Surfing The Silver Dragon - Surfing

The Qiantang River that flows through Hangzhou City in China has a famous tidal bore that generates some impressive ways from time to time.  This past year it has been really going off.  Here is an awesome video catching a rare glimpse of a few surfers getting to ride the waves....

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What Is Crossfit? - Crossfit

For a while now I have been searching for different activities that allowed me to get a good workout while enjoying the ride.  My efforts were centered on the concept of “If I enjoy the activity enough I won’t notice I am working out”.  I have gone back and forth with what I call “scheduled movement time” like running or weight lifting and some sort of sport like surfing or mountain biking.  So far I have been able to mix it up pretty well and have had great results.  Lately, I have been hearing more and more about this relatively new workout called Crossfit and have wanted to give it a shot to see what the buzz is about. Below is a short video demonstrating the various exercises involved in a crossfit workout So, what is crossfit? Crossfit is a blend of various workouts...

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Wavegarden - Surfing

Check out this awesome wavegarden they are trying to perfect.  I believe it is located in Spain.  They invited some surfers from O'neil to check it out. ...

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I Will Find My Board! - Surfing

The more I try to surf the more I am seeing how important board selection is to the whole process.  I have been bouncing around from board to board over the last month trying to narrow down the best board for me.  I already purchased a 6’6’’ fish and an 8’0’’ funboard.  These two purchases were definitely a learning experience because of their impulse nature.  I did not do my due diligence in researching a wide variety of boards and ended up making bad choices. After the previous board choice debacles I decided to dive into the process of selecting a surfboard deep and try to not make a miss-informed choice.  I scoured the internet searching for articles on longboards.  I borrowed a few boards from different friends to try out in the water to get a good feel for...

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Making Good Use Of My Time - Running

Over the past week I have been making it a point to run during my lunch.  The reason for this is because after sitting back and analyzing my entire day I came to the conclusion that at least 8 hours a day five days a week are completely wasted when it comes to getting anything done that is not work related.  There is only so much time during the day and only so many days a week.  I have been struggling trying to put together a solid routine that I can stick to and still maintain enough free time to have a social life or to just simply relax.  So the conclusion… get my cardio done during my lunch. At first when I started this project I wanted to use alternative exercises like surfing, swimming, or skateboarding to keep me in shape.  The small problem I am running into...

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The Board Search Continues - Surfing

It looks like my search for a good board still continues.  I have been going back and forth between a 9’0’’ Costco longboard my buddy at work bought and an 8’0’’ funboard I bought from a local surf shop a few years ago.  I am really starting to learn that the conditions vary from day to day and it’s good to have as many options in your “quiver” as possible.  As of late, I have really wanted to get a longer board, one that accelerates very quickly and is wide enough that it floats me and has a stable feel to it when standing.  I went out surfing yesterday at what is considered a beginner spot and found that my board is just a tad too short for the conditions there, for the most part.  Of course, when I say that you have to take into account my skill level… Which is...

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Busy Day At The Park - Skateboarding

I took out my new Tan Tien flex 2 with gold Paris 180 trucks out to a VERY busy park yesterday.  I went with skateboarding instead of surfing yesterday because the water was absolutely crowded and I didn’t feel like fighting for a wave.  I had a great time skateboarding though and got a great workout in the process.  I am still new to skateboarding so going to a busy park with people everywhere and kamikaze children running in front of you was not the ideal place for a beginner to skate but I wanted to see how I would do. I was happy with how I did though, I recently learned how to foot break so that saved me on countless occasions...

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Getting Back At It - Surfing

I have been lagging the past week and have not been able to get out to surf.  We are heading into the summer months here in SoCal and I am noticing the amount of people in the water is growing fast.  I have been looking forward to the summer, not only for the warm weather but also because the waves are supposed to get smaller which is good for me.  I went out a few days ago and got thrown around by 4-5 ft waves.  I left the surf that day feeling discouraged and beaten.  I didn't catch anything and pearled once when attempting to catch some white water.  I guess surfing is like golf, if you don't do it often you can get worse! I know this is not the case but it sure felt that way.  I spoke to a guy I work with that has been surfing for years and he said that...

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Channeling My Inner Michael Phelps - Swimming

One exercise I have been overlooking for a while is swimming. I have not been in a pool to swim laps in many years. This is mostly because I did not have access to a pool for a few years and now that I do, the pool is a bit over crowded. I decided a few days ago to stop using that as an excuse and jump back in the pool to swim some laps. The main reason I am getting back into swimming is because I have been reading a lot of articles online that have been talking about thermodynamics in relation to weight loss. Supposedly, and from what I am reading the science backs up the claims, if you spend time in a colder environment your body's natural...

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Dolphins, Sunsets, and Awesome Waves - Surfing

Yesterday had to easily be the best day I have had surfing since I began a few months ago. My roommate and I originally decided to try and stand up paddle board based off of the Surfline.com report for our surf spot that was claiming 1-2 ft conditions. Also, the day before it was 1-2 ft and very mild with very few people at the spot on a Sunday. So, based off of these two indicators I thought it would be even slower on a Monday with the same conditions… I was wrong. After we loaded the massive stand up paddle board on to my car we drove down and were completely surprised to see the parking lot packed. After we finally found a spot we walked down to the beach and were even more surprised when we saw 2-4 ft waves that were completely glassy with a nice long wave to ride and plenty to go...

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Tim Boydell Indy Surf Film - Surfing

I came across this teaser trailer by Tim Boydell for what looks to be an independent film about surfing around the world and wanted to share. I love the visuals and the music they chose.  The surfing clips were very motivational and now, after watching it, I find myself staring at the clock wishing it was 5 so I can go surf. TR7 Productions 2010/2011 from Tim Boydell on Vimeo....

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Cruising On The Tan Tien - Skateboarding

Just as I had started to get going with an awesome routine and was making great progress with surfing I got sick a few days ago.  It was some sort of head cold that pretty much knocked me out of commission for the past three days.  I was still feeling it a little yesterday but I felt well enough to get out so I decided to go for a ride on my Tan Tien.  I stayed away from surfing because the water temp here in San Diego is right about 64 degrees so I figured it wasn't a good idea to sit in cold water when you are just getting over a cold. My roommate and I grabbed our boards and headed down to the bay to skateboard around.  I usually use the Kahuna Big Stick when I longboard skateboard because of my knee issues but I decided not to use it this time and try to focus on learning...

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One Week Down - Weight Training

As of today I have completed one week of weight training.  It doesn't sound like much but to me it's great because it makes it significantly easier to get myself to the gym knowing I have some foundation to build from when the next week comes along.  Also, I am now one week closer to making a habit out getting to the gym.  The hardest part for me is just GETTING to the gym.  I always seem to find some sort of excuse to opt out for the day.  Excuses like I have to go to the bank, I didn't bring my gym clothes, and traffic will be bad when I get out. These excuses may sound dumb to a hardened gym rat but someone like that has got years of solid gym time.  When you are just starting out it is hard to get motivated and also difficult to create a routine...

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Pop Up Technique - Surfing

Myself and two buddies went out surfing yesterday at the surf spot out by my job.  The conditions were awesome!  We had sets with 4 - 6 ft waves with plenty to go around.  I have to admit that as a beginner, 4 - 6 ft waves still scare me but I just decided to give it a shot and I am glad I did.  At first we didn't realize how big the sets would get when we got in the water.  We made the long paddle out to the break with little trouble.  There was some chop but not too bad.  After we got out there a bigger set came in so my buddy yelled "outside!".  After I heard that I looked out and saw a nice wave heading straight for me so I got in my paddle position on the board and hit the turbo button so I can get out past the breaking point of this set. Luckily,...

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Alternative Exercises To Squats - Weight Lifting

I have absolutely terrible knees and I am always looking for alternative exercises to squats because they cause a great deal of knee pain for me.  I recently have decided to get back to the gym and the main reason for that is so that I can strengthen my legs to make me more stable during my other exercises like surfing and skateboarding.  So that being said I have started researching alternatives to squats and this is what I have found. Leg Presses One exercise that I am able to do with relatively less knee pain is the leg press.  The leg press machine allows me to be in a seated position so I can isolate the legs muscles with...

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Funboard FTW? - Surfing

I have actually managed to go surfing 3 days in a row as of yesterday.  I am still trying to determine which shape and size board I want to really focus on so the last three days I used 3 different size boards.  On Saturday I used my roommate’s 9’0’’ longboard that I repaired, on Sunday I used my own 6’6’’ fish, and yesterday I took out my 7’6’’ board.  Each one is completely different for sure.  I need to make a decision because I think I am not progressing as fast as I should due to the fact that I keep jumping between 3 different board styles.  The short fish shaped board is definitely too short for me at this time...

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Weight Training Begins Today - Weight Training

So today is my official day for getting back to the gym for a set workout routine for lifting weights.  I have been putting this off for as long as I can but it is becoming more and more evident that I need to do some strength training in order to speed up my progress in my other exercises.  I have had a few times where a wave has taken the board out of my hands when I am trying to turtle roll so I really want to strengthen my arms for that.  Also, I am a bit sluggish when it comes to popping up after I catch a wave so my goal is to strengthen my chest with some dumbbell chest press and flys. I am not new to lifting weights. ...

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Shane Dorian Flotation Wetsuit - Surfing

After a scary wipeout at Mavericks surf spot in California pro surfer Shane Dorian came up with an idea to add an air bladder to a wetsuit that would inflate to bring a surfer to the surface in the event of a hold-down scenario.  This concept is amazing and I cannot believe no one has thought of this yet.  Below is a video explaining the development process Shane and Billabong went through to produce an early prototype. Right now it appears that this type of wetsuit is only available for the upper elite pro surfers but hopefully this idea will catch on and become available to the rest of ...

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Getting Started In Kite Boarding - Kiteboarding

Kiteboarding is a sport that I have been trying to get into for many years now.  One of my main setbacks in regards to getting involved with this sport is that it requires a lot of equipment.  Another reason I have not been able to get heavily involved yet is because of the cost associated with learning this sport.  It is highly recommended you take lessons with a certified kiteboarding instructor instead of trying to learn on your own, because of the unforgiving nature of a kiteboarding mishap.  So, on top of having to purchase all of the gear, you will have to add kiteboarding lessons into you budget as well.  I have...

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Longboard Or Shortboard - Surfing

Until now I have not had a longboard surfboard that I can use while I am at home.  I always use my co-workers longboard at work and my 7’6’’ board when I am home.  Thanks to my roommate and his beater longboard that needed repairs those days are over.  He told me that if I fix the numerous dings and holes on his old longboard I can use it as often as I like, so I did.  I spent all weekend and about $20 worth of Solarez fixing the board and I think it turned out great. My other roommate and I decided to go surfing today at Tourmaline.  So I threw the Frankenstein longboard on top of my Jeep and went down there.  Unfortunately,...

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Repaired My Surfboard - Surfing

I found a hole in the bottom of my mid sized board a few days ago and was really bummed because I do not have enough money to spend on surfboard repair.  Well I looked online and found this stuff called Solarez.  This stuff works great and only takes about 10 minutes to use. Epoxy Surfboard Hole Above is a picture of the hole I found in the tail of my epoxy board.  Unfortunately, the guy at the surfboard shop did not ask me whether I had an epoxy board or a fiberglass board so he gave me the polyester Solarez resin that is meant for fiberglass boards.  I found this out after I made the repair haha but oh well it still worked...

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Always Be Prepared - Surfing

My surf buddy and I just took a quick drive out to our surf spot to arbitrarily check out the conditions during lunch.  Unfortunately, my buddy did not bring his board with him today so it really didn’t matter if the conditions were good or not but it was an awesome day so it was still worth it to go.  I am happy we went and checked it out because this is what we saw. Terra Mar Surf Spot I took this pic today!  The waves are definitely not huge today but they are nice and glassy with a long wave that was breaking very clean.  We watched a lady catch a wave on the outside break and ride it all the way in to the shore, and it...

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Surfs Up! - Surfing

Man it feels like it’s been ages since the last time I surfed… I guess it’s only been about a week but that just seems like way too long.  The conditions in SoCal have not been great for beginners the past week and it has really had me bummed.  There was an awesome swell last week which is great, if you’re good and know what to do with the large waves but not great if you are still trying to stand up in the white wash like a noob.  Today I forgot about the last week in a second because the waves were awesome! I paddled out to the point break again and sat there for a bit before I decided to get out of there because I did not want...

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Getting Back To The Gym - Weight Training

After a long internal debate I have decided to get back to a regular gym schedule to do some moderate weight training.  One of the main driving forces for my blog is to take part in a variety of activities to make the experience of working out not feel forced, boring, and scheduled.  I really want to re-wire my brain so I become an active person that does not rely on countless hours on an elliptical machine, treadmill, or stationary bike.  I want to get the bulk of my exercising from activities such as kayaking, surfing, road biking, skateboarding, basketball, or whatever else I can think of.  That still leaves one main piece to leading a healthy life style, weight training. Part of me feels like going to the gym to lift heavy things is in the same class as scheduled movement...

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Turning Nothing Into Something - Skateboarding, Basketball, Land Paddling

I was really unmotivated to do anything today but my roommate Zak convinced me to get out and do something, I am glad he did.  I had a lot of options to choose from for an activity today and we couldn’t decided so we loaded Zak’s Bronco up with everything lol.  I am not even kidding either, we stuffed two surfboards, two skateboards, a Kahuna Big Stick, basketball shoes, a basketball, two wetsuits, skate shoes, and some towels in his truck and just went out looking for whatever might look good today. We drove down to our surf break in San Diego only to discover it was completely blown out and too small and mushy for the short boards...

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The Wedge Got Huge This Weekend - Surfing

This past week Southern California had a large swell which caused the famous spot in Newport Beach, CA called “The Wedge” to get pretty big.  The media circus showed up on May 19th which hyped up the swell even more.  Here is a video of some pretty crazy wipeouts on May 19th, 2011. The Wedge is a world famous surfing and bodysurfing spot located in Newport Beach, California.  The massive beach break waves are a result of improvements made to the rock jetty, in the 1930s, on the west side of the harbor entrance. This creates some massive waves that get as high as 30 feet!  I would never have the stones or talent to...

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Loaded Tan Tien - Gear, Skateboarding

The Loaded Tan Tien is a longboard skateboard that has become very popular among longboarders all around the world in the past year.  The Tan Tien dimensions are 39'' long, a 27'' wheelbase, and 8.75'' wide.  There are three different decks you can choose from that have three different weight thresholds.Flex 1 – Up to 279lbs Flex 2 – 130lbs to 210lbs Flex 3 – 80lbs to 170lbs The most popular deck of these three options is the Flex 2, which is quite flexible yet still very strong. One of the reasons for this strength is that fact that the deck itself is made of bamboo making it very strong and giving it lots of spring.  The trucks...

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YouTube Channel - General

Our YouTube channel is finally up!  This will be the location for any videos that I create that are related to this blog.  Keep checking back because I plan to upload videos oft...

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Design Tweaking - General

Hey all, Just a heads up that I am tweaking the design again today so you might hit refresh and see some strange colors or formatti...

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Blown Out Again - Surfing

We have had some really unusual weather here in San Diego the last few weeks.  My buddy and I decided to switch our surfing hours to the morning so we will have more consistent surf.  It is sometimes blown out in the afternoon by an on-shore wind and it sucks to get off work and head to the beach only to find a bunch of white water mush... Well it sucks even more when you wake up at 5:00 am, get everything you need ready for work, make the drive to work, and see that everything is still blown out in the morning.I hoped to have an awesome morning surfing post for you today but it doesn’t look like that will happen just yet.  I am debating whether or not I am a “dawn patrol” kinda person or if I should just continue to try and surf after work...

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The Weather In SoCal Continues To Disappoint - Running

I really wanted to log some time on my surfboard yesterday but when my friend and I got to our surf spot we discovered the waves were small and completely blown out by an on-shore wind.  The surf break that I surf right after work is right next to my job and about 25 miles north of my house.  Plan A is always to surf and Plan B is whatever other activity I can pull from my list that best compliments the weather outside and my current mood.  That is one of the main driving points of this blog btw, options.  So, based off the conditions we decided to skip surfing and I made the long drive home and decided to go for a run on...

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New Phone - General

I just got a new android phone!  I downloaded the blogger app so i can blog on the go.  So far i am impressed.  I am able to post a blog without having to log into a web browser so i should be able to post content no matter where i am.  i love it so fa...

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A Modest 2 Miles - Running

I went for a run on the beach today. I figured if I live this close to the beach I might as well take advantage of it. It did the trick too; the running went by much faster because the environment was so beautiful and relaxing. My journey to becoming a runner again is going to be a long painful one. I have had two knee surgeries in the past, one on each knee and it’s been hard to get motivated to run. I found out about these cool new running shoes called Vibram – Five Finger Shoes. They basically try to simulate the act of barefoot running. There is a movement on the web, with supporters on both sides, regarding barefoot running. I plan...

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Why Not Just Use Your Foot?! - Land Paddling

Land Paddling is relatively new but seems to be catching on pretty fast.  The basic idea behind it is using a long stick with a rubber knob on the end to push you along while riding a longboard skateboard.  I know… Land paddling sounds completely ridiculous, but give it a chance.  I can’t put into words how much fun it is.  My roommate and I got into this activity about a year ago after seeing an ad on Facebook for the Kahuna Big Stick by Kahuna Creations.  Kahuna Creations is a company that manufactures the stick you can purchase online from their website.  I bought one myself and love it.  They have a few...

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