
Skeptical Landlocked Surfer 4Xs his Wavecount w/ Aaron Buckner
From Basis Surf Podcast by Basis Surf
March 16, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 94
About this episode
Aaron Buckner shares his journey from being morbidly obese to significantly improving his surfing skills through structured training.
🔥 Get your FREE personalized 2-4X wavecount training plan in under 30 seconds. https://surfbasis.com/pages/trainingplan In this episode, 52-year-old Aaron Buckner shares how he went from 365 pounds, morbidly obese, and barely able to surf, to logging two-hour sessions in overhead waves and quadrupling his wave count. A few years ago at Kaisers in Waikiki, he paddled out, caught one wave, and was so gassed he couldn’t surf again for two days. Landlocked in Idaho and frustrated by “one wave and done” sessions, he was skeptical when he first saw the Basis Paddle Trainer. But after finally giving it a shot, and barely lasting five minutes on his first workout, he committed to structured training three to four days a week. Eight months later, he’s surfing seven days straight, holding his own in overhead C-Street, double-overhead South Bay, and even the North Shore, catching 2–4x more waves per session. By improving his paddle power and positioning, he’s getting into waves earlier, fixing his pop-up timing, and progressing again instead of just surviving sessions, proving that with the right foundation, decline isn’t inevitable. Sign up for our free surfboard guide for sizing down…
People in this episode
Host: Basis Surf
Guest: Aaron Buckner
Topics covered
- weight loss
- surf training
- paddle power
- surfing progression
- personal transformation
Keywords
- surfing
- wave count
- paddle training
- fitness
- transformation
- surf sessions
- surfing technique
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Basis Surf
Places: Idaho, Kaisers, Waikiki, C-Street, South Bay, North Shore
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