Request from student: "Can you check my video to see if I have proper form ? Are my hands / feet in the PROPER place ?"
My answer: It doesn't matter what you look like, if the board is moving how you want it to.
In most sports, Proper Form is everything. You go to the fitness gym and pay someone to watch your form.
Doing movements out of the "norm", is looked down on by the judges.
Proper Form leads to a more efficient paddle stroke, more aerodynamics on the bike and stronger / longer endurance stride for running. Right ?
So what is the Proper Form for surfing ?
How's this photo ? Back hand kinked way behind the back. Front fingers doing the virtual steer. Body out of alignment in a strange axis. So is his form, wrong or right ?
Back arm cocked forward in a chicken wing pose. Really really bad for Golf, but is it okay for Surfing ?
Look here closely at the surfer's back arm. Shouldn't the back arm be in-line with the front arm ?
This is my friend Maui Zack coming off the bottom turn. See how his back arm rotates so far around his back. It's so far back it can't go anymore and then the wrist starts to bend. That is creating massive torque.
How is this surfing doing a backside bottom turn with his back arm coming around in front his chest ?
Ah ha ! I tricked you. Look closer. We are looking at the surfers back/butt. The surfer is actually a regular footer doing a front side bottom turn. His back arm is twisting around his back to set up the Off the Lip.
Everything looks "Proper" here. Front hand is out front, Back hand is in the opposite balanced postion in the back.
But when he thorws everything into the whitewater rebound, head, back and hands gets improper.
( Keen eyed viewers will notice that even his toes are twisting to maximize the turn )
When you're push your surfing to the limit, people consider you a "RAD" surfer. That word is derived from Radical.
When you are Radical you are NOT moderate, conservative or of the norm. You form gets "improper" too.
This is a illustration I found when I typed in " Surfing". That's what most people would do if I said " make like you're a surfer". Bent knees with hands spread out, front and back.
So what is Proper Form for surfing ?
I DON'T CARE. I don't care if you have one finger in your nose and on your tip toe doing a pirouette ballet pose.
If the board is moving how you want it to and on right part of the wave, that's all that matters.
Surf judges base their score of Speed, Power and Flow, not on Proper Form.
Please check out Matsunosuke Kugenuma and Hope Cheng photos on FB and http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.
Request from student: "Can you check my video to see if I have proper form ? Are my hands / feet in the PROPER place ?"
My answer: It doesn't matter what you look like, if the board is moving how you want it to.
In most sports, Proper Form is everything. You go to the fitness gym and pay someone to watch your form.
Doing movements out of the "norm", is looked down on by the judges.
Proper Form leads to a more efficient paddle stroke, more aerodynamics on the bike and stronger / longer endurance stride for running. Right ?
So what is the Proper Form for surfing ?
How's this photo ? Back hand kinked way behind the back. Front fingers doing the virtual steer. Body out of alignment in a strange axis. So is his form, wrong or right ?
Back arm cocked forward in a chicken wing pose. Really really bad for Golf, but is it okay for Surfing ?
Look here closely at the surfer's back arm. Shouldn't the back arm be in-line with the front arm ?
This is my friend Maui Zack coming off the bottom turn. See how his back arm rotates so far around his back. It's so far back it can't go anymore and then the wrist starts to bend. That is creating massive torque.
How is this surfing doing a backside bottom turn with his back arm coming around in front his chest ?
Ah ha ! I tricked you. Look closer. We are looking at the surfers back/butt. The surfer is actually a regular footer doing a front side bottom turn. His back arm is twisting around his back to set up the Off the Lip.
Everything looks "Proper" here. Front hand is out front, Back hand is in the opposite balanced postion in the back.
But when he thorws everything into the whitewater rebound, head, back and hands gets improper.
( Keen eyed viewers will notice that even his toes are twisting to maximize the turn )
When you're push your surfing to the limit, people consider you a "RAD" surfer. That word is derived from Radical.
When you are Radical you are NOT moderate, conservative or of the norm. You form gets "improper" too.
This is a illustration I found when I typed in " Surfing". That's what most people would do if I said " make like you're a surfer". Bent knees with hands spread out, front and back.
So what is Proper Form for surfing ?
I DON'T CARE. I don't care if you have one finger in your nose and on your tip toe doing a pirouette ballet pose.
If the board is moving how you want it to and on right part of the wave, that's all that matters.
Surf judges base their score of Speed, Power and Flow, not on Proper Form.
Please check out Matsunosuke Kugenuma and Hope Cheng photos on FB and http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.