Surfing Waves

Hi

I have recently started to surf and I have been on a couple of surf camps which have helped The main thing I struggle with is paddle power and fitness.

This might be a stupid questions but I live by the sea (rarely any swell) and was wondering to improve my paddling is it worth me just getting into the water and paddling without actually surfing?

I was thinking I could do work outs at the Gym etc but if I can get in the water will that be better than any training I can do in the gym or swimming in a indoor pool?

Thanks

Charlie

Get in the water with the board would be way much better than gym or swimming pool.

Many of the big wave surfers do long distance paddling to get into or stay in shape for big wave surfing. So just make sure you can paddle back to where you came from and pay attention to tides and currents. Even if there aren't any waves tidal changes can make for strong currents if you are far enough away from the equator. Weights might help too but overall less important than paddling

Here's a quick exercise I found on Youtube that seems to work the same muscles that get worked when I have paddled a lot-


Just surfing more is the best exercise for increasing paddling strength and endurance, the more you paddle the better your technique will become too. When there's a lull you can remember to paddle around a bit, especially to try to scope out better spots. But this seems like a quick little exercise you can do during the day.

I gym and swim and surf and can tell you that surfing uses different muscles (or muscles in different ways) than swimming or gymming allows you to hit. If you can paddle, then paddle.

steveylang wrote:Here's a quick exercise I found on Youtube

Steveylang nothing against you, but this video is put out by the same two guys that say to "Cup your Hands". I wouldn't put my trust in them.

Thanks Guys

Solid advice and thanks for the Vids I'll give them a watch.

My advice is to Slow down your paddle. Most beginners paddle too fast and splash just the very top of the surface of the water. It is better to move a Large amount of water a short distance rather than a Small amount of water a far distance. Get your elbow into the water and DON'T cup your hands, and DON'T hold your breath.

waikikikichan wrote:

steveylang wrote:Here's a quick exercise I found on Youtube

Steveylang nothing against you, but this video is put out by the same two guys that say to "Cup your Hands". I wouldn't put my trust in them.

Screenshot 2017-10-11 at 6.29.21 AM.png

Are those the ‘how to surf like a pro in 25 minutes’ guys? If so, that would me an even worse mark against them...

It does feel like a pretty good shoulder/upper arm exercise to me when I do it, and it’s easy to do. But I don’t know for sure how much it has contributed to my paddling improvement (it has gradually been getting better but could just be the surfing.)

When I can't surf or use a pool I maintain paddling strength with a resistance band. I hang it over a door, kneel on the floor and pull down on the ends similar to the video. 200 pulls/day seems to maintain my fitness for a 3 hour session. I gradually worked up to this and made a point to STOP when I felt pain beyond the normal burn of exercise.

Better verbiage might help you as well.......I don't think in terms of padde power, but rather....

Paddle speed
Paddle cadence and rhythm
Paddle balance and poise
Paddling posture
Paddle technique
Paddle timing
Paddle positioning


Take the "oomph" out of it and focus more on the list and you will be faster in the water......elan over brutishness.....

As swimmers know, water is 784 times as dense as air. What this means is that improving your efficiency (eg proper technique, streamlining etc) works 784 times as well as improving strength ...(or something like that!)

could you maybe get a really long floaty board and catch whatever small waves come your way?
because of wave physics and law of averages, there should be some small waves, maybe infrequent, on days labeled as flat.
In between such "sets" you can work on your paddle fitness. With a long board , at least you will catch one or two waves besides working out.

I prefer practice in the water over exercise on land any day.
I’m a beginner my self living too far from the ocean to get consistent wave time.
I grab my board and go to a lake near by.
It also helped me as a beginner to get known to my board and memorize the sweet spot of where to lay on it.



I like this idea. It targets a few aspects of getting fit for surfing to get the most out of a session. If you use a longer board just change the duck dive for a turtle roll and enjoy your time in the water.

BoMan wrote:

When I can't surf or use a pool I maintain paddling strength with a resistance band. I hang it over a door, kneel on the floor and pull down on the ends similar to the video. 200 pulls/day seems to maintain my fitness for a 3 hour session. I gradually worked up to this and made a point to STOP when I felt pain beyond the normal burn of exercise.

I second the resistance band idea. If done correctly, you'd feel the burn in the same area. I sometimes wrap a band on a shelf support and stand facing away from it with the ends in my hands then make paddling motions. It's helped me build up more paddling power for transitioning to other boards that are harder to paddle.

But I too think that the best way is to surf more often. Go surf even if it's flat just so you can paddle around.

I agree with Waiki: slow your paddling down. Beginners tend to paddle too fast (and a little uncontrolled [near spastic]).

I disagree a little bit with BaNZ. Endurance and breath control developed through swimming does phenomenally good things for paddling a surf board when on waves. I base this on my own personal experience. After many weeks of pool swimming, I found board paddling to be very easy.

Now about the gym: you don't need to exercise in the gym, but you can. It's the specific exercises that matter and they matter a lot. Search up some of my posts from 2 to 4 years ago about which calisthenics and specific weight exercises work very well for me. If you do the wrong exercises, you do yourself no good. Additionally, surfing involves bursts of strength and endurance. There are traditional running exercises used by marathoners and American football players that develop stregth and endurance. Learning & doing this type of exercise is advised an advise pursuit.

billie_morini wrote:Now about the gym: you don't need to exercise in the gym, but you can. It's the specific exercises that matter and they matter a lot. Search up some of my posts from 2 to 4 years ago about which calisthenics and specific weight exercises work very well for me. If you do the wrong exercises, you do yourself no good. Additionally, surfing involves bursts of strength and endurance. There are traditional running exercises used by marathoners and American football players that develop stregth and endurance. Learning & doing this type of exercise is advised an advise pursuit.

This is an interesting study (I have posted it before). It shows/reports on other studies showing

[*] very high correlations between relative upper body strength (1 repetition maximum [1RM] pull-up) and paddle speed over 5–15 m and peak velocity

[*] 1RM pull-up strength was also found to be superior when comparing a faster paddling group with a slower paddling group

[*] however, it was posited that there is a maximum upper body strength (approx 1.2 bodyweight pull up ie pull up plus 20% of body weight as a weight) beyond which there was no improvement in paddle speed and peak velocity

Its a limited study (17 surfers over 5 weeks) but is consistent with other similar studies. of course, peak speed and velocity is not what 90% of surf paddling is about. However, basically the better your 1RM pull up is, the faster you can paddle - in short bursts.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... al_Surfers

Big H wrote:Better verbiage might help you as well.......I don't think in terms of padde power, but rather....

Paddle speed
Paddle cadence and rhythm
Paddle balance and poise
Paddling posture
Paddle technique
Paddle timing
Paddle positioning


Take the "oomph" out of it and focus more on the list and you will be faster in the water......elan over brutishness.....

So true. And only possible to find on the water.

Thanks again people, some great advice.

I am lucky enough to live by the ocean but unfortunately we rarely get any swell (I live in a place called Bournemouth UK) As most of you have said it's better to just get in the water and build up my paddle strength which I am going to start.

Come the winter the swell picks up and we might have some good days hopefully my paddle practice will pay off.