Flexibility is an Issue for New Surfers
Flexibility is an issue for new surfers that they never imagine when they sign up for surf lessons. When I ask most new students if they are flexible they will immediately respond that they are not. I often ask them to touch their toes without bending their knees and they cannot.
When people desire to learn surfing, most people think it is as easy as they see in the movies and know millions surf so why wouldn’t they be able to surf. Everyone soon finds out that surfing requires strength, flexibility, and stamina.
How to Develop Flexibility for Surfing
Most people think about flexibility in alignment with stretching and yoga. Both help flexibility but might not be total answers for everyone. Gymnastics is almost better for flexibility because it is developing muscle and testing the most important areas.
When people get tight muscles from sedentary behavior, it is not just the hamstrings. The buttocks and lower back can also be tight. Many people that exercise and even dance are still not flexible when it comes time to surf.
The best exercises I have discovered are squats and deadlifts. They both exercise the legs, buttocks and lower back. They build muscle as well to provide the pop needed to get up on the surf board. Plyometrics, which advanced athletes and surfers incorporate for power also help develop the pop up for surfing.
The beginner pop up requires surfers paddle, then put their hands on the surfboard in a man’s push up position, then push and follow with putting the back foot under their butt flat on the surfboard to stand on it. This is the part that catches most people. They don’t have the flexibility to put their foot flat on the board under their butt. Try it in your living room.
Then when the foot is flat on the surfboard, the surfer stands on it as he raises his hands and moves his front foot to the nose of the surfboard. If you can’t stand on the rear leg and raise your hands, you can’t get your front foot to the nose because it cannot get past your arms that are still on the board. You wind up in a down dog position and then fly off the front of the surfboard.
Flexibility and core strength are important for developing lifestyle recreations and can be improved in the privacy of your home with squats and dead lifts even without weights.
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A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.
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Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or Paperback on Amazon for $7.99
Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio
A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.
Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95
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Description:
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