The first week of my surf was nothing but re-conditioning for the body. Going from zero paddling a day to 4 hours of solid paddling a day is a rude shock to the body. Not only is the intensity and duration of the paddling motion exhausting, but the body mechanics of surf paddling is such that there are no other land exercises or sports similar to it. So, the only way to build paddling muscles is to paddle (during surfing), making it near impossible for the intermittent surfer to prepare one’s body for the occasional surf in a gym on land.
After my first continuous week in the water, my ribs were bruised, my upper back muscles were frozen stiff and my arms felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets. (For real, my story about my repeated shoulder dislocation warrants its own post)
A combination of yoga, stretching and massages helped to accelerate the conditioning. After a week of surfing (more paddling than catching waves) and two days rest, I finally reached the point where I felt confident my body was ready for surfing continuously.
Further reducing my paddle fatigue was learning efficient paddling technique and staying relaxed.
The key modification I made to my paddling technique (courtesy of SCL’s classes) was to relax my return stroke (as opposed to the power stroke which propels you forward while the arm is pushing through the water). This was done by rotating my palms to face outwards away from the board while lazily throwing my arm back forward, focusing on engaging my upper trapezius muscles to create this motion. This should make the return stroke feel relaxed and unburdensome.
I’m a pretty intense person, so I tend to find myself tensing up for no reason. I had to constantly consciously tell myself to relax myself while paddling, especially if there’s no real rush to get back into the line-up.
Even as I write this in Week 3, relaxed paddling is still something I need to continue to remind myself to do in the surf. It happens occasionally, but when the waves are bigger or steeper than my comfort levels, my anxiety and fear causes me to tense up. Improving comfort levels in the water is a never-ending journey, which is one of the reasons why surfers can have their entire lives consumed by surfing, in their never-ending quest to master their fears over the power of breaking waves.
