fear of paddling out help!!! xD

some big wave surfers claim that sometimes when they know a beating is coming, and they have a little time, they will do something similar to hyperventilating before taking a deep breath. it will increase the oxygen saturation or something like that.

 

All it does it reduce the CO2 concentration in the blood, but it's the elevated level of CO2 in the blood that accompanies holding your breath that compels you to breathe. When you don't experience this compulsion due to artificially decreasing the concentration of CO2 in your blood, you essentially forget to breathe, and black out.

 

Your science is correct, but it's not necessarily a bad or dangerous thing. It's about moderation. When you learn to dive, they teach you this technique as it can be super beneficial and maybe save your life one day.

If you know you're going to get crushed (or if you like to free dive), hyperventilating is a good trick, yes, but only 2 or 3, maybe 4 tops times. As BCN correctly points out, the rapid breathing expels the CO2 from your blood, CO2 levels being the trigger that make you need to breathe. The risk isn't then "forgetting to breathe" and blacking out, it's more when people hyperventilate too many times too rapidly (in an attempt to allow them to hold their breath even longer) and black out from low oxygen levels. When done correctly (3 or so quick breaths), it's not a danger and can indeed give you extra time underwater.

 

Ok dawgs, the dude said he's in fine physical shape and it's all mental so cease the Richard Simmons suggestions.

Jetty jump.

Xanax or other anxiety mediactions. Beer. Use something to take the edge off for a month until you get to the point where you aren't even thinking aboot your inhibitions. Then gradually ween off the substances.

Or just keep paddling out, fighting your fear, and hopefully your condition will fade away.

Maybe seek psychiatric help. Maybe you were a pirate who was killed by the King's Navy in a previous life. Or you were shipwrecked, and/or drowned.

It is undertsantable to be weary paddling out on big days if you aren't in good shape and have poor cardio health. But if you are in shape, there must be some deeper issue at hand. Maybe you're just not an ocean person. That would be a tough brain-wiring to reprogram.

 

The difference BCN is referring to is hyperventilation when you are panicked is much different than voluntarily hyperventilating before a long hold down.

 

People constantly drown from hyperveltilating on purpose. We're talking experienced swimmers/divers. But be my guest, use the technique. Just know what you're doing out there, that's all.

 

I'd think one wouldn't have enough time to actually hyperventilate in the event of a wipeout. You normally have a very limited window between the moment you realize you're going down and the moment you hit water, so you'd be lucky to get 3 breaths in before going under. Unless of course your falling from a 23 footer, then by all means, hyperventilate away!

 

I think all of us have gotten nervous in the surf at one point or another. When I feel my gonads start to silently creep upwards into my abdomen, I remind myself of one critical fact: deep water is in a lot of ways the safest place to be. As long as you keep your leash on and keep calm, it's very, very hard to get into real trouble. Unless you're in 12-foot-plus waves, the waves just aren't powerful enough to hold you under long enough to drown you. Just relax and enjoy the washing machine and it will spit you out LONG before you run out of breath. As long as you stay calm, you'll be fine.

My two boys (ages 10 and 7) surf, and i make them recite "the two rules" before we paddle out. (1) don't panic, and (2) stay with your board. As i tell them, as long as you keep calm and stay with your board, nothing that bad can really happen. You'll float around and sooner or later someone will come and get you if necessary.

So paddle out to the deep stuff and have fun!

 

best advice i can give is be patient and take your time.remember your not going out there to impress anyone or drop a new web clip,your there for fun.also its hard to impress anyone when your surfing 2ft waves.i had the same problem when i started,what i would do is practice swimming out without a board.thats the one thing that always scared me,paddling out with a long fiberglass stick roped to your leg.when u swim out,u dont have to worry about sinking a shortboard/longboard whatever..swim out past the breakers and bodysurf a few waves.when i started out,il paddle out on an onshore crosschop day with nothing but closeouts,but i didnt know any better.there werent forums or websites like this when i started.i took some serious beatings,like thinking u can paddle over a wave and it picks u up and slams u down backwards.or when u wipeout and u think its over,but iit pulls u under and have no control.what a lot of newbies doont know is how shallow the east coast is,and thats what always scares me.u can go out on a solid 6ft day and right where the waves break itll be waist deep.its like u paddle over the first 2 waves of the set,then your out there and theres no turning back and u got 2 waves already breaking infront of u,so u got to duckdive or jump off your board.i seen some recent stuff of longboarders when the wave is about to break on top of them paddling out,they stand up on the board and pass right over it.im not out there to impress anyone or anything.i try to surf a spot with maybe 2 other guys out.the more people in the water,the more risk u have of getting ran over and u running somebody over.also u dont have to try to shred,just surf like a kook.nothing wrong with that.the problem with kooks are most of them paddle out at spots reserved for some talent,and sit on the inside and guys got to bail so they dont run them over.everybody starts out the same.u dont just show up to the beach one day and get barreled or do turns or airs.if i see somebody struggling i try to give them some pointers.swimmers or surfers,nobody is going to drown while im in the water,unless they get eaten by a shark.theres days like today where the waves break right on the beach,then u have long period swells that break a half mile out and tumble all the way to shore.im gonna smoke a joint in a little bit and try to find a good sandbar in my area and hopefully catch a few little waves.if not il just go swimmin.no problem.as long as i get in the water im happy,whether swimmin,diving,surfing,kooking,whatever.its all about having fun

 

Oh sorry dude, I forgot to add this: On a bigger day, watch the surf. Watch one pitch and explode(North Jersey) or watch one mush and crumble(Virginia Beach/Florida version). Even on a big day, by east coast standards, it is only a few seconds from the point that the wave breaks until it has dissapated to the point where you'd pop back up. Really, it is such a short period of time. Usually less than ten seconds.

Though the Swellinfo community seems to constantly be riding "Double Overhead" waves, it rarely gets 8 foot on the east coast. There are very few days that would be considered "dangerous."

Dude, it's all mind over matter. I know it's easier said than done, but work at it, and you'll be ok.

Look at duck diving as a fun experience. One in which you're hiding/escaping the power of nature by taking quick refuge in the deep blue sea. Look at paddling out as part of the experience as a whole. Paddling out is better than climbing rocks, and then you have the whole wave riding thing to look forward to.

 

i agree with this guy.no mattter what the wave will let u go.u might tumble underwater for 5seconds,but afterwards itll let u up,unless your out on a rising swell where your going to take the next sets on the head.deep water is the safest bet.waves break when they hit the sandbar,or when there is no sandbar,itll dump on the beach as shorebreak.also another thing il add,is always swim or paddle diagnolly,never go straight out or come right in.i always assume im in a rip so i swim at angles.for a little practice go to a gaurded beach and try to swim to the outside then swim 3 lifegaurd stands.depending on the conditions youll probably pass through 2 rips.its not the rips u want to be worried about,its that toilet bowl thing that keeps u right in the same place taking waves on the head.youd think that itll blast u to the beach,but youll be there for 10 minutes until a lull comes and not go anyway

 

PJB - whats with the ongoing rock climbing digs dude? There is no way that paddling out is more fun than rock climbing. Its more fun than slogging up a steep snow slope though, with similar risk of much H20 (in various forms) sweeping you away. Although i would much rather take a big swell on the head than a small avalanche. Physics is not your friend in an avy, but i digress...

its all good...

 

Errbuddy got their tastes brah!! How many old women you know don't like crumpets and shuffleboard more than rock climbing? Personally, I can't stand climbing rocks. I damn near busted my stick climbing up those slippery, mossy rocks at Point Judith the other day. I do like that you like it though! I'm not afraid of much at all in this world, but clinging to and scaling a ledge is not on my bucket list. Even if there's an inflatable moon bounce below. Yous one brave braddah! I respect that.

 

emass - thats cause you are too darn huge from all your benchoffs versus the pier shotters! climbing is not for the bulky. i am already pushing the limits on the size front as it is.

I actually use your paddling exercises from earlier in the thread for climbing training as well. the two activities are very complimentary in terms of physical and mental training (except for the whole swimming thing). combine that with tricep extensions and a bunch of single armed cable exercises to simulate paddling. I try to do alot of the exercises on a bosu ball to always work balance, core and stabilizers.

 

Take up Golf.

 

This exercise advice is pretty silly. Do all the situps and sprints you want, it won't help. Do you want to be good at doing situps or do you want to overcome your fear of paddling out? Not sure why someone scared of the ocean would take up surfing but whatever. Fear comes from the unknown, familiarity will beat fear. Its funny that someone mentioned golf. I play golf 1-2x a year, and I'm pretty bad. About 10 years ago I played in a scramble with a bunch of new clients, and let me tell you, the half hr waiting to tee off in front of everyone was absolutely mother****ing mortifying, worse than anything I've experienced in the water.

 

Seems pretty normal to feel fear when youRe starting out. Even pros feel fear, just for scarier situations. It's all relative. For a beginner a four foot wave is as scary as a 23' wave for a pro. Just accept the fear, don't criticize yourself for feeling it. Go out on some smaller days to build your skills and confidence.

 

Haha no wayz brah, you must've missed the thread where SUP and I were talking about MA and body weight and such. I used to be as much as 228 and did powerlifting meets. I'm 172 now and way happier and mobile/versatile at this body type.

I can talk all day bout S&C. Which other movement are you talking about aside from the isolation movement facing the pulldown machine? That one needs a name BTW!

Triceps kickbacks with a light to moderate DB will basically mimic the end of and follow through of the S-paddle perfectly, especially if you kick it out away from the body at a 45 degree angle (for the tail of the S-shape). Keep in mind that to get optimal resistance against gravity specific to the intended muscle area to be worked, you should be postured up on a bench with the non-kickback arm (you do one arm at a time obvi) with upper body parallel to bench and floor much like you would for a DB row. The key is also to keep your upper arm equally parallel with the bench, floor and the rest of your upper body. Giving this a big squeeze at the full lockout will make for an excellent follow through.

Also, since that's not working all three heads of the triceps and also not covering all the muscles used and in the way that they're being used for a proper surf paddle (not SUP paddle!), we have a couple more exercises to use. One is the skull-crusher on a 45-degree incline bench. You see people do these laying flat on a bench and there's more room for error there and harder to keep it triceps-specific. You'll end up getting unwanted help from the chest and shoulders in a bench press sense. For incline skull-crushers, keep elbows perfectly in line with shoulders (they'll want to kick out wide for help from other muscles) and this can be achieved by putting tension on the pecs in the same squeeze you'd use on a chest fly. You also want your upper arm completely vertical and perpendicular to the floor.

That is by far the best overall triceps movement. You'd be well off if you were to only do those and others are more bodybuilding supplements though the kickback is pretty specific to paddle follow through. Standing triceps pushdown with a lat pulldown bar, rope, or any bar is a junk exercise even though you see too many people do it because it's easy and works the smallest head of the tri. If you want a third exercise then do overhead DB triceps press. It is similar to the incline skull-crushers but you'll be seated upright at the end of a bench and have a single DB of decent weight and you'll hold it straight up and down over the head by cupping each of your hands in an "OK" sign, stacking them one of top of the other, and wrapping your thumbs and index fingers around the base of the upper head of the DB.

I'm sick of typing (really!) right now and am starving so I'll give you the name of the DB chest pullover and you can look that up or get the jist from me later. Make sure you use the side of a bench as the "back to your chair" so you are kind of crouch positioned.

You can YouTube all of this for clarity but as with anything else, look at 10 videos and you'll get an idea of which 3-4 of them are correct. I do it for anything athletic, technological, mechanical, or construction.

Stability ball is excellent and there's a wide spectrum of right and wrong ways to use them. Tons of variability with it though so it's definitely in the "functional strength" (i.e. very sports-specific, not just a gym exercise like bench press) department.

 

No sillier than that post of yours. We were clear that gym exercises are a supplement, not a substitute, for paddling itself. The combo of both (done properly) will give you a better result than just paddling alone. You're probably one of those "just go out and surf, brah" dudes that jumped all over me here when I arrived and mentioned that I actually do frequent a circuit training workout at times. We were also talking about very specific exercises closely related to paddling movements, not "situps and sprints". You must think of weight training, functional athletic training, speed and conditioning training and the like as "calisthenics my 70s gym teacher tried to get me to do".

And people say I have questionable posts...

Good luck with your next golf scramble. Maybe you'll do some situps and sprints between now and then.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ba98kojKpc

had to share,this is everyday on the eastcoast