Hello James and Pooya,

thanks a lot for your support! My target group is an german surf club and I really have to do the test(s) outside the water and without any metrology equipment. Only parameter I can gather is repetition/time, distance etc. And of course I don't have much time - I need to test 30 athletes in 90 minutes. E.g. one test I'm thinking about is push-up's per minute. But actually a surfer doesn't need to do many push-up's per time.

Hi Christian,

I tend to think of surfing as having three elements that are suitable for performance testing in a lab or on dry land.

First, balance on the board. There are quite a few systems avaialbe to test standing balance on two feet. An example is the "Wobbegong" balance board. (Try searching using the terms Wobbegong and Balance). These systems give you a reading from movements of an inclinometer attached to an unstable board, as people try to keep if still. So it is similar to measuring sway on a force plate, except that the surface is unstable, so it matches surfing better. This would give you a 20-second test of balance stability on an unstable surface, which replicates that skill required to control a surf-board.

Second, arm fitness to paddle in to the breaking wave. Perhaps the Wingate crank test (a form of hand cycle, to explain it simply). This has been used a lot with swimmers. I'm not sure if surfers need arm endurance or sprint power. You would have to do a bit of motion analysis of surfers catching waves to see how long they paddle for, as well as the work they do to get back out beyond the break each time. Then you could treat them as a power swimmer or an endurance swimmer, depending on what you want to find out.

Third, jumping up onto the board. They do a powerful push-up and then spring to their feet. Perhaps you could use a force plate under their hands, and do a "clapping" push-up, to see how much sinlge-repetition force they can apply to launch themselves upwards. However, the most compatible test would also include a pwerful tucking up of the legs under them, so it is more like a "burpee" movement. Perhaps a power test for squat-tuck movement slike this would be more compatible (e.g. 10 seconds, maximum repetitions)?

I have not seen any evidence of these sorts of dry-land performance tests for surfers, so you would be doing something new. As a result you might have toestablish validity and relibility for any new versions of these tests that you create. (Still, that is what research is for...something new.)

Good luck.

Jeremy

Thank you Jeremy, you are right, this is what research is about. Actually I do agree with your three elements. In paddling you have to distinguish between paddling out into lineup (usually about 10-15 armstrokes, then you have to duckdive a wave; for about 10-15 minutes --> endurance) and starting into a wave (about 5 very strong armstrokes followed by the pop-up move --> Speed/explosive strength). Research Shows that 40-50% of surfingtime is paddling. So this is the most important part and the baseline.

Thank you Douglas. The latter Topic is what I'm thinking about. Thanks for the publications!

This paper maybe will be helpful for you. 

The paper is very interesting. Thank you so much, Ricardo!

I can imagine doing a vertical jump performance test (best of 3) with the persons and let's say time "balance" test on a Slackline. Maybe you can also check the "sensoboard - surf" for your investigation.

Good luck!

Hello Erich, thank you for your Support! Do I get you right? You think about a vertical jump test on a slackline and to measure the time to stabilization? Do you have ideas to standardize the test, because athletes are jumping higher will probably take more time to stabilize. And how is "stabilization" on a slackline defined? Thanks for your support again!

I though about doing a vertical jump test on the floor (Best of 3). We did already measurements on a Slackline with EMG and VICON. To standardise the Slackline test we used a 5kg weight plate - When we put it on the slackline we had to have all the time the same distance between the weight (lying on the slackline) and the floor. In our measurement we put the persons in the middle of the slackline and measured beside EMG and various angles the time of standing on the slackline. I think it's difficult to define "stabilization" on a Slackline. We were thinking about that a person isn't stable on the Slackline when the body's center of gravity is over a specified distance from the Slackline or when the standing leg leaves the Slackline.

Okay, thanks for your exploration. But I'm wondering which element of surfing the vertical jump on the floor should focus on?   

Got it. Maybe not a "best of 3" test in this area but for measuring the muscular endurance in the legs (which is important for a surfer) the persons could perform a test where they have to do as many squat jumps in a minute as possible.

Okay, thanks! I'm thinking about an 'Indo-Board'-test to measure muscular endurance in legs as well as balance in same time. But thanks for your idea, I'll reconsider my plans...

Hi Christian,

I found this paper, which is analysing the aerobic and anaerobic power of surfers "ANAEROBIC AND AEROBIC FITNESS PROFILING OF COMPETITIVE SURFERS. OLIVER FARLEY, NIGEL K. HARRIS, AND ANDREW E. KILDING" PMID: 21997448.

Maybe it is helpful to you. Furthermore I want to reccomend the Wingate Anaerobic Test (in your case you should try the arm crank version), the Wingate Anaerobic Test is very valid and reliable to test the anaerobic performance in athletes. "Inbar O, Bar-Or O, Skinner JS. The Wingate Anaerobic Test. 8th ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 1996.

I recentlly worked a lot with it.

Good luck, kind regards

Florian

Hi Florian,

thanks so much for the paper and your support - very helpful!

Christian,

There is a group of researchers from California State University at San Marcos (San Diego area) studying surfers right now. They are looking at physiological and other measurements. You should check them out. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/may/05/csusm-recreational-surfing-study/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/csusm-looks-at-recreational-surfing-as-viable-form-of-fitness-254697141.html

Best, Melinda

Thank you very much, Melinda. I'm gonna check out These studies!