We have all had that amazing surf session when we are out in the water quite a bit longer then we should be?
We convince ourselves we will finally go in, but we all say “after one more wave”.
Later that day or even the next day our bodies start to talk to us. Maybe it’s our neck that hurts or our shoulders. It could be our low back or a number of other places. What is going on here? This pain didn’t happen in my 20’s, 30’s or even in my 40’s.
Let’s face it — staying in surfing shape is much more difficult as we age. On average, we lose about 30 percent of our muscle strength between the ages 50 and 70. Even worse, as we age we tend to lose power almost twice as fast as we lose strength! Our muscles take much longer to respond to brain signals starting in our 50s, and we begin to lose the muscle fibers that are responsible for making us move swiftly such as in surfing.
Have you ever seen an older surfer paddle or maybe it was you? The forehead is stuck to the surfboard because the rounded posture that we assume all day has created significant muscle imbalances. We now want to take that jumbo shrimp like posture we assume all day and ask it to do the exact opposite. We get on our boards with significant anterior muscle tightness and weak posterior muscle strength. We now want our bodies to paddle efficiently, powerfully, pop up and turn well, then repeat.Well sometimes our bodies just can’t do what our brain is asking it to.
Improving muscle balance, strength, power and endurance is essential to continue surfing and reducing injuries into your 60s and beyond.
I will be covering some topics in the coming weeks to help keep you surfing longer and stronger.
Dr. Rick
