Old Surfer gets help from Strength Training

[Gene61]

Hi this is my first post. I'm 61 yrs old and my surfing has been going down hill for years. With my schedule, I just can't surf enough to keep myself in shape and age is catching up with me. I read about Starting Strength and had the idea that strength training might help my surfing.

Wow! I just came home from a terrific session. Caught 6 waves in 90 minutes. 3 waves used to be my limit and I was wipped. I'm still wipped, but boy did I have fun!

I'm only 90 days into the program, and I've been taking it slow. Mostly two workouts a week rather than three as I need the extra recovery at my age, especially with a surf session once a week and some mountain biking. What a great program. I wished I had found it years ago.

[bob g]

Keep us up to date on how this rolls for you. Check out the logs of some of the geezerly types and you'll get some ideas about different approaches for different goals. Basically, though, if you can dial in the recovery the rest is gravy. It's good to have another true geezer on board.

[Dastardly]

Dont forget your goals, surf as much as you can. Lifting weights can be fun, but not like surfing.

Also, have you ever tried burpees? Seem like they would have high carry over to surfing. If you do not get to surf often enough then conditioning will be important, burpees are good for that.

[Gene61]

Thanks, Guys. I'll check on some Geezer Logs. I am very interested in how other old novices have handled the work of the Starting Strength program.

Burpees! I love to hate them. Great for the "pop up" muscles. I do them regularly. My real problem has been paddling strength; both the sprint to catch the wave, and the long paddle back out to the lineup. SS has really helped with both. I'm already surfing like I did 10 years ago.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Another 61 one year old, and from CA too! Welcome geezer.

[Dastardly]

For paddling, how about extra pull ups and the occasional lying pull over/skullcrusher ?

Not saying you need to rush into extra stuff, but you could experiment to see what happens.

[Gene61]

I'm doing 5x3 assisted pull ups on dead lift day ( taking away 10 lbs per work out), and lying tricept extensions a la Rip on bench press day.

I checked out some geezer logs. Very intimidating. I guess a lot of guys have done weights in the past. I never have. I started with a bare bar 90 days ago, and have been working up from there. I'm still very light relative to the logs I read, and working on form. Oh well, I have the rest of my life. ;-)

[Mark E. Hurling]

Yup, you do. But for now, just hang in there and keep doing the basics of the program and keep on keepin' on. Later on when things get a little heavier and programming becomes more complicated, Oldster is an excellent source of advice for those of us who are ancient of days.

So how often do I get to work in a reference to William Blake and one of my favorite paintings?

[Gene61]

Mark, Thanks for the encouragement.

I looked up William Blake's poems and couldn't find "Olster." is it the painting? Or is that "ancient of days."

[Mark E. Hurling]

Heh, the painting is "Ancient of Days" or what our daughter called Dad's God picture when she was little kid.

Oldster however is very much with us here on Earth just now, and a regular on the forum. His log is Puttering Along in the General Log Section.