The Journey Towards Having More FUN Surfing

The side image of the set I saw pulling up to Asu for the first time in July 2010 still lives in my dreams.  Six to eight foot solid walls of crystal blue water wrapping and peeling from the top of the reef in front of me.  

Earl pulled us right up to the channel.  I watched as Earl, Samantha and JP jumped off and paddled to the takeoff zone.  Pulling out my camera, I decided it may be prudent to watch a few roll in before extracting my board.  

A lull in the action.  Seven or so surfers were already in the lineup.  "Crowded" by Asu standards.  JP, Samantha and Earl added to that but it gave me good insight into which waves to paddle for and where to sit.  But I couldn't quite see where to lineup from my vantage point to the side. 

A set reared it's head on the horizon beyond.  It began reeling down the reef, fast as a freight train, then slowed when it neared Earl.  He was positioned about fifty meters...

By Gretchen Reynolds

When we start to lift weights, our muscles do not strengthen and change at first, but our nervous systems do, according to a fascinating new study in animals of the cellular effects of resistance training. The study, which involved monkeys performing the equivalent of multiple one-armed pullups, suggests that strength training is more physiologically intricate than most of us might have imagined and that our conception of what constitutes strength might be too narrow.

Those of us who join a gym — or, because of the current pandemic restrictions and concerns, take up body-weight training at home — may feel some initial disappointment when our muscles do not rapidly bulge with added bulk. In fact, certain people, including some women and most preadolescent children, add little obvious muscle mass, no matter how long they lift.

But almost everyone who starts weight training soon becomes able to generate more muscular force, meaning...

I am asked quite frequently whether the hand should move shallow, underneath the board, or deep, well below the board when paddling.  Which one is more efficient?  Which one provides more power?  Which is more effective?  

In this video, we investigate whether the myth of paddling with the hand close the board and shallow is more effective than going deep.  Hope you enjoy it!

Feel free to contact me with question - I'm only an email or phone call away. 

Cheers!

Part 3 of 3 on how to catch waves easily: Kolohe Andino paddles into this wave with no stress or effort.  Kolohe’s wave is different than Mason and John John’s (from Part 1 and Part 2 of this training series), but we discuss how to adjust our strategy while using the same method to catch waves easily. 

Hope you enjoy and get something from this.  These concepts are taught in greater detail in the Level 2 Paddling Technique Course where we focus on Catching a Wave - Positioning, Timing, Sprint Technique, Pop Up, and more so that you can learn how to catch waves with ease. 

Here is part 2 on how to catch waves easily: John John Florence and his ease of taking off so casually.  Here, John John takes one stroke and uses a vastly different strategy to catch this wave, but we discuss why that is.  We compare Mason's wave from Part 1 in this training series to John John's, and then in Part 3, we compare both of these to Kolohe Andino's southern California wave.  

Hope you enjoy and get something from this.  These concepts are taught in greater detail in the Level 2 Paddling Technique Course where we focus on Catching a Wave - Positioning, Timing, Sprint Technique, Pop Up, and more so that you can learn how to catch waves with ease. 

Ever wonder how the pros catch waves easily?  While there is a lot to talk about to truly understand all of what is going on when we takeoff on waves, in this three part series, I analyze the takeoff of Mason Ho, John John Florence, and Kolohe Andino and share some insight into the strategies they use in catching their very different waves.  

This is part 1: Mason Ho's mutant beast of a wave.  Here, Mason seems to paddle fairly hard to catch this wave, but we discuss why that is.  In Part 2, we compare Mason's wave to John John's and then in Part 3, we compare both of these to Kolohe Andino's southern California wave.  

 Hope you enjoy and get something from this.  These concepts are taught in greater detail in the Level 2 Paddling Technique Course where we focus on Catching a Wave - Positioning, Timing, Sprint Technique, Pop Up, and more.  

In the Level 1 and Level 2 Paddling Technique courses I often reference “feeling water” or “holding water”.  Being able to better “feel” or “hold” water allows you to increase your Power output per stroke and therefore increase your distance per stroke efficiently. 

I use the terms “feel” and “hold” because they are good kinesthetic cues.  But they’re rather abstract descriptions for principles that are very scientific in reality. 

So in this video, I outlined some of the science behind “feeling water” and how you can improve that sensation which will in turn improve your power output per stroke:

“Feeling” and “holding” water is a combination of two things: drag forces and lift forces.  Drag forces in this case is a good thing as opposed to the drag that slows us down.  The same drag forces that slow us down allow us something you...

After a lot of inactivity, the shoulder tend to deteriorate faster than the rest of our body simply because we aren't reaching over our heads in our daily lives all that much.  

With my foot injury, and now this shelter-in-place, I've been quite inactive, in my entire body!  But I'm slowly rehabbing the foot now (thank you to Jim and Shane).  And I'm almost ready to get back in the water.  

But before I do, I conduct these exercises to bring my shoulder back to a general baseline strength and mobility.  ESPECIALLY before any dryland paddling since dryland paddling is harsher on the shoulders than in-water paddling or swimming.  It's much easier for us to make technique mistakes when dryland paddling for fitness than it is paddling around in the lineup.  Often times we get so into the workout that we end up pushing down or pulling too soon which engages those tiny little rotator cuff muscles too much.  

There's a quite...

A peek inside my morning routine.  For fun...

I drink a lot of water throughout the day.  At least three of those bottles.

Usually I'll have a cup of Tea (Earl Grey on this morning).  Flavors vary depending on my mood.  This day I felt very much like Capt. Jean Luc Picard (I'll be pumped if you get that reference).

Smoothie: 2 mandarins (squeezed), 1 lemon (squeezed), handful of frozen mango chunks, handful of frozen pineapple chunks, 2 bananas (my favorite), handful of carrots, 2.5 handfuls of spinach, bit of coconut milk, cinnamon, and fill almost to the top with water.  Blend away and enjoy!

Alternate ingredients I've used: avocado, celery, almond milk, kale, lime, apple chunks, strawberries.  All depends on what's in the fridge...

And don't forget the most important ingredient to start your day - 

A big fat SMILE!!  

Wishing you and yours the best possible day!  Don't forget to look for laughter and joy in each day.

"Speed.  I am Speed" - Lightning McQueen

Only a parent would start with a quote from a kid's movie.  But I felt that in order to talk about how to paddle faster, we really need to first understand what speed is.

And I'm warning you now that since I am a math nerd with my mathematics background, I'm going to throw a bunch of formulas at you.  But in the end, you'll know where speed comes from and how to paddle faster.  

What is paddling speed?  How do we paddle faster?

Speed is defined as covering a certain DISTANCE in a specific amount of TIME.  Or Distance divided by Time (distance/time).

For the speeds we paddle at, we typically will define speed as METERS PER SECOND (meters/second or m/s). 

There are a variety of variables that impact this, including the paddling technique used, the design of the board used, the water conditions,  even salinity of the water, fitness level of the paddler, and others.  But if we break SPEED...