• Written by Rich McNabb • Proofread & Edited by Claude AI
The stretch routine, hydration timing and nutrition habits that make recovery actually happen, especially in winter when it's the last thing you want to do. Built around the same gluten and dairy-free rules as everything else here.
Stretching before a surf makes a real difference, I always feel better for it. Post-surf stretching is the one I have to force myself into, especially in winter when the cold makes it the last thing you want to do.
The routine’s the same every time: get home, wash and dry the gear, check it for damage, eat something, have a shower first to warm up, then stretch. Being warm when you stretch makes the world of difference. Warm muscles beat cold ones, fewer injuries that way too.
This includes the board, wash it down, dry it off, and give it a proper look over before it goes back in the bag, fins still screwed in tight, no dings or damage picked up during the session.
Some days the Shakti mat and pillow come out too, once the stretching’s done, either that evening or the day after if the body’s still feeling it. Same acupressure routine that’s already part of the daily setup, sometimes headphones and an eye mask, sometimes without, depending on how loud the house is and how I’m feeling that day.
Completely adaptive, never the same twice, then extra work on a day the muscles actually need it. The Theragun massage gun comes out on those days as well, working through whatever’s tightest before it turns into a proper knot. Lower back’s normally the sore spot, so the massage roller gets used there most often.
No worries, you can skip the story and jump straight to the post-surf stretching.
Everything below skips dairy, gluten, and nightshades, my own allergies mean I’ve had to get familiar with what’s safe well before writing any of this down.
Same format as the warmup, broken down by position so you’re not thinking about order, just working through it.
Nutrition’s the last piece of the recovery puzzle, alongside the stretching and hydration already covered above. Nothing complicated, just a working list of what actually gets reached for once the adrenaline’s worn off and the fridge door’s open.
Full disclosure: half of this list is as much a reminder for me as it is advice for anyone else, something to come back to when I’m stuck for ideas and staring blankly into the fridge, not a rulebook I follow to the letter every single day.
Proteins:
Chicken breast, turkey breast, lean beef, pork roasts and tenderloin, venison, fish, tuna, shellfish, eggs, tempeh, tofu, edamame, peanuts and peanut butter.
Legumes:
Lentils, chickpeas, black beans, peas, kidney beans, pinto beans and navy beans.
Carbs:
Brown rice, quinoa and sweet potato.
Healthy fats:
Avocado, almonds, pumpkin seeds, chia seed, pistachios, cashews, sunflower seeds and flax seeds.
Fruit:
Apple, banana, blueberry, grapes, kiwi fruit, mango, melon, pineapple and strawberry.
Vegetables:
Asparagus, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrot, cucumber, kale and spinach.
Drinks and extras:
Coffee, cacao powder, kombucha, matcha tea and pea protein powder.
What happened out in the water is a different kind of story.
There’s an old idea called “Set and Setting”, mindset and environment together decide how something affects you, more than either one alone. Turns out it’s a decent way to think about big water too.
Set is what you bring in with you, and that’s the part that’s actually changed over the years. Setting is everything outside you, reading the ocean, watching how other surfers react to what’s coming, knowing where a peak actually breaks, not just where you’d guess.
I’ve surfed Lyall Bay for years. Never my favourite, that’s always been Titahi Bay. For ages Lyall Bay either gave me nothing or subjected me to an absolute beating, until I found a better peak further down the beach and the place finally clicked.
Knowing a break doesn’t mean it can’t still get you, though. A set came through, three waves, bigger than everything else that day, and I got caught right on the inside. Worst spot possible.
First wave, scary. Second, scarier. By the third I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. When I finally surfaced I didn’t think twice about calling it and paddled straight to shore and sat on the sand, contemplating life.
Setting is what got me that day, not because I didn’t know the break, just because three bigger sets caught me in exactly the spot I shouldn’t have been. What changed in between is its own story covered throughout this four-part surf workout series.
This April I surfed Fitzroy Beach, a break I’d never surfed before. Unfamiliar setting, the exact thing that got me at Lyall Bay years earlier. This time I stayed out there and felt more in control the whole session.
Not because surf training makes you invincible, it doesn’t, and I’m not claiming it does. It’s that I’d caught up enough to handle an unfamiliar setting, something I couldn’t do years earlier even on a break I already knew.
Four parts that work as one complete system. Strength training, built from the ground up after a shoulder injury. Flexibility and mobility, the small daily rituals that keep it moving. The routine that actually gets me out the door on cold mornings. Stretching, hydration and nutrition that close the loop on recovery.
How I built my own surf strength training routine from scratch after a shoulder injury, the actual workout, the gear that matters, and what changed once I stopped chasing goals and built systems. No shortcuts, just a proper, structured plan.
Improve mobility and recovery with surf-specific stretches, a minimal home gym setup, and small daily habits, like surf skateboarding, that stick once motivation fades. Built around what actually works, not just theory.
The system that gets me out the door on cold mornings, wetsuit on before I've even checked the cam, gear packed the night before, no room left to talk myself out of it. Plus the actual warm-up and stretch routine I run through every time.
The stretch routine, hydration timing and nutrition habits that make recovery actually happen, especially in winter when it's the last thing you want to do. Built around the same gluten and dairy-free rules as everything else here.