (might be the odd pro-bx rider that doesn't I dunno)... A lot of big mountain riders like Terje Haakonsen uses something close to your stance.

There's no such thing as a wrong stance!


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## djmisio85 (Jan 22, 2013)

I have been snowboarding for about 14 years, so take this as you will. However...

In general, having your feet pointing somewhat in the direction in which you are going, will make it easier for you to go in that direction, especially your front foot. Taking this example to extremes, if you had both your feet parallel next to each other facing forwards, (coming from skiing), it would be very easy to make turns. Many people say skiing has no relation to snowboarding... but they both have two edges, so the concept of using the edge and shifting your body weight to initiate a turn is the same.

For this reason, if we take a duck stance, your front foot can be either left or right, and it makes it easier to progress or land in the direction your feet are pointing.

I personally ride +17/ -9, because I usually ride normally, therefore having a bias on my regular front foot, but I occasionally ride switch, so having my back foot at -9 helps me then especially with landings.

Since you ask, compared to a 0/0 stance... I think a 0/0 stance would be the easiest to catch an edge on during normal riding. And maybe not so good for the knees in respect to lateral side to side movement. ( I have a bad knee, so maybe me more than others)

But as most people will tell you, stance is a personal preference. In general, if you don't ride switch, have both your feet facing foward. If you do ride switch have your back foot at at least 0 or anywhere minus from that (but not more than your other foot)


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

I rode +30/+15 with 23.5 last year. But since I've got a new board this year, I took the center stands (about 21.5?) to begin, now with +27/+12, and feel comfortable with it. The board rides great in pow and on tracks so I'll leave it like that. The front hi-back is leaned forward (less at the beginning of the season until the front thigh gets used to it, then progressively adjusted bit by bit), helping me to get more weight on the backside edge, the hind one is more straight giving freedom tho move (my impression). Tried lower angles and other hi-back positions but never got used to them, it felt as if I have to twist my knees when riding at higher speed. In springtime, the hi-backs will both be more straight again for relaxed sludge-surfing 

I newly adjusted the hi-back to be completely parallel with the board edge (bit of work for the front one) and that made a big difference: when leaning foreward at straight lines the hind knee doesn't get twisted anymore


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## wernersl (Dec 28, 2011)

neni said:


> I rode 30/15 with 23.5 last year. But since I've got a new board this year, I took the center stands (about 21.5?) to begin, now with 27/12, and feel comfortable with it. The board rides great in pow and on tracks so I'll leave it like that. The front hi-back is leaned forward (less at the beginning of the season until the front thigh gets used to it, then progressively adjusted bit by bit), helping me to get more weight on the backside edge, the hind one is more straight giving freedom tho move (my impression). Tried lower angles and other hi-back positions but never got used to them, it felt as if I have to twist my knees when riding at higher speed. In springtime, the hi-backs will both be more straight again for relaxed sludge-surfing
> 
> I newly adjusted the hi-back to be completely parallel with the board edge (bit of work for the front one) and that made a big difference: when leaning foreward at straight lines the hind knee doesn't get twisted anymore


Good point. Thanks for bringing that up. I, too, have adjust my highbacks to be parallel with the board edge )well as close as they will adjust). Eliminates leg pain and made me quicker on my heel edge.


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## ig88 (Jan 3, 2012)

This season I am using +15/-15 as usual, and have rotated the highbacks parallel to the board for the first time for curiosity's sake. Seriously I cannot feel a difference with the highback rotation. Maybe I am just too insensitive damn.


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## BigmountainVMD (Oct 9, 2011)

I used to ride a positive angle on my back foot when I would strictly freeride... like 21/9 or so... but as I've been getting more in to freestyle and riding switch more, I have been adjusting that stance. I was at 18/0 for a bit, then started angling my back foot to negative angles. Eventually I felt too duck at 18/-12 so I went 15/-12 and have been perfect right there. I tried to go symmetrical (15/-15) but it was just a bit painful for my knees. 15/-12 is my sweet spot for sure!


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

ig88 said:


> This season I am using +15/-15 as usual, and have rotated the highbacks parallel to the board for the first time for curiosity's sake. Seriously I cannot feel a difference with the highback rotation. Maybe I am just too insensitive damn.


It might not be such a difference with minus degrees... but I don't know for certain. Never tried it and I surely couldn't manage one single turn. Got a directional pow board and the purpose of those angles is pow, carving, and riding fast. Switch, park 'n' stuff? No way


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## herjazz (Feb 20, 2013)

to answer the original question, stance makes your body feel flexible and comfortable enough to do what you want to do on your board. how wide or narrow, how angled your bindings are, these are all individual and different per person. so someone might give you a reference point to start with, but adjust a little here and there (one at a time) to find your own sweet spot. once you have it, set it and forget it is my logic.

when i first started, i played around a lot with the settings and found the right combo for my equipment and also my style.

i'm a bit dreading having to set everything up again from scratch as i've gotten new board and bindings now, and i know it's going to be different, but i will go by feel to fine tune what works on that particular board/binding/boot combo...

i've had the same set-up for the past 10 years lol, cos frankly, it's exactly what makes it most easy for me to control the board and flex the way i ride: 18" wide stance on slightly directional 153cm board, F +24, R +12 both angled forwards like a racing/carving setup. i'm mostly all about big carving and racing down the steep stuff. occasionally will do a few jumps or pipe. can't ride switch for more than 5 seconds lol 

(oh, one thing i found out is that the burton EST system has a maximum allowable binding angle. incidentally +24 front +12 back is about their limit. haha. so anyone running like +40 or +60 or whatever you can't use their system... traditional disc bindings will let you mount them at +90 degrees if you wanted...  just FYI)


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## jellyjam (Jan 14, 2012)

On a slightly different note, would it be fair to say a wider stance (ie: 23 inches as opposed to 20) will give you a more stable platform and perhaps eliminate some of the boards speed related unwanted behaviour? Chattering and the like?
I imagine that would come down to what's comfortable as well but in theory?


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## notfound (Feb 27, 2013)

I ride 18/-9 on a 23" stance.. Zero park, although learning how to ride switch. I tried 18/+6, 15/-6 etc, but my current stance just feels more natural


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## herjazz (Feb 20, 2013)

jellyjam said:


> On a slightly different note, would it be fair to say a wider stance (ie: 23 inches as opposed to 20) will give you a more stable platform and perhaps eliminate some of the boards speed related unwanted behaviour? Chattering and the like?
> I imagine that would come down to what's comfortable as well but in theory?


wider will make it more stable, but less quicker to rotate the board, theoretically.
i think chatter has more to do with the board itself and maybe your bindings' cushioning, boots, how they interface, etc...

but i think the stance width has more to do with you as a person (height, comfort, etc.) than anything. a short guy with a wide stance will look like he's doing splits on his board rofl... a rule of thumb is your your butt/waist should slide between your bindings, but that might an old rule (like the "board length should go to your chin" which everyone knows is not necessarily true)...


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## mhaas (Nov 25, 2007)

I ride 24/-21. My ankles are kind of messed up so that stance is the most confortable for me. I dont know what my width is but its roughly shoulder width IMO, the ideal width for doing anything athletic.


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## Mel M (Feb 2, 2012)

When I first started, I went with the usual duck (15-15). Most of my friends have lesser angles and initially I though that would be too ducked for me. But then I noticed that my legs kept wanting to angle out. I tried 18's, but still the same. Then I tried 21's and I couldn't be happier. No knee pains... nothing. 

My friends think I have mutant feet, and I probably do, but hey... everyone's different.


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## Mel M (Feb 2, 2012)

jellyjam said:


> On a slightly different note, would it be fair to say a wider stance (ie: 23 inches as opposed to 20) will give you a more stable platform and perhaps eliminate some of the boards speed related unwanted behaviour? Chattering and the like?
> I imagine that would come down to what's comfortable as well but in theory?


When I went wider by about 2 in., I didn't notice less chatter, and it became more of a pain in the ass to turn, so it wasn't worth it for me. Wider stances give you stability on landings and make it easier to straight line flat base. 

When I went and got a stiffer deck, I noticed a LOT less chatter. There could definitely be technique issues involved, but oftentimes a stiffer, damper deck mitigates those issues to some degree.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

Seems to me angles have more to do with comfort. There are some guidelines like carvers having a +/+ stance and park rats going duck +/-. I still prefer a duck stance even if I never ride switch again. 

As for stance width:
closer together = easier carving but less stability at high speeds and landing jumps.
farther apart = harder to carve but more stability at speed and landings.

It's all about finding that sweet spot that works for each individual.


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