HOME HOLISTIC WORKOUT: VOL 14
What Should Surfers Be Doing For Their Shoulders?
I've been thinking a lot about the surfers out there who aren’t surfing at the moment and wondering if anyone is doing much to keep their shoulders healthy? Two things I feel if I’ve had too much time off are my paddling feels sluggish and I’m slower to my feet. It’s been making me think about how to simplify shoulder training so that we can all feel a little faster and a little more powerful whenever we’re back to surfing out front again. Here are just three things you can think about if you’re trying to stay paddle fit.
1. Push
You have to be strong at pushing if you want to keep your duck dives and pop ups clean. A pushup is one exercise that can be done several ways (think decline or incline), so explore them all. You can also push your car and you can push with bands, try standing kneeling and half kneeling. All of these will give you different feelings with the push being the focus. Once you feel strong, you can try making them fast and explosive.
2. Pull
Paddling is all about the pull through. You're paddling for longer than you’re pushing, so you can do more reps putting an emphasis on endurance. Grab a towel and rap it around a tree, do rows with both hands or pulls holding it with one hand. I really like single arm rows because it feels nice to rotate through your ribcage too. I’ve been having a lot fo fun with bands, pulling through from all different heights and in all different body positions too; lunge, squat, kneeling etc.
3. Rotate
Perhaps the most important thing you should consider is rotation. We need to constantly rotate our joints at their end ranges of motion to preserve those ranges of motion. You can do CARs or you could grab a rope and swing it around in circles or figure 8’s. The rope is probably the more fun thing to do.
Have a go at some of those and have a good time!
To learn more about Nick, his workouts, and to sign up for a class, visit homeholisticla.com. Thanks again to Ty Williams for the lovely illustrations to lead us through our third lesson.