How Wide Should My Snowboard Stance Be: Let’s Find Out!
Stance in snowboarding is as crucial as steering in a ship, rather, it does more. Perfect stance determines perfect riding position that enhances further performance.
How wide your snowboard stance should be largely depends on your preferences.
From a height range of 5’1” to 6’4”, the stance width should be 17 to 26 inches. But, height is not the only measurement that’s enough to determine your Stance width.
To understand your natural stance width you have to know your legs perfectly.
Whether you are a goofy or regular footer plays the most important role in determining your snowboarding stance.
Additionally, Your riding style is also important to know your perfect working stance in snowboarding.
What is snowboard stance?
Snowboard stance is the distance between the two legs while riding a snowboard based on the rider’s controlling leg.
During snowboarding, riders stand vertically on their board, have a distance between two legs, and may be an angular foot position based on riding style or terrain.
These things refer to the snowboarding stance. It also indicates the style of your ride based on your controlling foot.
The leg you use most or feel more comfortable is your dominating leg. It is important to know your dominating leg as it guides your ride on the snowboard.
There are many theories to set your perfect stance width. As a beginner, your stance should be wider than the differences between your two shoulders.
You should try different stance widths until you find the most comforting measurement for you.
However, setting a perfect stance is important for many reasons in snowboarding. They can be as follows.
1. Control:
Snowboarding stance is important for a controlled ride. If you stand too wide on your board, it will be difficult for you to take a sharp turn.
On the opposite, a short stance width will make your ride shakier.
2. Jump and flip:
A perfect stance is important for jumping and flipping in the air. A short stance is not an ideal one for jumping, but a wider one often involves a shaky landing.
Flipping is also problematic in short stances. So, you have to find your sweet spot to set up your perfect stance.
3. Comfort:
Perfect stance width is necessary for your comfort in riding. You need not follow an expert’s advice blindly as stance is a private thing.
Just try different measurements and set your own.
4. Adaptation for different styles:
Usually, snowboarders love to perform different styles of snowboarding such as Freestyle, Freeride, and others.
However, based on these styles, the stance widths are different. For example, the stance for freestyle is narrower than freeride.
However, this differentiation helps riders adapt to different styles. To avoid these issues in your riding, you must have to find out your perfect snowboard stance.
Types of Snowboard Stance
Based on your dominating foot there are two types of snowboard stance, goofy and regular.
To know which one is for you, you must know your legs. I wish it was as easy as knowing your dominating hand.
But don’t worry, we have ideas to introduce your dominating leg to you.
Goofy:
If you are goofy, it means your left leg is your dominant leg.
As a goofy rider, you have to place your left foot on the backside, as the dominant foot provides the power of steering.
Your front foot will guide and balance your ride.
2. Regular:
A regular rider is one who uses his right leg naturally. Most of us are regular-footed.
Regular riders use their right leg as their natural leg and have to place their right leg on the backside of the snowboard.
Both stances determine control and power, but you must find out which one is for you. To find out your strong foot you can do several tests.
Just stand in front of the stairs and think which leg goes first on the stairs. The foot that forwards first is your dominating leg.
If you are still confused, just go to a soccer field. Now think, about which leg you want to use to kick the ball.
The answer is your dominant leg. Place your dominant foot at the backside, it helps for the more controlled ride on the snowboard.
How Wide Should My Snowboard Stance Be?
Stanch in snowboarding is a personal thing, so it should be very customized for individuals.
Based on your height and other personal preferences you must find out your best stanch width. Remember some key issues before fixing your stance width.
Usually, we see a slightly wider stance width is good for freestyle riding as it can offer you stable riding.
For this, stance width should be 22 to 23 inches for men and 19 to 21 inches for women.
But what if you want a sharp turn?
Well, in that case, you should go for a narrower stance width. A narrower stance helps in sharp turning but can’t assure the stability of your board.
So, you have to choose your stance width wisely.
However, you can follow some steps to find out your own stanch measurement.
Shoulder width:
The first theory you can apply to choose your stanch is related to your shoulder width.
A bit wider stanch than your shoulder can offer you a better stable experience on board. This ensures confidence in turning also.
But there is no guarantee that it will be the most perfect stance for you. But this is a popular method for determining snowboard stance, especially for beginners.
Anatomical Alignment:
Your height plays a vital role in your stance. As your board is designed based on your weight and height it has an impact on your stance width.
Every board provides a suggested stance. You will get it printed inside the packets of the snowboard.
You can try this suggested stance or customize this within an inch. On average, it should be 21 inches for men and 18 inches for women.
Personal comfort:
The most important thing about stance is comfort.
No guideline is accurate enough to determine your comfortable stance, rather you have to find out for yourself, you can try different stance widths until you have the best measurement for you.
However, as we said stance is a personal issue and your comfort is the most concerning thing here, so you should give every method a try two or three times.
If you do this you will be able to find out the pros and cons of different stance width. So that you will be able to find out the most comforting stance width for you.
How To Set Up Snowboard Stance: Adjusting Your Stance
So if you are already comfortable with your stance it is time to do some experiments.
You may need to adjust your stance as you want to upgrade your skill. Remember, based on riding style or event you need to master in different stance width.
Here are some options for you that you can choose to adjust or stance width.
Forward Stance:
A forward stance is mostly suitable for general snowboarding.
In this type of binding both legs should be angled forward. You can adjust your front binding from +12 degrees to +30 degrees and +0 degrees to +12 degrees should be ideal for your back leg.
This is a comfortable stance point for riders as it allows a better forward vision for riders.
Duck-footed Stance:
The Duck-footed stance is popular among freestyle riders.
An equal angle towards the nose and tail is known as duck footed stance. The front binding should be at +15 degrees where the back foot is just opposite, which means -15 degrees.
This stance adjustment is suitable for those who are owners of larger boots and face difficulties in heels or toes to place their legs on the board.
Though it can give you a little comforted feel on board, this is really a great stance adjustment in twin boards.
Centered Vs Set Back:
The final issue you have to solve is whether your binding should be centered or set back.
Centered positioning is a system in which you stand on your board in the middle and keep an equal distance from the head and tail of the board.
This can be a great stance as you can utilize the default holes and bindings of the board.
Set back stance is a way of stance adjustment where riders set their boots a bit nearer to the tail from the center.
It is great on powder ice as it helps riders make trails on ungroomed snow. It helps to nose up the board by distributing riders’ weight in the backside.
These adjustments can help you with different kinds of riding experiences. You have to choose wisely among them based on your comfort and need.
Stance width in snowboarding can vary for many reasons. If you want to know more about your stance width, the chart below can be beneficial for you.
| Rider height (in cm) | Recommended Stance width (in cm) | ||
| Freestyle | Freeride | All-mountain | |
| Below 150 | 44-48 | 46-50 | 44-50 |
| 151-160 | 46-50 | 48-52 | 46-52 |
| 161-170 | 48-52 | 54-56 | 48-54 |
| 171-180 | 50-52 | 56-58 | 50-56 |
| 181-190 | 54-56 | 58-60 | 52-58 |
| 191-200+ | 56-58 | 62-64 | 54-60 |
This chart can be very helpful for you to determine your stance width. The units shown here are measured by centimeter scale, so you can understand your stance width more specifically.
The stance width varies more in all mountain boards compared to freestyle and free-ride.
However, remember these are just recommendations from experts.
If you think a different stance works for you, just grab it. End of the day, your comfort is the most essential thing.
A few Words
Snowboarders often get confused with their stance width especially when they are new on board or trying a new style.
How wide your stance width should be depends on your comfort.
But it is not the only accountable thing here. Though personal comforts play the most vital role here riders should follow some basics to determine their stance width.
You also have to remember your height and riding style while determining your stance width.
Never forget the importance of perfect stance width as it controls your board direction and ensures a steady riding experience.
