Not approving of this, your mum may have said, “Wait 20 minutes before you go swimming", but what she may not have warned you about was stretching before you go surfing.
Now I can understand the excitement, you have just arrived at the beach, your friends are already surfing and there's a nice glassy three-foot set rolling through. The last thing you want to do is warm-up & stretch for 10 minutes before you paddle out.
Whetheryouʼre a beginner or pro, doing warm-up stretches before you surf is so important. Surfing works your whole body especially your core muscles in your arms, shoulders and back. "But Tim I don't want to stretch it's boring". Yes it may be, but it reduces risk of injury & fatigue. It also improves flexibility, body control and strength. Which in turn, allows you to paddle faster giving you more waves, better movability when riding the wave so you can perform dynamic turns.
And lets face it, we all want to be better surfers, we all want people to be impressed by our surfing. Without stretching you will be only be able to go so far.
Tim's Tip: Do a range of different muscle stretches making sure the whole body is looked after.