Nothing gets the ocean ready like not being able to surf or foil!
i mean thats actually my #1 pumping tip. If your OK at pumping and want to dial in techniqueā¦be tired, be sore, be spent. It 100% will force you to be more efficient. I feel like i improve the most when my body is right on the edge of collapse!
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now weāre talking about working out to support pumping. I figured out a decent way is to just jump up and down on land as if I was pumping for 90 seconds at a time. It is ridiculously tiring and only takes a minute and a half. I try to match pumping cadence and get at least a little air under both feet on each āpumpā. Its a hell of a workout and has helped a ton. I just do it every day before I get in the shower, pretty simple. I can pump a board longer in the waves than I can sustain this workout on land, probably because of little rests here and there.
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I would add that skating a pumptrack, or just carving a bowl is another really good way to train similar muscles and movements. Just be careful because cement is harder than the water haha
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This video is the story of my life riding 14s swell. I have some of the best prone foilers in the world in my area, and theyŹ»re not linking 10 waves in a row. TheyŹ»ll rip hard on 3 or 4 and take a break.
Same here, but depends on my mood. I often just take my midlength and the smallest wing I have, sit outside with the longboarders and just get as many turns in as possible. If I make it back to the line-up without paddling, bonus.
I added dockstart pump foiling to the mix recently to improve my endurance. Seems like a lot of people downplay pump foilingŹ»s benefits for prone. Being only a couple months in, I canŹ»t disagree enough. My endurance is steadily improving, my technique is slowly getting more refined. I use a bigger wing, but not a huge pump wing (1300S). Being able to isolate the little nuances of your pump technique in flat water is MUCH more informative all the craziness of hopping white water near other people. ItŹ»s like I can finally sit and think about everything IŹ»m doing and test ideas.
Also, I thought IŹ»d take a hit in prone technique from pumping the big foil so much, but the opposite has been true. IŹ»m hopping waves and white water with more confidence even though I havenŹ»t been practicing it. Yeah, connecting turns might have taken a small hit, but that can be cleaned up in a few good sessions.
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Once I started proning the 1300s I couldnāt stop, but now as an extremist Iāve taken things to the next level with the 1250r and now 1250 orca. To be honest I still wish I could have 3x the pump I have now. Itās still basically non stop pumping with short rests if I wanna connect 5+ waves and end up back in the same position. It doesnāt feel fair to have to pump so much and get so little to ride in return.
Shore runners are quickly becoming my favorite thing to do because of this. Yes, I still have to pump to link because IŹ»m at reef breaks, but linking breaks is super fun. Also, unless IŹ»m fighting a headwind going back, you could probably ride right back to the origin position if youŹ»re good enough. I usually make a mistake before that happens.
Is the 1250r that much of an improvement over the 1300S? The 1300s turns surprisingly well for itŹ»s size. I feel like IŹ»d be giving up a lot of maneuverability and lower stall speed for just a little more glide and speed (and having to buy a plus mast).
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Yes the 1250r is significantly better pump and glide. But way, way worse to turn. Took me a few sessions of towing to be able to ride it, but like anything you could get used to it if you persist and if my only goal is to pump as long as possible it has me not going back to the 1300. I still love the 1300 for parawinging and donāt think Id want an R instead. Tdlr, I donāt think u need the 1250 unless youāre down winding super small bumps and significantly more pump and glide. 1300 turns like a dream compared to the 1250, I think the plus mast is already necessary for the 1300 tho. But you may as well consider the orca if you feel the need to upgrade. Orca is basically a 1250r with better turning (not as good as the 1300s), with similar amounts of glide and pump, I think the 1250r might have better low end tho, but itās less efficient for covering distance. And orca is way more delicate than code. Itās like if I shaved code down to the bare minimum, its gonna be way more fragile
Yeah, sounds like a pass. IŹ»m still new to dock starts and IŹ»m up to 1:40 and steadily rising on the 1300s. ThereŹ»s still plenty room for improvement on my technique and endurance too. I think itŹ»s really going to help improve my prone sessions. I donŹ»t think the 1250R is worth sacrificing that much turning. One of the things I think people donŹ»t talk about enough is speed/lift generation from turns. If I canŹ»t turn, I loose a lot of that. Having a lot of glide but huge span might just be a wash at the end of the day. Also pass on F4 sounds like. I hear lots of good things about F4, but I like bullet proof and I donŹ»t have much to complain about with Code except their vomit inducing usage of the phrase ācheat codeā.
Back to prone pumping, One technique that IŹ»ve seen to great effect and which wasnŹ»t being used in that video is āratchetingā your way back up the sets. You can roundhouse link an oncoming wave, build a heap of speed, get a small rest, and immediately hop the shoulder with a speed boost. ItŹ»s a fun way to save some energy and reset your pump.
Can anyone elaborate on KaneŹ»s stair workouts? I donŹ»t have Strava.
I do a mix of all kinds of cardio. I think it is good to get some variety in. The most important thing is doing something you enjoy and can do consistently. I never liked training until I started doing stairs so thatās what I do. I didnāt workout at all until this year so it has been very interesting.
I usually like to do 40min at an effort that feels good for the day and when Iām done add another 20 min or so of cardio on the bike or treadmill to flush a bit and bring in some variety.
Nothing beats pumping around in the surf though. I think itās better training for downwind than downwinding haha. Use a big foil and do it as much as you can!
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Thanks for the info Kane. ThatŹ»s my approach too. IŹ»m not downwinding yet, but maybe some prone sends soon. I think dock starting is helping my prone more than prone right now.
I try to get an hour of dock starts in 3 days a week. ThatŹ»s about my limit due to inconveniences using the dock. I also do kettlebell work and think IŹ»ll be adding in some stair sessions. Variety and convenience keeps me consistent.
This is going to be super niche, but there was a theme talked about in the volleyball manga/anime Haikyuu about focusing on improvement. It was something like: ItŹ»s great to have fun in your chosen sport, but to get the most freedom and sense of control out of it, you gotta put in the time to pursue athletic competence. IŹ»m grateful that something so fun can keep me in shape.
Itās embarrassing that I still havenāt nailed pumping, although @Mattās advice was a big help, but AI provided another important step in the ladder. I asked Copilot āWhere should my feet be placed for best pumping?ā Iāve asked this before but thought Iād give it another try.
The TL;DR was to look for an āelastic feelingā, āyour legs feel like springs, not pistonsā.
Iāve never had that beforeā¦
The front foot ballpark setting was to find a glide point of 2-3 seconds, neither rising nor falling.
The back foot ballpark was advice on what a weak/about right/over-pitching foot placement felt like.
I finally found some smooth water, sheltered from wind (itās not common here) andā¦bingo.
Dear god, how long has this taken?
Iāve since found that only fleeting glimpses of the āelastic feelingā are noticeable in my usual 20 knot onshore/big chop/tiny swell conditions. Iām claiming that as an excuse for my slow progress.
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One really easy way to see if your feet are correctly placed is if one of your legs gets consistently more tired than the other. That means you should do some adjustments.
At first I was getting way more tired on my front leg, but now with a bigger front wing and smaller stab, my back leg gets a bigger part of the work, Iām still trying to find that sweet spot where both get equally tired.
Only advice I can give you is to not fear moving your feet around a bit, youāll naturally find that sweet spot. Also, if your feet get too cold and lose sensitivity, use booties. I found out that cold feet are way worse for foiling than for surfing.
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yes @tangogeoff I think this is probably the rule above all rules, move your feet a lot, itās hard, essential.
Also I wonder your conditions, the difference pumping in flat vs choppy is worlds apart. If you are pumping in chop, you not only need to have your position correct, but you also need to pump way more precisely, only on the front of waves, never on the back, etc.. Itās extremely technical relative to glassy conditions.
Share some videos if you want
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This is so true. When you are close to blackout you basically have no choice but to ether give up or pump efficiently. I think the ratio of skill/ timing etc to strength/cardio is so skewed towards the skill side of things I wouldnāt bother āgymā training at all because it might just help cover up bad technique. Maybe stretch some so you donāt hurt yourself .
Another thing I always did learning to pump is have someone better than me try my setup and make sure they could pump it with how all the angles were and fuse length etc. if someone better than you has a hard time pumping it than you wonāt be making anything easier on yourself and certain setups are pretty specific with how things need to be tuned (right stabilizer etc.)
That brings up a question. How are you pumping incident waves when you are going back out? Are you ājumpingā them, or are you doing another technique? I tend to ājumpā them as when pumping a bump up in a pumptrack, but without really the downwards pressure on the way down.
I donāt know if Iām explaining myself
yes, clear, pumptrack is closest
I think if they are broken then just gliding / jumping them, as the back side is really turbulent and you need to wait way longer than you think before itās āsafeā to pump.
If they are big and unbroken, then try get a bit of height with a pump, but you canāt be too aggressive because you breach through the back, so just a bit. In this case also there is the most ānegative liftā where you need to anticipate the drop that occurs, and get ready to backfoot pressure to keep the nose up. The same for kicking off an unbroken wave, if you nosedive or canāt pump itās because you didnāt anticipate this energy downdraft or whatever. This to me is the most interesting thing about waves. Lift on front, drop on back.
Both above are for wide spaced waves, with a few metres at least between where you can safely pump and gain speed.
When the bumps/chop is at the same period as your pump, that is where it gets way trickier, then there is less risk of breaching, but much higher risk of pumping on a down draft, or gliding when you should be pumping, I described that here, but basically, pump the face, glide until the next face:
also described here
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