Feet First Under Waves The other day, I was watching a life surf cam broadcast from Pipe. It was solid 6- to 8-foot—big enough for the heavy hitters to be out there, especially at a place as gnarly as Pipeline. While I was watching, I started to notice that many of the best guys out there all took a similar approach when getting caught by big sets. Instead of standing on their boards and diving under the waves, as we often see people do in old videos, the simply pushed themselves underwater feet first, let the waves pass over them, then popped right back up. I found this interesting, because I have always dived head-first under waves when I got caught by sets that I couldn’t duck dive. Photo Credit to Tyler Kelly Since watching that podcast, I have talked to a few people about this, including a lifeguard on the North Shore and a couple of big wave surfers. They all agreed that feet-first was the best way to go under waves—for a number of reasons. First of all, they all seemed to dismiss the idea of standing on boards and diving off of them as a waste of...

This Solves My SCIATICA As I’ve talked about previously, I have struggled with sciatica and related knee pain for years. A lot of physical therapists have suggested doing stretching and rolling, but this actually aggravates the nerve that causes the sciatica (which we have covered in a previous article). Recently, I found a doctor in El Paso, Texas, who hosts a video on YouTube about effective sciatica therapy. Instead of stretching and rolling, he has people do exercises that shift the pelvis to relieve the pressure on the nerve. Two exercises in particular are super helpful for me.       One involves shifting the way you stand and pushing your pelvis forward. The other is done lying on your back with your feet on the ground, and lifting your butt off the ground in a bridge form. Not only has this helped my sciatica tremendously, but it has also helped relieve my knee pain, which was related to imbalances in my buttocks.     I recently bumped into a friend Dyanne who has had sciatica issues for 41 years, ever since giving birth to her daughter. Like me, she had done years of stretching and rolling under a physical...

An acquaintance of mine recently went into a running store in a landlocked state on the mainland to have his gait evaluated and get some recommendations on shoes. After putting him on a treadmill and filming his gait, the professional at the store asked, “Are you a surfer? You run like someone who has spent years on a surfboard, with your feet pointing slightly away from each other and more weight on your back foot.” My acquaintance found this pretty amazing. Not only had he been surfing his entire life, but the runner who recognized this lived 1000 miles from the ocean. How had something as simple as a running gait given away the fact that he surfed? As it turns out, the way that we stand on our surfboards—with one leg behind the other and a rotational twist in our hips—can really mess with our hips and throw them out of alignment. And since our hips are the main hinge around which the body bends, this can affect a lot of other areas in the body. The hips are directly connected to the glutes (the biggest muscle in the body) and the lower back, and this is typically where...

Exercises to Prevent and Rehab Shoulder Injuries Like many surfers, I suffer from shoulder issues—both chronic crepitus and a more recent acute injury the causes cross-body pain. I am still able to paddle and surf, but certain movements are painful and the shoulder doesn’t feel 100% strong and stable. Shoulder injuries are common among surfers and other athletes such as swimmers, kayakers, climbers, and ball players who all perform the same arm motions over and over. Both acute shoulder injuries and repetitive use injuries can be quite debilitating. A lot of times, they result in time out of the water, arthritis, and even surgery.  And the worst part about them is that they are practically inevitable for those of us who participate in these sports. Fortunately, there are certain exercises that we can do not only to stabilize the shoulder in order to prevent injuries, but also to help rehabilitate them after injuries. Functional movement therapists believe that these exercises are essential to preventing chronic injuries and healing acute shoulder issues, and some have even found that they can help prevent surgery. The fundamental principal behind a lot of these injuries is that we modern-day humans have huge imbalances in...

How Sugar Causes Inflammation and Messes With Our Bodies Photo by Valeria Boltneva  As many of you know from my blogs and newsletters, I’ve been struggling with some joint pain over the past few years, mostly from injuries that I’ve picked up from surfing and other activities. I actually have a number of friends who are in the same situation, and we often chat about our injuries and pain and how to do away with it. The other day I was chatting with a friend in the water, and he mentioned that his acupuncturist told him that one way to reduce or even eliminate pain is to cut out foods with processed sugar. Many of our joint injuries are exacerbated by inflammation, and as it turns out, sugar causes added inflammation in the body. I have spent the past few weeks cutting sugar out of my diet, and it does seem like my pain has gotten a bit better. Meanwhile, I told another friend of mine who has chronic hip pain about my new sugar-free diet, and she tried the same thing and also found that her pain was reduced. She wasn’t sure if it was because of cutting back on...

How Surfing Can Mess Up Our Hips and Butts—and How We Can Deal With It An acquaintance of mine recently went into a running store in a landlocked state on the mainland to have his gait evaluated and get some recommendations on shoes. After putting him on a treadmill and filming his gait, the professional at the store asked, “Are you a surfer? You run like someone who has spent years on a surfboard, with your feet pointing slightly away from each other and more weight on your back foot.” My acquaintance found this pretty amazing. Not only had he been surfing his entire life, but the runner who recognized this lived 1000 miles from the ocean. How had something as simple as a running gait given away the fact that he surfed? As it turns out, the way that we stand on our surfboards—with one leg behind the other and a rotational twist in our hips—can really mess with our hips and throw them out of alignment. And since our hips are the main hinge around which the body bends, this can affect a lot of other areas in the body. The hips are directly connected to the glutes...

Surfer’s Eye—Treating and Preventing Pterygium   Photo Credit to commons.wikimedia.org   Recently I’ve noticed that my eyes are irritated and red after surf sessions, and I eventually decided to go see my ophthalmologist about it. After checking out my eyes, they told me that I have something that is very common in surfers—so common, in fact, that it’s been nicknamed “surfer’s eye.” My eye doctor diagnosed me with a pterygium, which is a growth of pink, fleshy tissue on the conjunctiva, which is the clear tissue that coats your eyeball. Sounds pretty gnarly, huh?! As crazy as it sounds, it’s likely that many of you reading this also have pterygiums growing. Men between the ages of 20 and 40 who live in the tropics (and especially near the equator) are the most likely demographic to develop pterygiums, and the incidence goes way up if you are a surfer. The reason for this is because pterygiums are caused by excessive exposure to sunlight, as well as wind and dry eyes. Sound familiar? Between the tropical sun, trade winds, and salt water here in Hawaii, we are all prime candidates for pterygium growth. Fortunately, even though they look pretty rough, pterygiums aren’t super...

 Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide - Legged Forward Bend) While we like to call ourselves surfers, the reality is that we spend the majority of our time paddling, not riding waves. And paddling surfboard is hard work. Particularly with shortboards—but even on longboards as well—we spend hours flexing our lower backs and upper legs in order to support a more efficient streamline through the water so that we can paddle faster and catch more waves. All of this flexing can lead to strained, tight muscles in our upper legs and lower backs—basically our entire core. And of course, our core is the foundation of movement and posture in the body, so anything that stresses the core affects everything we do. This is why it is so important for surfers to maintain healthy lower backs and upper legs. After years of holding the paddle position, we probably have pretty well-developed muscles in our core—but that strength needs to be balanced by flexibility. This month’s yoga pose, prasarita padottanasana, helps maintain that balance so that we can move efficiently and painlessly both in the water and out. Prasarita Padottanasana is also known as a wide-legged forward bend—one of the most aptly named poses in...

15-MINUTE FITNESS ROUTINE FOR SURFERS   While being a surfer has long been associated with being fit and tan, we don’t exactly have a celebrated history of training. Unlike other athletes who cross-train and do cardio workouts to improve their performance on the court or in the field; surfers were better known for partying than for running, stretching, and lifting weights. Surfing was quite the counter-culture, and the beach lifestyle lent itself more to drinking and smoking herb than it did eating a macrobiotic diet and practicing yoga. As far as we were concerned, the best training for surfing was surfing—and the rest of the time, we intended to get loose. But over the past decade or so, that is beginning to change. Starting with pro surfers like Taylor Knox and Mick Fanning and continued by the new crop of world tour competitors and big wave chargers, training for surfing has become quite popular. Non-pros have jumped on the bandwagon as well! It seems like everyone who surfs also paddles, runs, bikes, swims, practices yoga, does pilates, CrossFit, or something else to keep themselves fit and limber for their surf sessions. If you haven’t jumped on the training-for-surf bandwagon or if your...

Understanding the Relationship Between Depression and Exercise Recent research and awareness campaigns have revealed that far more people suffer from depression than many of us might think. For years, many people with depression have believed that they were alone in their struggle, but it turns out the challenge is both common and widespread. It is also quite dangerous, particularly if people attempt to deal with their depression themselves. The sad loss of some of our greatest heroes—even within the sport of surfing—is a testament to how devastating depression can be. Fortunately, there are ways to treat depression and break the depressive spiral. Counseling, support groups, and pharmaceuticals are all common treatments for depression here in the US. But interestingly, there is another simpler and yet incredibly effective treatment for depression that is almost universally prescribed for depression—except not in the US. Although most medical experts know that exercise has a direct positive impact on not only levels of depression but also the physical causes and symptoms of it—and although doctors in other countries routinely prescribe exercise as a first-line or second-line treatment for the mental disorder—here in the US, we largely overlook the fact that simply getting out and running,...

Three Great Ways to Keep Your Stoke and Train for Surfing at Home   As you probably know, a lot of people around the world spent the past month on lockdown at home, and not all of them were as fortunate as we were here in Hawaii. While we were able to surf as part of our exercise here in the islands, many other surfers were landlocked for weeks and even months. They had to find creative ways to stay stoked and in shape for surfing—something that many of us have had to do at some point in our lives, whether due to a lack of swell, living somewhere far from the ocean, or other external factors beyond our control. Fortunately, there are a number of fun ways to “surf” while at home. Here are three of them: 1) Slackline: Slacklining is often thought of as a pastime for stoners in parks and rock climbers in sweaty gyms, but it’s actually a great activity to keep you fresh for surfing as well. Not only does it help you work on your balance (and even your cross-stepping!), it also builds core and leg strength, which are essential to good surfing. 2) Balance boards:...

Yoga Poses That WillHelp you Surf Better During challenging times, sometimes the best thing to do is to look for the silver lining. The months of March and April were hard for a lot of people, due to illness, lost jobs, financial difficulties, and the global pandemic/economic shutdown as a whole. To make matters worse, in many places around the world, surfers were restricted from paddling out and enjoying the natural healing that the ocean provides to our bodies, minds, and souls. But during times like this, when our daily routines are upset and we are unable to do the things we love to do the most, we have an opportunity to branch out and broaden our lives by learning and embracing new, healthy practices. Over the past couple of months,more surfers than ever turned to yoga as a physical practice that they could do while sheltering at home—and that kept them fit and flexible for when the surf was once again accessible. Hawaiian South Shore’s favorite yoga teacher Kilty Inafuku (www.kiltyyoga.com) has been leading donation-based online classes throughout the COVID-19 crisis, helping people stay grounded and healthy during this difficult time. Today, she talks to us about why yoga...