Hi Laura, welcome!!! OMBE is a great place to be!!

As my husband likes to say, regarding steeper waves vs nice walled up waves, “Everything just speeds up”. Basically everything is the same, you just have to do it faster. 🏄‍♀️

So there is definitely a concern in the first 6 weeks or so of the new joint popping out. So many precautions are necessary, even down to which direction your foot is in when laying down. The new joint will definitely hold her weight, immediately after surgery even. . It is the muscles that are moved out of the way during surgery that require the rehabilitation.

Surgeon really does not want me surfing so that was a mind eff to get around. I had to promise it would be no more than chest high waves at most! 😀 I was truly scared to surf again initially.

Ha!!! I feel like that about some of my videos…. I definitely will not be sharing lol

Wave pools are new to me. It’s really cold here in NY so we tend to travel a bit during our winters. We surf the break right outside our backyard. Hopefully we’ll be breaking water temps and in 4/3s within a few weeks and I can get back out there mornings before work.

I hope you’ll post some wave pool pics from upcoming sess!

Libby Stano Do you have a public Facebook or Instagram account? You can post the video there and then copy the link and paste it here. Or if you want to send it to me, I can post it here for you.

Libby Stano It takes a really long time to rehab the body. And we all have such different mechanics and interpretations of the way we move. Every day is another day to learn and improve all aspects of our lives. It’s nice to have goals and enjoy the journey.

Great, I hope you’ll share the videos here.

I’m always fascinated watching takeoffs. It’s when adrenaline peaks the most for me. My Instagram has been well trained and shows me so many different beautiful styles.

And this screenshot shows more of the same, relying on back leg to take on the weight.

Do you go from cobra to plank before walking up? Would that alleviate the positioning of your lower back?

As far as hand placement, I know for my body proportions, my hands need to be really, really low to get lots of room for my legs to pass.

I remember very early on, trying to surf for first time in a 5/4, I started placing my hands much higher because it was so hard to keep them low and I just could not get up.

I dropped my board size considerably Friday morning, thanks to you. 💖👏 It went great. It was easier than I had convinced myself it would be. I went to a 7’6” (a 1.5 foot drop). I’ll go to a 6’8” after a few sessions on this.

My goal for the next session is to worry less about getting up and focus more where I’m going. 😀

Where do you feel you on your OMBE journey, Libby?

I’ve taken screenshots of Ant’s walk up. The back foot if I duplicate, leaves me putting all of my weight on the back leg, as does Ant. That’s a big ask from me for muscle groups that haven’t fired correctly since I was hit by a car when I was 8. And it puts my back in a super arched position. One more screenshot coming.

Libby Stano

I’ve totally hijacked your post, Libby! 😕

Boxing I have a natural stance. 😀 I fear for my life on a skateboard natural stance!!

My back was overly arched in that video. I struggled to get my legs through, hence the not looking where I was going.

Watching my on land videos, I had an aha moment. You can see how I’m not bent over anymore and just rise up. I’ve been able to duplicate this in the water.

The first part of video, the position I am in when I crouch down to get onto the floor into paddle position. I just reverse engineered getting up. And now my legs fit and my back doesn’t hunch over and I’m able to look around.

My walk ups presurgery were very different. I was unable to get to the floor or get up from the floor in a single movement. I’m working on breaking that instinct of needing a lot of moves.

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I ran out of characters on that last reply 😀

Yeah, I think muscle memory is extremely complex and takes time to make new pathways and to break old pathways. I have a few small muscles in the front, upper quads that do not work, they don’t fire. The rehab on those has been really lengthy. It goes back to the locked up ball joint and muscles not firing in an attempt to stabilize the joint. They had a different purpose. I still struggle with that part, for sure.

Clayton says slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I slowed all my land training down and it is truly helpful for your mind to grasp what you are working on.

Hi Libby. It’s interesting where we all have our weaknesses and insecurities. On a skateboard and kiteboard I’m fine, goofy foot. When I first learned to surf, I was taught natural foot and boy, was that a mess. Nothing felt right, my balance, timing, intuition was completely off. I’m goofy on any type of boards but natural foot with other things. Is there a chance your balance foot isn’t really your balance foot?

I am un-training my mind (and body) from the pop up I used to do due to an inability to move my hip. My socket grew over the ball joint to lock it in place so it wouldn’t move (from a car accident injury). I had the surgery two years ago.

I had an aha moment about two weeks after that video while land training at home with video. My down to the ground to get into surf paddling position played backward was exactly what I needed to emulate getting off the ground and standing. I just needed to “rise” once both my feet where placed on the deck. That’s my trigger word now.

Hi NR. Thank you for sharing your journey. Surfing can be frustrating, for sure and really beat us up mentally. I think you’ve nailed it! Accepting you’ll fail while trying to improve is the mental position we should all take... Also known as embracing the suck.

Working on one tiny tweak at one time has helped me the most.