Are you about to hit the slopes for the first time? Begin with defining your snowboarding stance. You’ll be riding with your body facing on one side – that’s called a stance. Guess what? There are two of them. If you instinctively put your right foot at the front of the board, that’s called a goofy stance. The left foot at the front is a sign of the regular natural stance.
What’s your approach to riding? a snowboard regular vs goofy style? If you’re totally new to this sport, chances are that both stances seem unnatural to you. Luckily, there are other ways to determine your preferred stance before you start practicing the wrong one.
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How to Determine Your Stance: Snowboard Regular vs Goofy Style
You can figure out your stance either with or without a board.
How to Find Your Stance While Snowboarding
Step on your board without too much thinking. Have a look at your feet. If your left foot comes first, that’s a regular stance. The easiest way to determine your stance is to bind your boots and go for a ride. When the left foot is leading, you’re using the right foot to navigate the board. To see where you’re heading in the regular stance, your neck should be turned to the left.
On the other hand, if your right foot is leading and the left one is navigating from behind, and your head and neck are turned to the right, that’s the goofy stance.
How to Find Your Stance without a Snowboard
Don’t have a snowboard but you’re curious about what your stance would be? Take one of these self-tests and find out.
- Put on a pair of socks, get on a slippery floor, and slide across it. Start running and jump forward, then slide with both feet on the floor. When you stop, look at the feet. Which foot is put forward? It will be the same on the board. If it’s right, that’s a goofy stance. If it’s left, then it’s regular.
- Ask someone to push you from behind when you least expect it, and to observe your feet. The foot you put forward to keep your balance will be the one that’s in front on your board.
- If you have plenty of space and a couple of friends interested in playing tug-of-war, do so. Pull hard and then freeze. Can you guess what’s next? Yep, look at your feet.
- If the first three tests are too silly (or weird), you can try this very serious method. No playing games and fooling around this time.
Stand in front of a set of stairs and take a couple of steps up the stairs. Which foot was on the first step? If it was the left one, then your stance is goofy, and if it was the right foot, you’ve got a regular stance. And no, we haven’t mixed them up – this time, the first step will be with the opposite foot, not the one that you’d put forward on a board. The foot you put on the first step would actually be in the rear on a board.
You’ll probably need to repeat this test a couple of times. It’s crucial not to overthink it. Thinking about it influences otherwise habitual action, and that’s the hardest part of this test.
- Go outside, take a soccer ball and kick it as hard as you can. The kicking foot is the one that would be in the rear on the board. So, kicking a ball naturally with your right foot means that you have a regular stance – and the other way round.
- Do you surf or skateboard? If so, which stance do you use on your skate or longboard? It would be the same on the snowboard.
Additional Tips
The rear foot has an important role during snowboarding – it’s the foot that does most of the maneuvering and turning. That’s the reason why the tests that require completing a physical task with your feet can tell you almost precisely what your snowboarding stance is. So, whether you stand on your snowboard regularly or in a goofy way, these tests will show.
On the downside, when you know how a test works you might unconsciously try to fake the results. That’s why it’s best to repeat the test a couple of times or just take a few different stance tests. Those that involve other people are particularly helpful, as those same pals can remember and observe your feet even when you’re unaware of it and not thinking about stances at all – and then they tell you about it.
Can You Switch Between Regular and Goofy Stances?
Yes, that’s possible, but only extremely skilled riders who invest lots of hours into practicing riding switch are able to do that. Most people just stick to one stance, and that’s what all novices should be doing – at least in the beginning.
What’s Wrong with the Goofy Stance?
Absolutely nothing. The goofy stance has nothing to do with goofiness in general. It’s just that the vast majority of snowboarders naturally have the same dominant foot, and it’s called ‘regular.’
The goofy riders probably got the name after Goofy, the famous character from Disney cartoons. In a very old cartoon episode (Hawaiian Holiday, 1937) Goofy is surfing on the waves with his right foot forward. After all, the names of the stances are originally surfing terms.
About 70% of all surfers, skaters, and snowboarders are regular riders, and the remaining 30% – including some of the most talented riders ever – are goofy-footed. So if you’re a goofy, embrace it and be proud.
Final Thoughts
So, now that you know how you stand on your snowboard — regular vs goofy — does it even matter that much?
Really, there’s no need to get worried about standing on the wrong foot, because there’s no such thing as the wrong foot in snowboarding. Everyone has a favorite stance that’s natural to them. It’s just like writing with your right or left hand. Most people are right-handed, but we know that there’s absolutely nothing “wrong” with left-handed people.
We hope you found this article useful – and that the tests have been fun to take. Visit our product page to see ourlatest recommendations.