Surf Shirt, Rashguard or Thrashguard…who cares? You should, because surf companies finally bridged the gap between wearing that super-hero spandex top, and a soggy stretched-out cotton tee. The goal of the “Surf Shirt” aims to provide a top that protects watermen from UV rays and rashes, without making you look like a barn.
10 years ago companies came out with surf shirt that were stiff, non-breathable, and easily became caked in surf wax. Today’s Surf Shirts feature the same soft heathered fabric blend you love in street tees, combined with flexible, quick drying fabric. This improved functionality means you can wear surf shirts in and out of the water, without leaving a snail-trail on seat-backs after getting wet. (more…)
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Not quite as dedicated to chiseling the ideal performance surfing physique as Fanning? Fret not. Fellow SWELL-ites (SWELL-ans, SWELL-ers) Billy and Dave were nice enough to help demonstrate a few Pilates exercises that will help improve your strength and balance in the water, while only setting you back from diving into lineup for about 20 minutes.
The main goals for the session include…
1) Increasing overall performance:
* Improved muscle strength and endurance in the upper body, including the shoulder extensors, flexors and internal rotators, elbow extensors and flexors, and scapulae stabilizers
*Strengthen the core to increase balance
*Improve strength and flexibility of lateral flexors and rotators needed for more advanced maneuvers
2) Preventing injuries related to the high-impact nature of surfing (knee/ankle injuries) and overuse of certain muscle groups (shoulder/rotator cuff injuries)
*Practice proper recruitment of the rotator cuff muscles, scapulae stabilizers and upper back extensors.
*Practice proper foot and knee alignment, as well as strengthen the muscles around the knee/ankle joints to decrease the chance of knee and ankle injury
*Improve posture through correct recruitment of abdominals
3) Correct muscle imbalances that inherently developed through surfing
*Improve flexibility of hip extensors and lower back, as well as strengthening the abdominals to relieve lower back pain
*Promote balanced strength around the joints of the extremities and trunk.
*Strengthen the lower body to correct a weaker lower body in relation to a strong upper body.
*Increase pectoral and internal shoulder rotator strength to balance out the overuse of posterior deltoid, trapezius and upper back extensors
Naysayers be forewarned- this WILL be a challenging (ie, non-girly) 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Have questions about any of the exercises? Leave your comment below!
Looking for a new type of cross training to improve your surfing? Check out Carver skateboards, now available at SWELL. These specialized surf skates feature a swiveling front truck equipped with an embedded spring system to propel the board forward when it’s pumped like a surfboard. The power is in the patented, swiveling front truck!
What you get is a new type of riding that truely mimicks down the line surfing and helps keep your legs fit while you are out of the water. With the Carver boards you will stay in shape and improve your surfing even when away from the coast or during an extended dry spell.
Team rider Laird Hamilton cross trains on his Carver skate
Created by surfers for surfers, this board will turn a parking lot or driveway into your very own standing wave and is a must have for everyone’s quiver. You’ll be able to pump this board uphills or even get it going from a dead stop. This is not a skateboard, this is The Ultimate Surf Training Tool.
Just down the street from the SWELL hq at the Vista Hermosa Sports park a new, one-of-a-kind attraction is in its final stages of development. Surf N Turf, an 18 hole mini golf course, restaurant and 75,000 gallon wave pool combo will feature a unique half-pipe style wave pool as it’s crowning feature. It will be the first real water half pipe with sloping walls and gushing water that can adjusted for various skill levels and riding capabilities. Located right in the breeding grounds of a surfing, skating and skimming hotbed, owners hope to inspire a new type of extreme sport and raise the bar for riders the world over.
Drawings have yet to be released of the wave pool, but owners said you will be able to drop into the wave as you would a normal half-pipe when completed. This pool will use the same sheet wave technology used at the WaveHouse in San Diego, but this new skating inspired design might just be a little more user friendly than its San Diegan counterpart.
Project engineer of the wave pool, Andrew Street said, “We want take this up a notch. We want to provoke the extreme attitude of athletes to come be part of our group, as well as younger children… something fun, exciting new.”
While construction of the mini golf course and restaurant are set to begin as early as spring with a completion in summer, the wave pool does not have an expected completion date as of now.
