You’re doomed.
Your desk job is killing your surfing. The average American sits for more than 10 hours a day, according to a study cited by the Washington Post. But don’t Just believe “recent studies.” Calculate it for yourself and pay attention to just how much you are sitting every day.
You probably already have a hunch this is not great for your health, but here is what it does to your surfing:
You spend your day sitting, but then you paddle out and expect your body to have the mobility that is needed for proper paddling, getting to your feet, balancing, and turning. What’s actually happening is the muscles deep inside the front parts of the hip (iliopsoas) are getting shorter. Meanwhile, you are actively developing a “desk butt,” as sitting all day atrophies your muscles and makes your bottom flat.
This simple drill will exercise the back side of the body (hamstrings, glutes, extensors around
the spine) before surfing. The goal is to stretch out the muscle complex on the front part of your hips in order to successfully
activate the glutes and hamstrings on the opposite side of the body for surfing. It is part of my five-minute pre-surf warmup (you can get the entire warm up as a one-page cheat sheet here).
How to do the single leg hip lift properly?
The movement should originate from your glutes, hamstrings and core muscles:
1. Start on your back. With the knees bent and only one heel on the floor.
2. Lift one leg in the air
3. Brace the stomach, tilt the hips, push the heel into the ground before the movement.
4. Lift the hips off the ground by squeezing the glutes.
5. Make sure you keep the glutes active (squeeze) and push with your heel
6. Take a deep breath, return to the starting position and exhale during the motion.
Repeat the above movement 20 times for each leg (five seconds for each rep). Takes about 90 seconds to two minutes in total.
Common mistakes to avoid include:
1. Using the lower back instead of activating the glutes.
-A typical mistake is overloading the lower back because of the lack of core control and hip tilt.
2. Pushing the hips too high.
-One of the most common mistakes includes trying to do a full bridge. Try to create a straight line from the knee to the shoulder in the end position.
3. Using the arms as a support, you can easily recognize and solve the problem: back part of your upper arm (triceps) will hurt immediately.
4. Heel is too close / far from the hips.
-Make sure you place the heels almost below the knee.
This is a simple, but powerful exercise. Do you want the sequence for a five-minute pre-surf warmup? I have made a one-page cheat sheet that will help you with that.
Best,
