# Widening stance



## oxi (Oct 17, 2009)

I got so bored I started jumping around with my board on the carpet. Just started riding and I want to get more into freestyle, especially with presses and butters. I found widening my stance by one binding hole gave me a lot more lift in terms of presses (as it should) but I'm not really used to my stance being so wide. Just wondering if I should go back to my old narrower stance or will I get used to a wide stance eventually? It's not to a point where there's strain or anything.. it just feels very unnatural.

Thanks!


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## mikez (May 12, 2009)

Sounds like you didn't make a huge change. Give it a few runs and see how it feels (it's hard to tell on carpet!).

If it still feels really awkward, go back to your original stance, at least while you're still learning.


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## seant46 (Dec 8, 2009)

For me it takes like a whole 1 or 2 days of shreding to get used to a new stance before i can tell if i like it or not, so be patient.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

did you move both bindings out by one hole? THa'ts about a 2" stance change. Maybe you could move just one of the bindings one hole & try that out?


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

david_z said:


> did you move both bindings out by one hole? THa'ts about a 2" stance change. Maybe you could move just one of the bindings one hole & try that out?


This is exactly what I did to widen my stance. Just make sure if you do this, move your rear binding wider and not your front. The feel of the board will be affected if you only move the front binding wider. It will feel like you are riding switch even though you aren't.

Also keep in mind that the wider you go, the harder it is to control the board. You'll definitely be much more stable with wide stances, but you will have to re-learn board control. Took me a couple of sessions to re-gain full control of my board after I widened my stance.


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2010)

Im 5 5 and, depending on how wide the holes on the board go and set back, I ride at either the widest or sedond to widest holes. I think last time i measures its like 21ish inches wide? 
Get it wide and ride it, youll like it more. Riding narrow is for people learning. i havent riden that narrow since i was like 10 and honestly i dont see how people ride so narrow with out falling down the whole mountain. Narrower stance gives the board more control over YOU not the other way around. The more distance between your foot and the tail/tip the more leverage the board can use against you.

Make your board your bitch. plain and simple


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

i ride a pretty average/wide stance, but I think narrow gives you lower swing weight. conversely, it's going to be harder to balance rails & stuff, and as others mentioned, you'll have to relearn board control a little bit. if all you ever wanted to do was throw down 5s on the booters, a narrower stance might be to your advantage. (But IMO if you want to throw down 5s anyways, narrowing your stance is not the way to learn)


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2010)

david_z said:


> i ride a pretty average/wide stance, but I think narrow gives you lower swing weight. conversely, it's going to be harder to balance rails & stuff, and as others mentioned, you'll have to relearn board control a little bit. if all you ever wanted to do was throw down 5s on the booters, a narrower stance might be to your advantage. (But IMO if you want to throw down 5s anyways, narrowing your stance is not the way to learn)


wider is gonna give you way more balance and controls on rails, make it easier to stick big landings, and you would be surprised how much more control you will have of the board. 

imagine landing a 5, while your learning so your a little off axis and you dont fully get the rotation, would you rather be able to get your weight over the tail and be able to control how you land, or have all that leverage from the narrower stance F you up?
Idk if that makes sense, its to early i cant come up with how to say this haha!

It will give you more ballance on rails, thats a fact, athletic position vs. standing up. you can shift your weight more, and control the rail more. For example, a boardslide, a wider stance will allow you to keep the rail under a foot or inbetween your feet much easier. If you have a narrower stance and your boardslide isnt perfectly straight, you have no way to stay on the rail, and its easier for the tip/tail to flex up and boot you off.

Wider is must for agressive riding. Just make sure if you going to ride pow, set your front foot back a little, so you dont have to lean like a butter the whole time haha.


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Butters all day baby! I held onto the longest tail press yesterday (personal record, not all time obviously). Even accidentally popped off a bump and still maintained the press. Got scary when I started to gain a lot of speed so I puss'd out and ollied back to normal.

But yea, as I said. It'll take a couple of sessions until you re-gain full control of the board when you go wider. The wider less control rule only applies until you get used to it. It's not a permanent thing. You've been riding narrow this whole time so you haven't had to put much effort at all to turn, carve, skid, and spin. In a wider stance, you have to push it a bit more, but you'll get back to your old self in no time. Not only is a wider stance more stable for jumps and landings, but it is also more stable at high speeds which can mean lots of fun to be had


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2010)

Leo said:


> Butters all day baby! I held onto the longest tail press yesterday (personal record, not all time obviously). Even accidentally popped off a bump and still maintained the press. Got scary when I started to gain a lot of speed so I puss'd out and ollied back to normal.
> 
> But yea, as I said. It'll take a couple of sessions until you re-gain full control of the board when you go wider. The wider less control rule only applies until you get used to it. It's not a permanent thing. You've been riding narrow this whole time so you haven't had to put much effort at all to turn, carve, skid, and spin. In a wider stance, you have to push it a bit more, but you'll get back to your old self in no time. Not only is a wider stance more stable for jumps and landings, but it is also more stable at high speeds which can mean lots of fun to be had


exactly


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

I'm going to try even wider next time out. I'm 5'9 and rock a little over 22". If I move my front wider too, it will become like a 23&1/2". I wish I could just go an even 23. Damn Burton 3hole pattern!


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2010)

Leo said:


> I'm going to try even wider next time out. I'm 5'9 and rock a little over 22". If I move my front wider too, it will become like a 23&1/2". I wish I could just go an even 23. Damn Burton 3hole pattern!


my stance is super wide haha. love it. 21" 
haha ride a lib


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## oxi (Oct 17, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll go with the wider stance next time and see how it feels. I just stole a tape measure from work so I can find out what my width is. My usual one is 20" and I'm 5"6-5"7, probably leaning towards the 5"7, just wondering if this is considered average or narrow?

EDIT: Nevermind! After some googling I've found out. I'm gonna set it a bit wider for next time. Probably bring it up to 21.5/22". Thanks again!


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## Julian443 (Jan 19, 2010)

The only tip I have, I made my stance wider this year and thought about going wider, but just make sure that your knees dont tweek inward to an uncomfortable level. eventually its all personal preference but I found for me that standing shoulder with apart, then sliding my foot one step wider was very comfortable for ME, maybe not for you but thats my $0.02.


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Julian made a great point. When you go wider, the stance angles that you are using now might make it uncomfortable for you in a wider stance. You will most likely have to play around with stance angles too when you go wider. Generally, the wider you go, the more our feet become naturally ducked. A good way to start out is to use your current stance angles. If that is uncomfortable, set your board on the ground and stand behind it. Jump in the air and land so that your feet are same distance apart as the bindings. This will give you an idea of how much your feet are ducked naturally and you can try to match that with the binding angles.


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## Julian443 (Jan 19, 2010)

Thanks Leo, yeah I started riding duck a couple years back and found it more comfortable, I also greatly reduced my hiback giving me a little more room, honestly you can takes everyones opinion for what it is, but mess around in all aspects of your set up, you may or may not figure it out right away, adjust angels, stance, highback etc and you may be surprised. I was totally comfortable with how mine was until last night when I totally lowered my high back, as a result now totally love my set up more than before, so change can be good, just play around. My $0.02


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