Abstract
The surf pop-up is a unique and challenging skill, critical to successful surfing. Hypothesizing that anthropometric characteristics of surfers influence the pop-up performance, we aimed to measure kinematics and ground-reaction forces (GRF) during a simulated pop-up motion, and to relate these variables with anthropometric characteristics. Twenty-three male surfers (age: 28.4 ± 10.1 years old; body mass: 68.3 ± 10.8 kg; height: 1.73 ± 0.07 m; time of practice: 12.4 ± 8.9 years; arm-span: 1.75 ± 8.9 m) perform a simulated pop-up in the laboratory, while GRF and 3D motion-capture data were acquired. The duration of the pop-up was 1.20 ± 0.19 s (60% push-up and 40% reaching/landing phase). During the push-up, the hands were placed 0.46 ± 0.05 m apart and generated a relative total peak-force of 0.99 ± 0.10 N/Weight, with symmetrical impulse of 0.30 ± 0.05 N·s/Weight for the dominant and 0.29 ± 0.07 N·s/Weight for the nondominant hand. Elbow angles were not different during the peak force application (110 ± 18° vs. 112 ± 18°, respectively) of the push-up phase. During the landing phase, the feet were placed 0.63 ± 0.10 m apart and generated a relative peak force of 1.63 ± 0.18 N/Weight. The impact force during landing was applied unevenly between the rear foot (28%) and the front foot (72%). In conclusion, most anthropometric-related variables showed no relationship with performance variables, with the exception of an inverse relationship between muscle mass and pop-up total duration. We also observed no differences in upper- and lower-body kinematics between the dominant vs. nondominant hands and among surfers who preferred a regular vs. “goofy-foot” stance. Finally, the force profiles between hands were similar and symmetric, while the lower extremities during the reaching phase were different, with the front foot applying greater force than that of the rear foot.
Highlights
While the pop-up motion can be isolated and examined in the laboratory, it occurs in the water as a seamless extension of the paddling motion performed as a surfer catches a wave
A significant inverse relationship was found between skeletal muscle mass percentage and total duration of the pop-up (r = −0.50; p = 0.01), but no other relationships were found between anthropometric variables and performance
A simulated pop-up motion performed by surfers in the laboratory was analyzed using motion capture and specially configured force platforms
Summary
Wave riding is the essence of surfing, but the successful performance of this highly advanced motor skill cannot be achieved without first completing a series of complex tasks in a dynamic and unstable environment. The “pop–up”, defined as a quick transition from the prone to standing position on a surfboard, is one such task that is critical to surfing performance. While the pop-up motion can be isolated and examined in the laboratory, it occurs in the water as a seamless extension of the paddling motion performed as a surfer catches a wave. While positioning for a wave, several quick and powerful paddling strokes are needed to attain enough speed to allow the wave’s energy to propel the surfer and surfboard forward and down the face of the wave. When the surfer is about to ride the wave, there is a brief but crucial moment during which the surfer must quickly pop-up and begin to perform maneuvers on the wave [1,2,3,4]
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