Saving the Knee During Surfing!

Sorry so late.  I have been working on this for awhile, but here it is on popular demand!  These are 3 simple exercises you can use to strengthen up the muscles around the knee joint to stabilize the joint while surfing.  Yes they are basic exercises that uses no weights BUT just GRAVITY as a form of resistance.  Sometimes people resort to a fixed leg machine ( ei. leg extension) to work the muscles around the knee.  Unfortunately keeping the knees isolated during these exercises will eventually lead to shearing of the knee joint, exactly what you don't need.  But don't get me wrong , there is a time a place for the use of these machines!
In the video it states to do 15 reps each, but for beginners it might be better to accomplish 10 of each.  As a general  rule we do train surfers standing for the most part , yet these exercises are just the foundation of strengthening the lower limbs of the body.  We here at Surf Kinetics always build the foundations first before moving on to advance and skilled specific exercises.  Go ahead and perform 2 to 3 sets of these three exercises 4x a week and you will notice a difference in your knee stabilization while surfing.  Remember it  hurts, STOP and consult your physician to refer you out to some kind of sports rehab. Enjoy the video...




Saving Knees from Coach Craig on Vimeo.

Disclaimer:

Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. Never disregard

professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read by Craig Canubida. Any content or

information provided by Craig Canubida is for informational and educational purposes only and any use thereof is solely at your

own risk. Neither Craig Canubida nor its operators or posters bears any responsibility thereof.

The information contained herein is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment in any

manner. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding

any medical condition. All information contained by Craig Canubida including but not limited to text, graphics, images,

information, third party information and/or advice, food, recipes, exercises, diets, psychology, websites, links, including but not

limited to any content by employees, consultants or writers and contributors, and or any other material contained herein are for

informational and educational purposes only.

By reading articles by Craig Canubida, the reader and/or viewer does hereby acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility to

review this Disclaimer and any other disclaimer or waiver.

Taking Care of the Feet

Let's face it, anybody who has ever had a foot or ankle injury knows that it is just hell trying to surf through the pain.  In fact after an injury we find that our feet are left weaker and a lot stiffer prior to the incident.  So like any other part of our body, we must strengthen the problem area to increase range of motion and to fire up as much muscles cells during any kind of contraction.  Our feet is what connects us to the surfboard and when we get skilled enough they can actually start to pivot the board in tight critical maneuvers.  So here are three strengthening exercises that are demonstrated in the video below :

1. Pronation

2. Supination

3. Flexion

 

 

FEET from Coach Craig on Vimeo.

Disclaimer:

Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. Never disregard

professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read by Craig Canubida. Any content or

information provided by Craig Canubida is for informational and educational purposes only and any use thereof is solely at your

own risk. Neither Craig Canubida nor its operators or posters bears any responsibility thereof.

The information contained herein is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment in any

manner. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding

any medical condition. All information contained by Craig Canubida including but not limited to text, graphics, images,

information, third party information and/or advice, food, recipes, exercises, diets, psychology, websites, links, including but not

limited to any content by employees, consultants or writers and contributors, and or any other material contained herein are for

informational and educational purposes only.

By reading articles by Craig Canubida, the reader and/or viewer does hereby acknowledge that it is your sole responsibility to

review this Disclaimer and any other disclaimer or waiver.

Pete alert!

Stretch the Hip Flexors and Unleash the Power in your Surfing!

Congrats to Peter Mendia Making Feb's Surfer Cover!

West Palm Beach Pro Pete at PumpHouse, Sandy Swell

 

Aerial Surfing and Injury Prevention

Preventing Ankle and Knee Injuries

Coach Craig CSCS, ACSM-CPT, CPTS

Like a viral infection, the aerial attack has swept over the surfing nation. From inverted slob grabs to the rodeo flips, air innovation has slowly crept it's way into all facets of surfing. Whether you like it or not, airs are here to stay and probably continue to march into further progression.

While surfing, surfers target their launch ramp, compress, extend, launch, and land. Air heights can vary depending on the force produced by the wave and the surfer himself. The higher you fly, the harder you will fall. Landing an air is the tricky part due to the fact that you land on a surface that is constantly changing and is unstable. Quite often our center of gravity during a landing is not centered between our feet which leads to awkward recoveries (especially if inverted or rotating in the air). Knee and ankle injuries are stacking up in numbers because of the critical landing phase of an air. Unfortunately a good sprain or strain can keep you out of the water for a good ten weeks.

How can we prevent these knee and ankle injuries from occurring?

Since no wave is ever the same, it is safe to assume that no landing will ever be exactly the same. As mentioned earlier, our center of gravity will most likely vary on every landing. But we do know one thing for a fact, that when an individual lands from jumping, their “gluteus maximus”, aka their butt or glutes, should be the primary muscle that decelerates the body while landing. Without deceleration (slowing down), we would end up flat faced on the ground.

The glutes should be responsible for taking care of deceleration, BUT yes there are other muscles that can assist. In fact the hamstrings are often referred to as the glute's "assisters". If the glutes are inhibited or weak, these hamstrings along with other muscles, have no choice but take on the most of the workload when decelerating. Since the hamstrings aren't anatomically designed to take on deceleration alone, undo stress can be transferred down to the ankle and knee joints. This stress will eventually lead to strains, sprains, or even breaks.

So point being, we must make it a priority to strengthen the glutes. It is the most powerful muscle in the lower extremity of our body. These muscles cross over one joint (the hip) thus making it a mono-articular muscle.

The glutes have several functions. First, they allow for hip extension. Without hip extension we wouldn’t be able to walk, run, or jump. The glutes also assist in lateral stabilization of the hip and knee joint. They are also responsible for external rotation of the femur. Last but not least, it allows for DECELERATION of the body.

There are tons of exercises out there to strengthen the glutes. Squats, dead lifts, or even leg presses are all great. But why not get to the meat of things and actually use an exercise that functionally trains the glutes to decelerate. Training the glutes with an exercise that mimics deceleration (like that which is used in landing airs) will provide better and faster results.

One such exercise is the reaching lunge. This particular exercise trains the glutes to decelerate from the forces of gravity. Heck you don't even need to go to a gym or need any equipment to perform it.

The video provided will give visual instructions on performing this movement. Watch the video before reading onward...

1. The first exercise is the forward reaching lunge. Now in the video I am holding a medicine ball, but if you have never performed this, go ahead and use your fingertips to reach out. The beginning position is in lunge position. Both knees are flexed and you have about one to two feet between each foot. Make sure the front foot is flat, and the back foot has the heel off the ground. Perform the exercise by reaching forward and keeping the front foot flat. Make sure not to let the front foot heel come up as it will might lead to unnecessary loading of the front knee. When the body comes forward allow the back to round and flex. The video shows me reaching almost to the floor but beginners should take caution. Start by reaching forward to hip height, then move to knee height, ankle, then eventually to the floor. It is all about progression. If it hurts or feels uncomfortable, regress to a higher point. Remember safety first.

2. The second exercise is the lateral reaching lunge. It is performed a little different from the frontal lunge. Surfers should start with the feet apart, slightly wider than the shoulders. If you look into the mirror your body should form an "A frame” with your arms on the side. Unlike the frontal lunge, both feet will be flat on the floor all throughout the movement. Remember start with reaching to hip height then slowly progress downward to the low point. Notice that the trailing leg should remain straight.

To sum up, reaching lunges are probably one of the best dynamically active and functional exercise to fire up the glutes. Since the reach is performed in the lunge position, it allows you to strengthen each side (whether the right or left glute) independently. Everybody has a weak and strong side, therefore each glute should be trained equally with this exercise. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or questions, we are happy to answer back.

Copyright 2012 Aloha Fitness of Palm Beach Company, Surf Kinetics, Kinetics Performance Corp.

A Great Dawn Patrol Dynamic Warm-up

Here is  a great video for those early risers hitting the dawn patrol. It works and it is a fully TRUE dynamic warm up! Here are three simple exercises put together to warm up all of your surfing muscles before surfing.  It allows the body to move in all three planes of movement that is found in surfing. They will target the core, shoulders, and hips. Make sure you do these at home on a hard surface. We do not recommend performing these on unstable surfaces like sand.

Here is the breakdown:
20 reps of the chopper
20 reps of rotation
20 reps of the diagonal chop

The video will demonstrate all the exercises separately. Be sure to execute these exercises slowly at first . Get used to performing these with proper form. Then when you got that down take the tempo of the exercises up a notch and keep building up speed. Speed with proper form is a key component here. You want to get at tempo that mimics the speed you demonstrate in your surfing maneuvers. We do apologize for the poor audio quality, we are currently working to fix this disaster!

If you feel any pain what so ever, STOP and consult a physician or regress the intensity of the exercises. Feel free to contact us at alohafitness73@hotmail.com .