Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2006, 20(3), 477482

2006 National Strength & Conditioning Association

ACTIVITY PROFILE OF WORLD-CLASS PROFESSIONAL

SURFERS DURING COMPETITION: A CASE STUDY
ALBERTO MENDEZ-VILLANUEVA, DAVID BISHOP,

AND

PETER HAMER

Team Sport Research Group, School of Human Movement and Exercise Science, The University of Western
Australia, Crawley WA, Australia.

ABSTRACT. Mendez-Villanueva, A., D. Bishop, and P. Hamer.

Activity profile of world-class professional surfers during competition: A case study. J. Strength Cond. Res. 20(3):477482.
2006.The activity profile of mens competitive surfing was investigated during an international contest. Forty-two male surfers were filmed during 42 elimination heats. Surfers activities
were classified into 1 of 4 distinct categories (paddling, wave
riding, stationary, and miscellaneous). The surfers were paddling and stationary 51% (2570%) and 42% (2372%) of the
total time, respectively. Wave riding accounted for 4% (27%) of
the total time, whereas miscellaneous activity accounted for the
remaining 2% (0.16%) of the total time. The frequency (average
number of motions in a heat) of each activity was 26 for paddling
(1537); 17 for stationary (1026); 5 for wave riding (28); and
6 for miscellaneous activity (113). The mean duration lengths
of the activities were 30.1 seconds (1286 seconds), 37.7 seconds
(1413 seconds), 11.6 seconds (144 seconds), and 5 seconds (1
31 seconds) for paddling, stationary, wave riding, and miscellaneous activities, respectively. Most of the paddling bouts (60%)
were performed at time intervals of between 1 and 20 seconds.
Approximately 50% (50.9%) of the rest intervals were between
1 and 20 seconds in duration. The results showed that surfing
is an intermittent activity characterized by a large variability
and random distribution of each parameter analyzed. This information can be used to assist in the development of fitness
training programs and physiological testing for competitive surfers.
KEY WORDS. surfboard riding, time motion, arm paddling, wave
riding

INTRODUCTION
ime-motion analysis provides useful information about the physical demands associated
with a particular sport. Time-motion analysis
has been used to assess the activity profiles of
soccer (1, 15), soccer refereeing (11), rugby (6, 7), badminton (3), basketball (16), field hockey (22), and wrestling
(20). Such information can then be used as the basis to
design testing protocols and training programs according
to the characteristics of the sport (10, 23).
Surfing is a popular sport enjoyed both at the competitive and recreational levels on the beaches of 5 continents. Generally speaking, surfers do not follow specific
training or conditioning programs (21). To maintain their
fitness level, surfers spend between 2 and 7 hours surfing
each day for more than 5 days per week (13). However,
for different reasons (e.g., poor surf conditions, living
some distance from the ocean, or because of an injury),
the possibility of surfing may not always be available. Although surfing technique is highly specific and out-of-water simulation seems to be virtually impossible, alternative physical training that mimics the sport-specific demands of surfing may help surfers to maintain the opti-

mum fitness level during these periods when ability to

surf is impeded. Furthermore, additional out-of-water activities can be used as a complement to improve specific
physiological weaknesses (12).
Very limited information exists about the activity patterns of surfing. Meir et al. (17) categorized the activity
patterns, during 1 hour of recreational surfing, as arm
paddling, riding wave, stationary, and miscellaneous
(other activities, such as walking along the shore or ducking under broken waves). The percentage of time spent
on each activity averaged 44, 5, 35, and 16%, respectively,
for the 4 activities. Although this study provided information on the overall physical demands associated with
surfing, the specific nature of such activities (i.e., likely
duration of each activity, number of activities performed,
duration and type of activities performed between 2 consecutive waves) is not known. Furthermore, to date, no
previous study has documented motion activity during
competitive surfing.
Surfing contests are based on elimination heats. The
normal contest format consists of 20- to 40-minute heats
in which 2, 3, or 4 surfers are given scores by a group of
judges. A surfers performance is judged based on the execution quality of a variety of maneuvers on the face of a
wave, following the main judging criterion; a surfer must
perform committed radical maneuvers in the most critical
sections of a wave with style, power and speed to maximize scoring. Innovative and progressive surfing will be
taken into account when rewarding points for committed
surfing. The surfer who executes these criteria with the
highest degree of difficulty and control on the better
waves shall be rewarded with the higher scores. (13) The
winners of each heat advance to the next round until they
reach the final round. The different competitive tours include several competitions throughout the season. Surfers
receive a numerical score based on their final position in
each event, and at the end of the tour, after summing up
all the scores obtained in each event, the surfer with the
highest score will be the final winner.
The objective of this study was to examine the activity
profile of world-class professional surfers during a competition heat. It was assumed that average values do not
represent all the patterns of physical activity in surfing
competitions. Therefore, the working hypothesis was that
because of the unpredictable nature of the surfing environment, the length and frequency of the different activities performed during a competition heat would be highly
variable. Identification of high physical demand periods
could provide more relevant data to help us understand
the specific requirements of surfing competition and
might assist in the development of surfing-specific fitness
training programs and testing protocols.
477

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MENDEZ-VILLANUEVA, BISHOP,

AND

HAMER

METHODS
Experimental Approach to the Problem

The design of this study was descriptive and involved the

examination of competitive heats during an international
surfing contest. Time-motion analysis was used to characterize changes in the activity patterns of elite male
surfers.
Subjects

All subjects (N 42) were experienced, elite-level, male

professional surfers ranked in the World Qualifying Series (WQS) tour within the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). The ASP is the leading governing body of
professional surfing, organizing, among other things, a
competitive calendar around the world. The WQS is the
second-highest standard of competition in the world;
therefore, this standard of surf can be classified as elite.
All participants provided informed consent with regard to
procedures approved by the Institutional Human Ethics
Committee. The study was previously approved by the
contest organizing committee.
Heat Analysis

All heats were analyzed during The Salomon Masters International Surfing Tournament 2003, which was 1 of the
7 WQS 2003 tour events rated a maximum 6-star category. In each heat, 4 surfers competed against each other,
and the 2 best-scored surfers passed on to the next round.
The duration of all heats was 25 minutes. Only 1 subject
was recorded during each heat. A total number of 42
heats (surfers) were filmed during the 7 days of competition. Each subject was individually videoed for the entire duration of the heat using a video camera (Panasonic
S-VHS 625, Osaka, Japan) mounted on a tripod. The camera was positioned at an approximate height of 30 m and
a distance of approximately 50 m from the surfing venue.
Because the surf conditions varied for each subject, the
location of the camera was changed to ensure the most
advantageous position for the particular surfing conditions. During recording of the heats, the 2 environmental
agents that might have more influence on surfing conditions (i.e., wave size and wind strength and direction)
were recorded. Wave size (height) ranged from 1 to 2 m.
Light to moderate offshore winds were predominant;
some heats were held with light onshore winds. The videotapes were later replayed to register the activity pattern of each surfer using a video analysis system (Mitsubishi HS-E82, Tokyo, Japan). By forwarding the tape
frame by frame, the activity pattern of each surfer was
analyzed. A surfers movements were classified as follows
(17): (a) paddling, defined as forward board propulsion
using alternate-arm paddling action; (b) stationary, defined as all situations in which surfers were sitting or
lying on their boards, with no locomotion activity (Slow
1-arm paddling action aiming to maintain position in the
take-off area was included in this category.); (c) wave riding, recorded from the time of a subjects last arm stroke
to the moment the subjects feet lost contact with the
board or the subject effectively finished riding the wave;
(d) other, defined as all situations not previously defined,
which mainly included duck diving under broken waves
and recovering and getting back on the surfboard after
falling.
The time (average and total) spent in each activity,

TABLE 1. Activities performed and time spent by elite surfers

during a 25-minute competition heat (n 42). Data are mean
( SD) values in each activity.*
Paddling

Stationary

Wave
riding

Other

Frequency (n)
Range
CV (%)

26
1537
17.9

17
1026
23.9

5
28
26.5

6
113
58.9

Average duration (s)

Range
CV (%)

30.1
1286
110.8

37.7
1413
127.9

11.6
144
61.4

5.1
131
76.7

32.5
57.0
637.5
3461,082 30112 191
58.5
36.7
27.1

Total duration (s)

Range
CV (%)

772.9
3791,052
20.3

Maximum time (s)

Range
CV (%)

131.9
79286
34.6

160.8
55413
49.4

18.3
1144
30.7

11.6
131
43.2

Minimum time (s)

Range
CV (%)

3.8
18
45.2

3.0
110
68.7

6.0
116
72.7

2.8
113
70.3

* CV coefficient of variation.

the frequency (n) of occurrence of each activity, and the

percentage of the total time spent on each activity were
calculated. The number of paddling bouts and rest periods at given time intervals and the activity patterns between 2 waves were also recorded. The analysis was performed by a single observer.
Statistical Analyses

Reproducibility of the results obtained by the surfer motion analysis was established by assessing the intratester
testretest reliability. Two heats were analyzed twice by
the same researcher. Reliability of measurements was ascertained using the methods described by Hopkins (9).
The technical error of measurement (TEM) was calculated for the intraindividual testretest competition analysis
variables (arm paddling, wave riding, inactivity, and other activities). The TEM quantifies the random error of a
test score (i.e., the differences between measured scores
and the true scores) as a result of technological error or
biological error (8). Precision of the estimates of TEM are
shown as 95% likely limits (confidence limits), which represent the limits within which the true value is 95% likely
to occur. Descriptive statistics are presented as means (i.e.,
a measure of central tendency) and standard deviations,
ranges, or coefficients of variation (i.e., measures of variability). Statistical significance was accepted at p 0.05.

RESULTS
Reliability

The TEM with the 95% confidence interval (CI) for each
variable was as follows: arm paddling, 0.91 seconds (95%
CI: 0.691.32 seconds); stationary, 0.61 seconds (95% CI:
0.450.94 seconds); wave riding, 0.50 seconds (95% CI:
0.301.44 seconds); and other, 0.30 seconds (95% CI:
0.190.91 seconds).
Time-Motion Analysis

The mean motion frequencies and durations of each surfers movements during the heats are presented in Table
1. The 42 surfers were paddling and stationary 51.4%
(2570%) and 42.5% (2372%) of the total time, respec-

MOTION ANALYSIS

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COMPETITIVE SURFING 479

FIGURE 3. Number of rest periods of various durations for

the surfers investigated during the competitive heats. Mean
SD.

FIGURE 1.
competitive
time (mean
riding; O

Activities performed during a 25-minute

surfing heat expressed as a percentage of total
SD). P paddling; S stationary; WR wave
other.

FIGURE 4. Mean ( SD) proportion of total time spent on

different activities between consecutive waves.

counts for 88.7% of the total rest periods measured. The

mean proportion of total time spent on different activities
between consecutive waves is presented in Figure 4. Most
of the time (66%) was spent paddling, with the greatest
amount of that time devoted to paddling back to the takeoff area.

FIGURE 2. Number of paddling bouts of various durations

performed during a competitive surfing heat (mean SD).

DISCUSSION

tively. Wave riding accounted for 3.8% (27%) of the total

time, whereas miscellaneous (other) activity accounted
for the remaining 2.2% (0.16%) of the total time (Figure
1). On average, there was a change in movement category
every 28 seconds.
In Figure 2, the mean frequency of paddling bouts at
different time intervals during a surfing heat is shown.
Most of the paddling bouts (60%) were performed at
time intervals of between 1 and 20 seconds. When combined with paddling intervals between 21 and 90 seconds
(33%), this represented more than 90% of the total paddling bouts documented during all the heats.
Figure 3 displays the mean distribution of recovery
periods at given time intervals during the heats. Approximately 50% (50.9%) of the rest intervals were between 1
and 20 seconds in duration, which, together with the recovery periods of between 21 and 90 seconds (37.8%), ac-

As previously reported for recreational surfing, the greatest amount of time during competitive surfing was spent
paddling and remaining stationary (17). In the present
study, 51 and 42.5% of the total time was devoted to
paddling and remaining stationary, respectively. Meir et
al. (17) reported that 44% and 35% of the total time was
spent paddling and remaining stationary, respectively,
during 1 hour of recreational surfing. While the present
study reports values that are slightly higher than those
reported by Meir et al. (17), it might be expected that
these differences predominantly reflect the specific and
unique demands imposed during either competitive or
recreational surfing. Moreover, it is likely that these percentages of time could vary greatly as a result of a number of factors, including inconsistent surf or type of breaker (i.e., beach-break or reef-break). During competition, it
is also likely that tactical decisions due to current heat
score may affect the total time spent in these activities.

480

MENDEZ-VILLANUEVA, BISHOP,

AND

HAMER

Nonetheless, it appears that surfers spend 50% of their

total time paddling and 40% of their total time remaining stationary.
To help in designing surfing-specific training programs, it is important to understand the nature of the
sport. Time-motion analysis can provide useful information on which to base a conditioning program according
to the demands of the sport (10, 23). Therefore, we wished
to examine work-time profiles. The mean duration of
work (arm paddling) and rest periods (stationary) in the
heats studied was 30.1 and 37.7 seconds, respectively.
This establishes a work-to-rest ratio of 1 to 1.25. That is,
surfers rested 1.25 seconds for every second of work performed during the heat. The frequency distribution of
work periods and the ratio between work and rest periods
obtained in the present study might be used to develop
individual, intermittent training protocols for surfers.
This will help surfers to meet the work-time demands in
a heat under competition constraints.
As a result of the unpredictable nature of the surfing
environment, prolonged periods of high-intensity, intermittent exercise might also be required at any time during a surfing session. Therefore, average arm paddling
exercise and rest periods values are not likely to represent all of the patterns of these activities in surfing. Identification of long-arm paddling exercise intervals and
short rest periods could provide more relevant data to understand the specific requirements of high-intensity, upper-body, intermittent exercise during surfing. The maximum time recorded for continuous paddling and the minimum time recorded for resting by the surfers examined
in the present study ranged from 79 to 286 seconds and
from 1 to 10 seconds, respectively. In combination with
other recent research examining the upper-body aerobic
fitness of surfers (18, 19), the present results identifying
long-arm paddling exercise and short rest intervals provide conditioners and coaches with valuable information
on the specific demands of surfing competition that may
be used for the design of physical conditioning programs
according to sport-specific demands.
While arm paddling intensity was not recorded in the
present study, as a general rule, surfers paddle back to
the takeoff area as fast as they can. This is because the
priority for the next wave is a very important tactical aspect that might have an impact on the final heat result.
The first surfer getting to the takeoff area will have the
priority in terms of catching the next wave. Moreover,
although surfers were judged based on the quality of the
best 2 waves caught during each heat and, therefore, the
total amount of wave-riding itself was not a determinant
for the final outcome, the possibility of catching more
waves will allow surfers greater odds in obtaining betterscored waves. As shown in Figure 4, approximately 65%
of the total time elapsed between 2 consecutive waves was
devoted to paddling the board. Therefore, before catching
the wave, an extensive period of arm paddling may be
required.
Upper-body, exercise-induced fatigue might have a
negative influence on subsequent wave riding performance. Several studies have investigated the neuromuscular responses of 1 previously nonexercised muscle
group after intense exercise leading to fatigue performed
with another muscle group (2, 26). For example, Bogdanis
et al. (2) examined leg exercise performance (i.e., repeated
30-second cycling sprints) with or without previous arm

exercise. They found a significant drop in mean power

output and, especially, in peak power output with previous arm exercise. Riding a wave, standing on a surfboard,
and performing radical and controlled maneuvers with
the greatest speed and highest degree of difficulty seems
to demand superior fine motor skills of the whole body
and adoption of a posture that is dominated by isometric
fixation of the legs and torso. Moreover, an uncontrolled
wave ride finish (loss of balance and falling down) has
been negatively correlated with the judges score (13).
Therefore, it is possible that fatigue induced at a site remote from the legs (i.e., during arm paddling) might be
associated with some negative effects on postural control
and performance during wave riding. As most of these
arm paddling and wave riding periods are not of a surfers
election, preparing surfers to sustain episodes of intense
intermittent arm paddling exercise with reduced fatigueinduced disruptions and, therefore, reduced negative interferences with leg exercise performance during subsequent wave riding might be an important aspect to consider in the development of competitive performance. The
results for arm paddling duration of the present study
could be used to refine the design of intermittent exercise
for surfers. However, rather than simply replicating the
work-to-rest data described here, the overload principle
should be applied in order to obtain the desired training
goals. Therefore, the number of bouts, the work-to-rest
ratio, and exercise intensity should be carefully manipulated to attain the desired physiological adaptations.
Wave riding represents the essence of surfing and the
surfers final goal. However, the time spent riding waves
represented only 3.8% of the total time recorded in the
present study. Meir et al. (17) reported that 5% of the
total time was spent wave riding during 1 hour of recreational surfing. According to these figures, recreational
surfers appear to spend relatively greater amounts of
time riding the waves than do surfers during competitive
heats. During the heats recorded in the present study,
surfers were judged for the best 2 scored waves; therefore,
wave selection was a critical factor. Selecting the wrong
wave is likely to result in poor scores and would also require a period of paddling back to the takeoff area and,
eventually, the loss of wave priority. Therefore, during
competition heats, wave selection is likely to prevent surfers from catching all the waves that they might otherwise
ride during recreational surfing. While environmental
conditions may also contribute, it is likely that wave selection is the major factor explaining the lower percentage of time spent wave riding in the present study, compared to that previously reported for recreational surfing.
After analyzing 206 rides, the average length of a
wave ride in the present study was 11.6 seconds. Lowdon
et al. (13) reported higher values of 23.7 seconds and 23.0
seconds for 241 and 265 competition rides, respectively.
As both the present study and the study by Lowdon et al.
(13) examined international-level surfers during a professional competition, differences in wave length are not
likely to have been caused by different performance levels
between the surfers studied. It is more likely that these
disagreements simply reflect the differences between the
lengths of the waves in the 2 surfing venues. Longer
waves present in different locations and surf conditions
will allow surfers longer rides. However, some recent
changes in the judging criteria might also have influenced
these values.

MOTION ANALYSIS

The previous criteria used for judging surfing were

the execution of the most radical controlled maneuvers,
in the most critical section, with the most speed and highest degree of difficulty for the longest functional distance
(13). However, after analyzing 506 wave rides during an
international competition, it was found that the main determinant of a judges score was the time or length of the
ride (13). Based on these results, the authors suggested
that to maximize the judges scores, waves should be selected for maximum time and length of ride. Recently, the
Association of Surfing Professionals judging criteria have
gone through changes that might influence wave selection during a competition. In an effort to avoid competitors surfing conservatively and performing as many safe
maneuvers and turns as possible over a greater distance,
the new criteria state that: A surfer must perform committed radical maneuvers in the most critical sections of
a wave with style, power and speed to maximize scoring.
Innovative and progressive surfing will be taken into account when rewarding points for committed surfing. The
surfer who executes these criteria with the highest degree
of difficulty and control on the better waves shall be rewarded with the higher scores. As the longest functional
distance (13) is now not included in the judging criteria,
shorter waves allowing surfers to fulfill the current criteria could become more common and might at least partially explain the lower mean values for wave riding duration observed in the present study.
The time devoted to other activities (e.g., duck diving,
recovering the surfboard) accounted for 2.2% of the total
heat time in the current study. This value is clearly lower
than the 16% reported by Meir et al. (17). It is unlikely
that these variations reflect methodological differences
between the 2 studies, as surfing activity was categorized
using the same criteria as used by Meir and colleagues
(17). Although environmental conditions might be the
major determinant of the frequency and length of these
activities, a more likely explanation is that under the
competition pressure and time constraints, surfers would
try to avoid spending much time on these nonperformance-related activities, thereby allowing more time to
devote to performance-related movements.
There were several limitations to the present study.
First, our conclusions are based on surfing motion measurements obtained from one surfing venue during several days (heats) of the same competition. Although it
may have been advantageous to investigate more contests, because of logistical difficulties, this was not practicable. Second, the sample analyzed was composed of international-level professional surfers. Therefore, generalization of the present findings to surfing competitions
of different standards (e.g., amateur or junior) under different climatic and wave conditions may not be accurate.
It should be acknowledged that these limitations are likely to apply to most motion analysis studies, which are
typically only able to provide information on a specific
population at specific events.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Surfing success at any level requires extremely high technical and skill abilities. Repetition of specific movement
skills on waves with different characteristics is critical to
automate and refine fundamentals and to build a repertoire of effective maneuvers. However, to be competitive
at the highest level, specific physiological attributes may

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COMPETITIVE SURFING 481

also be important (18). Therefore, the enhancement of relevant fitness areas that have been proposed to be associated with physical performance in surfing can be addressed through supplemental or nonspecific sport training (18). Additional physical training should ultimately
be designed to help surfers extend the amount and quality of on-water training by delaying the appearance of
fatigue that might diminish an athletes technical standard (5, 24) or cognitive function (4, 25) throughout a surfing session. The results of this study show that surfing is
an intermittent activity that is characterized by large
variability and random distribution of each parameter
that was analyzed. Moreover, surfing activity appears to
be controlled more by environmental factors than by surfers own election. Therefore, to cope with the ocean demands, surfers must respond to extensive periods of intermittent exercise, with clearly different upper-body
(i.e., arm paddling) vs. lower-body (i.e., wave riding) demands. Data on the duration of work and rest periods
from this study can be used as a reference value to adapt
training programs to the temporal work demands of surfing competition and may prove useful for specific conditioning and to develop appropriate testing protocols. For
example, both the maximal arm paddling duration and
the minimal recovery period are important to consider in
the programming of an overload training stimulus or in
the physiological assessment of surfers.

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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Salomon Masters organizing
committee for its support of this project.

Address correspondence to Dr. Alberto

Villanueva, amendezvillanueva@yahoo.com

Mendez-