Lots of strength in legs and abs: Key to Medina and Italo's titles according to their coaches

“It is a modern, contemporary understanding that revolutionized the physical preparation of the surfer,” says Medina's trainer, Allan Menache; Italo and his coach support what he said.

October 7, 2021

Cover photo: WSL

“Less yoga and more heavy training,” wrote world champion Italo Ferreira yesterday on his Instagram, sharing the revealing concepts imparted regarding the importance of strength for today's surfing, in a note published by the well-known Brazilian magazine Trip.

In it, Ferreira and Medina's physical trainers, Hygor Siqueira and Allan Menache respectively, explain how they identified that for modern competitions, leg and abdominal strength were key to their triumphs in Tokyo 2020 and on the WSL world tour.

The aforementioned note begins and ends by talking about the backflip that Medina did in the finals and how it was key that he had the strength to perform the maneuver that defined this year's title. The same, they explain, applies to the many aerials that earned Ferreira titles, in Tokyo 2020 and to a large extent in the 2019 world tour.

“The science behind this was still scarce, so we started to create new knowledge for surf training,” Menache tells Trip. “Before, surfers did body exercises like yoga, pilates, mobility work, and didn’t have much interaction with strength and power work, which is what really makes the difference in a high-performance program.”

Italo's abdominal wall earned him an Olympic gold and the 2019 world title, according to his coach. Photo: From his Instagram

The change, says the journalist of the article, Caio Ferreti, is due to the importance that aerials have taken in the world of surfing. And Medina's trainer justifies it: "An athlete who flies two meters high and lands at the base of the wave, suffers a great impact. To fly he needs to produce power, mainly in the lower limbs and abdominal muscles, in order to be able to project himself. Then, to land, he needs to have a very strong body, and that strength comes from the center of the body (…) Once we have strengthened the center, we can train the lower limbs."

“It is a modern, contemporary understanding that revolutionized the physical preparation of surfers,” concludes Menache.

In the case of Italo's coach, Siqueira, he says that he was questioned for having him lift 100 kilos while crouching, saying that he would be too heavy. "I responded that he needed to be strong to do aerials and mainly to land with better quality, avoiding injuries."

They also talk about how surfing stopped being a lifestyle and became a high-performance sport, and how Italo, Gabriel and Filipe Toledo embraced this change. "There is a difference compared to the surfers of before in terms of power, execution of the maneuver, aerials. That is an evolution in the sport," says Siqueira.

They end by also referring to how they regulate the weight and muscle mass of the surfer depending on the wave they are going to surf, coordinated with physical trainers and nutritionists.

They give the example that for Japan Italo wanted to be lighter and adapted his diet accordingly. That if they travel to Teahupoo, Medina wants to have more mass and that if they go to the French beach breaks, then they will want to regulate their resistance more, to mention a few examples.

Italo's nutritionist, Larissa Castro, says that for her, the ideal is for him to have a 68% body fat at 6 kilos, but that the most important thing is for him to feel light and energetic.

Below: Medina practicing aerials at home: