How To Improve Your Duckdive With John John Florence


The Hawaiian surfing legend, John John Florence, has impressed us for years with his abilities. His duck dive technique is one of those many ways. He’s come up with a workout that is extremely difficult, but effective. Those tend to be the best workouts, right?

John John Florence Duck Dive Technique

Grab your board and head to the pool, but be sure to take the fins out prior to diving in. His technique involves pushing the board into the water with both his arms and knee. He then uses his legs and arms to keep the surfboard as low as he possibly can.

This isn’t easy. You probably know that if you’ve ever tried. The goal with this technique is to keep the board underwater and prevent it from resurfacing. You want to really get under the wave so you don’t get thrown over the top.

It involves a lot of strength and weight on the board to keep it under and to prevent it from spinning around and out from under you. The whole time this is happening, you want to kick your legs to keep your body under the surface as well.

This can be hard to picture, so here is a video showing you how it’s done:

I’m also going to include a few photos so that you can see the technique a little bit better.

The initial stage of pushing the board underwater. It honestly looks pretty chaotic when you see it in the photos. Actually, the whole thing is pretty chaotic, but it clearly works for him.

After that, he pushes the board forward with his arms and knee.

After the kick, he pulls the board from behind and drags it forward.

What do you think? Will you give this a try the next time you’re in the pool?

Be sure to check out our other articles about surfing fitness here.

LocalsOnly Contributor

Meet Jake, a contributor here! At just 25 years old, he has already conquered some of the gnarliest waves around the world. Born and raised in a small beach town, surfing has always been a part of Jake's life. He caught his first wave at the age of 5 and hasn't looked back since. Jake is known for his laid-back attitude and easy-going personality, making him a hit among fellow surfers and locals alike.

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