Why build these foundations?
When you first start your surf mobility and fitness journey you may find movements difficult. This is okay. So did I!
Whether you struggle with coordination, strength, mobility, general fitness or all of the above! Everyone has a starting point. But, if you can improve in one of these key areas, you can find small developments in your surfing, and daily life also.
Dynamic Mobility
The importance of mobility is unquestionable to athletic performance and unlocking levels of your surfing potential. Although unfortunately, it is far too often neglected. Imagine if you could access your full range of motion, whilst having the ability to successfully control movement in and out of these ranges, your performance could dramatically increase.
Simply stretching to increase flexibility can lead to weakness and occasionally injury. However, using exercises that stretch and strengthen will increase your body's ability to tolerate load through those end ranges (reducing injury risk), but also gaining access to greater leverage to perform with. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced surfer training your mobility, especially in the key areas will be incredibly valuable.
For example, developing strength and range through ankle dorsiflexion as well as knee flexion and extension would allow a beginner surfer to get into lower body positions (for a lower centre of gravity, increasing balance); intermediate surfers to compress and extend when learning to turn and generate speed; and help advanced surfers absorb large forces when hips drop below the knees through aggressive turns and landing aerial manoeuvres, as well tucking into tight barrels.
Increasing range and strength through the thoracic and lumbar spine can aid paddle efficiency and pop-up ease, as well as turning manoeuvres which are dependent on torque created through thoracic rotation.
This could also be said for greater hip activation and internal and external range, where beginners would benefit by helping get their front foot forward for correct positioning in their stance; intermediate surfers can access greater rotation through the hip to draw out their turns; advance surfers can use hip rotation in more explosive manner for progressive turns like layback snaps.
In order for the body to flow with relative ease when we move, a coordination of many muscle synergies, agonist, and antagonist systems, work together.
This is why dynamic mobility patterns are so important, opposed to statically stretching isolated muscles. Moving your body through ranges of motion, stretching, and activating in a flowing manner just like when you surf. The dynamic movement patterns you will learn will be broken down into progressive blocks, linked together to create a movement chain. Generally, mobility patterns will focus on the key areas such as the hip, knee, and ankle, with additional involvement of surf transferrable movements using thoracic extension, core activation, upper body push exercises and rotational control.
We are not static when we surf, so why prepare in this way?
Surf Specifics
As surfers it's great to have an opportunity to train in specific areas of the sport we love and feel how movements would directly transfer into our surf development. This may involve developing rotational strength for turns, stability and balance, paddle endurance or pop-up technique.
However, even specific athletic demands required to develop a successful surfer, draw upon core elements. For example, by developing foundational strength across more areas and improving our weak links, we are able to create a more well-rounded athlete and reduce injury risk. Whether this is hip extension, single arm pull strength, lower body strength and power, thoracic extension, core stability, overhead strength, or single leg stability.
There are clearly many attributes that we can develop that may not be obviously ‘surf specific’ but can indirectly have a significant impact on your surfing. Surf focuses within sessions will therefore have variety of surf specific and surf transferable aims.
HIIT Finisher
This type of training (high intensity interval training) has been shown to improve both aerobic and anaerobic systems, which are hugely important for surfing. To be able to repeatedly paddle out through the break, (especially in challenging conditions), recover and then perform an explosive pop up and wave riding manoeuvres requires a high level of aerobic and anaerobic capacity.
The HIIT session is typically split into two blocks: the first involving larger muscle groups and explosive movements with the second block usually having a more paddle and core focus.
Summary
By taking part in a surf mobility session, you should therefore access further mobility, develop some strength, technique and challenge your metabolic pathways. This way you are getting a varied session, reducing boredom of training, and creating a well-rounded athletic surfer.