From: JohnScott Lucas, Kooks Anonymous
Date: Tue Apr 11, 2000 4:49pm
Subject: If Only One — The Bender Plan
I think you really can’t limit yourself to one exercise. Surfing everyday is ideal, but if you can’t do that, you’ve got to vary your workouts.
1) The best surfing exercise is to get out there and paddle. When I first started surfing in L.A., I was lucky enough to have Josh Bender teach me the basics. Part of his regime is that he made me paddle every day before I even tried to catch a wave. I worked my way up to between a quarter and a half mile every morning by doing 20 stroke sets.
It paid off in a big way. After about three months, we took a drive down to San Onofre, and hit it on an EPIC day. San O’ breaks way off shore, and you have to punch through several inside sets to get to the outside break. Josh and I were two of the very few people who made it out.
2) When Josh got accepted to Columbia to work on his Ph.D., his routine of daily paddling was adversely affected. He bought himself a VASA trainer and he swears by it. The VASA is a swiming trainer that uses a series of pulleys and shock cords to deliver a very even resistance that you can adjust to match your goals, mood, level of fitness, etc. When he’s gearing up to go on a surf trip, he get on it for about 15 minutes every morning. He says that’s about all it takes to really feel the burn. You can find ads for it in swimming and general fitness magazines.
PRO: After you get the hang of it, the VASA gives an intense workout in a short period of time, and it yields quick results if you stick to it.
CON: It’s a bulky piece of equipment (apx. 9′ long by 3′ high, by 1.5′ wide). It does not fold up or stash away easily. If you have a small apartment, that’s a problem.
3) I try to swim as much as possible. It doesn’t use exactly the same muscles as paddling, most significantly, the lats come into play in swimming in a way they don’t in paddling. But swimming certainly improves the cardiovascular system, and a lot of the same muscle groups as paddling. If I can get away with it, I sometimes paddle in a pool on a bodyboard.
4) Voo Doo balance boards are a great way to improve balance and turning. They’re a lot of fun to fool around on, but I don’t count them as exercise. They’re made in Stratton, VT. You can pick them up at skate and snowboard shops. Surfing models have rounded edges on the barrel. Snowboarding models have harder edges.
Balance boards and skateboards help, but I think the most important aspect is to work on your paddling, because you can’t do fancy manouvers on a wave if you can’t catch it.
L’amour n’a pas d’âge, il naît à chaque instant.
