Bend at the Knees, Not the Waist!

Posted on | March 19, 2009 |

Byron (not Bryon, ha ha!) just posted this on the Zone, a few tips that Blane Chambers wrote for Byron to pass onto his son. It’s about compression and the value of compression when SUP surfing. Check it out. It’s a great how-to post … finally a new one!!!

When I look at Noahs surfing I see a lot of average tendencies but because of his age I know he has oogles of potential and know he will become insane one day. The main thing that stands out is he surfs a bit upright most of the time which is a very typical thing for most surfers. Bending at the waist more than at the knees when attempting to get low is a common thing.
Compressing the body is the key. Start young and it will be the single best adjustment he ever makes. The difference in all the top pro surfers and the average guy is they understand when and how to compress their bodies. Notice how they come to the bottom of a wave they are really compressed with their knees bent a lot. They can un-coil with a lot of range OR pull in with a nice compressed stance… Noah bends his knees but could take it further. This will enable him in the future to really utilize his power. Once he gets the feel of true compressing, weighting and un-weighting he will get better in leaps and bounds in all aspect of his surfing.
Best practice for pulling in is to …

forget all the turns and practice drawing the right lines with his feet more to the inside rail.    Get off the tail and scoot up a little further towards the center of the board.   This forces a trim position which is needed to have good speed and travel time inside…   He will also be forced to deal with the paddle and which way he can or cannot hold it depending on the situation at hand.
Good way to practice on any day is take off with the intent to practice the trim position.   After the bottom turn scoot forward and compress the whole body and set his trim.    Do this till it can become second nature.   Wave doesn’t have to be hollow.    All this is training for his body for what’s to come so he doesn’t get slammed backwards by the lip when it does get hollow… Compression is key.    Tucking in tight carrying speed is the goal.
In the beginning it will feel super exagerrated but it will teach him proper trim and he will get the feel on how to position his body and most important how to compress his whole body when needed. After a while when sections loom he will automatically adjust to pull in.
This may be a lot for a young surfer to focus on but it is the missing link to pulling in that PLENTY surfers don’t ever figure out and its even harder on such a big board.     The thing with learning how to compress his body is it helps his surfing everywhere.   As he starts surfing bigger waves he will really feel its benefits especially coming off the bottom when its crucial to making big sections…
BTW, I didn’t make all this stuff up…   Years of hanging out with some elite surfers and observing it in action.   Translating it into SUP surfing we’re finding out it is all the same principals…

Are You Compressing Enough?

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