10月 30, 2026

Surf Advice from Blake Neka and Cindy Lai

This month’s podcast conversations looked at how to surf better by working with your body instead of against it, whether that means loosening up your mindset or fixing what’s holding you back on land. Blake Neka talked about how switching to quads and asymmetrical boards reshaped his skate-inspired style, and why he surfs his best when he stops overthinking, relaxes and just has fun. Cindy Lai, a fitness coach who specialises in chronic pain, explained how desk-bound posture and imbalances that start “from the feet up” can hold back your surfing. She shared simple mobility and hip exercises, and described how training her paddle technique and surf posture left her feeling lighter and stronger in the water. Here’s a quick recap of our podcasts this month.

Check out the podcast video below along with some of our favorite tips from our guest.

“I hate having a clean canvas because there's just too much to think about. I hate surfing perfect waves because I like relying just on my instinct of surfing and just letting it happen and not just overthinking.”

“There'll be certain hand placements that Julian Wilson would do that I’d be, "Okay, that's sick." I'm going to get way too deep into it. Even when he was doing punts, he'd have the one finger pointing up like that sometimes and I'd emulate that,”

- Blake Neka

“Everything starts from the feet up. What's going on down there will go up to your shoulder. Because also, the lines cross the body.”

“So the number one thing is when you're sitting all day long, at some point, if you're not moving your body, you're not taking posture breaks. So that's one of the easiest solutions. If you're not taking posture breaks every 30 minutes, your spine is eventually going to go from here to here. That forward hunched over posture, computer, computer, phone, eventually that becomes the norm for a lot of people that I see. Get up more from your desk.”

- Cindy Lai

Enter the Basis Paddle Trainer.

I've gone months without surfing and rolled up to pumping swell and surfed 3 hr sessions, multiple times a day, day after day after day, by using the Basis Paddle Trainer.

Train anytime, anywhere, so you can catch more waves and have more fun.

Unlike elastic resistance bands, swimming in the pool, or funky gym workouts these things actually work.

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