Why Surfing and Stuff is an Adventure to be Had

This weekend I went to LA & San Diego for a business seminar and while I was there I embarked on a movement adventure that encompassed a few of my favorite things to do.

- Trained with beloved colleague Terry Taneie at his Hollywood Action and Fight Choreography class held on Wednesday's at Barnsdall Park 5pm-7pm.

The View of Hollywood from Barnsdall Park. The smog covers the famed Hollywood sign in the distance. But it was still a lovely sunny day sporting temperatures in the lower 80s.  Can't complain about that. 

- Trained at Tempest Freerunning Academy SouthBay. Their facility is INCREDIBLE, inspiring, the staff professional and friendly, and the vibe was really supportive and positive.

It's truly difficult to capture the awesomeness of this facility, especially when you are discreetly taking pictures as to not look like a tourist. This is their tribute to Santorini, Greece - famed Art of Motion location within the freerunning community. 

- Rode bikes to the Queen Mary in Long Beach with my bestie, and we did headstands on the beach.

A backbend for the Queen? Sure why not.

Some headstands seemed appropriate.  

- Surfed with my childhood bestie - Harmony Silverman - Athletic Trainer - in the beautiful San Diego seaside.

And finally, a moment to capture the title of this blog post.  

So among all these movement adventures, I'd have to say the surfing really challenged me, and inspired me. For one, I'm terrible at it, so my immediate curiosity sparks many questions in my mind as to what muscle groups I have neglected to train?  What stability exercises have I not addressed in my movement bubble?  What awareness and adaptability skills have I yet to explore and develop?

At which point I realized that surfing is a cross-movement discipline.  It's a combination of swimming, parkour, pilates, and endurance training. It's also a consistent HIIT workout (high intensity interval training), and the ultimate form of resistance training. In addition, the required balancing skills and ankle mobility is not to be ignored.  Not only that but it also requires a high degree of intuition (gained through experience only) and knowledge of oceanography, and wave patterns is especially helpful.

Who should surf?  Well, if you love movement, you should definitely at least try it.  Surfing works the shoulders and upper back, as well as requires core stability and strength. But for me, the most important takeaway is that your transverse abdominis, as well as your internal oblique muscles are engaged and strengthened to a high degree. Here is where I get excited. If you are a parkour practitioner, fighter or martial artist - core strength and stability is really extremely important, and finding fun, functional, cross training activities that are working out those deeper core muscles that stabilize the spine is exciting news!! What this means is that I can spend days or even weeks on a surfing adventure, and consider that an extremely productive and health oriented activity that will help keep my back strong, and even increase my fighting skills. So there you have it! Go have yourself a surfing adventure and don't forget to invite me to come along.

- Elle Beyer