5 Advanced PNF Stretches for Surfing

Like in any sport, surfing requires exceptional mobility and range of motion in the joints.

Stretching is a great tool to gain mobility for those eye-catching maneuvers or a post-session recovery routine. It can also be a little insurance policy for injury prevention; the more we are injury free, the more we can be in the water and have fun! 

There are many methods of stretching, from static, to dynamic, to ballistic. Today we are going to introduce you to PNF stretching. If you’re reading this on an off-day or the waves are flat, go ahead and find some space to follow along with these five stretches.

PNF Stretching – What is it and What’s it for?

“PNF” stands for proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (say that five times as fast as you can).

To keep it simple, while you are in your threshold of a stretch, slowly flex the muscles that are under tension for a few seconds and then release the contraction. By doing this contraction and release, you stimulate the muscles to relax them a little more, lengthening the muscle tissue.

 PNF is also a great way to strengthen muscles while they are close to their maximal length. Keep in mind that this style of stretching is NOT a hypertrophy strength workout. This is not the kind of effort you would have while lifting weights at the gym. Think 30% effort. 

Find a tension level of a stretch where you can calmly breath, as well as not clenching any muscles in the face. The more the body can relax and turn on the parasympathetic nervous system, the deeper and safer the stretch can be. 

At Bodhi Surf + Yoga, we obviously love yoga, and some of these stretches can be seen in your typical yoga class. Naturally, we’ll share the Sanskrit names for each posture to share the yogic tradition and so you know what the teacher is saying in a class. 

With each stretch we will answer three questions: What is it? How to do it? And Why do it? 

Depending on your experience level, each stretch should be held for 1-3 minutes with 1-3 contractions. Be sure to inhale as you contract the target muscles, hold for a few seconds, and then exhale with the release. 

You may find a little more space to lengthen the stretch more, be sure to do it slowly. Same goes for coming out of each stretch: slow and steady. With each stretch, don’t be afraid to experiment and play to what feels good for your body.

Wide Leg Forward Fold (Prasarita Padottanasana) 

What is it? 

Prasarita Padottanasana is a standing posture with your hips open while folding the upper body forward. This stretch is great for opening up your hips, lengthening your hamstring muscles, and releasing pressure off your lower back. 

How to do it? 

Before starting, be sure to have some grip under your feet, whether it’s a yoga mat or shoes, etc. Also, have some props handy such as yoga blocks or a chair. 

First, bring your feet to about double your hip length. To benefit your surfing, try to keep both feet flat and parallel on the ground. 

Next, begin to hinge at the waist and slowly find your hands on the floor or on props. Remember to find your threshold, you may need to microbend the knees or bring the feet closer together.

 Lastly, relax the neck and head. Our heads can weigh as much as seven pounds. While in this folded position, relaxing your neck can allow gravity to bring you into a deeper stretch. 

For the PNF part of this stretch, inhale and contract the muscles as if you are bringing your feet together. The adductor muscles along the inside of the legs should be felt all the way from deep inside the hips to the knees. You can count to yourself, “1…2…3,” and exhale to release the muscle contraction. 

Make sure you can have support from your hands and arms to bring your legs back together. After safely coming out of the stretch, feel free to do some counter movements that feel nice such as hip circles and squats. 

Why do it? 

From the popup to riding the wave, hip mobility is crucial for surfing. Prasarita Padottanasana is a wonderful stretch for working your hip’s mobility while riding on the board. 

By working on the alignment of feet, knees, and hips, we improve our awareness of these joints in space and time. This allows efficient and safe movement while riding waves. 

Also, a common injury comes from having your feet slip out laterally on the surfboard. By lengthening your hip muscles you give yourself a little insurance policy of how far your legs can go until there is a strain. The less tension we can have in our muscles, the more our body can be like a rubber band instead of wood.

Low Squat (Malasana)

What is it? 

The low squat is bending your knees as far they can and allowing your hips to get as close as possible to the floor. Your chest and head remain upright while your shoulders snuggle between your knees. As children we naturally are able to perform this posture, but as we age and rely on chairs many people have lost this mobility. 

How to do it? 

Before you go trying this and falling on your butt, keep reading for the modifications to help you out. Ideally, you want to have your knees in full flexion, in line with your first or second toes, and have your chest upright as best as you can.

 A big factor with malasana is if the heels want to come up no matter how much you turn out the feet. Here’s a short list of the modifications to help you out:

• Elevate the heels with yoga blocks, books, the door mat, etc. 
• Slide your back against a wall as you squat down to help with forward leaning. 
• A block or books can be placed under the butt to ease the intensity and depth. 

Once you’ve found good balance and sustaining posture, the next step is to place your elbows in between the knees with palms together. A block between the legs can also replace your arms. This can help open up the hips more to create space.. 

It’s super beneficial to allow deep belly breathing in this position, you may be able to even expand all the way to your lower back, this breathwork can help relax your hips.

 For the PNF, contract your inner hip muscles by squeezing your knees into your elbows. We are working with many small muscles in the hips, please use no more than 30% effort with contracting. 

Why do it? 

The longboarders will appreciate malasana. This posture can help out ankle mobility, specifically dorsal flexion, where you bring your foot up to your shin. When standing up, dorsal flexion is seen with how much your knee bends past your toes. This movement comes in handy for cross stepping, hang fives, and hang tens on your 10-foot dance floor. 

Knee mobility is also worked here, our knees are literally bending as far as they can. From the pop-up to riding, our knees are bending all the time and are rarely ever locked out straight.

Lastly, when we’re not riding waves, we are sitting on our boards. Malasana helps with having an upright posture and open hips to allow yourself to sit comfortably. Surfboards can be as wide as two feet, having open hips can allow easy sitting and an upright spine while waiting for the next set of waves.

Puppy (Uttana Shishosana)

What is it? 

Uttana Shishosana, or puppy pose, is a wonderful shoulder and chest opener. It’s similar to a downward facing dog and child’s pose, but with a little more leverage focusing on the shoulders. It has essential thoracic (upper back) spinal movement to recover from a surf session or a long day hunched over the computer. 

How to do it? 

Start in a kneeling position and slowly walk the hands out in front of you. Imagine balancing a bowl of uvitas on your tailbone, keeping your hips up, knees around 90 degrees, all while easing your chest to the floor. Your feet can be flat or with toes on the floor. Your elbows can have a slight bend, it should not feel uncomfortable for them. 

With your hands, think about pressing each finger pad on the floor, firming the palm like giving a good high five. It is super important to be able to relax your neck and head. You can use props to rest your forehead, or even chest, to bring relaxation to the muscles in your upper back. 

For the PNF, slowly press the arms and hands down on the floor. At the same time, try to pretend like you are giving someone a hug with your shoulders. Inhale deeply into your stomach and exhale while making your chest feel really heavy.

If your knees are not liking this position, one wonderful modification for this posture is using the back of a chair while standing. Using a chair also allows a little more leverage to increase the stretch. 

Why Do it? 

Puppy pose is a wonderful stretch for after a good surf session. Especially if you spent a lot of time paddling. The more range of motion our shoulders have, the more efficient we can paddle.

If you work by the computer, puppy pose is a wonderful way to open the chest muscles and undo the hunched over position. This thoracic extension will also help with the ability to raise your chest up when performing the popping up. Surfing puts a lot of miles and hard work on your shoulders, keeping them healthy will have you surfing for life.

Cobra (Bhujangasana)

What is it?

Cobra, or Bhujangasana, is a stretch or extension in your abdominal muscles and compression in your lower back, also known as the lumbar spine. This posture can also lengthen your front hip flexors. 

How to do it? 

Start by lying on your stomach, be sure to have some padding underneath you, as your pelvis bone may press into the floor. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders and begin to push your chest and head up. Go slowly. Try to keep your hips on the floor as you lift up your upper body.

 If your hips begin to rise, you may be surpassing your threshold, so try to adjust as need be. As your arms and shoulders are active, allowing your chest and head to face in front of you, be sure to keep your shoulders down, meaning that they should not be trying to touch your ears. If it is not possible to have your arms straight, you can be on the forearms, or have props underneath them. 

As you settle into the posture, breathe into your stomach area as comfortably as you can. Similar to the low squat, by expanding your mid section with inhaling, this action can allow your lower back to relax more. The more your lower back can compress, the more of a stretch your abdominal muscles can receive. 

Because you are really working with the spine, you must be extra careful to know your limit. A common reaction is tingling or numbness in the legs and feet. If this happens be sure to come out of the posture or lower the intensity. 

For the PNF (remember what that stands for?), inhale and squeeze your muscles in your lower back as if trying to bring your chest even higher. With the exhale, be sure to soften the muscles in your lower back. You may also be contracting your butt muscles without knowing, be sure to give a quick body scan of how everything feels. 

Why do it? 

Bhujangasana can be seen during the pop-up when surfing. By having your chest facing forward and high, you can create the space needed for your legs to come forward for your stance. 

Another benefit of the cobra stretch is stretching out your abdominals and even your hip flexors. With paddling, the pop-up, twisting and turning, surfing is an intense core workout. The front of your hips are in a flexed position when sitting on your surfboard, by lengthening these muscles we can have less chance for injury for these small muscles.

Supine Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

What is it? 

Supta Matsyendrasana, or a supine twist, is a spinal twist for the whole spine. You may feel a good stretch in your glutes, iliotibial band, as well as your chest. Unlike the previous stretches, this stretch has two sides.

How to do it? 

Start in a lying position and fully relax the neck, shoulders, and hips. Bring one knee toward your chest and with your opposite hand guide your knee to the other side of your body. The other leg remains straight. 

The other arm can be at shoulder level on the floor and relaxed. The hand on the knee can help the leg stay in place, be sure that you’re not giving too much effort. The head and neck can be facing up towards the ceiling or to the opposite side of the bent knee. 

There can be many modifications with the supine twist. If the posture feels too intense, you can bring both knees to one side while keeping the arms out in a “T.” This will bring less leverage to the spine. Your arm that is not engaged in the stretch can rest on a prop or be placed anywhere that feels comfortable.

Don’t forget to do the other side! If since this is a posture with two sides, we want to be even. What might not be even is how each side feels. One side may feel tighter or looser than the other, and that’s OKAY. There can be many reasons for this. A method that we recommend and tell our students here at Bodhi Surf and Yoga is to focus on relaxing more. 

For the PNF of the posture, you will press your leg that is in the stretch into your hand. Be sure to send the breath into expanding the stomach and your lower back. Essentially, it is like you are trying to untwist yourself. 

Why do it? 

By the end of your stay at Bodhi Surf and Yoga you may have advanced your surfing to where you begin to turn the board. You will quickly realize that it takes your whole body to turn a surfboard, and with that you have to move your spine. 

Your spine can act like a coil to wind up and let loose to generate power. Whether it’s throwing a ball, a sidekick, swinging a golf club, or even spinning around in your office chair, your spine is at work to make it happen. Surfing is no different: from your toes to your eyes, your spine is what connects it all. 

The supine twist helps keep the spine loose and fluid for everyday life. Think of each vertebra as a chain link. As you move your body a ripple effect runs all the way up and down your spine. 

In yoga classes it is super important to warm up the spine before more demanding postures, and the same goes for when you go surfing. Practicing Supta Matsyendrasana will not only benefit your spine’s health but also take your surfing to the next level.

And now that you’ve ‘stretched’ your PNF understanding…

This list of postures can go on and on, but to keep things simple, start with these five stretches on a weekly basis. Your body will adapt over time if you stick to it. One way to create a habit of stretching is to always do it after surfing or the day after. 

By coupling these two activities together, the integration becomes so strong that you won’t even think about it. The PNF style of stretching can help develop a strength within your flexibility. Be sure to practice with intention and easy breathing. 

The body can move in so many ways to stay balanced. Whether you are on a surfboard or in a yoga class, movement is medicine. Come on down to Bodhi Surf + Yoga to experience the magic!