WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO IMPROVE YOUR TAKE OFF: BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS

Tired of finding on the internet the phrase “to improve your take off, when getting up, your feet should be placed according to the width of your shoulders”, we decided to create a new advice to surf better. Would a beginner surfer who is starting to surf and finds himself faced with a body of water that catapults you at 20 km per hour in an uncontrollable jolt, know what the width of his shoulders is?

Due to this, we have dedicated ourselves to channeling the experience in surfing, with biomechanical and neuroscientific analysis and basic knowledge of Yoga and motor skills to try to explain what is the fundamental problem when getting up in the surf and how to improve it.

to. PROBLEM:

*Getting up is a slow, difficult and, above all, (which is where the problem lies) process, imprecise.

At the end of your slow and laborious pop-up (or get up), you realize that your feet are anywhere on the board except where they are supposed to go, i.e. rear foot over the rear fins and the front foot approximately in the middle of your board, always well centered and pointed to the side.

b. CAUSES:

1. POSITION (mainly of the front leg)
2. SPEED (which is directly related to the agility and explosion that we apply to the pop-up).

c. SOLUTIONS:

According to different investigations in the area of ​​physical education, pedagogy and neuroscience, we know the best way to "educate" the brain on how to remember the position of a part of the body (kinesthesia). Instead of verbal instructions it is with reference points. That is, the brain does not remember with words, but by indicating a point of reference with respect to other parts of its own body.

Let's remember the starting rowing position:

Lying on the board, “face down”, both hands flat one on each side of the chest. (Important is the position of the hands since they will be our point of reference). Figures 1 and 2.

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To remember where your hands should be located, I propose the following: extend both arms along your body, identify the position of your ELBOW, it is right there where you should place your hands when pushing and getting up. Probably a little lower than where you normally position them, but it is in that position where the efficiency of the movement is maximum and you will be able to perform a fluid pop-up with less effort.

Why?

If your hands are placed too far in front of your body (figure 4), that is, closer to your shoulder, the mechanical efficiency of the movement is very low, and is equivalent to trying to stand up by pushing with your hands in a push-up. arms.

What we really want to achieve in a correct pop-up is the “seesaw” effect (figure 3), that is, to bring the fixed point (in this case the hands on the board) closer to the center of gravity (the pelvis) in the core of the body, allowing as you push and lift your body off the board, the lower body (pelvis and legs) tend naturally and effortlessly forward in a standing position.

Try it right now on the floor of your house to improve your take off.

OPTION 1:

Try standing up in the classic push-up position. You will notice that it is very difficult, and that the lower part of the body (from the navel down) tends to stay in the same static position, if you do not apply an extra effort from your muscles to bring it forward.

OPTION 2:

Try the same position, but this time place your hands a few inches above the level of the navel. Push up and watch the rocker effect occur, and your lower body including your legs tend to move forward with almost no effort.

Magic! you have already improved your pop-up.

Now, always with that in mind, we are going to give our brain the reference points where the front foot should be located when standing on the board (normally the back foot finds its correct position naturally since it does not move at the time of the stop).

Think of your starting position on the board as a triangle (figure 1): each hand is an apex and both feet on the tail of the board form the tip of the triangle. Do you have it? So when you stand up, your back foot should be very close to where it already is, that is, on the tail of the board between the two front fins, and the front foot will be located right in the middle of the board. the line formed by joining the two hands (figure 2). Focus your attention specifically on the latter (figure 2).

IMPORTANT: When you get up, both feet should touch the board at the same time.

The most common mistake in initial and intermediate stages is "to fall short",

This means that when you lift both feet are very close to each other and the movement of the front foot is not enough for a good positioning and weight distribution on the board, which is the start of all the problems later.

Tip: You can keep your hands on the board when standing up, that will give you a low and very stable position, recommended for the initial stages of surfing. Once you stabilize, you can separate your hands from the board, but always in a low position to move more easily on the wave and start enjoying the trip :).

Well friends, now only the second part is missing, to improve the SPEED and agility in the movement of the legs and you will see that this tip will help you improve your take off.

We'll leave it for the next installment of "tips for surfing better than Flysurf. "

See you on the water!