Gear Sacrifice

Part of dealing with an Injury is learning
  - To rest
  - Relearn the way you are practicing

Well, learning to rest is impossible for me. Specially when it s blowing 25+ and you have 8+ feet waves coming in.

Kanaha. "Upper" wave spot. Today. Fun.

Well, I learned to rest when there is no wind (Almost never happen here), no waves (with a long board or a paddleboard, you are talking less 2 footers. Which means almost never as well) and the swimming pool is closed (happens not that often as well ;).

I auto-analysed my posture and I think part of the issue is a bad stance on top of weak abs/glutes. Then while I am working out my mid section every day or so ...

Glues work at the beach

.. I give my back a rest with a Dakine short Harness and a Dynabar for the surf (super cool, I love it !)

Balls crushing gear

And eventually put back my straps after 2 years of strapless ...

Time to be handy manny.

On my old 5.8''...

Frenchy Weapon of choice

Why ? I need to focus on my stance. And it is way easier to do when I am not swimming after my board. (Plus Strapless in Maui is kind of silly anyway. Too windy, choppy and big....)

Anyway, I gave it a test today, and after 50 minutes of kiting, I barely feel my hip. We will see tomorrow and  tonight. Then, maybe for the first time, I am doing something right. Question is: For how long ?

How long before some strapless madness again ?

I suppose Alec Dektor does not have Hip Pain and a weak mid-section.

Lets free our mind

Let close the subject of consciousness, and with it, the first of the three pillars of my new self ;). Don't remember ? Right, me neither. Looking back ... Yes, right, Awareness, Fitness, Faithfulness.

Well, subject of today makes a beautiful bridge between Awareness and Fitness.

I think everybody knows that meditation is very important for awareness, and body and mind awakening.

This I cannot do. Yet.

Well, almost everybody knows that meditation is not for everybody. If you are like me, it may sounds boring, and painful. I need to admit that I never committed to it, really. Annoying, because I do not feel like meditating, will my inner balance collapse and all my structural revival attempt fails ? Well, guess what, as there is a magic hormone - endorphin- that helps you get high without smoking pot, there is a magic state of mind while you begin to run long distances (in fact not that long, 20-30 minutes does the trick usually).

Surfer's dream, the wax you can smoke

"Active meditation, as it’s appropriately called, has many of the same mental benefits offered by traditional meditation. Most people find active meditation easier to get into due to the increased blood flow in the brain."
B.Brazier Thrive Fitness

Active Meditation while running

Here is the explanation of the process:

"As my fitness developed over the weeks and months, I no longer had to concentrate on the act of running. At a moderate pace, it had become effortless. This is the point at which everything changed for me. Because I didn’t have to engage in conscious thought to be able to run, my mind would wander. Ideas I could never have imagined as belonging to me would flow every time I ran, almost as though my head was a radio receiving signals from outside. A whole other part of my brain had been accessed"
B.Brazier Thrive Fitness


Myself, I do think that the hypnotic trance of running or swimming long distance is very effective to release the mind. Awareness is all about freeing my right brain. Which is kind of important for a computer geek like me who are stimulating his left brain all day long while sitting.

Let s get high all together !

Preaching

"You know, people say to me “you need to really motivate me to eat well and go to the gym.” And you know what? I’m not going to motivate you. I’ll let you know what works for me and it’s up to you. If you really dislike it that much, then don’t do it."

Interesting web interview

"You can stand in the light. And you can set a positive example. But you simply cannot make someone change."

One Of 2009'S Men's Fitness Magazine's "25 Fittest Guys In The World

"The obesity “epidemic” has been wildly exaggerated by the CDC. People the government classifies as “overweight” have longer lifespans than people classified as “normal weight.” Having low cholesterol is unhealthy. Lowfat diets can lead to depression and type II diabetes. Saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease — but sugars, starches and processed vegetable oils do"

Tom Naughton

I am not preaching. At least , I am trying not to.
I would love to, but I do not have time for it, I prefer surfing.
Here is my quote, then:

"Gone surfing".

Me, myself ... and my daughter.

155

Is the number of the day.

Lately I became addicts to numbers - Calories - Body Mass Index - Repetitions - Intervals - Heart Rate - Weight etc...

Even if I did not reach yet the point in this blog where I start talking about nutrition (slowly, but surely, it is coming...), as some could have guessed, related to my injury and my desire to improve my overall stamina, I had to start a diet - if not a new way of life.

My original goal was 155 lbs, from an original 175 lbs.

Take this off an already super fit guy (on the verge of overweight - with an outstanding 20% fat - according to american standards - which are to be low, looking at people around me - and this while i was going surfing and kiting 3 or 4 times of week. Unbelievable.).

Anyway, I wont bother you with a picture of me naked, I was already awesome before, but look at this beauty:

Isn't it true that some numbers are prettier than some pictures ?

Frankly, at this point, my diet is becoming a lifestyle, then I do not know really why I would stop here. 

Next step, 150. Was it difficult to reach this in 3 months ? No, Not really. Far less than the constant stretching and strengthening I am doing for my hip injury. My secrets ? Wait and see.

Is it worth it ?

You missed my drop into in this 18 footer at Hookipa last week-end

Well, if it allows me to surf just one minute more everyday, put that in the 120 years I still have to live, hell yeah, it is worth it. I will do it again everyday. Hum, right, I am doing it every day.

As I said before,

 This is all about the paddle out.

Correct posture - Part 345

It looks like I like to repeat myself, like history.
If you do a posture do it well.

By the way, this website explain some in high details. Very cool.

Plank, Yoga style

Ok, Now the little daily story. The bridge is a good tool to build Glutes and stretch Psoas. Well, I tried it before and did not like it.
Why ? It is supposed to:

"Lengthens the spine – especially in the lower back. Can help ease lower back ache.  Helps to open the front of the shoulders. Tones the abdominal muscles. Very relaxing and can relieve stress."

Not for me. I always squeeze my low back spine, kind of compress my disks and feel pain after, in the low back, where it was supposed to be "helping".

Beautiful Bridge.

Again, there is a secret. In fact, two.

"To get even more space in the lower spine visualize the tailbone being pulled away as your pelvis rises up. Keep this image of the tailbone being pulled away as the hips come down as well."

you have to push away your pelvis, which is very different that arching your back. Believe me, there is a hell of a difference.

Second one, is to put a medicine ball between your knee, which forces to contract the inside muscle of the leg, and relax the external ones.

Like this, but the ball activate the inner leg muscles

I like paddle boarding too, but there is more waves at my local spot.

Next time i am on water, I am trying this.

Lesson 345: If you do it, do it well.