Thanks Braumeister!
Maybe TromboneAl and DonHeff will check in too.
Feeling old today. Been surfing on and off 25+ years. After about a year off I find I just don't have the same flexibility. My pop-up is crap. I can't seem to get my lead foot (goofy foot) in the right position. What do do? Stretch? Yoga? Floor practice?
"Yes."
I turn 60 in a few months, and it takes all of those. I don't do yoga regularly (but should) and I could stand to stretch more often too. The most important part is laying on my back to do situps and flutter kicks for my core. Dammit.
I can surf on consecutive days, but after two days of I'll pay the price. My favorite routine is 2-3 times per week, perhaps with a recovery nap after a couple of those sessions. This week I paddled out on Tuesday in 6-8 feet and had a great time. The Wednesday forecast was even better at 8-12, so I paddled out a second day in a row. I was humbled by eight-foot closeouts and had to paddle back in after an hour.
When my daughter and son-in-law visit Oahu, they usually paddle out every morning for up to 10 days in a row. I can keep up with that (using a lot of ibuprofen) but by the third day I'm spending a lot more time on the inside break than the outside.
When I teach new surfers who can't get to their feet quickly enough, I tell them to rotate while they pop: focus on using their core to yank their knees straight ahead of them until they plant their feet under their butt. It focuses their attention on their abdominals instead of on hips & knees. Once they're on their feet then they can stay in a crouch and adjust their feet.
When you can name a problem with your surfing, you can search for it on YouTube and watch a few videos. It's an amazing way to figure out solutions. As well as watching surfing.
Join the club. I'm 68, been stand up surfing since I was 14. I do a lot of mtn biking now. It doesn't help. I did Aikido for 20 yrs. Seemed to compliment. Now I am looking at my long board and saying "hey, old friend."
Sorry to read that, ronin. I had to give up taekwondo (knee injuries) and I've lost a lot of the speed/flexibility. But I'll be surfing something as long as I can float and figure out how to get back to the beach. And that probably depends on water temperatures of at least 76 degrees, perhaps with a 2mm neoprene jacket.
Have you read William Finnegan's "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life"?
https://www.amazon.com/Barbarian-Days-Surfing-William-Finnegan-ebook/dp/B00G3L6JMS/
Long time surfer-50+ years. Have been addicted to surfing since I was 14. Life choices have revolved around surfing. They still do but spouse & I have evolved. It may not be a popular choice with many surfers but we have been into stand up paddling in waves for about 10 years. We are long time”locals” at the same spots for all those years.
Exactly. I surf mostly longboards (and I'm trying to control a 7'4" in bigger surf) but I can see that my future is SUP. Ironically a SUP is probably better therapy for my knees because of the prolonged standing (hopefully) coupled with all of those small-motor proprioception skills.
The next step after SUP would be a surf ski or a kayak. After that is our local non-profit AccesSurf.
When I watch the AccesSurf sessions (first Saturday of every month plus Wounded Warrior Wednesdays) I'm filled with optimism for surfing the rest of my days. When I see the people who are paddling out on their adaptive boards, I also stop feeling so sorry for myself.
One morning we walked on to the beach during WWW and saw a full prosthetic leg propped up against the wall. It had a reef sock on the foot. There was nobody around. It was clear that someone had lost all but a few inches of their leg... but where were they?
It turned out that she was in the surf test-driving a new prosthetic leg on her longboard. It wasn't enough to be standing upright and walking-- the prosthesis had to be waterproof and flexible while not dinging up the board.
