Endurance-Dominant Surfer Building Strength To Endure Irelands Biggest Waves
How Josh Built a Body Ready for Ireland’s Biggest Waves with Velocity-Based Training
Athlete: Josh, 29, big wave surfer, Ireland
Key results
Duration: 12 weeks
Squat jump: 35cm to 44cm
Back squat 1RM: 85kg to 115kg
Bench press 1RM: 62.5kg to 85kg
Weighted pull-up 1RM: 20kg to 32.5kg
The Athlete
Josh surfs some of the heaviest waves in Europe, including Mullaghmore Head / Aileen’s / Riley’s. On the biggest days a wave can be 50ft or more, and a mistake can be life-threatening. He has years of time in the water, huge paddle endurance and the composure to handle long hold-downs. His body now needs to match that experience.
The Problem
Big wave surfing puts enormous force through the body. Josh has to paddle hard into fast-moving waves, pop up under pressure, absorb chop at high speed and survive heavy wipeouts. Most of his training came from surfing itself, which built endurance but not maximal strength or resilience. He had an endurance-dominant profile: good at sustaining effort, but lacking the lower-body force and eccentric strength needed to absorb impacts and stay on his feet at speed.
Testing with PeakLines
Vertical jump battery
- Squat jump (SJ): 35cm. Low concentric force for the demands of the sport.
- Countermovement jump (CMJ): 42cm. The 7cm gap from his SJ showed reasonable use of elastic energy.
- CMJ with arm swing (ACMJ): 46cm. The 4cm gap showed limmited coordination between upper and lower body.
Velocity-based training (VBT) assessment
- Back squat: estimated maximal lower-body strength and 1RM.
- Hex-bar deadlift: assessed total-body force production.
- Bench press 1RM: estimated maximal upper-body strength and 1RM.
- Weighted pull-up: measured upper-body pulling strength for paddle power.
- His load-velocity profile showed reasonable velocities at light loads, but force dropped off quickly as the load increased. That showed a limited strength base in both the lower body and the upper-body pull.
Diagnosis
- Strengths: paddle endurance, water experience and composure under pressure.
- Limitation: low maximal strength and eccentric capacity for absorbing high-speed impacts.
In big wave surfing this matters for performance and safety. A stronger, more resilient body holds its line through chop, pops up faster and is better protected when a wipeout comes.
The Training Plan
Goal: build maximal strength, paddle power and impact resilience without adding bulk that would slow him in the water.
- Back squat at 0.3-0.5 m/s (mean velocity) to develop maximal lower-body force.
- Hex-bar deadlift at 0.5-0.8 m/s (mean velocity) for total-body strength and power.
- Bench press at 0.4-0.6 m/s (mean velocity) to develop maximal upper-body force.
- Weighted pull-up at 0.4-0.7 m/s (mean velocity) to build pulling strength for paddling into waves.
- Jump squat at 1.0-1.3 m/s (peak velocity) to turn new strength into fast, explosive movement.
PeakLines gave live velocity feedback on every rep. This let Josh adjust his training load around changing swell forecasts and fatigue from heavy sessions in the water.
Jump monitoring
- SJ height: the main indicator of improved force production.
- CMJ height: a daily readiness check to manage fatigue between big swells.
Results
After 12 weeks:
- Squat jump: 35cm to 44cm
- CMJ: 42cm to 47cm
- Back squat 1RM: 85kg to 115kg
- Bench press 1RM: 62.5g to 85kg
- Weighted pull-up 1RM: 20kg to 32.5kg
Josh now has the strength to match his experience. He paddles into waves with more power, absorbs chop with more control and goes into the biggest days with a body built to handle them.
Josh's testimonial
“Surfing big waves can mean wiping out on days when getting it wrong can leave you seriously injured. Years of swimming and surfing gave me really good cardio and endurance, but my strength has never been up to that level. I knew I needed to get stronger to keep surfing these waves and stay injury free, but constantly travelling up and down the coast, I couldn’t have a coach with me for every session.
PeakLines gives me feedback on technique and load so it feels like I am training with my coach in the room. This lets me train hard on my own without wrecking myself before a big swell.
In the past few months I’ve got much stronger and haven't had to miss any surf sessions from being too sore or tired from overtraining. I paddle into waves with more power and feel far more confident when things go wrong."