Chaturanga, Burpees and Paddling

I have written before about becoming a stronger surfer and becoming a stronger yogi. All my workouts in general are about becoming a stronger athlete, but I noticed a decline in my surfing ability lately. I would get out in the waves and be tired. My arms would be on fire, and my body would just be exhausted. I thought, “How could this be?”. Between all of the burpees, weights, supermans, and Chaturangas; I shouldn’t be this exhausted from paddling. Or am I doing the wrong workout?

Recently, there was a blog article on Craftysurf.com titled, ” Surf Training: The Secret“, so naturally I was drawn to this topic. In the blog post, she states the secret is more paddling. Not all the gym workouts I have been doing, not all the Chaturangas that I have been practicing, even though I’m pretty good at it now, it’s paddling.

I sat with this post for a while. I was the strongest in the Summer and Fall when I could surf 3-4 times a week. Recently, due to work and bad weather in California, surfing 3-4 times a week is rare. Maybe my paddling isn’t as strong as it used to be?

Luckily, she offers easy advice: go out an paddle. While I think it’s important to keep going with the Chaturangas, burpees and my other workouts, she makes the point of no other workout is equivalent to paddling. So, I did, last Friday afternoon. I just got on my longboard and paddled, and then paddled some more. Liking this idea of just “paddle sessions”, I will start to incorporate this type of workouts into my life.

Surfers and Yogis, what other types of workouts to do you incorporate into your life?

~Namaste

Scrappy Yogi