039: ADAM KNOX - Surf Coach & Former Pro

SHOW NOTES

Why do most surfers plateau—even after decades in the water?

If you’ve ever felt stuck in your surfing, throwing spray but not progressing, former pro and elite coach Adam Knox explains exactly why—and how most surfers miss the microscopic technical details that actually matter. From bottom turns to breathing, his coaching is unapologetically blunt and freakishly effective.

• Discover why “going harder” on your turns isn’t the answer—and what to do instead

• Learn how flow state, proprioception, and physical conditioning are secretly linked

• Hear what elite athletes get right that the average surfer never even notices

Hit play to radically shift how you surf, train, and see technique—no fluff, just deep surf wisdom from one of the most detailed coaches in the game.

Adam Knox shares his experiences and lessons from pro surfing and working as a surf coach.
https://www.neutrility.com
@adam_knox
https://borstdesigns.com/cobra
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsTFi-vAHX2lExekB6XOt6g

Key Points

• Adam discusses the importance of studying small technical details in surfing, particularly watching professional surfers' techniques.

• Adam shares his background growing up in Ojai, California, and his initial resistance to surfing despite his brothers' involvement in the sport.

• Adam describes his late entry into competitive surfing at age 16 and his success in photo shoots rather than competitions.

• Adam explains his transition from professional surfing to coaching, starting with helping others during photo trips and eventually becoming a full-time coach.

• Discussion of Neutrality, Adam's coaching facility in Carlsbad that provides comprehensive training including technical coaching, video analysis, and physical training. 

Outline

Adam Knox's Background and Early Surfing Career

• Adam Knox grew up in Ojai, California, an inland area about 15 minutes from the coast.

• He started surfing relatively late compared to many pros.

• His older brothers, Micah and Taylor, were already surfers, with Taylor being a well-known pro by the time Adam was in middle school.

• Adam initially avoided surfing and focused on dirt bikes, BMX, and skateboarding instead.

• He began longboarding casually and was unexpectedly placed on his school surf team in 8th grade due to his brother's reputation.

• His first contest resulted in making the final and placing 6th, which sparked his interest in competitive surfing.

• Adam describes themselves as a 'late bloomer' in surfing, not getting truly proficient until around age 16.

• They began winning pro junior events and gaining attention for their photo appearances in surf magazines.

• This led to sponsorship from JetPilot, primarily for their photogenic surfing rather than contest results.

Transition to Professional Surfing

• Adam's surfing career took off in their late teens.

• They recall a pivotal moment when Chris Malloy, a respected figure in surfing, praised their abilities to their brother Micah.

• This recognition boosted Adam's confidence and drive.

• During their professional career, Adam didn't have a formal coach but wishes they had both a coach and a mentor to guide them through the challenges of a pro surfing lifestyle.

• They acknowledge making mistakes, particularly in balancing partying with professional commitments.

• Adam's approach to surfing trips was often very focused, sometimes to the point of seeming antisocial, as they prioritized getting good footage and fulfilling sponsor obligations.

Coaching Career and Philosophy

• Adam transitioned into coaching about eight years ago.

• Their coaching style developed naturally, starting with informal advice to fellow surfers on photo trips.

• They began working with professional surfer Eitan Osborne and pursued education in corrective holistic exercise kinesiology.

• Adam's coaching philosophy emphasizes detailed technical instruction, blunt feedback, and a holistic approach to surfing improvement.

• They believe in breaking down every aspect of surfing technique and addressing both physical and mental aspects of performance.

• Adam stresses the importance of looking at the 'small stuff' in surfing technique, such as hand placement, breathing, and subtle body positioning.

Common Surfing Mistakes and Coaching Advice

• Adam identifies several common issues they see in surfers: lack of 'highlining,' poor low stance, and inefficient turning technique.

• Lack of 'highlining' refers to not staying high on the wave to maintain speed and control.

• Poor low stance means many surfers struggle to maintain a low, powerful position.

• Inefficient turning technique is often related to improper weight distribution and timing.

• They emphasize the importance of strength training, particularly for maintaining a low surfing stance.

• Adam discusses the concept of 'loading' and 'unloading' in turns, comparing it to the stretching and releasing of a rubber band.

• They advise surfers to focus on seamless transitions between maneuvers and to develop a strong understanding of wave physics and body mechanics.

Neutrality Surf Academy and Future Projects

• Adam co-founded Neutrality, a comprehensive surf training facility in Carlsbad, California.

• The academy offers a holistic approach to surf improvement, including video analysis, skateboard drills, strength training, and in-water coaching.

• Neutrality aims to be a 'one-stop shop' for surfers looking to reach their full potential.

• Adam is working on expanding the academy's summer programs and potentially developing international coaching opportunities.

• They are also involved in a potential TV project focused on helping people improve their surfing.

• Adam emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive, mentorship-based environment similar to what they have observed in Australian surf culture.

Reflections on Professional Surfing and Technique

• Adam provides insights into the techniques of top professional surfers like John John Florence, Dane Reynolds, and Mick Fanning.

• They discuss the balance between textbook technique and individual style, noting that while fundamentals are crucial, exceptional surfers often break conventional rules.

• Adam stresses the importance of developing a strong technical foundation before experimenting with personal style.

• They reflect on their own journey, acknowledging that they are still improving their technique even after years as a professional, particularly in bigger wave conditions.

Transcription

Adam Knox
I think that's probably the best advice to anybody out there is like, dude, look at the small stuff. Watch Mick, look at his turn, look at where he's looking as he enters his turn. Look where his chest is facing as he finishes his turn. Look how he transitions out of that turn. It's all these little intricate details — hand placement, breathing, everything. Like, look at the little stuff.

Michael Frampton
Guest for this episode is Adam Knox. Adam is a former pro surfer and is currently working as a surf coach in Carlsbad in Southern California. Adam is one of the best surf coaches I have personally worked with. So it's my absolute pleasure to bring you this interview. Adam shares his story, his experiences, and of course, plenty of surfing tips. Give him a follow on Instagram at Adam underscore Knox.

Adam Knox
This area? No, I'm from Ojai, California. So it's like inland Marine Con, like 15 minutes. But Sage Erickson's from Ojai. The Malloy brothers, they worked for my mom at the Ojai Valley Inn like way back in the day, like when they were in high school. I'm trying to think who else is from kind of inland. Maybe that's about it — me, Sage, and the Malloys.

Michael Frampton
Ojai is close to Ventura?

Adam Knox
Yeah, so it's inland. It's a valley, and it's like super spiritual, like I was saying. Like, that fire that you guys had in Malibu, like that one, you know, reached Ojai as well with the Santa Ana and has big mountains. Like, there's probably snow all over right now. But that fire came down and literally made a perfect circle around there where it usually would burn, like, foothills and stuff like that. And then it just stopped. I think I'm giving it up to, like, the wizards and all the, all the crystals and stuff you'll see around here. You know, you grew up there, you're just kind of weird like that, you know?

Michael Frampton
Did you start surfing there?

Adam Knox
I started surfing. So my brother Micah was a surfer. Taylor had already moved. So Taylor moved. So it's, I'm the youngest, then nine years above me is Micah, my brother I grew up with, and then Taylor was 14 years older. So I remember going down to, like, the Budweiser — you remember, like, the Bud Pro? Like, that was like the QS back then. So I remember there was one at C Street. I remember being, like, literally there's a photo. I remember it though too. Cause Taylor gives these hugs that, like, crush you, especially when you're little. There's a couple of times where, like, you know when your spine gets separated, and I'm, like, crying. And then my brother Micah's like, dude, don't be lame, man. Like, I don't know, I think I just got my back broken. I'm not trying to cry right now, man. I'm a freaking six. But anyways, he got out of this heat and gave me a hug, and I remember that. But that was what you qualified on. It was a Bud surf tour. And it was like, it was, I don't, you know, not to take away from any of those guys, but it was nothing like, you know, it was — there was a California tour, you know, that you could qualify on, I believe. Right. But yeah, no, I didn't. I was — my brother was already famous by the time I was like, you know, in sixth grade, seventh grade for sure. So I rode dirt bikes and I raced BMX, like, and I skated. I wanted nothing to do with surfing. And then I kind of did a little bit. I was longboarding, and I got good at that. When I moved to Carlsbad, they threw me on the surf team just because of my brother, you know, this guy Danny Cooper. How I was in eighth grade.

Michael Frampton
Old were you then?

Adam Knox
So, and so Taylor moved from Oxnard Shores here in eighth grade as well, which is kind of a weird coincidence, you know, 14 years later, you know, I guess, or maybe longer. I don't know. I'm not good with math. But they threw me into a contest, and I made the final, but then it got big. It got big at Pono. And like, it went from like four feet to where I was winning all my heats, and it got really big, and no one really made it out for this. One of my friends from the Big Island, he's still a charger. He lives on the North Shore now, Nick McCray. But he won the contest because he's the only guy that made it out the back. It was one of those things, you know. So got sixth in my first final. And then that just kind of, it just kind of snowballed, you know. I just kept doing it.

Michael Frampton
And that lit the fire? Yeah.

Adam Knox
It kind of lit the fire. I'm kind of a weird surfer when it comes to that stuff. It's like, at that point, it was fun, you know, but I was so behind, like, the eight ball. Like, I'm the same age as Dane Reynolds. I'm the same age as, like, the Gdowskis, you know, Dane and Pat. And those guys were already really good and sponsored and stuff. I didn't get good until, like, 16. And I didn't start winning, like, pro junior stuff, like our circuit around here. I think I finaled and, you know, in the top two or three in every contest in the San Diego, you know, Monster Pro Juniors and all that stuff. And then the last contest I lost out first round, and those are usually, like, you know, double rated or triple rated. And I went from first to third in the very end. But I almost won the series and that kind of stuff. But that set me up. But really, I was more of a photo guy. Like, I was in — it wouldn't be a magazine where I didn't have, like, a two-page spread or multiple shots. And then the surf shot was on. So that was like a local mag, but it was pretty big. So I was in all that stuff. So JetPilot was just like, you know, they're a wakeboard company, but they had a small surf team. But they were, like, one of the biggest wakeboarding companies from Australia, you know, and Japan. They're like, dude, just do the photo thing. And then that's when photo stuff was cool, when you could survive that way. But it changed. So I went, like, what, five, six years, like, all right, yeah. You get in, like, some, you know, getting salary, but then getting, like, a $9,000 check for being in five magazines that month, you know, going, you know. And then after that, like, I was like, dude, this is easy. You know, I just got to, like, do it half-ass and do the photos and all that stuff and go have fun and party and all that stuff. And that's when you start to lose the plot, you know? So I've kind of done all the — did some of the right things, you know? And if you look at the — if you read some of the articles, like, you know, Adam's work ethic is really good. Cause on a trip, I'll be super just focused until the job's done. And then last day we'll go out or whatever. But I've had a few photographers kind of, like, get bummed that I didn't want to hang and do all this stuff. Billy Watts, for instance, who was a, you know, very known photographer now. He's like, dude, you know, I didn't like Adam on this trip. Like, he was kind of, you know, unsocial, and he, you know, he didn't want to — he said he didn't want to go see the monkeys. And we were in Costa Rica, the waves were flat, and we weren't getting anything done. And then when he came back and sold all the shots, he realized, and he wrote a thing in, like, an article. And then he talks about how he didn't like me. And then he realized, okay, he was trying to make money and do, you know, do stuff for his sponsors.

Michael Frampton
So, yeah. Okay. So you're quite a late bloomer. Yeah.

Adam Knox
Dude, full on. And that's one of the things is, like, with a lot of these guys, like, say my brother or a lot of the older guys and the pros, they'll write guys off really quick. Like, he's not going to make it because of this. And then I'm like, well, dude — and not that I, like, made it — but I had 11 years of salary where I'd never had to work, you know, where I could have done a lot better, where, you know, the things I did is what messed it up. It wasn't because I bloomed late, you know, and maybe that's what they're talking about. But I think there's a chance. I know it's changed a bit, but, like, dude, guys can come up. I mean, there's some guys out there that are really good. I don't have that really — the financial backing — but if they find it, they could be world tour guys, you know?

Michael Frampton
Once you did that first comp and you kind of realized, hey, I'm actually okay at this, I could maybe get good enough to be paid. Did you seek coaching? I mean, how did you get to that next step?

Adam Knox
No, you know what? I mean, I had a coach before that for just a little bit and he was the worst. I'm not going to say the name and all that stuff, but he really just surfed and, you know, that was it. And it was like super early and I'm not a super morning person. It was like, you know, dawn before he had to go to work and it was all about him and all that stuff. And so you got to watch out for those coaches with all the ego, you know, you got to become pretty selfless and then you got to, you know, really get into the psyche of these guys, you know, which makes you get close to them and stuff, but we'll get into that. But no, I didn't get a coach. I just, I changed my board sponsor and that helped a lot. I went over to this guy, Dan Taylor from Newport. But those boards work really good. And I was during, like, the pro junior stuff and really turned it on. Yeah, no, I mean, I just kind of figured it out. I call them clicks, you know, like when I'm coaching guys and I just started clicking, you know, like I just — you can call it leveling up or whatever — but I just kept doing it over and over again. And I was pretty focused on that stuff.

Michael Frampton
So what, a practical example — what, you did a turn that was a little faster than your usual turns and you remembered it and you thought, I want that feeling again?

Adam Knox
Yeah, it is. You know, I'm kind of a — you know, my brother sits into all his turns and all that kind of stuff, where I'm more kind of like, I'm more like spontaneous, you know, like, you know. So I think what it was is, you know, I got good at airs. I was really aggressive into the lip, you know, so, like, right when I stand up, I'm on. And some guys will say I do too much, which is a valid point, but it gets the job done too, you know? So if I just want to get up into that lip and, you know, I can, I'll do — like, you know, a lot of photographers, I just posted a little thing on my Instagram — a lot of my shots, dude, my head or my hands are cut off of my airs because they don't think I'm going to do that. You know, it looks like I'm going to do something else. I do something else on it. So it's — I think that's kind of cool. But yeah, I just — that was one of the things. And then, yeah, I don't know, Chris Malloy told my brother, Micah — like, I remember the day exactly. It was a perfect day in Ventura and there’s air sections, and I was surfing with some of my buddies, my best friend, Jameson Kane, who's a smokejumper in Alaska. And I was surfing good and Chris was just down the way, but he went and told my brother, Micah, he's like, dude, I saw your brother surfing and I've never heard of him and I should have heard of him. And that was when I was like 17 or 18. And Micah was like, dude, I don't want to tell you — your head's going to blow up — but somebody said something. Why don't you just tell me? And it turns out, like, I look up to Chris Malloy probably more than most because you know where you stand with him. You know, there's no gray area. There's no, like, tricks or something, you know. Like, he's just a solid dude. And, you know, my brother Taylor would tell you the same thing. But coming from him, that was huge. And maybe it did blow my head up or something. I don't know, but.

Michael Frampton
So that inspired you?

Adam Knox
Yeah, dude, it inspired me for sure. It just showed me I was doing my job right, you know, for having, you know, a living legend, you know, to me, say something like that was huge. But right, you know, at that point, I was really just excelling, you know, so. Yeah. Yeah.

Michael Frampton
And did you have — during that time where you were on the salary — did you have a coach at all? Like, did you have a good—

Adam Knox
Coach? No, dude, and I wish I did. You know, I wish I had more than just a coach. I wish I had a mentor because there were a lot of things I could have done better, you know, hindsight. You know, stay in. You know, like, you don't know — don't go out — you know, worry about chicks later, you know. I tell my guys this now. Like, it's like, you know, party after you've already won. You know, like, really, there's nothing to party for. Yeah, it's cool. Live your life. Have some fun, for sure. But we almost took it to the extreme. But that's how it kind of was back then, you know. Like, you'll hear Mick and all those guys say it was pretty easy to beat people out of, you know, dawn patrol at Bells because everyone was hung over all the time, you know. So we grew up watching those guys and, like, those Lost videos. So we’re like, we just implemented it. Okay, this is how it is. We've kind of made it so we can kind of do that — which we never really made it. Like, I was a C surfer, you know, like, that had the potential. Like, a lot of guys were like, dude, you're going to be better, you know, you're going to be better than all that, you know, because I can kind of just, you know, play — I can get on a dirt bike, I can do it — you know, that kind of stuff.

Michael Frampton
So you're naturally sort of — you find all sports easier than most people?

Adam Knox
Yeah, I mean, I can't talk for everybody else, but yeah, I mean, I can — yeah, I've always been kind of into everything, you know, like, good at everything but never a master at anything, you know, which one of my brothers — you know, drive beats talent every time.

Michael Frampton
So have you done quite a lot — what — motocross or trail riding or?

Adam Knox
Yeah, well, I did the race around the lake my friend Shane Trittler does, and that's my friend in Malibu that is out in Mojave Desert right now, but he's like—

Michael Frampton
But when you were younger and before you sort of won that first comp, instead of surfing, you were? I'd go up—

Adam Knox
To Ballinger. So I'd take the 33 out at Ojai, and I'd — I get car sick, so I'd throw up on the way there, and I'd throw up on the way back, but I'd have a great time when I got there. Yeah, I just rode dirt bikes, you know. I grew up pretty poor, but my mom figured out a way to — you know, I don't know, credit cards or whatever — but to get me things. So I was like the only kid out of, like, my poor friends that had a dirt bike, so I had to go ride by myself all the time or bring somebody, and they would just crash my bikes all the time and do all that. But yeah, no, like, I'd just race BMX and I'd just do it all by myself, literally. What — I have no idea. Direction?

Michael Frampton
Were you seeking then?

Adam Knox
I don't know. Like, dude.

Michael Frampton
Just the thrill of the jump on the bike? Yeah.

Adam Knox
And the speed and?

Michael Frampton
Yeah.

Adam Knox
I love — well, for me, it's pretty rad because you can — it's unlike surfing. Surfing is the hardest sport in the world, where dirt bike riding, you go out there, you can redo it. And I mean, physically, I think dirt bike riding is the hardest sport in the world. So to go do those motos and be — I mean, their cardio is jacked and their grip strength and everything — you know, adductors in their legs, I mean, just all that stuff. But I mean, I'll look on YouTube and see some trick tips, and I can go implement them, and I can get better in a day, which I think was rad. But I just loved dirt bikes. It was just something I was just obsessed with when I was a kid, you know?

Michael Frampton
Yeah, so you were very self-driven to learn dirt bike tricks?

Adam Knox
Yeah, dude. I'll never say it — I like to jump more than do everything else. But I went and did this race, and I shouldn't have. Like, Shane Trittler — an ex-pro — and he has, like, a bored-out 450, YZ450, and they told me to come out and race and all this stuff. And he's so busy, because it's his event, that his bike I was going to ride didn't have gas. I didn't walk the track. I didn't get to do anything you're supposed to do, right? And like, I literally got gas, like, five minutes before the heat. And I got on this line with, like, 200 people, and everyone was revving it up and all this stuff, and I'm, like, trying to calm myself down. So I look to the guy on my right, I'm like, what's up, man — like, trying to make friends — and they're just kind of dogging me. And I look to my left, I'm like, you ever done this before? And he's like, what, man? Like, I'm like, okay. And I just break away and I get the holeshot, and, you know, first turn, second turn. And then everyone backed off on the third turn, and I was like, dude, I'm going to win this thing. Like, I got this. And, you know, you get better and you settle in after a while and your arm pump goes away. And everyone sat back because there was soot on turn three, which is like — it's like four-foot deep powder, like talcum powder, that looks like hard ground. And I came into it hot, and you feather your front brake to, like, to bank, and my front wheel washed out, dude, and I was probably going like 45. And I remember it was left wrist, face — tried to bring my right hand up, couldn't — so it tore my rotator cuff in, like, four spots, broke my left hand, my humerus hit my subscapula and fractured the head of it. And I crawled off. And when you hit the ground that hard — I don't know if you ever hit the ground that hard or anything like that hard — you have to see, it, like, takes a few minutes to see if you're going to, like, die. And then your adrenaline is really high and I didn't really feel it, you know. Like, I felt like I went over there and I was, like, knocked the wind out of myself and all that stuff, but I didn't feel the other stuff. So — and I'm looking at the crowd watching me just eat crap on the third turn at the beginning of the race. And I'm like — you know, I only get starstruck around a few — or, you know, I never met Travis Pastrana, but that's the guy I look up to, like, the most — him and, like, Navy SEALs. Like, those are the craziest people in the world to me. And I never met Travis, but I was like, what would he do? He’d get up, dude. He'd crash, like, 20 times and break his leg in a supercross and then quadruple or triple and land out in the flats to win. Like, so, I don't know, I just got up and I think I finished. And this is, like, beginner — but there's good guys — and you got up, and that was first lap. I had, like, eight more miles to go around. Got back up and I finished in the top 10, I think out of, like, 60 or something.

Michael Frampton
Back on the bike, got.

Adam Knox
Wow. Yeah, so, but I was like so dazed, I literally thought I would have internal bleeding, I would die on the bike, like no joke, swear to God. And then after the race, there's a picture of me with like thumbs up, you know, Travis, you know, and then I couldn't lift my arm, and then my hand was like, it looked like I had a blown-up doctor's glove, you know, and I'm like, is this normal? I can't lift my arm. And they're like, dude, tore your rotator cuff. I'm like, wait. And the next day I had to drive stick home, and I drove with like my forearm. So I was shifting with my forearm, and I was driving with my forearm like three hours, dude, just in the worst pain ever. And then it took five months. I didn't get an MRI for four months because I don't — I think they're expensive. I didn't have insurance, you know. And they're like, dude, it's black in there, but you'll be okay in a month. But I'm like, no way, dude, it's been five months, four months. They'll be, you'll be okay in a month. And yeah, I don't know.

Michael Frampton
Wow, that's a gnarly story. Yeah, it was gnarly. It reminds me of the Denny Way — have you seen the Denny Way when he jumped the Great Wall of China?

Adam Knox
Dude, I did see that, but I don't know the backstory on that.

Michael Frampton
You should watch the doco. Yeah, it's sick. Yeah, that's interesting. So, like, at the time, like the race and the thrill of the race was more important than your health.

Adam Knox
Yeah, I know. It wasn't the race. It was, for me, like, it was a really proud moment of myself to be able to take a beating like that and get up and keep going. So I really think I kind of got into the wrong thing. I think I should have been, you know, I should have been in this — you know, try to be a SEAL or something like that — because that's something that I pride myself in. Yeah, you know, surfing to me, like, is a bit more scary. Like, so watching the Momentum Generation film and kind of just — no one ever told me, like, okay, you got to go prove yourself in Hawaii. Like, you got to be at Pipe and all that stuff. So I kind of avoided those spots. Like, I wasn't a big wave guy at all. I was more like, kind of technical. I wouldn't say technique, but, you know, I like to do tricks and that kind of stuff, have fun. And watching that movie and just kind of seeing — you know, for one, seeing where everyone comes kind of from the same place back then, you know, like alcoholic parents, you know, all that stuff — but just listening to that, no one really, you know, put me in a headlock and said, dude, you got to do this, you know. And I didn't really get comfortable with big waves until Ricky Whitlock and I went to Spain for Transworld and we surfed Mundaka. It was like 25 feet, and we just got — I broke my 6'6" first wave, standing in giant barrels, no hand at the backside, and just broke every single board and just took it.

Michael Frampton
You know. But you must have had similar experiences in surfing.

Adam Knox
There's a picture with me and a broken board. Ricky Whitlock is a big wave surfer. He's smiling. I look like I've seen a ghost. I have a broken board in my hand. And there's a lot more to come, but at the end of that, I was fine, you know, and that kind of changed me. It was a little late though, you know. Like, I'm alright in big stuff now, you know, to an extent, but back then, that was something that was like an Achilles heel for me for sure. You know, when you get worked when you're a kid, it stays with you for a while. So that's why I kind of encourage people not to push their kids too hard too soon, because that will stay with you. I know some pros right now that, when they were kids, they didn't surf big waves. Mason Ho surfed Val Reef, inside Sunset more so, when he was a grom. He didn't really charge, and now look at him. So it's something you can overcome for sure, but it's something you're born with, but you can overcome it if you try, you know. Yeah.

Michael Frampton
Extreme events tend to either make or break people. It sort of either drives you to get better or makes you realize it's not for me. Yeah. For you, it drove you to get better, right?

Adam Knox
Yeah, it did. But I mean, you ever been out the back? I mean, I think Sunset's one of the scarier waves because it's moving mountains, you know, and it's so shifty out there. And Taylor took me out there when I was, I don't know, a solid like, you know, over 20-foot faces for sure. Hawaiians would probably call it like eight or something. But I was out there going, whoa, this is crazy. I don't even know where to sit out here. And it was just — it was big and gnarly. And I think I ended up paddling in, but I tried to grab — you know, there's so many boards in the channel — I tried to save someone's board, and that almost drowned me because they tried to take me over to Cammie Land and all that stuff. So I was like, F this board, I'm freaking gonna go in and just, you know, take the shame of it. But I think he was really trying to prove a point, like, hey, you don't have this big wave stuff, and I'm gonna show you right now, so.

Michael Frampton
When you were doing motocross when you were younger before surfing, did that — I'm thinking that maybe that taught you how to get in the zone.

Adam Knox
Yeah, you know what, that's actually probably a good way to put it, because you have to be on. That's what — alright, so with me, all those quick adjustments, they have to be — they have to keep going. Like, I'm good at that.

Michael Frampton
Mean. To a flow state.

Adam Knox
It's when it goes flat, like, when there's that flat space, then my mind will drift. And then I've been spacing out for, like, you know, like a trail ride or something on a dirt bike, and next thing you know, I hit something I wasn't paying attention to, everything kind of goes blurry. Like, I like things that are quick reaction, like martial arts, that kind of stuff — I like that stuff — surfing, for instance. But yeah, that does put you in that zone. I need that, like, constant, like, crazy reflexes, you know. And I have astigmatism too, so I've had bad eyes. I was born with it, but my reaction time is good, you know. I think we talked about that because you do stuff with vision and stuff, right?

Michael Frampton
Yeah, just tell folks what astigmatism is.

Adam Knox
Yeah, so from what I understand, astigmatism is like, okay, most eyes are supposed to be shaped spherical, you know, like a basketball. Mine are shaped like footballs, so the light gets refracted — or I guess not refracted, but reflected — or I don't know what, you know. People — you know, water refraction — yeah, okay, yeah. But it just kind of blurs things out. So say if I were to put my glasses on that are like super thick, everything would just get a little bigger, like, and clear. But that throws me off. Like, I try to golf with them and I can't, but I can see where my ball lands, finally, you know. I don't have to have a spotter, but I can't hit the ball because my depth perception's off. Interesting. Yeah, dude, it sucks. I'm like, this is cool, and I'm like, whoa, where's that ball? Like, okay, it looks like it's there, but. You — yeah, completely. I mean, when I put my glasses on, it's like, whoa, okay, like, I can see all the details, and everything literally gets bigger. Like, a lot bigger. Like, for people that can't see, I have my hands out, like, your head would get like, I don't know, maybe four inches wider.

Michael Frampton
Literally see things differently than others. So, when you're surfing, or even when you're on the bike, is vision a secondary sense to you? Yeah.

Adam Knox
Probably feel. And then, like, not proprioceptive, but like, my — you know, what's it. Yeah, but like, I see things better — like, I'm always paying attention to kind of everything — but I see things better off to the side. And you do your peripheral vision. Peripheral, yeah. So I was thinking that word last night, I couldn't think of it. Yeah, peripheral vision is actually better. So when I'm looking directly at something, it's blurry, but the thing next to it is clearer.

Michael Frampton
Spatial awareness?

Adam Knox
So, remember when I was telling you that I step in dog poop all the time? Because I never look down, like, directly. I never, like — literally, like, Zuma, we have a big bulldog, and man, does he get me all the time. I was just in Big Bear, and I stepped in dog poop up there in the snow, and I was like, every time, man. But I don't look down, because there's no point. So I kind of feel things out more. I think people walk — you know, when you walk around, like, in terrain, you look down and, like — like, I see things, like, 15 feet out, and then I remember what it's going to be like when I get there. And then I'm already going another 15 feet out. So I have it all kind of, like, memorized in my head. And that's kind of how I see things. But that's how, like — you know how Shane was talking about surfing's kind of something you do in the future.

Michael Frampton
Yeah, you kind of notice things, and then you look down. Yeah, see.

Adam Knox
Your reaction is something that's going to happen, and that's how I see things. So, like, if you're, like, you guys ever been to a river, and you're river jumping and all that stuff, I'll memorize the first 15 feet and deal with that without looking at it while I'm memorizing the next 15 feet, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I noticed that, like, and I don't know if other people did that or not, so.

Michael Frampton
No, it's a common theme that I've been getting from a lot of pros — the feel of surfing. It seems to be more important, or what's a better word? It's more like the volume's turned up on the feel of surfing rather than what it looks like.

Adam Knox
Yeah, for sure.

Michael Frampton
You feel your way, you feel you're connected to the power source rather than looking for the power.

Adam Knox
Source. Yeah, for sure. Like, I think you hit a certain level where you don't have to look at that stuff, you know? And if you did, it's all peripheral anyways. Like, I'm not going to directly look at it. Like, I see what's going to happen, and then you feel. Yeah, you can feel you're in the power source, and then, like, you kind of see the line of it, and you know what's going to happen, you know? Like, you just know it. Like, I don't know, it's a feeling, and it's — yeah, I think it's a lot of peripheral, because you're really focused on being here, and then once that thing gets steep, you can feel it, so you're going to highline to come around or up into it or whatever. So, I mean, I think it just kind of comes with it, a lot of practice.

Michael Frampton
Do you ever go surfing and you find yourself that you've lost touch with that feeling, and things don't go right?

Adam Knox
No. Like, I don't know, you see, like, I just — I haven't been surfing very much lately, you know? I coach so much to where it's almost like, all right, I've just been at the beach for four hours, I'm going to — it was good, now it's bad, you know? So, they kind of come first. But no, I kind of feel that I'll lose physical stuff over that first, you know? Like, I won't lose that, but I'll lose strength, you know, something like that. But if I stay — if I train, like, the day before and get my nervous system fired up, I'll have that, you know? But, like — so, did you see that, like, frontside air I posted the other day? It was like a — it wasn't quite a full rotator, but it was a pretty big one, and I hadn't surfed in a month or whatever, and I had that thing, and I was flipping around, and I felt my back leg give out in core, you know? Like, but I had that, like, by feeling, by pop, by timing. That was all on physical, wasn't it? Yeah, you can watch it. I'm, like, right there, I spin it around, and I'm like — and then the water — I was like, dude, yeah, so.

Michael Frampton
When did you start coaching?

Adam Knox
Man, if you look back, we went to El Salvador, and there was this guy, Hunter — he surfs good — this kid Hunter, and I was kind of like the only real pro on that trip. We had, like, some friends and all that stuff, and there was a young kid. But he kept doing — on your backhand, it's hard to — it was a photo trip, you know? On your backhand, it's hard to get different shots because you kind of do the same turns — right points — and you kind of do the same turns over and over again. I just coached him a little bit on how to mix it up. Dude, you got 500 of those shots. I'm like, all right, so what are you going to do? Let's mix it up. Okay, we're going to have to blow that tail, so you're going to start that transition, you're going to come up steeper, and you're going to transition into the lip and get that tail out and down the line, you know — mix it up. There's different stuff. Okay, now back to there. So, if you read the article, it starts saying — I think there's a part that says, "Coach Adam Knox," you know, blah. But, like, professionally, I started working with Eitan Osborne, who's number one in the QS right now, and he just made his ESRN pipe. I started working with him, and then I went to the Czech Institute for Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology. And then, yeah, I was just approached by a few people, and I was building airplanes at the time. So it was like — right after that, after your contracts go away, it's a real hard place to get out of, because, you know, a lot of us surfers are, you know, fairly prideful and stuff. You can't just go work, you know? You can't just go work at a restaurant, you know? It hurts your pride too much. And then once people see that, they're like, he's done for good. And people want to see you fail too, you know. So, you got to, like, hide and work at the same time. So there's a lot of my friends right now that are judging because they're hiding behind the scaffolding, you know, like — but they still surf on a professional level, you know. But yeah, I was approached just by a few people, and then I just kind of — you know, with the Czech background and knowing how the body works and all that stuff, and then knowing the surfing, I kind of feel like you need all that stuff. And then I was just getting results, and people wanted it, and you could — you know, it's a pretty fun life. You kind of get paid to surf still. So, it's probably, like, to answer your question, it's probably like eight years ago. Yeah.

Michael Frampton
Well, why did you start? What inspired you to start coaching?

Adam Knox
Again, nothing really inspired me to do it. It just — it was kind of a high demand. And my friend Jeff Belzer, he kind of, like — he owns Ventura Makos. I know you're from Malibu, so you know Malibu Makos. He owns Ventura, part of that. And he just was, like, kind of, like, testing me out — like, can I use this guy for something, you know? And then I coached — head coach for Ventura High surf team, coach for Ventura Junior High surf team, coached all the other top guys, did all this stuff, and it just kind of snowballed effect. And I had fun doing it, you know. It's hard with the younger guys, you know, because they're not quite there yet, you know. Like, I almost need someone to bring them up. But I have some guys, you know, like, say — you know, I had — I worked with Cole McCaffrey, the rise of Billabong and Oakley and all that stuff, since he was 10. And he wasn't quite there then, but he's — once we got him to a certain point, it's on. Because now I just adjust — you know, adjust their turns and give them, you know, different combinations and that kind of stuff, where it gets really fun, you know. You can kind of surf through them, almost. But there's, like, there's that gray area with the little guys. You're like, man, like, all right, yeah, you got to get up, you got to work on your pop-ups, you got to do that stuff. So with my, you know, New Trinity — you know, the elite surf camps I do in the summer, where we're coaching, we're running mock heats, we're doing mini contests, we're doing the carving technique stuff, and we're doing all the video review — and we do that all week long with the training. That's fun. It's fun to see them go through all that stuff. But I kind of opened the floodgates for the groms right now, so.

Michael Frampton
Did you coach yourself? Dude, that's—

Adam Knox
A really good question. I actually coach myself now. It's super weird. I'm getting better — like, better now than I ever have been — and I rarely surf. Like, I should surf more, and I need to, and I'm going to. But I surf better now than ever. I just understand it more. I just — I became a student of it, you know. And I think that's — I mean, that's probably the best advice to anybody out there, is like, dude, look at the small stuff. Watch Mick. Look — you don't look at his turn. Look at where he's looking as he enters his turn. Look where his chest is facing as he finishes his turn. Look how he transitions out of that turn. It's all these little intricate details — hand placement, breathing, everything. Like, look at the little stuff, guys.

Michael Frampton
Where did you learn that?

Adam Knox
I just taught myself that. I mean, it's one of those things.

Michael Frampton
I mean, you just... But why?

Adam Knox
I don't know, man. I've always been like that. Just kind of...

Michael Frampton
So, back when you started being on a salary for surfing, would you go back and look at photos and go, that's sick, but what is my wrist? My wrist's weird. Next time, I'm going to make sure my hand's in an aesthetic position. Were you—

Adam Knox
That? Yeah, kind of. Like, so, would you say hands? My hands are actually always — I thought — were good. My hands are always like this. They're always leading to where I was going. But I wasn't flexible, so I was missing grabs all the time, right? So, I'm like, I would touch my rail, but I wouldn't quite grab it. But no, not as much. You know, if they were happy, then I was happy. That was the kind of thing. I wish I was like that, but I wasn't.

Michael Frampton
So, when did it start? When did you start looking at the finer details of technique? Was it when you became a—

Adam Knox
Coach? Yeah, when I became a coach, when it's your job. I mean, I guess it was my job then. So, it just depends on what your mindset is, dude. To me, in life, it's all state of mind. You could be a millionaire, like Taylor says. Taylor said in Momentum Generation, like, all right, a guy could be bummed for winning a contest. The guy that got third was ecstatic. Who really won? So, yeah, for me, it's all state of mind. Back then, my state of mind was like, F it, dude. I was trying to prove a point. Because you grow up as someone's — your brother's already famous and all that stuff. So, you're getting chastised and ridiculed, and the sponsors you have, you only got from him and all that stuff. That wasn't the case. And there were some people I approached, for sure, like Audio. There was a shoe company back then that he was on that probably shooed me in for that. But it really made it a lot harder for everything else. So, at that point, I was just like, dude, you know what? I made it. They can't take away my contest results. They can't take away my mag time. And now, all those people that just hated for no reason, really. Because I was really adversarial, too, because I had so much coming at me all the time that everyone — I was a hammer and everyone was a nail. And — or to them, I was the nail and they were the hammer. So, I just kind of had this bad boy thing all the time. I started riding for No Fear.

Michael Frampton
Does that part of what drove you, do you think?

Adam Knox
Yeah, that drove me, which is a complete wrong thing to drive someone. You know? That's the only reason why I went — didn't go as far as I should have, you know?

Michael Frampton
So, when you take on a new athlete, and you're looking for what drives them or...

Adam Knox
Well...

Michael Frampton
Are you looking for what drives them? Yeah.

Adam Knox
I definitely do. I mean, I look at all that stuff. I mean, coaching is mostly psychology, you know? And I got a lot of, like, you know, business people and stuff — they're like, Adam, you're too close to these guys, or, you know, blah. You have to be. So, it'd be better to have four clients or five clients that you know, that could afford to pay you almost full-time and you could be with them all the time, you know? Like, that would get the best bang for your buck. But really, I mean, most of these kids are being driven by their parents. So, I do look for in them a self-drive for sure. You know? And that's going to be that... And the thing is, I'm looking to see that drive kick in as well. Because right now, a lot of them are remote control surfers.

Michael Frampton
What do you mean by that?

Adam Knox
Like, they're just, you know... Well, people can have their dads on the beach and kind of, like, directing them on which wave to go and all that stuff, where they should have the intuition and heat IQ to go out there and surf their own heat. You know? Like, okay, there's a game plan on the beach. You know? Some people don't like this about me because I'm not going to be jumping around and acting like a crazy person on the beach. But the game plan's set. This is what's happening. It's changed. Okay? We watched the last heat. You saw who won. We identified why. Okay? This is your game plan. But the thing is, you know, it's hard to keep a solid game plan out there because it's going to change. So, they have to have intuition to be able to change with the ocean. Another reason why surfing is a hard sport. Yeah.

Michael Frampton
Intuition. So, you're teaching your athletes to be self-sufficient, self-reliant.

Adam Knox
I do. And you know, some people... I mean, I try to. And some parents don't like that. They want a full-on thing. Or some athletes, you know? I keep saying parents because I'm working with a lot of young guys right now. But you know, a lot of these young guys — they're going to be, you know, 15, you know, in a year. You know? And, you know, then it's different. Everyone starts backing off and they just need to rise up, you know, with me. And you know, and if I'm not... And if they're not just progressing and clicking all the time like I was saying, then I'm not doing my job or — and/or they're not putting everything into it. Then we got to figure out where to go from there, you know?

Michael Frampton
Do you talk about flow states and being in the zone?

Adam Knox
No. I mean, flow state is something that you've talked about a couple times and maybe you can enlighten me on...

Michael Frampton
Well, it sounds like it's... It sounds like for you, it's something that naturally happens. Yeah. And probably, if you're coaching naturally gifted athletes, they're probably naturally falling into the zone or whatever. When you're in the zone, time slows down. Like you might — like for example, you might see, well, I just got a 10-second barrel. And then you look at the footage and you were in there for one second.

Adam Knox
Yeah, kind of. Like, for me, if I get scared or something like that, I actually — I'm able to go flat.

Michael Frampton
Like... What do you mean?

Adam Knox
Like, say, like in a fight or something like that, like no emotion — go time — go flat. Like, not flat to where no energy, but just nothing.

Michael Frampton
Neutral?

Adam Knox
Neutral. Just aware. Just like, all right, you know, this is a very pivotal moment.

Michael Frampton
Of what's going on. Yeah.

Adam Knox
It could go really bad or really good. And I think that, you know — I'm just using martial arts or whatever for that reason. But yeah, it's like to be able to, like, just... Yeah, I guess that would be a flow state. It's like a state of nothingness, almost.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. When you're just aware of what's going on now. You're not thinking.

Adam Knox
About... Yeah. There's only one thing you do. But I've been in that... There's — dude. So, like, when I was doing well in the contest, they told me not to do contests. You know, okay, go be a photo guy. And then when the contests got popular again, we had to go back to it and I had to relearn it. All those butterflies and all that stuff — they all came back. You know, you almost have to establish — you know, I almost said, like, control the fear, because the fear of others — you don't need to be that confident, you know? It's like their confidence drops, so you can just be you, almost, if that makes any sense. Right? Because if not, you're that freaked-out dude, and these guys know that they can beat you. But if you beat them a bunch and you control the fear, you know, they're like, man, I got a heat draw. Okay. And you know that, and you have that over them. And then you go out there and just surf. Whenever you're just surfing, you're surfing your best. If you're going out there going, man, and you're over-pumped and all that stuff — which I’ve, you know, did forever — it took me a long time. I had to beat these guys slowly to feel confident and know that they feared me in their heat, you know.

Michael Frampton
Interesting.

Adam Knox
But that's just me, you know — like, some mentality thing, you know. But it's all the same thing. You could word that a different way without that, you know, and it wouldn't sound as crazy and aggressive, but that's all kind of what it is, you.

Michael Frampton
Know? Yeah. So you're naturally getting into that flow state. So you're kind of lucky in a way. Because a lot of people have to really work for that. Like...

Adam Knox
Yeah, you know, maybe I grew up — you know, we... You know, just like Taylor said — you saw my dad on that Momentum Generation with the big old... Did you end up seeing that?

Michael Frampton
I haven't seen it yet.

Adam Knox
Dude. Best thing ever. Like, best documentary ever in surfing for sure. But he talks about, like — you know, it shows a picture of my dad — like, big old Fu Manchu. And he was a musician that was, like, on the rise, and he was a big fish in a small pond. So, he was, like, kind of famous in Ojai and Ventura and all that kind of stuff. And then drugs and all that stuff messed it all up. And he talked about the fights between our dad and my mom. So we have the same dads and different moms, and how they just wake up with black eyes and all that crazy stuff. And — and — anyways, we grew up pretty hard. So I think you have to — it's a fight-or-flight thing. You know? That's why I use the — you know, that analogy with fighting. That's the way we grew up.

Michael Frampton
So you wanted to escape home life a lot of the time. Well.

Adam Knox
Escape home life, but I wanted to protect. Like, I have a huge, like, a savior complex. So, you know, being able to protect — but just seeing all that crazy stuff kind of makes you numb to it as well. So maybe that's where that flow state comes in. It's, you know, you have to survive. So I'm flowing now because I know what I have to do to get out of here or what I have to do to get my brother out of there or whatever. So that's probably — that's where it comes from.

Michael Frampton
And like you said, you know, back in the motocross days, you used to watch videos and then go out and try.

Adam Knox
Yeah, no, for sure. You gotta watch those guys. And I do it now to this day, and I didn’t race a bunch, you know. I only done a couple of races, but, but.

Michael Frampton
But with motocrosses, I'm going to guess that those videos were very detailed orientated because you're hitting the same jump. Okay, if you hit this at 50 miles per hour, it's not going to happen. If you hit it at 53, it's on the money.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Well, it's physics.

Michael Frampton
Physics, right? And it comes into play a lot because you're dealing with hard ground and crazy powerful machines. And surfing — a little bit casual because it's water and it's like — but it sounds like what you've done is you've taken that detailed coaching element from motocross and brought it to surfing.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Well, now for sure. I mean, 'cause, you know, back then when I was a kid, didn't have that stuff, you know. I'd have a couple of guys like, okay, you didn't have some weight on your inside pig — or sorry, outside pig — when you're doing a, you know, a left turn and all this stuff, which I'm like, it doesn't really make sense. Then you think about it — it actually does. It loads up and it grips that way. But yeah, you can go on YouTube and just learn pretty much anything, where I want to post some more videos on YouTube. There’s some interesting guys out there. I mean, those guys are getting a hundred thousand hits for stuff that’s really simple. I don’t know if I could do it because I might overload people, but I don’t know.

Michael Frampton
No, I think — so my personal experience would be that — I mean, this is for me personally — it was like, you're the most detail-orientated coach I've ever worked with, which I really appreciate, because it's — I guess in some ways, I'm the opposite of you. It's sort of — I don't naturally fall into the flow state unless shit's on the line.

Adam Knox
You've coached with me. I mean, what do you think?

Michael Frampton
Like, if I'm surfing a slab, and if I don't make the drop, I'm going to get pushed into the reef — then I'll click into the zone. But if I'm surfing my three-foot beach break, it's so hard for me not to get lost in the future or the past. What brought me back was — what brings me back and what I learned from you — is thinking about the details. So instead of thinking in seconds, I'm thinking in milliseconds. So it's like, you're like, yeah, what are you going to do now? And then what's next? It's like, you broke — most coaches will break the bottom turn into one or two. Okay, do this, and that’s your bottom turn. But you’re like, now you’ve got this before the bottom turn, this during the bottom turn, this on the exit of the bottom turn. Do you know what I mean?

Adam Knox
Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for that. I know. It's good. I know it's a pain — such a pain.

Michael Frampton
It's good, 'cause that's what brings you back. There's no way you can change — so let's say a bottom turn lasts half a second on a medium-small wave.

Adam Knox
Unless you're like Tom Curren where it lasts like 40 feet.

Michael Frampton
Let's say it lasts one second. Most people won't have — or most coaches won't coach — anything more than one or two things in that one second. But you were like, nah, we're going to do this and this during that one second. And if you got to — if you really want to get better at surfing, and you really want to get better at — you have to get better at a bottom turn, right? And if your bottom turn's really bad, then you got to get detailed, and you got to change it — not just slightly. You've got to change it, like, a lot. Yeah. You do this and this.

Adam Knox
Well, especially if you're doing this and this wrong, you know. That's exactly — you could break down every single thing so much. It's crazy, but it's—

Michael Frampton
Good. And I think that's what people need. Yeah. Because it happens a lot. And obviously, you look at golf — like, people are slow-motion footage of their swing over — and it’s the same.

Adam Knox
Dude, golf and surfing, man — two hardest things. Your body can break down in just every little way, you know. I love golf because it's so hard. I love surfing because it's so hard. There's a reason I'm attracted to those two things. Like, you play golf without, you know, those few good shots, you know. And surfing — I mean, at this point now it's like, okay. But I mean, I'm sure, like, so, you know, at your level, you're probably doing it for that one or two good turns that day, you know. Something — maybe you blew the fins out and it caught just right, and you know, got some tail release and back, and that probably felt just amazing, you know. Probably going for that kind of stuff where — yeah, I don't know. For me, when I surf, it's almost like, all right, you know, it's kind of almost the same stuff, you know. And then yeah, if I push myself or whatever, then it's a little bit better. But then if no one caught it on tape, then it's like it never happened. So I don't know. I'm definitely not that soul surfer. But yeah, I know there's so much stuff to break down. That's rad though.

Michael Frampton
Yeah, well, I think focusing on the details for me brings me into the moment. Yeah.

Adam Knox
And to be self-aware — like, for you to even realize that is huge. That makes you super coachable. Like, as I was coaching you, I saw you trying it, which was rad, but it made your surfing so much worse because you were trying to figure it out. And then getting that text or that call three days later going, dude, I'm surfing better now than ever — that was huge. I was like, heck yeah. Like, that was epic. That's what I want. And sometimes you have to detrain somebody before you can move forward. You know, like, you were trying to run before you could walk, you know? And then, you know, there’s all these, like, you know, energy leaks and body leaks and all that stuff. And if you can get it right and you can feel it — once you feel that, like, that acceleration and your board pushed back into you and you push through the turn — that's on. But it takes so many things, you know. Like, eyes first, then you turn your head. And you turn your head, then you turn your chest. I have you turn your chest. Then the arm comes through. After the arm comes through, the hip. And the end of the whip — the crack of the whip — is that board, you know? So everything has to go down pretty much, but it comes up first 'cause it comes off the bottom, but it's already — you know, it goes.

Michael Frampton
But you — like, you have the confidence to be blunt. Firstly, a lot of coaches like to be politicians in some way, like, be nice. And I think as surfers, if there's something you're doing wrong and a coach sees it — I mean, exactly.

Adam Knox
It's their duty to tell you. That's what you're paying them for.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. And you might lose some clients because of that, but I think the ones that appreciate and get gains from that are going to be the ones that are serious about it, because the bluntness and the attention to detail is — I mean, I've only coached with you once, but I would say that's your strength.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And, yeah, and that kind of came naturally. It's like, you know, like you were saying, you might lose some clients and all that stuff. And that's the thing about me is like, I try not to have too much, you know, kind of, you know, BS or whatever. Like I want to be the straight shooter and, and I'm not afraid to tell anybody what's up, you know, from what I think, you know, in coaching and life, any of that stuff, you know. And this — I think the coaches that are out there that are doing that are just trying to make their clients happy and keep them — keep that money coming a lot of times, you know. And that's not everybody, but, you know, maybe some guys are just nice and, or they don't see it, you know. And I'm not anyone to be able to tell them, you know, like, I can't tell you that they can't see it, you know, or maybe — or, you know, or what — you know, whatever the reason is. But I mean, you gotta be pretty technical. And like, I've been surfing for, what, 20 years now and 11 years of pro. And then I just signed that contract with C-Way, that Brazilian company, for two and a half years for, you know, pro contract, you know. You got — I think you gotta kind of have it all and, or study your butt off. Like, if you don't have that, like, kind of pro and that level, I think you have to be a crazy student or else it's kind of just theory, you know. Like, I've proven it. I can go do it, you know, a full rotator. I can do, you know, value turns and the cutbacks, and I know my weaknesses. And I'm not the best at anything, and I have a bunch of holes in my game, but I've done it, you know? So when I talk about it, it's not just because I heard it on a podcast or something like that. It's because I've done it. I've proved it. And it's not theory anymore. You know, I think it starts out that way, and then you figure it out.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Yeah. Surfing is hard.

Adam Knox
It's hard, dude. It's so hard. I mean, like — I mean, you know, not to keep quoting everybody, but like Kelly said, I think on that thing as well — he's like, I don't think it was on that — it was on Joe Rogan. He was like, dude, I know guys that have been surfing for 50 years that suck. And it's because no one ever told them they sucked, you know? And you can tell them in a nice way, or you can just be like, hey dude, I did it. It's crazy. 'Cause I coach so much now that I want to let people know. And people might take that offensively, you know, which sucks. 'Cause that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to help them out. Like, hey, my bro here, try this. Yeah. Okay. Like, you know, bro, well, you just try it. Just try.

Michael Frampton
It. On that note, what's in the average everyday surfer you see down at the beach? What's the most common problem you see?

Adam Knox
Man. There's a lot, man. There's a lot. You know, with the youth, I would say what I'm working with now with a lot — you know, with the younger guys is, they don't highline. Dude. Okay. If you're high on the wave, it's like — drop. Okay. If you're high, it's like — you know, everyone's dropped into like a half pipe or a quarter pipe if they skate, right? You accelerate, right? So think of a wave as a — as like a quarter pipe or a half pipe or whatever. And if you're high, like Felipe stays high — you can — if you're high, you can — you have speed on tap, right? Potential energy, right? It's sitting there, and you can drop down. It's like a boulder rolling down — you know, boulder stuck, and then it gets loose and it's rolling down. And as you're — if you stay high and/or utilize floaters, right — like lip-line floaters, not ones, you know — the ones that you want to be on the roof — they reach like a terminal velocity where they start to slow down too, you know. You have a certain point where you need to exit, and it's kind of like a more ending maneuver. But that speed floater, where you just get up and you're off-centered and you're loaded up and you're going to come up around — and as you push down over your board — as you drop down — that's the highest line you can get. Can't go any higher than that unless you were going to air and like land on the transition perfectly, which we don't really do. But to highline and do floaters — I think is the people that aren't using them — because they're functional, they're conjunctional, right? They link you up into the next turn. They slingshot you. So after a floater, you'd usually go about 10 feet over a section or longer or whatever it is. And then you drop down and you're going to go straight off the bottom here — and a little off the bottom — straight back over into the lip. So that's two for one right there. Not only is it functional, it's points. So that's one thing. And another thing too is, like, a lot of people — they don't like to be in that low position. I remember when I was a kid, Taylor's like, dude, I'm going to get a freaking — I'm going to get a rope and tie it to your hips and tie it to your board so you stay down. But the thing is, what he should have said is, hey dude, go do wall sits, go do squats, go get down in that low position to where you freaking like it and you can stay down there. Because I didn't have the physical strength to do that, and these kids don't either. So that's where right now I'm like, all right, you guys need to build up here. Jam, carver. Okay, now let me see what you're looking like in the water. All right. Okay, you can't be back on the water for a while. Like, surf, you know, go practice. But I need to see that physical ability, because I can coach you to death, but if you physically can't do it, there's no point. I'm wasting everyone's time and money.

Michael Frampton
Yeah, interesting. That's two big ones. Yeah. Highline, like you mentioned to me last time. Dude, watch—

Adam Knox
Like Momentum, like watch all the old videos. All they do is floaters, but it makes sense. Yeah. And then I see the third one would probably be—

Michael Frampton
Well, the second one — getting low. Yeah. That's just like — it comes back to basic physics as well. If you stand up straight with your knees locked and your hips locked and someone pushes you, you're going to fall over. But if you're down in a fighting stance or a good low surfing stance, no one can push you—

Adam Knox
Over. Yeah. That neutrality stance that we do — that, you know, with the hinge back — all your muscles are loaded up and you can always go up and down when you're low. When you're up, you can only go down.

Michael Frampton
Exactly.

Adam Knox
But when you're up, your hips want to come forward with most people, right? The deviation of the hips, all that stuff. So to keep that butt back and be back in that position — I mean, you guys can try it at home. Stand straight up and have someone push you. Okay, now take a big breath, blow your core out — 360 degrees. So big fat core — and then bend your knees and keep your back flat as you hinge. And then now have someone push you. You're not going anywhere. You know, that's what we put into all our training, you know. So we call it, you know, neutrality. And I was here in Carlsbad. And I guess I'll plug that a little bit. It's a place that I thought of, you know. I just thought it was exactly what I needed. You know, you're asking if I had coaching and stuff. I didn't. I needed a place like this. You know, I needed like a place where I could walk in — everybody wanted to — you know, I was everyone's case study, you know, because everyone brought something else to the table. One-stop shop for me to reach my ceiling. You may not be the next Kelly Slater. You may not be making the tour. But if you want to go do the QS and all that stuff, you need work. You know, we all do. Or even 100%.

Michael Frampton
If surfing's your chosen craft and you just want to get better—

Adam Knox
I mean, I wish I had — I actually wish I had more clients, like, say, like you or — that just wanted to get better and that were stoked on getting coached, you know. But I think ego gets in the way of a lot of people, you know.

Michael Frampton
It's part of the culture as well. Like, I mean, look at golf. Everyone's getting lessons. Tennis — everyone's getting lessons — because it's part of the culture, right? Surfing is — at the moment, cliche — it's changing, but it's still that—

Adam Knox
But when they grew up, it was cliche. Like the guys our age, you know, it was cliche to do that stuff. So like, it wasn't cool, you know. So it's understandable. But I mean, I get so many things on Instagram, like, hey, when are you going to do an adult surf class? I'm like, I'll do it whenever you guys want. And then I never hear from them again, you know? So — but yeah, I mean, everyone thinks that I'm just like straight-up kids and, you know, juniors and all that stuff. And yeah, it's good to get them young and coach them up so they're good enough to work with when they're older. But I would love to work with a group — you know, let's say like, you know, four dudes wanted to go out and get coached and trained and videoed and video analysis. You're going to get better, man. All these people — most of these guys — they're in a prison, man. They're not going to figure it out. It's going to be hard. I mean, depends. But dude, what I think I give is freedom. You know, like, I'm at a point on my surfboard — I have freedom, you know. I can do what I want. If I want to go float something and do a 360 out and an air reverse and all that stuff or a cutback or whatever it may be, I can do. I'm pretty free in that sense. I mean, I won't be able to paddle into Chopes or anything like that without hitting the ground and dying, you know. But when it comes to like just surfing, man, I have freedom. And it's so much better. I mean, like, I remember being a kid — and that's another thing — it's like, I'm able to go back to where these guys were in my head and go, all right. Yeah. I do. I remember exactly what that was like. So this is what would help that, you know. But they're locked up and they're not going to get unlocked until they figure it out, you know? So the whole thing, you know, is to go from A to B, right? The quickest way. 'Cause if not, you're going to have that guy that's in his van thinking he's shredding — but really he's just, you know — thinks he's living the dream, and it's all a dream.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Which is all fine until you take that attitude on a surf trip and you hit the reef and realize, I'm not that good. Or you realize I can't even keep up with that wave.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Right. And those are two easy things right there. So you said hit the reef. So obviously he doesn't know that he needs to take, or she, take three or four more paddles before they stand up. You got to get under that thing. Right. That's one. That's how you correct that. Maybe board up. And then if you can't make the wave, he's obviously not staying in the energy of the wave. 'Cause you're using the speed of the wave when you're on it, plus the speed that you generate yourself, right, through muscles and in your lines. So you add those two together and you're going 30 miles an hour. But now if you're sitting at the bottom of the wave and just doing little, the wave is like, almost like it's catching up to you and it's barely moving you. Right. You're not using the wall and everything else. So, I mean, really there's no energy there. So I would tell that person, okay, use the whole wave. Go to the top, bend your knees, and push on the way down, and then reload. It's all about that pushing and reloading. Like, you know, muscles are like rubber bands. You stretch them and then unstretch them, but you don't go all the way. You got to keep some tension there, right? It has to be some tension. If you go all the way into that, like, kind of dark spot — like if you, like, say, if you do a squat and you go too deep, then you got to come out of that. But if you squat just the right amount, where your hamstrings and everything else, they stretch out and they want to go back the other way, right? So you got to keep it there. You don't want to go — and that's just another thing we work on is just that stopping power. Surfing is all about that stopping power. It's all flowy, and then as you come down — like look at Dane Reynolds — he goes, boom, he stops and just explodes out of it.

Michael Frampton
Right. Kind of like jumping and landing.

Adam Knox
Yeah. But jumping and landing soft. Right. You don't want to just go — you want to go, you know, you want to, like, absorb the ground and then you want to be able to jump out of that again. Like, load up and unload up. Yeah. Load up and unload. Yeah. So, but yeah.

Michael Frampton
Is there a surfer you look to learn from? Like, who has the best technique?

Adam Knox
Well, yeah, there's three — three when I was growing up for sure. My brother always like, you gotta, you know, the show Good Times, all that stuff. I mean, really, nobody's got a better style, right? Mick Fanning — like Fanning the Fire is like first movie. It's one of my favorites. And I just was watching Momentum Under the Influence when he was like 21 or 20 or something like that. He was, like, wiry and a little more fast — like wiry, you know, whatever, like really whippy back then before he put on the meat and the muscle and all that. So he still is, but not as much. He was kind of wiry. And Taj — yeah, Taj I liked. A lot of people would say, you surf like Taj or Mick or whatever. And then I got — who's the guy that surfed like Taj or like Mick but, like, fell short? He rode for Oakley. He was a blonde guy. He looked like Mick too. He was on tour for a long time. People would start saying that. So I kind of felt he fell short of Mick. You could tell he, like, tried to mimic Mick and made the tour and all that stuff, and it kind of didn’t quite get there. Mick mastered what he did. And then I fell short of that stuff. But yeah, it was like a mix of those guys. Sometimes I'd — you know, guys would paddle up, "Hey, I think it's 'cause I look like Taylor" — I'd be like, you know, "You surf a lot like Taylor." I'd be like at, you know, at Rincon or something like that. And then I've, you know, different times, like, "You surf like Taj." It just depends. Like, but the thing is, I think with athletes, you should be able to mimic — I think the best athletes are able to just go, "Okay," and copy somebody real quick.

Michael Frampton
But in terms of, like, halfway through the re-entry, where are your eyes looking?

Adam Knox
That depends.

Michael Frampton
Where do you get those details?

Adam Knox
Well, so if you were going to copy Taj — usually he would come through that turn and throw the tail and probably look just down and over. Where Mick would come through a turn and do a hook, and he'd be looking behind him, you know. They're looking to where their board is — their feet and their toe-side rail is going to end up at — front of their front side. And if you watch Taj, he does a lot of, like, does like that out the back almost, where he's kind of looking this way. It depends — unless he's going to do, like, a full rotator or something like that or like a tail throw, then he'll look over. But he does a lot of the kind of, like, almost like a check turn, but he has so much snap and stuff and he's up in the lip and the airdrops from that. So it just depends on that. But I think the best surfer all around who I can't really figure out — which I, you know, I kind of had a good idea the other day on what's going on there — but Dane Reynolds — dude, best surfer in the world still right now. We were just at a wedding with him and Courtney was like, "That guy's a surfer?" I'm like, "Dude, he's the best surfer." And she's like, "He doesn't look like a surfer." I'm like, "Dude, trust me. Just trust me." Like, I don't — you know, I don't know how much he surfs now or whatever, but I mean, we just saw him on that — whatever that — board testing.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. What was it called? Electric Acid Test — a good testament to — you know what, your board choice is pretty important, but your technique is always going to override. Because he's surfing some pretty strange boards with good technique and ripping.

Adam Knox
Or something? Yeah. Like, yeah, it was on STAB. It was an Electric Acid Surfboard — but that's — yeah, no, he is. But I mean, I like how honest he is, though, too. Like, you know, he's like, "Dude, I don't ride this stuff. I ride my shortboard and that's it." And that's how I am too. But yeah, it's a testament to — I mean, once you're that good, I don't really think it matters. But on the boards that you could tell that worked well — dude, it's so crazy when he comes in that top turn — dude, his back leg is just a hammer. But what trips me out the most — after he goes, when he comes through that frontside turn and he does like, you know, he's three-quarters of the way through and he drops the hammer and turns his hips, like, and this board just blows up and turns 180 — his eccentric load or unload right there — and the concentric load is so smooth. He gets so much speed out of that when he just did a stop turn. He should have stopped. You see Kelly do this — he stops. You see Dane do those — he comes out with speed. And then, next, you know, his knees are up by his freaking head and he's loading up again. It's just the craziest thing. I remember when First Chapter came out — his first video — and I was like, "This isn't even a fun video to watch, 'cause it's really unrealistic. Like, I can't do any of this." Like, he just did a grab rail turn, went underwater, and came out backwards. Like, what happened under there? That would be actually a good thing for STAB to do — is, like, film them underwater and show us what the hell is happening. 'Cause I think he, like, lets go and gets on his belly and then, like, free-stands up. You know, I know that's not what's going on, but I'd like to hope so, so I don't feel so dumb. And, no, it's funny too. It's like, I'll have, like, a cool little edit on my Instagram. And then, I'll watch him afterwards. Don't do that. Everybody — don't. It makes you feel so stupid. Literally, like, an average day out in the water or whatever — you know, I could be one of the better guys out there. But don't watch your edit and then go watch Dane — or vice versa — 'cause it makes you feel like a child. It's super gnarly.

Michael Frampton
You mentioned that — you kind of alluded or hinted at that — the fact that maybe is, do you think Taylor got as good as he is through hard work?

Adam Knox
Yeah. I don't think — I don't think he's the most — you know, I don't think — a lot of people have said this — you know, I don't think he's the most talented surfer out there. You know, there's a lot of guys that get away with murder, you know — you know, whatever, partying, doing whatever. And he — you know, Taylor's had his fun and he's done all that stuff, but man, he loves to surf. All he does is surf. You're not going to see him on a downhill mountain bike. You're not going to see him on a dirt bike. You're not really going to see him do anything but surfing. And that's what he loves, you know? And I love that about him. Like, that's great. I just feel like there's a lot of other things out there that I love, you know. Always has been. So, but yeah, I think that discipline — I mean, no one's more driven and more disciplined in that sense. But it wouldn't be hard if you loved it that much.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Does he get very detailed orientated?

Adam Knox
We, you know, he’s come up in the — he sat next to like a me and a kid, you know, at Neutrality and sat down, and we were saying the same things. He was just saying them differently. And then I would say, and he’d be like, no — but he didn’t realize we’re saying the same things. And then, like, if you’re working with the kid for a long time, he understands your terminology and not so — but yeah, he wasn’t, it wasn’t as more detailed as like, no — he’s like, you want to do this, and like, we don’t through — and he probably is depending. And then once — he just doesn’t, he hasn’t done that much.

Michael Frampton
He talks more about the feeling rather than—

Adam Knox
Yeah, I bet. I mean, I’m sure it’s way different because he’s just doing it for him right now, you know, but once you have to break it down and you realize there’s so many walls to break down with people, then you got to get detailed. You know, it would be great if I could just be like, yeah dude, you want to come up and you want to feel the wind in your hair. No, you know. I don’t know enough about that. And I wish — I mean, I’ll show him my stuff. And I mean, actually I just did a contest, the Warm Water Classic in Carlsbad. And he said, I’m like, my God, you got any pointers? I think I made that heat or whatever. And I was kind of going on the medium wave. 'Cause again, like I hadn’t been surfing very much and I was pumping. And like, there’s like some tens out there, barrels and all that stuff. But I’d go on like the wider ones and go to surfing, 'cause I can manufacture scores. But I, like, I have a lot of, like, torque and hip throw and, like, can I throw my tail and stuff like that? And he’s like, dude, you’re a strong surfer. He’s just like, your technique isn’t that spot-on. He’s like, you should probably come into that turn softer and load it up properly instead of just dropping the hammer. But in my head, I was going, dude, I was behind the eight ball. I needed to throw as much flare at the judges as possible. So I’m going to use my weapon, which is my hip rotation and my back leg, you know? And then when I came in, a lot of the guys, you know, that aren’t as knowledgeable, were like, dude, that was the sickest turn in the contest. You know? Yeah. You know, there wasn’t — there were some better turns and it was pretty early in the contest. My buddy Ulysses was like, dude, that was sick. Or Taylor was like, yeah, that wasn’t that sick. So — but you know, he’s right. I mean, it’s actually something that I started implementing to my guys. I’m like, hey, I’m like, dude, let’s go slow through that thing almost, and let’s get it down before you start applying more pressure. That’s pretty much essentially what Taylor was saying to me. So thanks for the tip there, brother.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Well, no, you had — you said a similar thing to me. And 'cause I think I had — probably still do have — a habit of being very, like, snappy. And, 'cause I envisioned surfing as bottom turn, up to the lip, bang, throw spray, and fall back down. But then you made me realize is, no. You got to hold that position through the turn to maintain your speed, stay on rail, and then another change of direction back to the opposite rail. And for me, it made surfing — 'cause I think that bottom turn, up to the top — that sort of thought process is like, is how we sometimes see things when we’re watching surfing videos. We see the highlights, right? Or more specifically, it’s when we look in the magazines — that’s the photo. But that part is only a moment of actually a way around.

Adam Knox
All the—

Michael Frampton
That snapshot just happens to be when the rooster spray was going up. We actually want the rooster spray to go all around.

Adam Knox
It depends. I mean, if you’re going to go into that kind of — I call them hooks. People call them carves. You know, Mick kind of does, like, that hook. It’s like a three-in-one. He comes off the bottom, kind of goes into that rail turn, but clips the lip. So there’s kind of a roundhouse, but there’s a snap, and then there’s a, you know, a tail release hip throw at the end, right? So it’s like a three-in-one. Yeah. I mean, kind of what you’re doing — I’m watching it in my head right now — is you were coming off the bottom, and you were real quick to, like, unload off the bottom, which made you extend to hit the lip and do, like, a bash. And there’s places for bashes, like maybe on end sections, or say that you drop in and the wave is like a teepee, you know, had a big A-frame. So you want to come back at it, and the only thing you could do is go, like, oververt and bash it there. And then come and wait for it to go to rail and then do another turn, right? But you were kind of just, like, unloading and loading too much. And then you were letting your body raise up as you went through the turn. So when your chest flares, your chest comes up, then your hips are going to come forward. And that’s where a lot of things were falling apart for you. But you — I mean, you have — you surf good, man. You have that stuff. But you have that and it feels good to you. You know, you’re probably like, man, I just crushed that thing. And you did, but it’s real choppy. You know, technically unsound. The reason—

Michael Frampton
I bring it up is because it’s something very common that I see in a lot of average everyday surfers. Yeah. And it’s that stop-start — go up to the lip, smash it, lose all your speed, fall back down, and do it again.
Yeah. It’s fun. It’s fun. Right?

Adam Knox
It’s fun to hit stuff. But—

Michael Frampton
When you start learning, actually, if you keep your speed consistent and you’re on rail through the whole turn, rather than just bash-fall, surfing is more fun and you have more options.

Adam Knox
Yeah. I mean, I talk about it as, like, come off the bottom. And as you’re coming up into the lip — come — like, if you look at Dane, he comes off the bottom really hard. And by the time he’s, like, a foot or two feet up the wave, he’s already oververt. And he creates, like, an S. So he goes bottom turn, and he comes up, and he’s already on his other rail before he hits the lip. And which gives him that crazy whip and explosion down. You’ll see — okay, another thing I see that’s bad in a lot of the kids is they start their transition into their turn way too late because they think it’s going to send them out the back, undo a blowtail. But really, if they started the transition earlier, lower on the wave, when they get to the lip on rail, that’s when that — that’s when it legitimately would happen. These guys are going straight up. And as you climb this hill for so long, by the time you get there, you’re like — and it’s going to look forced and lame. And then you’re probably not going to have enough speed to do it there anyways.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. So you end up kind of bashing the water with the bottom of your board and their fins, rather than the rail through under the lip. Right. But—

Adam Knox
You can cheat that too. So there’s times to get light and there’s times to dig in and follow through. You know, like, I can come up into a section like that soft, get light, get over the top, turn my hips and kick my back leg out to get the fins out. But that’s just a technique of doing — so it’s not super sound. It just depends. You got to have it all, you know. That’s the thing. But you — I mean, if we’re talking about what, you know, what you were doing and what you’re saying is, like, that’s a little more technique-savvy. And then once you have that, you should move on to some other stuff. You know, once you have that, you can kind of do whatever. So that—

Michael Frampton
You mentioned that when Dane’s coming off the bottom and you get that moment where you’re weightless just before you change—

Adam Knox
Direction. Yeah. So like after he loads up, he’s feeling G’s, right? And as he feels those G’s that come up to almost flat transitions, where you’re going to feel that weightlessness before you — and you feel those G’s again, right?

Michael Frampton
But you want to — you don’t want to be too extended when you’re weightless. That was my habit. Like, my body was, like, straight.

Adam Knox
Yeah. You're — you open up and you're letting your arms supinate. For those people that can't see us, you know, like if you were to say like, I don't know, when your hands go up, that's like supination — like you're opening up, right? Or yeah, supination. So you roll out like that. You don't want to do that. You want to stay fairly, you know, almost like — almost how you would in, like, in gait, almost like when you're walking or whatever, but in that surfing position. You don't want to be opened up. You're letting your back arm circumduct and supinate as they open up, you know, and to supinate is to accelerate, but you got to do it properly.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Well, the reason I mention it is it's — again, it's something I see with a lot of just everyday surfers, is they're overextending off their bottom turn, and through that weightless part, they're not compressed in their stance, ready for the change of direction. That only happens as they go into it. And that's part of the reason why they lose speed too. So it comes back to what you were saying, is that you've got to be strong in that lower position.

Adam Knox
Yeah. So you come off the bottom, you'd want to be here and then, yeah, you want to get that push, but you want to go right back.

Michael Frampton
But see where you are now?

Adam Knox
You're sure you want to stay.

Michael Frampton
Most people, instead of being here, they'll be like here.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Well — and then they've got to drop into it.

Michael Frampton
Exactly.

Adam Knox
So that's where you see those segmental things. So you're going to see — you want to have, you know, somewhat seamless surfing. I mean, again, I'm not seamless at all, but I can see it really well, you know. With some work, dedication, maybe my brother can help me out, but it's hard, man. It's like, when I get into bigger stuff — like bigger surf where you got to wait off the bottom and all that stuff — that's where I should fall apart.

Michael Frampton
Interesting. That's where I'm better, actually.

Adam Knox
Yeah. See, that's — I'm like, man, I'm down here for a long time. Okay, I should be up in that lip. But then you got to look at like John, where John — look at Margaret's — he was bottom turning like mid-face. You know, everyone's like, bottom turn to this — that dude John was bottom turning in the meat. Like, when those bigger waves — the bigger, softer waves — Sunset and all that stuff, you want to bottom turn mid-face. You go down to the bottom of the flats and you got to climb a freaking mountain to get back up there. So I'm thinking it was like snowboarding at Margaret's, because he was bottom turning like three-quarters of the way down, half the way down, and just getting that crazy top turn. So it depends on that give and take. Where John, you know, isn't the most sound technical surfer you would think, right? Like, I've known John John since he was a little kid — his mom, Alex, and all that stuff. But no, I mean, no doubt is he not the craziest surfer out there. But I don't know if you'd say he's technically sound. I don't know. Would you? I mean, it's kind of hard.

Michael Frampton
It's kind of hard to say. I've thought about this a lot, and I've had clients — 'cause I always sort of — I always said to clients, hey, watch Julian Wilson, watch Mick Fanning, watch Joel Parkinson for good technique. Don’t — John, John's your favorite surfer. I get it.

Adam Knox
It's almost unrealistic. Like Dane, you know. Dane, you can learn a little bit more from. John, not so much.

Michael Frampton
Yeah. I always — my theory is that John John's doing all of the movements that — just take Mick for example, 'cause he's so exaggerated with his wingspan and what he does, right? Torque. John John's doing all that stuff, but instead of doing it here, he's doing it here.

Adam Knox
Yeah. He's like a snowboarder.

Michael Frampton
It's more subtle. He's doing the same movements. It's just — his timing's a little better, and he gets away with being more subtle.

Adam Knox
He's got some crazy stuff that he does. But yeah, you're right — he keeps his hands down. And it's funny, 'cause I always tell my guys, like, all right, elbow by your ear, and you know, for your back arm and your front arm, like, mirror your front thigh. But I have a kid from Finland right now that's getting good, and he's got the — you know, you're talking about what I look for in kids. He's got the fire. Like, he'll go out there and just, you know, be on it, trying to be on every wave and just destroy it. But he keeps his hands down. And I've been like, dude, keep your hands — I can't do anything like that. And then, you know what? He's coming together with his hands. I'm telling him to keep his hands up, but he's coming together with his hands down. He surfs a lot like John, actually, in that sense. This kid, Elie Timperi. But yeah, he's a Finnish citizen. So maybe — maybe Olympics, something like that one day.

Michael Frampton
Cool. Yeah. And I've always thought John just had more of — okay, imagine someone walking a tightrope, right? Or even if you start walking tightropes, you're going to be like this, right? Because you've got more control.

Adam Knox
See, what would John do on that?

Michael Frampton
John — well, once John got good, he'd be doing those same weight shifts, but he's doing it with smaller movements.

Adam Knox
In a more relaxed position, because if your hands are that close to your body, you don’t have any leverage.

Michael Frampton
No, but yeah — no, I know. I get it. I get it. If you don’t need it—

Adam Knox
I think John is — he's like sprinting on ice. It's almost like he's going so fast and he's so on point that he doesn't need those big movements.

Michael Frampton
Yeah.

Adam Knox
You know, and — well, the thing is too, it's like, you don’t — like you were saying, look at like Julian Wilson. I mean, that guy’s got the perfect spine position and everything. And, you know, he's more of a front-footed or a neutral-footed surfer. Joel Parkinson's a back-footed surfer. And that's a weird topic too. Like, on that stuff — like, so John kind of stands straight up, and then he'll drop that back leg. And then he — when he does those hooks, he does like a crazy wheelie out of them, which is trippy, but comes out with speed. So where I would say, don't do that. Yeah. It's interesting. Don't do it unless you do it. I don’t know. If you can get away with it, that's cool. But for my guys, like, dude, let's stay, like, somewhat traditional. And then you find yourself, you know. Once you get past — once you get unlocked — once you get your get-out-of-jail-free card, you’re not in prison anymore, you know, with your abilities and, you know, physical abilities and your surfing IQ and all that stuff, then we can really turn you on.

Michael Frampton
We have to learn the rules before you break them.

Adam Knox
Yeah. I agree.

Michael Frampton
You got to know the fundamentals before you move away from them or tweak.

Adam Knox
Yeah. I agree. That’s right. That’s what I think. If not — I mean, with coaching, it’d be way too hard. It’d be like, all right, dude, like, okay, you have this — I mean, I'm kind of going to do it with this kid Elie, you know, work with his John-esque style. I mean, the movements are all still there, you know. It’s just like, all right, he doesn't want to keep his hands up. But we’ll see.

Michael Frampton
How do you define style?

Adam Knox
Ooh. You know, I like kind of, like, sick style. Like, I think, like, what I’d call sick is like — again, like Mick Fanning — that’s like kind of not as perfect, you know. He grew up idolizing Taylor, you know, and now they're best friends and all that stuff. But he has his own thing. You know, he's got a kind of rounded back, you know. He's got scoliosis, I believe, and he torques and twists. And I don't know — just having that sick kind of predator attack is good. I think being aggressive — and then Dane. I mean, that guy’s just so fast and aggressive, it's crazy. Like, it's trippy too, because, like, I’ll surf with him — and I know him and, you know, somewhat — and, you know, being from a live Ventura area. And yeah, I didn’t — he’s kind of really mellow in the lineup. Like, you know, like, you don’t see him doing all the stuff you see him do. So I’m wondering where he does a lot of stuff. Because I’ve surfed with him a bunch. I’m like, yeah, you know, he’s doing whatever. It’s never like — but you know, again, I don’t surf with him that much. So I’m just wondering where those, like, 20-foot backflips and stuff are happening, so I can go watch.

Michael Frampton
What else is happening in your world?

Adam Knox
Dude, I, you know, like, I was—well, I was telling you before the podcast started that I had some—I had three, you know, good surfers from Portugal come over here just to coach with me, which was rad, you know, real privilege, you know, and that's where they found me on Instagram and liked the program and were following it and, you know, through Neutrality and my own, and got to work with those guys. And now they want me to go—I guess the Portuguese, you know, local surfers are seeing Johnny Rapinoe, this kid I was here with, like, just come back from California ripping. So his dad and his other coaching company want me to go over there with like eight Americans and, you know, and meet up with eight of their guys and do like a—at a surf resort, you know, in Portugal and just bring the guys together, which is huge because surfing is all about meeting friends and traveling. Every time I went on a trip, I came back better. That's the best way to get better. And if you go on a trip with coaches, then that's the best way to get better. I—yeah, it's something I want to do for sure. We got some other stuff in the works. We're working on a project of, you know, like a TV thing I can't get into too much details with, but, you know, a little bit about that, you know, just kind of going around, you know, helping people in need and their surfing, you know, that's really what the basis would be. And then, yeah, to just, you know, coaching and training, getting ready for the summer. I really want to implement some new things to the Neutrality Surf Academy. And that's really—it's like, it's for guys that stay sharp over summer and maybe, you know, the guys that are kind of behind the eight ball that need to learn heat strategy, that need the videos, that need the camp. So I'm trying to just do what Australians have been doing for a long time. You know, I think that's where America struggles. So we're working on the permits and all that stuff, which are really hard to get.

Michael Frampton
Tell listeners what Neutrality is. It's a facility in Carlsbad?

Adam Knox
Yeah. Neutrality is just this idea I had, you know, I was like, man, Australians have been doing this—like this camaraderie of like, you know, mentors and all this stuff. And, you know, they've been kicking our asses forever, you know, like they've been doing it right. I mean, they really care about their surfing, and they have surf clubs and all this stuff. And Neutrality, I thought, would just be a one-stop shop where you come in, all eyes are on you. You know, every athlete is every employee's freaking case study. And we discuss what needs to happen with them physically, with them technically, and their surfing. And we hit on all those points, and we help out with sponsorship and all that stuff. And just teaching the ropes, you know, I've done a lot of—like I was saying, I've done a lot of right things, and I've done a lot of wrong things, and hindsight's 20/20. So that mentorship and all that stuff. We do an elite surf camp. So it's just heat, you know. It's not—this ain't no daycare. That's what it is. That's kind of what I'm getting at. And then we do this thing called—yeah, it's a Neutrality Surf Academy, and our hashtag or whatever, our tag is Art of Elite. So really it's just like the fastest way from A to B and to reach your ceiling and to stay sharp over summer. So working on—we did it last year and it was successful. And a lot of people aren't going to do junior guards this year. They're going to come down and just work hard and, you know, hopefully show up for next season fired up and winning, you know? So—and we have Katie Simmers on the team who is the best 13-year-old girl. She went over for the women's ISAs in Japan and put a beating. She beat Sofia Mulanovich like multiple times and then came back. And I think she made round after round. She's kind of like a superstar over there. She surfs so good, like better than me right now. Katie Simmers—follow her. She's from Oceanside. She rides for the same board company as me and my brother, Chris Borst Designs. And she rides for O'Neill as well. But I was just with Kolohe Andino and his dad, and even Dino Andino—dude, he's a tough critic. He's like, dude, that's the best girl I've ever seen, ever, out of all the girls at her age, you know, ever. She's gnarly. She does air reverses. She does like solid ones, like, and better rail. She rides the T1, which is more like—you have to be technically a back-footed surfer and really tech savvy. It's my brother's model. She loves that thing. We like the T3. It's a little more user friendly. That's how much better she is. You know, she's crazy good. But yeah, we have her on the team. She mentioned us in Japan and then, you know, rocks our logos. But she came back and won the Rip Curl GromSearch. And then she won U18 ISAs, which is, you know, the American—you know, it's pretty much like Junior Olympics type stuff, right? And she won that. She's only 13 years old. She won U18. She's unstoppable. Wow.

Michael Frampton
Very cool.

Adam Knox
Yeah. Crazy. But yeah. So just building a team and all that stuff. But yeah, we're a one-stop shop for, you know, just to be the best you can be, you know. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to facilitate every need the athlete needs to be the best they can be. You know, people usually don't reach or even see their ceilings, you know. Their ceiling is where, like, your potential and your skills and everything come together with your willpower. And that's as good as you can be right there, you know. And then you can go from there too. But a lot of people—a lot of these guys—a lot of these guys that are ripping, they're not trained and they're not, you know, they're cruising. Like, I don't know. Imagine—this is kind of a hard one—imagine if Dane Reynolds trained and did all that stuff, you know. Like, could he be better? I mean, he's already the best surfer in the world. He probably could be. You know, you'd have to say so. You know, if your muscles are stronger and firing faster and your mind–body is clear, like, how could you not be? Unless you're just like Superman, which might be the case. So who knows?

Michael Frampton
Yeah. Well, what you—I'll fill in the gaps, like for listeners—is when I experienced Neutrality, it was—we went down to the beach, we surfed, you filmed, we went back to Neutrality. You've got—upstairs, you've got a room to watch the footage. Right?

Adam Knox
Right.

Michael Frampton
And then we went downstairs and went outside of the building on the concrete with the—you got the chalk, I got the skateboard. So we're drilling technique, fine-tuning technique. But then in the gym, we got the—you've got a DNS expert there who's really fine-tuning just athleticism in general. Right?

Adam Knox
Right.

Michael Frampton
Which—movement specialist, but athletic positional specialist, strength training specialist.

Adam Knox
Yeah, it's like a movement specialist.

Michael Frampton
It's such a good complement—there's surf coaching, drilling the skateboard, watching footage, and training the strength and positions—all in detail. That's the cool thing is you've got the surfing and you've got the detail. Right? Whereas Mike, your business partner, he's got the strength and he's got the detail as well.

Adam Knox
Right. So yeah, so what I saw on video—I mean, with, you know, with Czech, Czech and DNS are pretty similar. So I could see the energy leaks and all that stuff, right? But I'm so focused on coaching that my training is almost like kind of dropping down a little bit. Or he's just focused on the training part, you know. And he's not a surfer, but an energy leak and anatomy and all that stuff and kinesiology, it's all the same. Surfboard, no surfboard, you know, running, dirt biking, whatever. It's all the same. It's human bodies. We haven't changed in a long time. So yeah, no, we'll all see. You know, I just filmed you, I coached you there, made some adjustments, and then we watched the video. Okay. All right. This is what's going on here. So we got to keep your hips back. We got to do all this stuff. So we train you that way so you get your nervous system wrapped around it. And then we throw you on the Carver board and then go, okay, this is how you're really going to do it. And then when you brought your arm through and you kept your hips back, which you didn't want to do, you were accelerating out of turns. And that's what we wanted. So yeah, again, it's just a one-stop shop to get better. You can go to neutrality.com.

Michael Frampton
Cool. And how do people get in touch if they're interested?

Adam Knox
My Instagram is @adam_knox and then @neutrality. It's with the “I”—Neutrality—or it's @neutrality.

Michael Frampton
I'll put links.

Adam Knox
Yeah. If you throw some links out, that'd be rad. And yeah, there's a number on our website—it's kind of dodgy. We're working on it right now. Like I was saying, we just get caught up in all the other stuff.

Michael Frampton
So Instagram might be a better way?

Adam Knox
You can DM me if you have something to do with surfing. But there's a number on the website that goes to our—I guess he's our CEO—Pat, who's trying to put everything together. So if you want to work with me, you can call that number and set something up with Pat, or you can DM me. And if you're around, yeah. So we're in Carlsbad, San Diego. And yeah, I mean, if you have a goal, we can help you get there for sure.

Michael Frampton
Thank you so much.

39 Adam Knox - Surf Coach & Former Pro Surfer

For the passionate surfer—whether you're a weekend warrior, a surf dad, or an older surfer—this podcast is all about better surfing and deeper stoke. With expert surf coaching, surf training, and surfing tips, we’ll help you catch more waves, refine your paddling technique, and perfect your pop up on a surfboard. From surf workouts to handling wipeouts, chasing bigger waves, and mastering surf technique, we’re here to make sure you not only improve but truly enjoy surfing more—so you can get more out of every session and become a wiser surfer. Go from Beginner or intermediate Surfer to advanced.