One of the first things you need to figure out before hopping on a board is your stance. So welcome to your guide on goofy vs. regular and how to find out which way you ride.
The direction you snowboard or skateboard in will be the one that feels the most natural for you. This makes sense.
But if you’re not sure, don’t worry. We’ll figure all of that out today.
So without further ado, let’s get to it.
Goofy vs. Regular for Snowboarding, Skateboarding + Surfing
Goofy, regular – what’s the deal here?
Despite their names, there’s no ranking involved and one is definitely not better than the other. It simply refers to which foot is in front of you when riding.
Goofy is when your right foot is in front when snowboarding, skateboarding or surfing.
Regular is when your left foot is in front when snowboarding, skateboarding or surfing.
It’s important to remember that being goofy or regular doesn’t impact your riding. Your stance is simply the one that feels the most natural to you.
It’s similar to left-handedness vs. right handedness (although handedness has nothing to do with which way you ride).
But before we dig deeper into regular vs. goofy footed, let’s talk about one more related term – riding mongo.
What About Mongo Stance?
Being mongo footed isn’t about goofy or regular. It’s a particular riding style that some skateboarders have.
Mongo is when you push with your leading foot on a skateboard and your back foot stays on the board.
More commonly, skaters keep their front foot on their boards and push with their back. So for some riders, this style can look sort of strange or silly – like it’s not as “cool”.
But for others, pushing mongo may feel more comfortable. There are even pros (like Erik Koston) that ride this way sometimes.
How to Tell If You’re Goofy or Regular (4 ways)
Ready to find your riding stance?
Epic. Let’s do it.
1. Run + Slide
This works best on a wooden floor with some fresh socks.
Basically, you just get a running start and slide across the floor. Don’t think too much about it, and just do what comes natural.
You’ll notice the way you slide is very similar to how you would ride a snowboard or skateboard (a bit sideways and balanced).
But take note of one thing – which foot are you leading with? Because this is a pretty good indication of your stance.
If you lead with your left foot, that’s a regular stance. But if you jump in with your right foot forward, you may be a goofy rider.
2. Kick A Ball
This is another common way to find your stance.
Kicking a ball usually indicates which foot is dominant. And for our purposes, this is helpful since your dominant foot is the one that goes in the back when snowboarding or skateboarding.
For example, I kick with my right foot and my right foot also hangs back when I ride. So I’m regular footed.
How about you?
3. Get Pushed (slightly)
When I worked at my local ski resort throughout high school, this pushing trick was our go-to test to figure out stances for newer snowboarders.
To do it, you’ll just need a friend or family member (or a stranger, I suppose) to give you a slight shove from behind.
But it’s best if you don’t know the purpose or details of this exercise.
So please take a brief intermission from this post to go get pushed from behind. And then come back when it’s done.
[after some time passes]
Okay, now that you’ve been shoved lightly, which foot did you put out first? This usually indicates your dominant foot.
If you naturally put your right foot out when being shoved, you’re likely a regular rider. But if you put your left foot out first, there’s a good chance you’re goofy footed.
4. Sudden Sprint
Imagine you were standing still and asked to suddenly start running as fast as you can.
Which foot would you kick off with and which would you lead with?
The foot that you kick off with (in the back) is your dominant foot. So this would also go in the back when riding.
For example, if you pushed off with your right foot, then your right foot would be in the back of your snowboard or skateboard (making you regular).
Pro Rider Stances (examples)
Let’s take this goofy vs. regular discussion up a notch. Because now that you’ve got your stance figured out, it can help to get a little inspiration.
So let’s look at how some of the pros ride.
Goofy riders:
- Chloe Kim (snowboard)
- Marcus Kleveland (snowboard)
- Stale Sandbeck (snowboard)
- Yuto Horigome (skateboard)
- Gustavo Ribeiro (skateboard)
- Nyjah Huston (skateboard)
- Bobby Martinez (surfing)
- Joel Tudor (surfing)
- Caroline Marks (surfing)
Regular riders:
- Danny Davis (snowboard)
- Devun Walsh (snowboard)
- Jamie Anderson (snowboard)
- Ryan Sheckler (skateboard)
- TJ Rogers (skateboard)
- Vincent Milou (skateboard)
- Kelly Slater (surfing)
- John John Florence (surfing)
- Carissa Moore (surfing)
Goofy vs. Regular (faqs)
Before wrapping things up, I put together a few common FAQs.
You know, so all our bases are covered.
Why is it called goofy foot?
There are a couple of theories as to the origins of goofy footedness.
But one of the most prominent ones is it came from a 1937 Disney movie where Goofy was riding a surfboard, but leading with his right foot.
You can watch the short version of that classic film here (Goofy’s goofy riding is at ~01:50).
Is it better to ride goofy or regular?
It matters not! Goofy and regular both crush on the hill.
There can be some slight issues when coming up to rails or features if they’re only set up on one side (for example, a hip that’s on the right side of the hill only).
But otherwise, being goofy or regular has no impact on riding and one is definitely not better than the other.
Do snowboards and skateboards differ based on your stance?
Luckily, you don’t need to worry about your stance when choosing your board.
Every snowboard or skateboard works the same. Being goofy or regular footed makes no difference.
The only thing to take note of is in setting up your bindings for snowboarding.
Otherwise, everything is the same and stance has no impact on board style or design.
Is regular or goofy more common?
If you’re looking for some statistics, there are some goofy vs. regular percentages worth sharing.
According to this research (pulled from the Skatepark of Tampa database), there is a statistically higher frequency of regular riders compared to goofy (which was at 44%).
While extrapolating these findings to both surfing and snowboarding is a data faux pas, my experience also supports this distribution.
Most of my friends all ride regular. But again, it doesn’t really matter.
What makes you goofy or regular?
It’s similar to asking what makes you left handed or right handed?
But! A regular rider isn’t necessarily right handed and being goofy doesn’t mean you’re left handed.
Case in point, I’m left handed (well, mostly – I’m half and half with stuff). But I ride regular.
It’s all about what feels most natural and comfortable – whatever stance your brain and body like best.
