Photo: Fiona Peters
There’s tons of conflicting information about stretching pre and post-exercise. It’s enough of a cluster that many of us decide it’s probably just easier to skip it altogether.
Au contraire!
In my experience, doubling down on your recovery will boost your power, speed, and agility, increase your endurance, ease aches and pains, and allow you to surf longer, go harder, and do it pain-free. But why do you need to “cool-down” when you come out of the water?
Here are 3 reasons to pay attention to your recovery, specifically post surf.
1. It calms the central nervous system.
When you exercise, your breathing and heart rate elevate to increase the supply of oxygenated blood and glucose to your muscles. Your body temperature rises, you start to sweat, the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol course through your veins, and non-essential functions including digestion and reproduction are switched off. At the end of your session, all these physiological processes return to normal as you shift into recovery mode. The aim with the cool-down is to optimize this transition.
2. It restores proper postural alignment.
Surfing is inherently asymmetrical, so certain muscles have to work harder than others and become tight as a consequence. If you don’t stretch out these muscles and they remain chronically contracted, imbalances will develop that pull your joints out of alignment, leading to nasty aches and pains, especially in the lower back, hips, neck, and shoulders.
3. It brings suppleness back to your body. So use it or lose it.
Surfing, like most sports, prioritizes a limited range of motion at the major joints and muscles. In time, this may lead to tightness, especially in the shoulders, mid-back, hips, knees and ankles. In the cool down, you want to move your joints through full range of motion to ensure that you don’t lose your full and unrestricted mobility.
The typical post-surf cool-down involves 5-10 minutes of basic static stretches that target the major muscle groups. This approach can be effective, but if we take all our objectives into consideration, it may not be the best way to go.
The trap that many surfers fall into is to race through a few favorite stretches coming out of the water. Unfortunately – and especially if you’re not giving it your full attention – instead of releasing tension in your muscles, you’re actually more likely to increase the tightness. In the cool-down, the objective is to transition into the optimal state for repair and restoration, not to cause further stress to your body.
How yoga can be a more effective approach
1. Combining strength with flexibility.
In yoga, we simultaneously lengthen and strengthen muscles. This restores balance to the body rather than exacerbating existing areas of strength and weakness.
2. Alternating movement and holds.
In yoga, we combine dynamic and static stretching, to mobilize and restore suppleness to the body.
3. Complexity.
Yoga poses engage and stretch multiple groups of muscles simultaneously, instead of targeting the same few muscles over and over.
4. Focus on the breath.
Deepening the breath transitions the central nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic mode—the natural state for rest and recovery.
5. Awareness.
You can use this as an opportunity to notice areas where you feel particularly tight. This will give you clarity around how surfing is affecting your body so that you can work towards restoring balance.
6. Proper alignment.
In yoga, we pay special attention to your alignment in the poses. Poor alignment can exacerbate dysfunctional postural patterns and even cause injury. Practice in front of a mirror if you can.
How to get the most out of this routine
Focus: Bring your full attention to the routine. This is crucial.
Breathe: Throughout the sequence, try to synchronize your breath with movement to reinforce a sense of calm.
Control: Maintain complete control as you’re moving through the poses. Be intentional with every movement.
Relax: When you come to a static stretch, relax into it. Breathe and release.
As you take your first few deep breaths—in and out through your nose, deep into your abdomen—pay attention to how this affects your physiology. Notice as your heart rate drops and your body relaxes. Flow through the poses confidently, focussing on how every part of your body feels. Keep in mind throughout the sequence, that your aim is to restore suppleness and ease of movement to your body.
Be careful not to over stretch and risk tearing a muscle. The aim is not to increase your flexibility but to skilfully ease into recovery mode, re-integrating all aspects of your body and mind.
If you have an injury, please don’t be tempted to stretch the affected area and strain damaged muscle fibers and connective tissues as they try to repair themselves. Work closely with your doctor or physical therapist to ascertain the best approach for your rehabilitation.
Further tips
1.Mix it up.
This is just one option for your post-workout cooldown. It’s important that you don’t repeat the same routine over and over, as you run the risk of reinforcing dysfunctional movement patterns and muscular imbalances.
2. Modifications.
If you need any help with the poses, you can ask me in the comments section below or check out the Pose Library on my site for mini video tutorials.
3. Experiment.
You are all individuals, so once you get a little more experience you can start to develop your own 15-minute routines that incorporate the best poses for you. My intention is to give you the building blocks. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like help with this. My email address is abi@yoga15.com.
4. Audio.
When you’ve been through the routine a couple of times and you feel familiar with the sequence, let me know if you want me to send you the audio to put onto your phone or mp3 player.
15-Minute Post-Surf Cool-Down
This 15-minute routine is designed to ease you into recovery mode, to ultimately improve your performance.
Editor’s Note: This video comes from the Yoga 15 Recovery series. You can download the full series here. And you’ll find more free articles, videos, and motivation at Yoga15.com.
