By Nathan Bartindale in 2022.
Everybody knows that finding the right stance is important for both us and our guests, but let’s have a closer look at exactly why it’s important to consider different stance options.
Width
The first thing we usually consider when we put our bindings on is the width of our stance. There are trends that come and go relating to this but stances that are too narrow or too wide cause limitations in movement that may need to be addressed.
A wide stance offers the feeling of stability with a wider base of support. Riders can feel a larger range of vertical movement, but this has to be considered in line with the potential bias of knee flexion over ankle flexion. If a rider has an overly wide stance, they will often limit their ability to steer, having less weight over the feet, and needing a bigger longitudinal movement to initiate a turn. It could be useful for people with limited ankle mobility, however a more open hip position can limit the riders ability to move their hips laterally over the toe edge. There may also be issues relating to the riders foot position in relation to the contact points and camber of the board, with the feet too close to the ends of the effective edge, there may be less ability to pressure or pivot the board.
A narrow stance can feel more natural to people that have come from other board sports such as skateboarding, or may be chosen because of the ability to quickly spin the board for tricks. For others a narrow stance may feel restrictive, limiting their ability to move vertically. In general a narrow stance will require smaller movements from the body to affect weight change, therefore decreasing the range needed for rotational, lateral and longitudinal to affect the snowboards performance.
Being comfortable in a narrow stance is linked to a riders ankle mobility, with lots of range a rider may be able to use full vertical through flexion of the ankles knees and hips to keep their centre of mass on top of the board. Somebody with less mobility will struggle to get their knees forwards and will either have to break at the waist, or fall over backwards. You can try this at home with your friends by seeing who can do a bodyweight squat with their feet close together.
As we are used to standing to with our feet waist width apart we have a good amount of access to our other movements in this position and increased range in our rotation, but each one will be coming from a much narrower base of support, affecting balance. Our ability to move vertically should be a huge consideration when choosing our stance and as such a stance that is too narrow or wide can hurt performance.
Angles
Along with our width we also need to play some attention to the angles of our feet. The general rule of thumb here has, as long as I have been snowboarding, never to have your feet pointing more than 30 degrees apart. Considerations come in to play with previous injuries or body alignment issues, but it’s good to remember that we want to remain as biomechanically friendly as possible. This means knees tracking over the toes to protect the joints, and being aware that the wider the stance is, the more open the hips will need to be, increasing the angles needed for the feet.
We also have our riding goals in mind. Do you want a more directional stance for high performance carving, or do you want to have more ability to demo switch riding tasks?
Tips on Finding your Own Stance:
Finding a good stance is predominantly about trial and error, it’s about finding a balance between the performance you want, and your body’s ability to move injury free. That being said here are few ways you can look closer at the stance your body might be asking for:
Box jumps: Test where your feet land when retracting.
2-footed soft landing off box: Test where your feet are when your body is absorbing.
Body weight squats vs body weight deep squat: Compare where your feet like to stand when doing normal reps vs deep reps.
180 jump to squat: Add a rotation and see if your feet change position vs a standard squat.
Seek a physiotherapist for more in-depth information. Now go shred!
Nathan