If the best in the world are doing something in order to stay at that level, why wouldn’t you as well?
It’s pretty tough to argue with Eric Goodman’s logic. If you want to keep surfing you must take care of the body you surf with. As a formerly soft and round surfer I can attest to the idea that putting care, effort, thought and work into your body outside of the water will change your life in the active pursuit of catching waves. There’s two other insights I can offer in the same respect: First, there is a lot of information out there about how to train for this, train for that, what is best versus what you must do and must not do. It’s overwhelming, and that’s why second, you cannot pass up the opportunity to learn from those with great insights and experience. Often, something as simple as a heart to heart, talking story, is the best of those opportunities.
Here, Goodman challenges the traditional views on “strength training” versus strength that is functional for surfing. He talks about the inefficiency of building physical muscle as opposed to creating balance in our bodies, the calm, steady components of a high-level athlete. He tells us why yoga can be even more advantageous for men than it is for women, and how and why recovery is better than constantly training to be “stronger”. Basically, I’m telling you it’s worth taking time out of your day to listen to this entire podcast with PaddleWoo.com
Eric Goodman has allowed himself to be both the teacher and the student, training the likes of Lakey Peterson, Kelly Slater, and plenty more. And he’s also been invited to train with the bronze badass himself, Laird Hamilton. It’s a testament to the fact that you can never stop learning, evolving, growing, in an effort to equip your body with the best tools to do what you love most – surf.
“If you surf, you are an athlete.” -Eric Goodman, Foundation Training
