This book is about helping you move as nature intended, to move more efficiently and to maximise not only your surf performance but also your physicality for anything and everything in life.
In Fluid Surfer, you can learn techniques for keep each of these body areas nimble and ninja; Neck, Upper back, Shoulders, Upper Arms, Forearms and Wrists, Front of Chest, Lower Back, Hips, Front of Thigh, Back of Thigh, Inner Thigh, Outer Thigh, Knees, Lower Leg, Feet. At the beginning of each chapter, you will see a summary of why problems may arise for a particular body area, followed by a list of specific techniques covered in that chapter.
Fluid Surfer is a unique book in that it is specifically designed for surfers with emphasis on the body’s longevity and optimal existance. On the web, you will find loads of fitness programs, surf stretches or general strength building programs targeted at surfers, but nothing that addresses the health of our body’s soft tissues and optimal movement positions. This book is individualised and allows you to access chapters based on the initial assessment page. You are provided with clear photo demonstrations, key points for exercise technique and reasons for for implementing these techniques.
With a solid body maintenance routine, you’re able to perform the imperfect movements that surfing requires, with enough movement buffer to avoid ripping muscles, popping capsules and tearing ligaments! Just as we regularly need to eat, drink, sleep and exercise, we also need to work on improving our movement and tissue health. If you surf everyday, you’re stressing the same muscles over and over again, whilst the others are taking a break. Mobility and soft tissue work will help balance your body out and ensure that your next surf will feel easier, looser and more athletic.
As you will see within the pages of this guide; Michelle Drielsma has been on a clear & focused mission for us all by laying down well documented examples of her insights and knowledge with an aim to urge us to take action for ourselves into moving more efficiently and therefore bring more opportunity for the exact reason we connected with surfing from the outset, the pure joy it brings to our whole being. Putting your trust in Michelle’s clear techniques will help surfers young and old to become stronger, faster and more efficient.
My first year training and working with Michelle, and following her injury prevention techniques, was also the year I qualified for the World Tour. This was no coincidence. Surfing with increased strength and flexibility not only allows for better and longer surfs, but more confident surfs and less injuries. Doing some of these stretches and routines before, after or between surfs will change your experience in the water! Have fun and enjoy!
Michelle’s book can give all the answers you have been searching for, from what to work on for the simple duck dive, all the way through to core stability and knee strength in landing high airs. I met Michelle at the end of my career, I wish I had of met her and had access to this book sooner!
“For anyone serious about body maintenance, Drielsma’s book has a section that helps you diagnose your own trouble spots and shows how to improve them with techniques that include stretching – including lunges to loosen up tight hip flexors, mobility exercises using exercise bands and small weights or the use of a simple tennis or golf ball to massage and free up tight muscles and ligaments.” – The Sydney Morning Herald. Read the Fluid Surfer Review by The Sydney Morning Herald.