Surfing Tip: How to Paddle with Power
27 February, 2017
Surf lessons South Australia never fail to make mention as to how your paddling power affects your surfing skills. Catching great waves is a combined result of being skilled in identifying the right wave and having the necessary paddling strength that can withstand the water current.
Many surfers spend time in improving their paddling skills by continuously exercising their upper body. Improving the stamina of the shoulder muscles can enable your paddling to be stronger. After spending hours in the gym for your muscle exercise, it will also be best if you practice paddling in the waters. If you are not that busy, surfing at least once a week can help improve your paddling.
Doing the strokes in the water is the best way to practice your paddling strength. Here are some additional tips on what you need to do when paddling:
- Keep your head still. As most swimming experts say, keeping your head still increases the speed and efficiency of paddling in the water. This too applies to surfing. When you are lying atop your board it is also similar to how most swimmers position their body in the water. Moving the head sideways creates another motion in the body that decreases the drag of your paddle. To help you keep your head still while paddling, you can try to fix your gaze to what’s in front of you.
- Keeping your elbows high. If you want to keep on getting strong and powerful strokes in the water, you should be able to keep your elbows high when they are about to enter the water. The high position of your elbow maintains the right location of your hand and forearm as they enter the water. When your hand and forearm reaches deeper into the water, your body and the board is propelled forward with each successful stroke. Maintaining this technique will increase your speed when catching the waves.
- Manage a slight roll after each stroke. The core strength exercises that you practiced come in handy during the recovery of your arm after every stroke. Know that for you to be able to maintain the strength and speed of your paddle you need to be more aware of the muscle movements in your shoulders and support it with the strength from your core.
Learning the right techniques for paddling from videos of professional surfers through slow motion videos will also help a lot. However, do not take too much time on watching and analyzing these videos without doing it on your own. Practicing how to paddle and allowing your body to be more comfortable with the water will help you develop techniques that will help increase your strength.
Maintaining your shoulder muscles and your body through continuous practice and exercise will create your desired effect as long as you do not forget the basic tips mentioned above. The tips ma[y sound simple yet they can be very hard at first. Allow your body to get used to it and it can become natural as time goes by. For more surfing tip, visit us now!
You might also like these posts