Balance | Texas Surfers

Gifts for Surfers

Found in Surfing — Tags: Balance, Surf Stuff for Holidays, Surfboard, Wax — Texas Surfer

Whether you’re buying a surfer a gift for Christmas, Valentine’s or for their birthday, these are some gifts they’re sure to enjoy.

Surfboard Cam

Surfers want a surfboard for one or two reasons: To show off what they can do in the water, either just to their friends and family, a girl, or to make a sponsor film. Another reason is to have the ability to watch themselves surfing, check out where they’re placing their feet on the board, and how they react to the waves, in order to improve. GoPro offers a great surf cam.

Board Shorts

If you swim every day you don’t want to wear the same swim suit every single day – that’s not fashionable at all. Surfers don’t want to wear the same board shorts every day, either. Aside from not being fashionable, the ocean makes your shorts stink. Hurley, Quicksilver, and Billabong make good board shorts – find out what their favorite brand is and what colors they like.

Wet Suit

Wet suits are essential to surfing in winter. If your surfer doesn’t already have a wetsuit, you’ll be opening up a whole new world of surfing to them by buying one for them. Winter surf is entirely different (bigger, better, more powerful, more fun) than summer surf. If they already have a wet suit, take a good look at it; wet suits are prone to getting holes in them, and over time, we tend to outgrow them. It may be time for a new one.

New Surfboard

This is the king of new gifts for surfers. Look at the boards they already have and get one that’s comparable. Or ask them if there’s any kind of surfboard they’re really like to have; chances are they have one in mind. There’s really nothing better you can get them.

Surfboard Stickers

Stickers are good for several things. For one, they look cool. It’s fun to stick them on your surfboard, your car or truck, and your pet’s food bowl. They’re also good for putting on little dings in your surfboard. As a gift giver, the best thing about stickers is that they’re cool and very cheap. You can probably get a handful for under $5 at a surf shop. They don’t have to be the expensive ones (there are expensive ones, too, $3-5 each).

Indo Board

The Indo Board is a good gift because it’s a new challenge that improves your balance, which surfers must have. These boards are useful for improving surfing and fun for everyone who tries them. I’ve seen them be quite useful at parties.

New Clothes from Their Favorite Surf Shop

If the surfer is like me or any surfer I know, they like plad shorts, tshirts, flip flops, and hats from their favorite surf shop. Just be sure to get the right size and their favorite brands.

Gift Card for Favorite Surf Shop

If you’re not sure what size or brands to get, or if they’re rather the money be spent on clothes or surfing equipment, get them a gift card for their favorite surf shop. If the surf shop doesn’t have gift cards, they probably have a way to add credit to a person’s name, which is basically the same thing.

Surfboard Tiedowns

Surfboard tiedowns tend to get loose over time. If they break while they’re holding a surfboard down onto a vehicle, the surfboard will fly off and probably crash into another vehicle. Either way, an expensive surfboard will be completely ruined. It’s a good idea to replace them every couple of years.

Month Supply of Surf Wax

One thing surfers always need is more surf wax. Luckily it’s really cheap, around $1-2 a bar. You’ll want to find out what their favorite brand of surf wax is and how often they surf. They probably need one bar for every day they surf. If they surf 20 days a month, pick them up 20 bars for around $20-30.

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Indo Board Suing Mimic Skateboards

Found in Balance, Indo Board, Skating, Surf News — Tags: Balance, Indo Board, Skateboard — Texas Surfer

The Indo Board is a product used to improve balance for surfing, skating, and snowboarding. It’s a durable, high quality product that does what it’s designed to, so I hate to see the company have to deal with things like this.

Some people think they can get away with anything. Mimic Skateboards was allegedly selling a product similar to the Indo Board called an “Orbit Board” which even came with an unauthorized copy of the Indo Board instructional DVD.

Mimic Skateboards also was allegedly using Indo Board’s trademark to send people to a website that said the Indo Board was sold out, and then redirected them to a sales page for the Orbit Board.

Source.

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New Indo Board Design

Found in Balance, Indo Board — Tags: Balance, How to Surf, Indo Board — Texas Surfer

The guys who make the Indo Board have come out with a new design for the board called the Bamboo Beach. It’s the coolest design they’ve had so far.

Here’s a picture of all the Indo Board Original designs you can currently purchase. The original board sells for $58, and the boards with designs on them cost $69.

Our Indo Board Links:

What’s an Indo Board?

Learn Indo Board Tricks

Watch a Crazy Indo Board Trick

External Link: Get an Indo Board Original! – Everything you need to improve your balance for surfing and skating.

indo board designs New Indo Board Design

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I Bet You Can’t Do This on an Indo Board

Found in Comedy, Indo Board, Surf Comedy — Tags: Balance, Funny, Indo Board — Texas Surfer

This guy successfully takes off his pants while balancing on the Indo Board.

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Homemade Rasta Indo Board

Found in Surfing — Tags: Balance, Craigslist Surf Products, How to Surf, Indo Board, Skateboard — Texas Surfer

I found this homemade rasta indo board on Craigslist. I have no idea how it compares to the real thing but hey, it’s only $20. These things really do improve your balance for surfing and skating, by the way. It makes it much easier to learn tricks, too. In a perfect world, the natural progression would be learning first to indo board, then skate, then surf.

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All aboard

Found in Balance, Indo Board, Skating, Surfing — Tags: Balance, How to Surf, Indo Board, Skateboard, Surfers — Texas Surfer

Riding the latest wave of workouts, Indo Boards are bringing core fitness to a new level

Monday, February 16, 2009

By ANDREA BOYARSKY

STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — With no wave in sight, nearly a dozen landlubbers carefully climbed on their boards.

Get on board

Looking as though they were ready to hang 10, they struggled to keep their poise as they listened for instructions.

But there was no ocean in the basement of the Crunch Fitness in Union Square. Members of the Manhattan gym class were there to learn how to use the Indo Board Balance Trainer.

The exercise board works the body’s balance control systems. It can also help users train for sports like surfing and snowboarding, which require core strength.

Fitness instructor Terrell Pruitt took his class of 20- and 30-somethings through an hour-long session that works the entire body and provides an aerobic workout. Gym-goers did squats and lunges while trying to balance on boards perched on air cushions, which create an unstable platform.

Keeping the board from touching the ground is the challenge and the goal. As people progress, they can balance longer.

Crunch has been offering Indo Board classes since August. Participants in the Indo Winter Boarding class will go on a skiing and snowboarding trip Feb. 28 to Hunter Mountain in the Catskills.

“It’s getting them aware of the leg strength that’s required, the core strength and just being able to hold themselves up on something that’s not stable,” said Pruitt.

Those are some of the reasons why Dena Wallerson has been attending Indo Board classes.

“It’s helped me take my skiing and running to another level,” said the athletic Manhattanite. “Normally on the first day of skiing for the season, you’re rusty and stiff and not conditioned to do it. Now, I have the stamina.”

Off the slopes, Wallerson has seen improvement in her running form and ability to log more mileage.

The idea for the Indo Board washed ashore in 1965, when fledgling surfer Hunter Joslin used a homemade balance board to learn to surf. He started the Indo Board Balance Trainer company in 1998 after many years of working in the surf industry.

Around 2000, the board started gaining hype as core fitness started receiving more attention. “That’s the majority of what the Indo Board is, a core trainer,” Joslin explained by phone from the company’s Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., headquarters.

The circular shape of the Indo Board lends itself to be more user-friendly, Joslin added, since it’s wider than a rectangular balance board, giving the user more surface to stand on.

“By putting the board between the ground and the person, it’s a different mental aspect,” Joslin said. “It’s more challenging and interesting to the mind.”

Indo Boards come in several different models. Some, Joslin said, are more targeted toward tricks or movements, others accommodate a user’s height. The most popular board is the Indo Original, which is the easiest model to learn on. Prices range from around $100 to $200.

Each board comes with an accompanying roller. Many instructors, like Pruitt, use the IndoFLO cushion which helps prevent falls (but is sold separately) when working with novice boarders. The company suggests having a partner spot you in the beginning.

“Balance begins with core engagement,” Joslin explained. You also need correct posture, he said, which also benefits from the Indo Board.

You-Lee Rodriguez of St. George started working out with the Indo Board about five years ago. He quickly picked up on how to use it and can do different types of pushups, kettlebell exercises and jumps with the board, among various other advanced moves. He can be seen on the Indo Trainers DVD available on the company’s Web site (www.indoboard.com).

Rodriguez, an independent personal trainer who also works at Peak Performance Sports Center in Manhattan, starts off his clients using the Indo Board and roller on a thick carpet or mat, which provides for slower movement. With practice, they move to a thinner mat, followed by a wood floor.

As clients progress, Rodriguez incorporates aerobic moves, medicine balls and strength-training exercises using 3- to 5-pound dumbbells into their workout routines.

“You get cardio training, depending on what you’re doing,” he said, noting, “While you’re on the board, you’re working your full body.”

Andrea Boyarsky is a features reporter for the Advance. She may be reached at boyarsky@siadvance.com.

Original Source

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How to Shuv-it

Found in Surfing — Tags: Balance, Indo Board, Skateboard — Texas Surfer

Advanced Indo Board Trick

An advanced trick you can do on the Indo Board is called the Shuv-it. The shuv-it is the act of standing on the board, kicking a side of it with one foot, and causing it to totally rotate 360 degrees while you stand on it on only one foot, then land on it once it’s done rotating. It looks awesome and it takes practice to learn. Let’s get started.

Feet Positioning

First you want to position your feet about 12 inches apart, with the Indo Board positioned so that it’s off centered and so that the side rail of the board shows only one strip of the roller’s grip tape (the roller being the black cylinder the board sits on – it has two strips of grip tape). You might have to take a look at your roller and find these two strips of grip tape for this to make sense, but it’s important because positioning the board in this way will help you balance during the trick.

The Move

You’re going to use the roller as your pivot point when you begin the move. To do the move, you need to kick the board with the heel of one foot, while also rolling the ball of your pivot foot toward your kicking foot. Look at picture #2 below for a better understanding of this. What you’re doing is both putting the Indo Board into motion by kicking it with your heel, and allowing yourself to center your pivot foot over the cylinder by rolling that foot toward the foot that’s kicking. Take a moment to check out Hunter Joslin (creator of the Indo Board) below in the second picture to get a firm understanding of this.

Unweight

You are also lifting your body slightly in the air during this kicking process, which is unweighting you. By placing less weight on the board, it is free to turn in a full circle. It follows that the longer you can stay unweighted, the better chance you have of landing the shuv-it. As you can see, Hunter is completely off of the board in picture #3.

Landing

You want to land with both feet at the exact same time and centered over the roller. If your feet don’t land at the same time or if they are not centered over the roller, the board won’t be balanced and you’ll probably fall. As with all Indo Board tricks, practice makes perfect!

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Learn to Cross Step!

Found in Surfing — Tags: Balance, How to Surf, Indo Board, Longboard, Surfboard, Surfers — Texas Surfer

About the Cross Step

This technique is primarily used on longboard surfboards.

Cross stepping is the act of basically walking along your surfboard, and as you can imagine, it’s quite difficult to master. However, using the Indo Board,you can master it fairly quickly because you don’t have to wait for the next wave to roll through in order to try the cross step repeatedly. This board allows you to practice the cross step over and over all day long until you get it right. Using these instructions, you’ll be cross stepping in no time – but we’re not saying it’ll be easy!

One Leg at a Time

In order to cross step, you have to learn to balance on just one leg at a time. This is because you’re going from balancing on two legs, to having one leg in the air while you step, then temporarily balancing again on two legs just before your next step, which is, of course, back to balancing on one leg during the step. There is a major mental hurdle to overcome here because the mind likes to over-correct the body when it gets out of balance. If someone pushes you forward, you’re natural reaction is to go up and back, becoming unbalanced but in the opposite direction. The mind kind of freaks out when the body gets unbalanced, and you have to train yourself to react with out overreacting when you feel out of balance. This is the mental aspect of learning to cross step.

The Posture

If you stand on the floor or ground and try to cross step, you’ll find that as you step forward, your body tends to go up and forward, which is alright while you’re not moving along the water on a board. But when you’re surfing, you have you, the board, and the water all moving independently of each other, so you’ve got to stay centered.

The best way to maintain balance and stay centered during the cross step is to keep your knees bent, your head and shoulders up, without bending forward at the waist, and with your arms down.

“I can do that,” you’re thinking – but can you do that while you cross step to the front of your longboard?

Practice on the Ground

Now get up and cross step on the floor, but do it while attempting to hold this position as you step. It can be difficult even while you’re on the ground, not attempting to balance yourself on a board. Since this is difficult even at this point, the first thing you need to do to master cross stepping on your surfboard is to master it on the ground. You can do this right now. Cross step over and over in your bedroom or living room, making sure you keep the posture described above. You’re making sure that your torso doesn’t move up or forward as your feet move from back to front, which requires that your stationary leg and knee is bent without any upward movement as your step.

Now try stopping in mid-step and holding that position for a few seconds, balanced on one foot. As you put your foot down, land on your toes and then bend your stationary knee in order to bring your heel down onto the floor.

In order to take the next step forward, you have to stand balanced on both feet, with equal weight on each foot. Once in this position, take the next step forward, carefully balancing yourself and maintaining the posture described above.

Common Mistakes

Rising Up

The most common mistake you’ll make while perfecting your posture is to rise up instead of bending your knees while you cross step, so pay extra attention to this. It’s simply easier to stand up taller than to bend deeper at the knees, but this won’t help your technique.

Bending at the Waist

Another mistake commonly made while learning this technique is to have a very low posture by breaking at the waist. This is more comfortable than not bending at the waist, but it causes your butt to stick out and your knees to straighten; this is not helpful to your technique.

Leg Strength

Leg strength plays a major roll in your ability to balance on your surfboard, skateboard, and even your Indo Board. The stronger your legs are, the better you’ll be at riding and the faster you’ll master techniques such as the cross step.

But It Feels Weird!

Surfing and skating always feels awkward at first; learning to glide back and forth on a balanced Indo Board feels awkward at first, as well. Cross stepping definitely feels a bit awkward at first, but repetitive cross stepping with a strong focus on posture will eventually look like the controlled cross stepping of a professional longboarder.
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How to Ollie on the Indo Board

Found in Surfing — Tags: Balance, How to Surf, Indo Board, Skateboard — Texas Surfer

What’s an Ollie?

When you ollie, you basically stand on your board (a skateboard or an Indo Board), and jump, causing the board to flip in mid air while you are also in the air. The idea is to successfully land on the deck of your board once it has landed back on the ground. This is a basic skating move you want to be comfortable with if you want to be a skater. It’s also a great move to learn while improving your balance for skating and surfing on the Indo Board.

Learning How to Ollie

Learning how to ollie on the Indo Board is really simple if you already know how to do it on a skateboard because it’s the same basic move. You can still quickly learn how to ollie on the indo even if you’ve never done it on a skateboard, though. Just follow this quick guide on “How to Ollie on the Indo Board.”

Wear Shoes

Most people find it easier to ollie while wearing shoes. This is because you actually use the grip on your shoes to manipulate the Indo Board. It’s possible to ollie without shoes on, just not nearly as easy.

Foot Placement

First you want place your feet on your board with the ball of your back foot on the very end of your board, toward the back of the board. As for your front foot, you should place it just past the center of the deck. It’s a combination of applying preasure on your front foot and using the traction of your back foot to pull the board upward that’s going to cause it to flip.

The Squat

Now that you’ve got the stance down, it’s important to get really comfortable with being in this position and understand what’s going to happen next. What you’re going to do is get in a super low squat. You want to squat all the way down and be really compressed, with your knees bent as much as possible.

The Movement

Next, you want to slightly roll the board forward, which means you’ll lean forward just a bit; at this time you want to pop up as high as you can.

What’s Going On

Here’s what should happen: You lean forward on the board, with your front foot pushing it forward a bit, and when you pop up as high as you can, the traction of your back foot grips the board and pulls the back of the board up and over, causing the board to flip in the air while you are also in the air. Of course, as you know, the point is for the board to flip in the air while you’re in the air, and have the board land flat on the roller in time for you to land flat – and balanced – on the Indo Board.

You’ll learn how to make the board flip in just a few minutes, so that part isn’t very difficult. The problem most beginners have is getting the timing down so that the board and their body land at the same time, with the board flat on the cylinder. Of course, the Indo Board brings an additional challenge, as opposed a skateboard. The Indo Board demands that when you land, you also completely balance yourself on the board, which has only one point of stabililty, not 4, like a skateboard does (the four wheels as opposed to one cylinder).

The only way to get better is to practice, so get started!

Here are few example pictures of the creator of the Indo Board, Hunter Joslin, performing an ollie.

indo board tricks how to ollie How to Ollie on the Indo Board

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Master Your Surfing & Skating Balance with the Indo Board!

Found in Balance, Indo Board, Skating, Surfing — Tags: Balance, How to Surf, Indo Board — Texas Surfer

Indo Boards Improve Balance for Surfing and Skateboarding

In our world of skating and surfing, balance is everything. If you don’t have it, you can’t skate, you can’t surf, and as the owner of Indo Boards will tell you, your girl friend will leave you. And as you know, there are many days when there just isn’t anything to surf; days when the water looks like a lake and there are no waves to ride. There are days when the rain is coming down way too hard to skate, and what do we do then? Sit around and play video games, munch, and we don’t get any better at skating or surfing. With an indoor balance board, you don’t have to sit around and be a couch potato on these dreaded days; now you can get better!

What the Indo Board Is

An indoor balance board, or Indo Board (Indo for indoor) is basically a cylinder roller which is set on the floor, and a wooden board, which is laid across the cylinder. In case you haven’t yet seen a video of the Indo Board in action, there’s one included here, but you stand on it and balance yourself in mid air. This is an amazing amount of fun and there are tons of tricks for you to learn. Hovering above the ground balanced only on a board and a cylinder is a great way to improve your balance even if you don’t learn any tricks at all, but as you get more comfortable on the Indo Board, you’re going to want to start getting a little crazy with it. That’s why we skate and surf, right? We always want to push things to the next limit and have as much fun as possible. With a wide range of fun tricks to learn and show off with, the Indo Board does not disappoint our hardcore style.

Who Buys an Indo Board?

Men, boys, women, girls – everyone at all ages can own an Indo Board. We’ve seen men in their 70s have fun on these boards and we’ve seen young kids do all sorts of things on them. They’re simply a lot of fun. Add to that the fact that this will actually help you improve your skating and surfing, and you’ve got a really great learning tool. Check out this video to see just a sample of what people like you are doing on the Indo Board!

Check back soon for a list of tricks and how to do them! We are constantly adding information on tips and tricks that can help improve your balance. Go to the Indo Board Tricks.

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Links

Surf Media

Surfboard Cam

Board Shorts

Wet Suit

New Surfboard

Surfboard Stickers

Indo Board

New Clothes from Their Favorite Surf Shop

Gift Card for Favorite Surf Shop

Surfboard Tiedowns

Month Supply of Surf Wax

Our Indo Board Links:

Advanced Indo Board Trick

Feet Positioning

The Move

Unweight

Landing

About the Cross Step

This technique is primarily used on longboard surfboards.

One Leg at a Time

The Posture

Practice on the Ground

Common Mistakes

Leg Strength

But It Feels Weird!

What’s an Ollie?

Learning How to Ollie

Wear Shoes

Foot Placement

The Squat

The Movement

What’s Going On

What the Indo Board Is

Who Buys an Indo Board?