Paddle Like World Champion John John Florence

Free paddling technique email course: https://www.surfingpaddling.com/free-... Paddle Like World Champion John John Florence XSWIM and the Surfing Paddling Academy presents surfing paddling technique tips by analyzing World Champion John John Florence's paddle battle against Keanu Asing during the Quiksilver Pro France competition. For more training go to http://www.surfingpaddling.com Let's find some habits and techniques that could help you when you are sprinting or catching waves. First thing to understand is that shortboard paddling technique changes slightly when you are sprinting or catching a wave versus just normally paddling back out. The first indication of this type of sprinting stroke is the entry angle. When sprinting as opposed to regular paddling, the Lift phase (or the first phase) of the underwater armstroke is shortened because in this scenario, we’re really focused on getting our hand and forearm to the front propulsive phase of the stroke which is the second phase of the underwater armstroke. The entry angle of our hand is steeper. Since we’re still submerged in the water on shortboards, we don’t want to completely remove the Lift phase, but rather shorten it significantly. When looking at John John and Keanu’s entry, who do you think has the higher angle? …. John John clearly enters with a higher angle by keeping his elbow high. This higher angle allows him to dive his hand into the front propulsive phase of the stroke faster. Now, typically, when you enter with the elbow high, then it remains high in the front propulsive phase of the stroke. We can’t determine 100% that John’s elbow stays high without an underwater view, but he’s already setting himself up with an advantage. Keanu’s stroke enters a little flatter, which then would take him slightly longer to get his hand and forearm down into the front propulsive phase of the stroke. It also has a higher likelihood of the elbow dropping in the front propulsive phase of the stroke. Again, it’s not a guarantee- we could determine that more if we were to see the underwater footage of his stroke, but from what we can see above the water, it will be more difficult to keep the elbow high when entering flatter, especially in a sprinting scenario. The high elbow in the front propulsive phase provides the greatest amount of surface area during the first half of the power portion of the stroke. In contrast, if the elbow is low and leading the hand in this phase, the surfer then loses a significant amount of power in each stroke. The other technique seen in this paddle battle that both surfers are doing well, is maintaining their horizontal balance and reducing resistive drag as much as possible. Look first at how the noses of their boards are cutting through the frontal resistive drag. They aren’t plowing through the water like a barge. Rather, they are cutting through like a sailboat. Some people might think that now the water hitting their chest is slowing them down, but as they take strokes, that water is released along the rails as they rotate from rail to rail. Not only is the nose of the board helping break up this frontal resistance, but also they are both using their fingertips and arms to cut through and create a hole so that the rest of their body and board can proceed through that hole. When most of our body is submerged in the water when paddling, this is something we need to do so that each stroke can help us travel the furthest before taking the next stroke. We can also see this in how they position their heads – nice and low to the surface of the water. You don’t see them using a lot of energy trying to arch their backs. Instead, they reserve that energy by relaxing those back muscles, relaxing their neck muscles, and redirecting that energy towards engaging their latissimus dorsi and pectoralis major muscles which are our big power muscles for paddling. Their heads are relaxed and low to the water, with their faces almost touching the water. So there you go. Hope you learned something new. In summary, when sprinting, enter with a higher angle, shortening that first phase (the Lift phase) of the underwater armstroke so that you can get to the front propulsive phase of the stroke…keep that elbow high during that second phase of the stroke, head down and relaxed, nose of the board and fingertips and arms cutting the frontal resistive drag as you take strokes. And you do those four things and you’ll be on your way to winning more paddle battles and catching more waves.