Surfing
Swimming as Surfing Cross-training
With all the hoopla about Michael Phelps’ swimming records at the Olympics (he, shown here on the cover of Sports Ilustrated wearing a dress), I was wondering to what extent swimmers make for good surfers? In my case, I’m a tall, lanky dude - 6′5″, long reach, used to be a lifeguard, pretty good swimmer. I’m no Michael Phelps, but I’d bet that I’m a better paddler than most. The thing is that most of the swimming you end up doing when you’re swimming in a pool is with googles, face in the water, alternate breathing. Surfing, on the other hand, is a lot more like heads-up front crawl. Your chest is off the board, your head is pointed forward, and back arched. The stroke is simlar, but not the exact same. And because of the position of your chest, the muscles used are, in fact, different, or at least, adjusted. I’ve been sore in different places after a swimming session versus a surfing session. So while I think that swimming helps your surfing, it’s probably not more so that yoga. There is also that surfing paddle machine thingy. More on that later.
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