Setting your Stance...
Your stance is the corner stone of your riding. It is the foundation upon which everything else you do is built!
We all have very similar bio-mechanical properties and so our stances will all follow very similar rules although slight discrepancies in our body make-ups will cause slight differences here and there.
Your stance is built around your personal bio-mechanics
Run through this following exercise to find your perfect stance. Keep your eye line level and your upper body and arms relaxed through out.
1. Whilst standing in your stance you need to be able to flex up and down whilst keeping a stable, relaxed and upright upper body. This up and down movement will be essential in order to keep your centre of balance (situated just below your navel) balanced over your feet as you ride.
You need to be able to move pressure around your board using small but precise movements of your feet as used in the ‘McNab pressure control system’. This movement will allow you to steer and control your board to meet the demands of every situation.
You need the right width of stance to be strong, balanced and effective in your pressure movements and you need to have the correct angles for your feet so that you are not restricted in your movements or your view of the mountain as you ride.
You should build your stance from your feet up. First relax and become aware of your natural stance and your ability to balance over both your feet equally with a relaxed upper body.
Keep your upper body and your arms relaxed and feel that you can move pressure towards the outsides of both feet equally. Let your knees roll outwards, mirroring the pressure movement in your feet.
Try to keep this pressure constant and strong as you flex up and down (semi squat). Keep your upper body relaxed with your head upright at all times.
Adjust the width of your feet whilst you practise this movement the wider you go the stronger it should feel (right up until the point where the width becomes restrictive and causes ineffective movement). Keep your knees directly over your feet as you perform this exercise, this will help you keep the pressure constant.
Move your feet around a little to find the strongest and most effective stance. (The insides of your feet should be at about the width of your shoulders or slightly wider).
about the width of your shoulders or slightly wider.
Now practise moving pressure from one foot to the other whilst keeping your hip movement to a minimum. You should still feel a slight pressure in both feet even when you are focusing more pressure to one foot, for example if you move pressure towards your front foot you should be able to feel a slight balancing and opposing pressure in your rear foot.
If when you move pressure towards one foot your hip moves over that foot or past it your stance is too narrow and you will loose this opposing pressure, here you have moved weight and not pressure, go slightly wider and try again.
If when you squat your knees roll inwards and the pressure moves to the inside of your feet then you are too wide, go slightly narrower and try again.
Next find your stance angles. Relax in a slightly flexed position with the pressure very slightly in the outside edges of both feet. (This stance is common to many sports and is also known as a utility stance or a martial arts horse riding stance). Now line your feet up with the angle of your thighs so that your knee and ankle joints are in perfect alignment.
This is your correct stance* suited to your Bio-mechanics and your needs whilst snowboarding. The angle difference between your feet should remain constant from now on. This means that if you have say 25 degrees difference between your feet you should always keep 25 degrees difference between your feet no matter what style of stance you want to ride. (25 degrees is about average).
(*Note that in order to create stronger pressure in the outsides of my feet it is possible to decrease slightly the angle difference between your feet. (see page 53 of ‘Go Snowboard’ Neil McNab, DK books).
This is your stance, relax and note how it feels, you should feel comfortable, strong, powerful, balanced, agile and yet relaxed. It should feel pretty good!
Next you need to set your angles on your board.
Your front foot angle basically determines your field of view. If you don’t have enough angle you’ll be forced to twist your hip and shoulders forwards and this will disrupt your ability to flex and balance. Set your front foot so that you can see forwards with out turning your body (only your head).
Maintain the correct angle difference between your feet.
Your rear foot angle is set from your front foot angle whilst keeping the angle difference between your feet constant. Here however you may need to compromise your front foot angle as it is important to have a slight negative* angle on your rear foot in order to control pressure effectively in the tail of the board. This means that if you have 25 degrees difference between your feet and you want –5 degrees on your rear foot, then your front angle will be +20 degrees. (*I personally don’t recommend more than –9 on your rear foot, I find –6 rear +21 front to be about perfect for most riding).
Finally rotate your high backs so that they run parallel to your heel edge and angle them forwards so that you can feel them resting very slightly against the back of your boot when you are standing in your normal stance, this enables you to be able to hold your heel edge with out you having to pull up on your toes (which straightens your legs and hinders you ability to balance).
Make sure your binding straps fit your boots correctly and always crank your heel strap super tight. Any movement between your foot and your board will seriously hinder your performance.
Now Go snowboard!
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