OK, I have my opinion on this one but am no expert so ran a quick search through google to see if I could find some decent advice for you and here's a bit of fuel for thought (Nick Carroll provided the following advice on Surfline.com):
Quote:
Two things:
1. Warm up, rather than stretch, before surfing. Lots of surfers get this one out of synch. Stretching is a post-exercise gig; done thoroughly and correctly, a good stretching relaxes and re-balances and helps clean out the muscles after a long day in the water. Done prior to exercise, stretching has little effect and may even throw off your overall body balance. Instead, warm your body up with a mellow, consistent pre-surf exercise. It can be as simple as riding your bike or jogging to the surf instead of driving. Even walking around in your wetsuit for 10 minutes will help soften and prepare the muscles for something harder.
2. Drink lots of water and cut down on the diuretics (coffee, alcohol, etc). Water inside has the same effect as water outside; it softens things and gets 'em to flow smoothly.
Re the bananas, heck, eat as many as you like! They've got a lot of potassium, which is thought to have a useful role in the chemical changes involved in muscle movement. But once again, keep 'em -- like stretching -- for after the surf.
Then a bit more in depth advice from a physio:
http://www.surfline.com/community/whokn ... amping.cfm
Basics appears that dehydration is a big contributing factor, so make sure you're pretty well hydrated (water not coffee or coke) and down a bit of water before a surf ... a 3 hour surf and you're going to lose a lot of water (and hence body weight). Secondly, warm up before you hit the water, by taking a slow run or cycle.
Nick Carroll points out above that you should "warm-up" and not stretch before paddling out and having a read through other topics which came up, there appears to be evidence to support this. A number of pages refer to recent studies which claim that stretching before excercise does not prevent pulled muscles and could in fact be counterproductive. i.e. detrimentally affect your performance.
Anyone keen to have a read through some of the literature can click on the below link or put your own keywords into a search engine:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Str ... xercise%22
