Losing weight and Building fitness are good strategies for changing a lifestyle to one of health and longevity. People looking to add recreational activities to their lives will find both are instrumental in increasing capabilities. Develop daily practices and habits for consistent progress and journal activities.

Good Strategies for Weight Loss

Five Key strategies for increasing weight loss:

Calorie restriction. At the beginning this starts with eliminating addictions to unhealthy foods. At the top of the list is sugar. It adds to fat stores and is inflammatory. Increased mental health and memory are supported by reducing sugar intake. Then reduce white flour found in bread, pastries, desserts, and many packaged products. Add whole foods like lean protein, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. They are bulky to improve satiety, fibrous to slow conversion of carbohydrates to sugar, and contain nutrients.

Intermittent Fasting. Eating within time windows will give digestion more time to rest and the body the opportunity to burn fat for fuel. A 16-hour window would have you eating breakfast at 8:30, lunch at noon and dinner before 5 p.m. Having a smoothy for breakfast could extend the fasting period four more hours.

Meal Replacement Shakes. A great way to get more nutrients on a calorie restricted diet. Good for the digestion giving it more rest and opportunities to clear the body of bad fats. Helps fight plateaus the metabolism causes during radical weight reduction.

Drink More Water. This is an essential element in weight loss. The body needs water to digest food and will seek the water in food if not properly hydrated. Drink a glass of water before each meal to appease appetite. Drink at least half your body weigh in ounces of water. (a 200-pound person drinks 100 oz.) Shoot for a minimum of 100 oz a day and better to drink a gallon.

Exercise Moderately. Exercise increases the resting metabolism which means the metabolism remains high after you have exercised. Exercise appeases the appetite. Exercise rids the body of inflammation and replenishes with energy boosting fluids. Exercise elevates mood and may reduce cravings for sugar and snacks.

Good Strategies for Building Fitness

Begin an Aerobic Program. Movement increases metabolism and burns more calories. Movement induces the muscles to allow receptors for glucose which is necessary to build stamina. Aerobics build muscle which will power exercise, improve stamina, and aid recovery.

Build Strength. All recreation needs strength in some part of the body. Surfing demands upper body, core, and lower body strength. Pushups are a great out of gym way to build upper body strength and assist the pop up in surfing. Cables, machines, and free weights can all be used for full body strength. Floor exercises can also create full body strength and there are 1,000’s of videos available.

Flexibility. Surfing needs flexibility for the pop up and lack of it is a major hindrance even if the body is strong. The best three exercises for flexibility are burpies, squats and deadlifts. They create strength in the largest muscle groups and flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Combining all these practices and habits in a daily routine will greatly improve health and lifestyle.

For more assistance, read my Free E-book The 3 Week Plan found on website of same name.

On the same site, view the PerfectBody.me opportunity for weight reducing meal plans. They have meals, alternatives for foods you don’t like and weekly shopping list to help you plan. Everything can be found on an app so you can take it with you. My clients get big discounts. It starts with 50% and the EBookk has a code to get 60% and 85% discounts. We are partners in making you healthy.

Get Weekly Suggestions for Getting Fit and Building Health. Fitness is a Lifestyle

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The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get my new book Get Fit to Surf

Its time to get back in shape. This book discusses strength, flexibility, stamina, and nutritional needs for getting in shape and losing weight. It is the great guide to get back to fitness for all your recreational desires. If you can surf, you can do most anything.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Everybody Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Everybody Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Losing Weight and Building Fitness appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing is one of the full body sports. Others might be gymnastics, yoga, or any contact sport. Most can be enjoyed at the participants level, but surfing requires a minimum to be successful. That minimum is a pretty high bar for most people.

Mastering the Basics for Surfing

The surfing process has three basic steps. Surfers have to catch the wave, stand up on the surfboard, and then ride it. Each step requires a different type of knowledge and judgement. I tell students it is about timing and rhythm. It gets very smooth when properly put together and thinking is not required as the proper techniques become instinct and muscle memory.

Catching the wave is about timing, judgement, and experience. They blend together. The surfer sees the foam or real wave. They know how to get in position. They get momentum to anticipate the push. They accelerate paddling at the right moment. When the wave pushes the board sufficiently, they pop up. Surfers practice this technique of wave recognition and reaction their whole career. Pros never stop learning.

The pop up is a body process that includes joints and muscles being at optimum fitness. Pros work as much out of the water cross training as time spent in the water. The better a surfer’s fitness, the longer he can spend surfing and the more challenging a wave he can ride.

The basics for a beginner pop up are getting a rear foot on the board and standing to place the front foot on the board. Many beginners can’t accomplish this smoothly because they don’t have the strength nor flexibility. It is full body strength with upper body, core, and lower body. It is full body flexibility including hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Preparing the Body out of the Water

Very efficient upper body strength can be developed with push ups, cables, and some free weights or machines. Push ups are the minimum and I find sufficient. Every other day I do three sets of 45 push ups and push my maximum without straining to injury. Lower body and core strength can be influenced with squats and dead lifts. They can be executed without weights. Adding weights will improve the results. Proper form is necessary to prevent injury.

Aerobics are important for exerting effort and quick recovery. Walking is a start, but jogging or running is better. Biking, swimming, treadmills, hiking, and rowing machines all develop aerobic fitness. Fitness comes in degrees. Start with 10 minutes. Build to a half hour 5 days a week. If exercise is not intense, it can be enjoyed 7 days a week.

Intensity is better for aerobic fitness. Intensity can be increased in intervals with speed, endurance, and less time between intervals. I now try to exercise for at least two hours hiking and biking. I love the tiredness that occurs and the totally mellow feeling afterward. I am also proud of my work outs and look to keep pushing to reach three hour sessions. I have more time when I am not teaching surf lessons during the main season (spring and summer).

Weight loss may be a part of someone’s goals. I have recently lost 40 pounds and I find the oxygen uptake and lower weight are favorable for endurance exercise. My book and program on The 3 Week Plan is great for getting someone started in weight loss and strength building. I have a partner in PerfectBody.me for creating enjoyable meal plans and providing daily reminders about the right habits. (See the Home Page for more info).

Learn the techniques, practice pop ups out of the water in your living room, and get fit. You will become a great surfer.

See the Home Page

See my new website still in development The3WeekPlan.com

Learn More

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get my new book Get Fit to Surf

Its time to get back in shape. This book discusses strength, flexibility, stamina, and nutritional needs for getting in shape and losing weight. It is the great guide to get back to fitness for all your recreational desires. If you can surf, you can do most anything.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Everybody Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Everybody Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

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The post Perfecting Beginner Surfer Techniques appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Flexibility is more than placing your fingers to your toes. Placing your palms on the ground is a good start. Pop up flexibility requires loose muscles in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. These muscles can generally be loosened in about 3 weeks with daily practice.

Getting the Basic Flexibility to Pop Up in Surfing

The surfing pop up is a sequence that must be executed in a timely manner with muscles and joints working together. Any difficulties with muscles or joints will create obstacles for standing up on the surfboard. I give students a count for the sequence. First they must catch the wave with three hard paddles after the foam wave hits the surfboard. When they are planing on the surface with the tail of the board in front of the foam, they can put their hands on the board.

The pop up begins with placing both hands in a man’s push up position next to the chest and resting there for a second or two while the surfer gathers poise. There is no rush. The flexibility comes into affect as the surfer pushes up and puts his back foot on the board flat. A lack of flexibility will make it difficult to get the foot flat.

If the foot is not flat, the surfer cannot stand up on the back foot and raise their hands out of the way for the front foot to move to the nose. What happens is the surfer can only get the ball of his foot on the board, he cannot stand on that. He is forced to move the other foot to the board while his hands are still on the board. This causes him to fly off the front or ride on the back of the board.

I suggest four exercises for executing the pop up. Push ups help get the spring and get the chest off the board to make way for bringing the knee under the chest. Burpies are great for moving the knees up under the body and loosening pop up muscles. Squats and dead lifts are the real key to flexibility. They don’t have to be performed with weights. Daily routines can be effective with just the motions. Weights will increase strength.

See YouTube for videos on squats and dead lifts. After you have learned proper form so you don’t injure your back, you can start adding weights. Go easy. 5 or 10 pounds is a great start. I lift a 35-pound barbell plate, but I used to use 100 pounds in the gym,. Keep practicing the pop up in your living room. Soon you will see improved results.

See the Home Page GetFittoSurf.com

Learn More

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get my new book Get Fit to Surf

Its time to get back in shape. This book discusses strength, flexibility, stamina, and nutritional needs for getting in shape and losing weight. It is the great guide to get back to fitness for all your recreational desires. If you can surf, you can do most anything.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Everybody Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Everybody Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Gaining Flexibility for Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

The quickest route to upper body strength for surfing is push ups. They are basic to strengthening the pop up and paddling muscles. A close second is cables. Cables can be wrapped around a patio post. Facing them and pulling down and straight out will improve shoulders, back, and arms for paddling. Turning around and pushing improves back, shoulders and arms. Bench presses are excellent if you have access.

Flexibility is a most important issue. The three quickest exercises for flexibility are squats, deadlifts, and burpies. Each can be done without weights. Proper form is important so as to optimize exercise and prevent injurying your lower back. If you can add some weigth with a dumbbell, barbell, or gallon jug of water, it accelerates benefit. These exercises flex the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Practice Your Pop Ups

Nothing is more specific for beginners than practicing the pop ups. It directly exercises the specific muscles and necessary joints. It is important that everything in the body is capable of smooth execution. Injuries impair performance.

The beginner pop up begins with lying on the floor and pretending you are practicing a few strokes. In the water, we want at least three full strokes to get in front of the foam wave. Then we put our hands in a man’s push up position next to the chest. We rest here for a second. Because beginners tend to go right to the push upped position, I often have them stop in this position and count to four.

Then, when we push up we follow at the same time with putting our rear foot under our butt flat on the floor. We have to stand on this foot. If you can’t get it under your butt flat to stand, you are not flexible enough. Then as we stand, we lift our hands and bring the other foot forward to place it in front of our body.

Our feet should be shoulder width (3′) apart. Our hips and shoulders should be squared to the front with hands in front so we can see them. Our weight should be equal on both legs. Our knees need to be flexed, not locked straight. Once up in the water, we need to be able to move with the board.

Building Stamina

Aerobic fitness enables longer surf sessions. If we are fit to exert and our body recovers quickly, we can practice longer. Aerobic fitness takes time. If you have been sedentary, you can start with walking and progress to jogging. Biking, swimming, hiking, and treadmills can all be great tools to improving oxygen up take.

Theses preparations will greatly improve your performance. The process can be continued in between sessions. The more practice, the better the execution. When you can’t visit the water or if you are a week end warrior, these quick practices will keep you ready.

For more articles and books see the Home Page

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Read my book:

Lose 30 Pounds and Get Fit, Reverse Metabolic Syndrome, Mitochondrial Disease and Diabetes

Many people these days want to lose major weight. They want to get fit for recreation or to surf. They need to get healthy. Getting healthy often begins with losing a major amount of weight. This is not easy, but with the right routine it becomes easier. The body fights weight loss as a self-preservation mechanism, but it can be manipulated into complying. I have lost 50 pounds years ago and recently 35 pounds to get below my high school weight. It feels great. Weight loss may also be the key to reversing diseases and disorders. Doctors will tell patients to reverse diabetes, lose 25% of your body weight (varies). What people don’t learn from doctors is whether they have metabolic or mitochondrial disorders. Both lead to serious health issues and disease. This books discusses all of this to better inform you if you have health issues and get you started on a journey to health.

Buy the E book on Amazon Kindle for $5.99

Buy the paper back on Amazon $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Practicing Surf Basics Before You Go appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Most beginners say surfing is more tiring than they expected. It does work muscles other sports might not emphasize. Surfing is certainly about the paddling. The pop up is a contortion no one but gymnasts may take to easily. People who are light have a better power to weight ratio.

Getting Fit for Surfing

The three elements of strength, flexibility, and stamina can be achieved with good routines and practices. The easiest path is to begin some basic exercises. Pushups, burpies, squats, and deadlifts supply the most fundamental results for strength and flexibility. Each supports the surfing pop up. The pushups promote upper body strength for the pop. The burpies similate the motion of lying flat on the board to rising to a stance. The squats and dead lifts create flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Pushups can be started with trying to reach your capacity even if its only 5 push ups. Do three sets every other day to allow the muscles to rest and the ability to start increasing the numbers. A simple amount of burpies such as 10 to 20 is adequate to develop the pop up motion.

Flexibility is a major obstacle for sedentary people and often for people who exercise without stretching. Loosening the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back is not just a matter of bending over and touching your toes. You should, however, be able to put your palms flat on the floor. Sitting on the floor with legs spread and trying to touch your toes is an indication of your flexibility. Work towards putting your nose on the floor between your legs. You will feel your hamstrings.

Deadlifts and squats can be started without weights. Drop the squat into a chair position with the butt parallel to the floor. Be careful with both not to strain your lower back. Watch some YouTube videos on proper form. When possible, begin adding a little weight to both. Start with a barbell plate, dumbbell, or something around the house.

After 3 weeks, you will notice an improvement in your pop up. You should be practicing your pop up to develop the fluidity and specific muscles for its execution. If you continue, you will begin to spring to your feet very easily. This makes surf progress more likely.

The final step is developing aerobic capacity. Begin easy with walking, jogging, biking, swimming, or treadmills. Increase slowly. Then add intervals which increase intensity with more speed. Then rest. Increase intensity by going faster and longer. Increase intensity with less rest between intervals. This improves your ability to exert effort and recover quickly.

Now you will really have fun in the water.

For more articles and books see the Home Page

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Read my book:

Lose 30 Pounds and Get Fit, Reverse Metabolic Syndrome, Mitochondrial Disease and Diabetes

Many people these days want to lose major weight. They want to get fit for recreation or to surf. They need to get healthy. Getting healthy often begins with losing a major amount of weight. This is not easy, but with the right routine it becomes easier. The body fights weight loss as a self-preservation mechanism, but it can be manipulated into complying. I have lost 50 pounds years ago and recently 35 pounds to get below my high school weight. It feels great. Weight loss may also be the key to reversing diseases and disorders. Doctors will tell patients to reverse diabetes, lose 25% of your body weight (varies). What people don’t learn from doctors is whether they have metabolic or mitochondrial disorders. Both lead to serious health issues and disease. This books discusses all of this to better inform you if you have health issues and get you started on a journey to health.

Buy the E book on Amazon Kindle for $5.99

Buy the paper back on Amazon $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Basic Exercises for Surfing Improvement appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

What is it about surfing that elicits these two comments? Surfing is extreme aerobic. Paddling is like swimming sprinting. In an hour, if a surfer catches 30 waves, they have sprinted three times in addition to attempting pop ups and walking back out through the waves. Secondly, there is a sequence that has to be executed and most beginners try to improvise after they have heard the correct procedure.

Losing Weight and Getting Fit

The best combination for most people to getting surf fit is losing weight, getting stronger, gaining flexibility, and building cardiovascular strength. It is a lot. Many beginners who are not surfing fit say let’s do it again next week. I tell them they won’t be ready in a week. It would take at least three weeks of working a program every day to make an impact in three weeks.

The beginner needs a strategy for losing weight, getting stronger, getting flexible, and building cardio. A three week program can have an impact on each of these areas, but it does take longer to reach great results. After three weeks, a beginner should be ready for a second lesson. The most difficult steps for the long term are losing a substantial amount of weight and building cardio. Both can take months. Both should become a lifestyle.

Four steps can have an immediate impact on losing weight. Losing weight is about calorie restriction, but it is also about getting the body to burn or release all the bad fat it has encapsulated. Yes, we want to train the body to burn fat for fuel. Three good ways to do this are restrict calories below current consumption. Cut sugar (carbohydrates). Create fasting windows called intermittent fasting. Do aerobics to get the body to use fat for fuel.

Build strength and flexibility. Both can occur in a reasonable period of time over what your current condition might be. Begin a push up program. You might have to start with one. Do it every day. Try to add one or two as you go. Upper body strength is crucial for lifting the body off the surfboard so a foot can be placed under the butt in the pop up. This move can be difficult until the beginner has also lost weight and built flexibility.

Build flexibility most efficiently with two exercises. Squats and deadlifts build strength in the legs and core. They also create flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks and lower back. They can be executed without weights. After a while, try to add five pounds and then more. I used to use 100 pounds in the gym, but now I use a 35 pound barbell plate.

Start an aerobic program. Aerobics build oxygen uptake. It will also cause the muscles to start absorbing and storing more glucose. The glucose is fuel for exertion. The muscles have to exert and recover. More glucose will help the muscles last longer in exercise. Better oxygen uptake will allow for recovery from exertion. Get moving anyway possible and then try to add intervals which raise the heart beat.

This is a simple program that will take planning, discipline, will power, and some of your time. If your goal isn’t worth it, don’t do it. If you want a new lifestyle that includes fitness, health, longevity, and fun, it is a good start.

For more articles and books see the Home Page

See lifestyle articles and books at Happiness and Work Life Balance. com

Read my newest book:

Lose 30 Pounds and Get Fit, Reverse Metabolic Syndrome, Mitochondrial Disease and Diabetes

Many people these days want to lose major weight. They want to get fit for recreation or to surf. They need to get healthy. Getting healthy often begins with losing a major amount of weight. This is not easy, but with the right routine it becomes easier. The body fights weight loss as a self-preservation mechanism, but it can be manipulated into complying. I have lost 50 pounds years ago and recently 35 pounds to get below my high school weight. It feels great. Weight loss may also be the key to reversing diseases and disorders. Doctors will tell patients to reverse diabetes, lose 25% of your body weight (varies). What people don’t learn from doctors is whether they have metabolic or mitochondrial disorders. Both lead to serious health issues and disease. This books discusses all of this to better inform you if you have health issues and get you started on a journey to health.

Buy the E book on Amazon Kindle for $5.99

Buy the paper back on Amazon $7.99

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Losing Weight and Getting Fit to Surf appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfers who can’t make to the water frequently or who need improvement with strength and movement can gain with cross training. Surfers need strength, stamina, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. A wide variety of exercises can assist in each area.

Some Cross Training for Surf Fitness

Strength is important for pushing off the board and getting a foot under the body to stand up. Advanced surfers need strength to improve carving. Upper body strength is easily improved with push ups. Lower body leg strength is assisted with squats and dead lifts. Beginners can start without weights on these two exercises and with correct form add weights as they progress.

Flexibility is greatly increased with squats and dead lifts. They strengthen the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. Touching ones toes is a way to test flexibility but it is not enough for surfing. These exercises will also improve core strength. Core strength is needed for the pop up and advanced surfers need it for carves, maneuvers, and tricks.

Cardiovascular fitness is needed for paddling. Paddling is like swimming and not many people can jump in the pool and swim for an hour. The upper body strength helps stamina when the carbs have run low, but paddling is like intervals. After each exertion there has to be recovery. Cardio with interval training is most helpful. Swimming can be improved through 10 foot sprints. Running can be improved with short bursts of speed. Biking can be the same.

Everything doesn’t have to be done on the same day, but a routine where each is engaged in a week is important. An hour a day of cardio is great for health and fitness but a half hour will work. Practicing pop ups in the living room each day will improve surf muscles and timing. You will notice improvement to your surfing over time.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

See My Website https://HappinessandWorkLifeBalance.com

Learn More

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Cross Training Fitness for Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing is a full body sport. It requires strength and flexibility, but also stamina. Consider working out for a triathlon. There is there is the running, biking, and swimming. Most triathletes have a strong weight program because the muscle strength is needed when the carbohydrates are gone.

Getting Surfing Fit

Surfing requires paddling for catching waves and as one progresses paddling to paddle back out to line up. The surf body has to be strong and smooth moving to get from lying down on the surfboard to standing up. The process in the water is more difficult than on land, but practicing on land is useful.

Landing on the surfboard in the right stance is the completion of the pop up move. Joints and muscles must all work together to get body up smoothly and balanced. Whereas I had always known gymnastics to be great training, I recently found a jiu jitsu student was very smooth and agile.

I must add that body weight is important. Lean bodies are easiest for the muscular and joint systems to function smoothly. Body Mass Index weight of “23” are a most perfect weight. See Body Mass Calculator for your Index number. Mine is 23.6 and is adequate because I have upper body strength and flexibility, but I would still like to be lighter.

Overweight begins at 25 and obese begins at 30. Most of the obese students are never able to stand up on the surf board. For example, I had a young woman who was 5’3′ and 170 pounds. She is 30.1 on the BMI. She was never able to stand up. An obese person can’t usually get their back foot under their butt and then cannot lift their weight on it to stand up.

Losing weight and building strength are the perfect combination for getting surf fit.

Some Exercises to Include in Fitness Program

Flexibility is the primary issued most new surfers face. I have to stay flexible or I can’t pop up even after a lifetime of surfing. I do burpies every morning to help in the pop up motion. Then I do squats and deadlifts to maintain lower body strength, core strength, and flexibility in my hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. I use weights, but you can do well without weights.

The final piece is push ups. Bench presses would be the same. Cable pulls are the same idea. I like cable pulls facing toward and then away from holder to build paddling strength as well as the ability to get my upper body off the surfboard. In the advanced pop up, the surfer pushes his body up off the board as he brings his feet under his chest. This is the pop. Pushups are great for this motion.

Stamina is best built by paddling, but one needs to paddle three times a week to stay at peak. Most people can’t get to the water that often, so any aerobics helps build cardiovascular strength and recovery. Paddling is like an interval. Swimmers should sprint 10′ feet in their routines to assimilate this action.

One can work on everything and it doesn’t have to be at the same time. There can be days for each routine and then a daily focus on energy balancing which means weight control. I like to eat on a restricted diet and a limited window of consumption. This is a routine weight lifters often incorporate to lose weight. All calories consumed within a 6 to 12 hour window. The longer the digestive system rests, the better the body can burn the calories. (Check with your doctor before you begin this routine. May not be suggested for diabetics.)

Give yourself time to progress. Surfing and fitness are slow progress endeavors that require patience, but persistence.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

See My Website https://HappinessandWorkLifeBalance.com

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Cross Training for Surfing Fitness appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing is a full body sport. It requires strength, flexibility, and stamina. There is a power to weight ratio that says a person must be able to lift their weight off the surfboard. More than strength, this requires flexible muscles and joints. There is an obvious advantage to losing weight while getting stronger and a new surfer will notice improvement as both progress.

The Program for Getting Surf Fit

Losing weight is a practice that can begin immediately. Start eliminating bad foods and addictions. Sugar is the number one culprit and carbohydrates are a main source of sugar. The problem with carbohydrates that are converted to glucose (sugar) and straight sugar is that the body can only use so much and then it is transported to fat.

The body that doesn’t exercise loses the glucose receptors in the muscles so that glucose passes the muscle storage capacity and is transported directly to fat. As one starts to exercise and build muscle, the glucose is absorbed and consumed as fuel. Better than that, when exercise is extended past 20 minutes the body will start to seek fat reserves for more fuel.

Building strength in the upper body, core, and lower body are all important for surfing. A few exercises that build strength and flexibility are burpies, squats, deadlifts, and push ups. These four exercises can bring great progress to the surfing pop up. Deadlifts and squat can begin without weights and then weights can be added when form is perfect.

Stamina is an aerobic process. One can begin with walking and increase endurance from walking ten minutes a day to an hour a day. Biking, swimming, hiking, and treadmills all improve stamina. Stamina is important because surfing is a lot of effort and one needs energy for fast paddling and immediate recovery from that effort. More stamina means more practice time in the water.

Combining everything even if only a few things a day can start making a difference. It will hopefully become a lifetime habit and fitness can become a good addiction. Good health follows. Surfing fun follows both.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

See My Website https://HappinessandWorkLifeBalance.com

Learn More

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Overweight People Learn to Surf appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Seniors often have a few activities they engage in daily to maintain a semblance of fitness. They may walk or bike or swim. Each is excellent but only part of a program for surf fitness.

The Basic Requirements of Surfing that Demand Fitness

The most difficulty most seniors have is over all body movement. All the muscles have to fire and the joints to comply to get a body off a prone position on a surfboard to the right stance. I observe most seniors catching a wave and then going through a painfully long process of pushing their body off the board and trying to get a foot under their body to stand up.

A surfer doesn’t have to do this fast, but they only have so much time as a beginner before they hit the beach on the foam wave. This motion of standing up is not assisted by walking, biking or swimming. It needs flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. It needs the strength to lift the body off the board on one leg before the next one gets planted.

Paddling to catch a wave is strenuous and the most tiring part of surfing. It needs upper body strength and some power to pull with short strokes. Then the body has to recover to walk out to the waves and do it again. This process, not to mention trying to stand up and falling off, is tiring. A degree of stamina is necessary.

Getting in surf shape requires an aerobics program so the surfer could at least last an hour of practice. The surfer needs upper body strength which would be greatly served with pushups. One could also do bench presses and cables, but pushups would serve.

Next is the flexibility and developing the strength for more speed in the pop up. Three exercises are excellent. Burpies. Deadlifts. Squats. The squats and deadlifts can be executed without weights to begin. Watch YouTube for the right form. Burpies can be done each morning. Then the surfer should practice the pop up in their living room every day.

In a month, the senior surfer should start noticing some improvement and may be ready to try another surf lesson.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

Learn More

The Perfect Start to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Free E-Book

You Have to Get Started to Reach Your Goals. Quick Start to Change your Lifestyle

See Surf Packages and PerfectBody.me meal plans.

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Seniors Get Fit to Surf appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing is physically demanding and very technical. Some people absorb the technicalities easily and others struggle. It often has to do with how much new physical learning is a constant in your life. Teenagers learn fast. Adults often adapt slower because they have not been learning.

How to Improve Surfing and Physical Capabilities

Getting in better physical condition, learning surfing techniques and losing weight all contribute to better surfing. Physical conditioning for surfing is strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular capability. You will probably find this works for most recreational activities.

One can assign different activities for different days. One day might do strength training on one day and aerobics on another. Flexibility can be part of strength training if you are using the surf specific muscle building exercises. Aerobics can start mild and then build to activities that elevate heart beat. Exercising longer or adding intervals increase intensity.

Improving surfing usually centers on the pop up. This is the main focus of training surf muscles and flexibility. Practicing the surf pop up in the living room daily is a good exercise. It builds surf specific muscles and technique at the same time. Both prepare for the water.

Taking surf lessons and practicing in the water help progress. New surfers often lapse into bad habits as they start relying on instincts instead of what they have been taught. Reading and watching videos can also assist. This becomes a full time project. Hey, all the work might lend itself to the work life balance you were seeking.

Make the step. Up your exercise.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

See My Website https://HappinessandWorkLifeBalance.com

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Combine Surf Lessons and Fitness Over a Period of Time appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

New students learn that surfing is very technical and very physically demanding. Many kids and women as well as adults find they don’t have the strength to fulfill the demands. Surfing requires lifting your weight off the surfboard. It requires pulling your weight with your arms on the surfboard to get in front of waves. It requires lifting your body on one leg or two legs to stand up. All this is more difficult in the water than on dryland.

The Fitness that Helps Surfing

II recently had a 15 year old girl who played soccer. She was fit, but had no upper body strength and could not paddle hard enough to get her lean body in front of waves. She was really not capable of surfing on her own without me pushing her.

Many adults and kids do not have the flexibility to get their feet under their body to do a pop up. In the beginner pop, I teach students to put a foot flat on the board under their butt. Then the only real strength for the pop up comes from the leg instead of the upper body. Many students can’t get their foot under their butt and place it flat on the board.

Overweight students are especially challenged. The problem has arisen that while gaining weight they have not been exercising. All their muscles have atrophied. The muscles have no receptors for glucose so the muscles tire immediately. They have not been doing exercises that would give them flexibility so they cannot do the movement necessary for standing on the surfboard.

New surfers have to know their is a power to weight ratio that asks whether you have the strength to get your body off the surfboard. This need is underestimated by the many people with surfing on their bucket list that think it would be fun. It is fun, but it is more fun if you can do it.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit the Home Page for Surf Lessons

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Why Does Being Fit Help Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

The first problem with weight is you have to lift it off the surfboard to stand up. The second problem with weight is it probably occurred because the person stopped exercising. Adding weight and diminishing strength are not the formula for surfing success.

The Basics of Losing Weight and Building Strength for Surfing

If a person is overweight, they want to lose weight and add strength. They can be accomplished at the same time. Both will make a person a more effective surfer. What is an effective surfer? It starts with being able to smoothly pop up on a surfboard in good form and ride to the beach.

The surfer body needs upper body strength, lower body strength, core strength, flexibility, and stamina. That is a lot to ask of someone who has not been exercising. It is also a problem for people who do exercises that emphasize only part of the their body, like walking or running. Running has most of the basis covered.

Losing weight is normally a slow process if the person wants to maintain weight loss. Losing ten pounds quickly is normally pretty easy, but then the metabolism begins to fight the weight loss. Losing a lot of weight is a balance between restricting calories and not making the body think you are starving. If the body thinks you are starving, the metabolism starts shutting down services to compensate.

A daily routine is needed for both weight loss and building strength. Strength is easy to build with a gradual program. The muscles adapt by creating more receptors to glucose. More glucose allows more effort, stamina, and better recovery. This is why a person can start off walking 10 minutes a day and build it to an hour. This is why you could build push ups from two to a hundred.

Don’t be in a hurry. Work on a program that will last and be maintained all your life. As you improve, more recreational opportunities will open and your lifestyle will be greatly improved. You will feel better and look better.

Get help in learning to surf and getting fit with one of the books listed below.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit Surf Lessons in Oceanside for a Surf Lesson

Return to the Home Page

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post The Problem with Weight and Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

When students have not done well in catching waves, executing pop ups, and riding to the beach, they probably need to improve their physical conditioning, maybe lose weight, and begin surf specific muscle builders.

The Progress of New Surfers

If a student learned to ride to the beach in the first lesson, he should then start paddling out in the second lesson. He paddles out and turns around to catch a foam wave. As his courage builds, he paddles out further to ride bigger waves. Then he should begin to look for small real waves to catch. As his skill and courage improve, he moves onto bigger real waves.

If the new surfer is having problems with the mechanics, they probably need to lose weight and build strength. Surfing demands upper body, core, leg strength, flexibility, and stamina. This includes a full program for getting fit. Fitness serves a new lifestyle and most any recreation you want to pursue.

The best ways to lose weight slowly so that the metabolism does not drop too fast and so that the routine is not tortuous, is to reduce daily calorie consumption. Calorie consumption should be first reduced by eliminating the bad foods and adding good foods. This can be accomplished over a period of time. It will take patience to eliminate bad addictions like sodas and sweets.

Stamina is a key to better surfing so that sessions last longer and recovery is easier. A sedentary person could begin walking, biking, swimming, or treadmills. 10 minutes a day might be a start leading up to an hour a day over time. Surfing is lots of interval paddling, so an aerobics program should include intervals to raise the heart beat.

Upper body, lower body, and core strength as well as flexibility can be supported with a few key exercises. A list would include, pushups, burpies, squats, deadlifts, and planks. Squats and deadlifts can be engaged without weights at the start and then added when balance and form are correct.

Creating a daily routine with a little of each exercise is a good start. They don’t all have to be done on the same day. Daily exercise engaging in some of them improves metabolism to burn more calories while at rest. Moving toward intermittent fasting by eating in 8 hour windows will help the metabolism digest food and burn more fat.

Get help in learning to surf and getting fit with one of the books listed below.

Read a good book to get ready.

Visit Surf Lessons in Oceanside for a Surf Lesson

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Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Get Fit to Surf

A great guide to strength, flexibility, stamina, and leanness for surfing. Beginner strategies for getting stronger, more flexible, stronger cardiovascular system, and nutrition to lose weight. An improving surfer or one who wants to prepare must meet the whole body physical demands of surfing. Getting stronger improves ones ability to perform better.

Buy on Kindle for $5.99 or the Paperback for $7.99

Every Body Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post How Beginner Surfers Progress appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing demands upper body strength, core strength and lower body strength. Surfing needs flexibility and stamina. Where to begin? Best to be patient and start a program that can be engaged and improved over time. Make it a lifetime endeavor.

Begin a Surfing Fitness Program

The first goal is to make this a lifetime endeavor. The second is to make slow progress. The third is to be consistent. I like to start exercises with minimum reps and build the number of reps over time. This minimizes risk for injuries. It also allows muscles to keep adapting to more stress. Pretty soon, you are stronger.

Consider the areas necessary for surfing improvement. Surfing is about smooth and often powerful movement. An advanced pop up is a power move. Paddling is power. Advanced surfers need power to carve turns and perform tricks. Beginner surfers need more strength without seeking as much power.

Upper body strength is a first. Flexibility is a first. Lower body strength is a first. Stamina is a first. There we go again, how much can we do at once? A little at a time. A beginning routine might start with a few pushups, even for women. Then flexibility and heartrate can be improved with burpies. Start with a few. Do a plank. Even for ten seconds. Do squats and dead lifts without weight. Do ten each (or five). If you are doing yoga, it is great for flexibility.

Video on Dead Lift Form. Start them without weights. The idea is to build strength and flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Video on the Squat. Start without weights. The idea is to build strength and flexibility in the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back.

Stamina is important to prolong practice sessions. Surfing is like intervals where paddling has to be a quick fast few paddles. The more strength in the paddle, the fewer that have to be made. Catching a wave is executing a few good paddles at the right time. The first thing that exhausts the body is paddling. Paddling is the best exercise, but after that comes any aerobic exercises for building heart rate and recovery.

So you are off to to a good start. Set aside a time each day when you can do your exercises. You can do some on one day and others on a different day. Allow the body to get used to the new routine. Try to add a few seconds or reps each week or two. You are on the way to being more surf fit.

In my new book Get Fit to Surf, I introduce a good program for beginning the long term process of getting healthy and fit by losing weight as we get stronger. Both are great for surfing.

Visit the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

See the book on Getting Fit to Surf and Losing Weight at the same time. A great combination for changing your lifestyle and improving your health. Everything becomes possible when you are fit.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

Get the book Everybody Can Surf. It is a great guide for those who have been inactive or are overweight. Learn how to get the body in motion, start exercises to improve surf specific muscles, develop the flexibility for the pop up, and how to begin a weight loss program. Also learn all the fundamentals learned in a surf lesson for catching and riding waves.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle for $5.99 (the E-book cover is different for the moment)

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

The post Improve Surfing with Basic Exercises appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

We paddle to catch waves and if we are experienced we paddle to return to the outside lineup. Paddling is an aerobic exercise. Paddling out to the line up is slow and paddling to catch waves is fast. Stamina is needed for longer sessions and to feel safe in rough conditions.

The Basics of Building Paddling Strength and Stamina

Paddling is the best way to build paddling stamina. When experienced surfers don’t get in the water for a few weeks they feel the drop in paddling stamina. Surf timing also goes when you are not in the water for a while, but that is another topic. Any top athlete loses stamina after 36 hours of peak conditioning if he is not training.

Weights often build stamina in muscle for when the glucose runs out. Iron Man athletes say the weight lifting gets them through the fatigue. Weight lifting creates receptors for glucose that come out of the blood stream from consuming carbohydrates. The muscles can learn to store more and more fuel.

When muscles run out of glucose they will burn fat. Endurance athletes may engage in long slow aerobics that will train the body to burn fat for fuel. Engaging in aerobics like biking, swimming, walking or treadmills can all teach the body to burn fat and get muscles to retain more glucose.

Building upper body strength can result from pushups, chest presses, military presses, and cable pulls. I like to face the cable and pull down to flex the tripceps. Pulling straight to the chest will also flex arms, shoulders, and the back. Doing the opposite is good to prevent injury, so I put my back to the cables and push straight out.

Aerobics for stamina, weights and exercises for strength, and good nutrition will all help to build paddling power.

In my new book Get Fit to Surf, I introduce a good program for beginning the long term process of getting healthy and fit by losing weight as we get stronger. Both are great for surfing.

Visit the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

See the book on Getting Fit to Surf and Losing Weight at the same time. A great combination for changing your lifestyle and improving your health. Everything becomes possible when you are fit.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

Get the book Everybody Can Surf. It is a great guide for those who have been inactive or are overweight. Learn how to get the body in motion, start exercises to improve surf specific muscles, develop the flexibility for the pop up, and how to begin a weight loss program. Also learn all the fundamentals learned in a surf lesson for catching and riding waves.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle for $5.99 (the E-book cover is different for the moment)

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

The post Build Paddling Strength for Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Teenagers are naturally fat burning machines. They are testosterone loaded. They can exercise for hours. Food hardly keeps up with their sitting metabolism. As we age, our metabolism slows partly because our lean muscle turns to fat. Fat creates a slower metabolism. Our metabolism is responsible for about 60% of our calorie burn. That metabolism is for our unconscious activities run by the brain.

The Basics of Getting Lean

The body holds onto calories. It has been primed since early man to protect us against starvation. Our metabolism was even slower 60 million years ago and then some evolutionary change started us burning more fuel to exist. Our metabolism is what separates from many of earth creatures, basically all the non-mammals.

The mammals meaning so many classes of apes and monkeys and live bearing species have more energy. Energy is needed to procreate. Slower metabolism species don’t have the energy to produce as often. A mom making a baby uses the same energy as riding the Tour de France, as says Herman Pontzer in his new book, Burn, New Research Burns the Lid off How We Really Burn Calories.

What is surprising is that various exercises burn calories but intensity doesn’t always burn noticeably more. A person who runs three miles fast doesn’t burn noticeably more calories than a person who jogs it. A person who walks at 5 miles per hour burns more calories than a person that runs. Climbing burns more calories than all the other standard exercises.

On the opposite end, our bodies will slow down the calorie feed or speed it up for the amount of energy required. It balances out our energy so well in order to keep us alive that it is hard to have an impact on the total balance of calories consumed vs calories burned. The body uses energy for different purposes.

If we exercise, the body will use fewer calories for stress and inflammation. Amazing how that works. Everything consumed in excess, carbohydrates, protein, fats (and sugars) will go to fat if the body can’t use it immediately. The secret for exercise is once you have lost weight, exercise will keep the body focused on burning fuel for energy and keep focus off other activities like stress and inflammation.

Starving does not help weight loss. The body immediately senses danger and reduces its metabolism so fat stores and minimum calories can supply the energy to keep basic processes working. Digestion uses more calories than any other bodily system so it would make sense if you can keep digesting, you are burning more calories at rest.

What makes sense is to exercise everyday and eat a balanced moderate diet. I find drinking water is a real catalyst for losing weight. I now drink almost a gallon a day. Not only do you feel better, but the body doesn’t have to rob water from food for energy. It can digest food more thoroughly. The fat we lose is expelled in our breath or it turns to water. We don’t poop it out.

The body gets used to any level of exercise. Primitive people alive in Africa and other places that walk all day don’t burn more calories than the average Westerner. Their body adjusts. One tribe in Africa lives on berries and tubers gathered by women and meat shot with bow and arrow by men. They are lean and fit to old age, but they are wracked by every disease that comes along because they have no medicines or shots.

If you want to get lean, it will be a fight. A keto diet and eating in windows plus drinking a lot of water seems to help a lot of people. It is how I live right now as I try to get leaner. I try to lose a half pound to pound a day. As I eat less, it becomes more difficult. The body adjusts. I have lost 20 pounds in two months and I want to lose another 10. I thought I could do it in 90 days, but eating to feel comfortable and losing weight are not compatible. There has to be a little suffering each day.

Visit the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

See the book on Getting Fit to Surf and Losing Weight at the same time. A great combination for changing your lifestyle and improving your health. Everything becomes possible when you are fit.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

Get the book Everybody Can Surf. It is a great guide for those who have been inactive or are overweight. Learn how to get the body in motion, start exercises to improve surf specific muscles, develop the flexibility for the pop up, and how to begin a weight loss program. Also learn all the fundamentals learned in a surf lesson for catching and riding waves.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle for $5.99 (the E-book cover is different for the moment)

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

The post Will Surfing Make You Lean appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

The surf scene is populated by lean athletic people of all ages. This may be one of the reasons the culture is popular. Lean people look good and look good in clothes. Surfers look like they are having a lot of fun. If you love the ocean, surfing is one of the great ways to enjoy Mother Nature.

The Basics of Getting Fit to Surf

Surfing makes a body fit because it is exercising the whole body and utilizes intervals for paddling. Muscles are being stressed for beginners and that forces them to build receptors for carbohydrates so they can get more fuel. Muscles sucking up carbohydrates prevents them from going to fat.

The health field says that if you put on five pounds of muscle you consume an extra 95,000 calories a year. To build muscle, muscle has to be stressed. Surfing stresses muscle more than walking or normal aerobics where the heart rate is not increased. Good ways to build muscle include activities that raise the heartbeat like intervals, weight lifting, and surfing.

Beginners have to start slow. One reason people have put on weight is that they have stopped exercising. It might be good advice to check with a doctor to be sure you are fit to start a program. Surfers need strength, flexibility, and stamina. All three should be included in a program to get surf fit.

Aerobics can begin with walking, biking, swimming, or treadmill. Building to a half hour a day and then an hour will build cardiovascular fitness for exercise and recovery. Receptors will increase in muscles to absorb the carbs you are consuming. Gradually increasing the intensity through more speed, longer duration, and intervals will get a body fit.

Aerobics alone may lead the body to eating muscle for fuel. This is a reason weight lifting should be included in a program. The beginner just wants to floor exercises to build balance and form. Then light weights may be incorporated. The beginner does 25 reps and three sets to build stamina in muscles and get them burning fat.

The intermediate weight lifter adds weight and just does 12 to 16 reps. This starts building greater strength. The advanced weight lifter is lifting at 85% plus capacity and only engages in 5 to 8 reps. This stage is for building maximum strength and size. See more detail in my book Get Fit to Surf.

Getting flexible can be gained in the weight lifting process. Squats and deadlifts build big muscle groups and flexibility into the hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. Losing weight and getting stronger at the same time is the optimum strategy for getting surfing fit. A good nutrition program begins with eliminating the bad foods and substituting the healthy foods.

A good exercise program takes a person quickly from overweight to normal weight and enjoying any recreation they desire.

Visit the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

See the book on Getting Fit to Surf and Losing Weight at the same time. A great combination for changing your lifestyle and improving your health. Everything becomes possible when you are fit.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

Get the book Everybody Can Surf. It is a great guide for those who have been inactive or are overweight. Learn how to get the body in motion, start exercises to improve surf specific muscles, develop the flexibility for the pop up, and how to begin a weight loss program. Also learn all the fundamentals learned in a surf lesson for catching and riding waves.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle for $5.99 (the E-book cover is different for the moment)

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

The post Why Overweight People Are Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Now that it is time to get outdoors and do fun things, they may find they are not in surfing shape. There is a power to weight ratio spoken of in surfing that is the strength and power to get your weight off the surfboard. It requires upper body, core, and leg strength to do a pop up.

The Basics of Getting Fit and Losing Weight for Surfing

Losing weight is a lifestyle and long term goal for health. It is best to plan to a strategy that can be followed for months. Therefore, we do not want to be too radical in a quick loss scheme that has us binging or dropping out quickly.

I have found two great strategies for losing weight. One is drinking a lot of water. At 180 pounds, I am drinking almost a gallon a day. It takes time to work up to higher volumes if you are not a water drinker, but it happens. A gallon is about 10 -10oz glasses of water a day. I am not a sipper nor do I always have water at my side. I find I just drink a full glass at every opportunity.

Reducing calorie intake is also a process that should develop slowly. I am fortunate in that I don’t consume sugar or alcohol and have no trouble dropping bread, pasta, pizza, pastries, and desserts. For most people this takes time. I like the Keto diet in which I eat a lot of protein and fat and reduce the carbohydrates.

A meal for me is some protein, some fat like avocado, nuts, or cheese, and some carbohydrates like brocoli or fruit. I have little problem sticking to the plan during the day, but have most struggle after dinner before bed time. I also eat during a 9 hour window. My dinner is at 5 p.m. and that is it for the night. Breakfast at 8:30 a.m.

Exercises that are surf specific are pushups, planks, burpies, dead lifts, and squats. Start slow without weights and gradually in each add some duration and maybe some weights to squats and dead lifts. With push ups, start with a few and add one or a few every other day or week. These exercises build strength, core, and flexibility.

Next is your aerobic program. Aerobics burn calories and develop stamina. They also build recovery. Once again, you can start slow and evolve into a more aggressive program. My book Get Fit to Surf discusses the stages of aerobics and how to add intensity for real cardiovascular improvement. The book Everybody Can Surf has the same details but includes the fundamentals of learning to surf.

Get started and get fit.

Visit the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

See the book on Getting Fit to Surf and Losing Weight at the same time. A great combination for changing your lifestyle and improving your health. Everything becomes possible when you are fit.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

Get the book Everybody Can Surf. It is a great guide for those who have been inactive or are overweight. Learn how to get the body in motion, start exercises to improve surf specific muscles, develop the flexibility for the pop up, and how to begin a weight loss program. Also learn all the fundamentals learned in a surf lesson for catching and riding waves.

Buy the E-Book on Kindle for $5.99 (the E-book cover is different for the moment)

Buy the Paperback on Amazon $7.99

The post Get Fit and Lose Weight for Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

Surfing demands strength, flexibility, and stamina. Most people after the first lesson say it is more technical than they expected and more tiring than they anticipated. Surfing is a full body sport. It needs upper body strength to push off the board. It requires lower body strength to lift your body into a standing position. It requires fluid movement and flexibility to coil and spring.

The Fundamental Exercises for Surf Conditioning

People taking up surfing who haven’t exercised their full bodies in a while will notice their own weaknesses. Pushing up off the surfboard requires some strength to lift your weight. Standing up on the surfboard requires some leg strength to lift your weight. Standing up requires flexibility to coil your foot under your butt so you can leverage your leg strength.

The best group of exercises to build strength and flexibility are push ups, burpies, planks, squats, and deadlifts. These five exercises will build upper body strength, lower body strength, core strength and flexibility. Weights can be used for squats and deadlifts after trying them without weights and being surf you have excellent form. Bad form leads to injuries.

Stamina can be increased with aerobic exercises. Walking is a start or biking, swimming, and treadmills. Start with increasing duration at a comfortable pace. Then the best aerobic conditioning is built by adding intervals. This is a minute or two when you increase your heartbeat and then relax into the comfortable pace.

Exercising increases the body’s metabolism so that more calories are burned while at rest. Exercising increases the body’s’ ability to surf longer and therefore more practice time. These exercises will make a person much more proficient in the necessary moves to catch waves and ride a surfboard.

Return to the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Overweight People Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post Exercises to Improve Surf Conditioning appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

The process is a sequence with several steps. Beginners rarely understand the necessary steps nor do they understand the necessity of getting each step in the right order. These two facts are what keep them from progressing.

The Fundamentals of Improving Your Surfing

My beginner lessons try to instill the timing and rhythm for catching waves and riding the surfboard. I give students a count I say they must say out loud while catching waves and follow with their body to get on the surfboard. The count has them timing the wave properly, catching it, and then patiently and smoothly putting their body in the upright position on the surfboard.

Many students find that they don’t have the smoothness because their body is not working properly for surfing. The first students are missing is flexibility. Whereas, many can touch their toes to the floor without bending their knees, they may not have flexibility in their hamstrings, buttocks and lower back or spine.

Students that are lean usually have the power to weight ratio surfers say is necessary to lift your body off the surfboard. This means push your upper body off the board to start and then get the lower body to pop into the correct position on the surfboard. Overweight students generally fail in these two requirements. They cannot get their lower body off the surfboard into a standing position.

Stamina is the ability to paddle hard to catch waves and recover to ride some more. Conditioned muscles are necessary for both as the muscles need the glucose they store for fuel for power and recovery. Sedentary people have not been exercising and the glucose passes the muscles directly to fat. Building muscle creates receptors that start absorbing and storing the glucose we get from carbohydrates.

Exercising the full body and practicing the fundamentals of popping up are supportive of improving your surfing. The basic exercises could be push ups, planks, burpies, dead lifts, and squats. Then add an aerobics program to build the ability to exert effort and recover. Building everything together is what a professional surfer does on a daily basis. It follows that a new surfer should engage in the same activities to progress their own surfing.

Return to the Home Page

Get Surf Lessons in Oceanside

Learn More

Get the Learn to Surf Guide Course in Kindle, Paperback or Audio

A great 29 page course on the fundamentals of catching waves, doing beginner and advanced pop ups, riding real waves, how to do maneuvers on real waves, which surfboards to ride, and how to progress. Great for lesson preparation, after lesson review, or learning on your own.

Kindle price $2.99 on Amazon. Paperback price $6.95 on Amazon. Audio download price $7.95

Overweight People Can Surf

To read a great book for getting in shape to surf or getting in better surfing shape, read my new book Overweight People Can Surf, a Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Surfing Adventure

Description:

Get healthy and fit to surf or set a goal of surfing to improve weight, fitness, nutrition, and health. This guide by a surf instructor/health coach/personal trainer gives the short version of how to lose weight, get strong, build stamina, develop nutrition, and learn to surf. Surfing is a lifestyle enjoyed by millions and so is fitness. Fitness creates opportunities to enjoy life through lots of different kinds of recreation. No need to stand on the sidelines while others are having a great time. Start your program to health with easy steps and progress at your own pace. That is the secret to maintaining a lifestyle. Do it at your pace. This book will start you on the path.

Buy the E book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

Seniors Get Fit to Surf

Description:

Seniors often ask if it is too late to learn to surf. Age is functional not chronological. If people have been exercising and maintaining body strength, surfing can be accomplished. If people have not been exercising, then getting in shape to surf could be a life changing move. Learn how to develop strength, flexibility, and stamina to learn surfing. If you are in surf shape, you could pursue most any recreation.

Buy the E-book on Amazon for $5.99

Buy the Paperback on Amazon for $7.99

The post How to Improve Your Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.

A beginner starts riding foam waves to the beach. Then he starts paddling through the waves to turn around and catch more foam waves or starts on real waves. Paddling is important for longer sessions and power to catch waves. When the body is tired of paddling, the session is over.

The Basic Exercises for Improving Surfing

Surfing is a full body sport requiring strength, flexibility, and stamina. Exercises that exercise muscles build strength but they also increase stamina. The muscles start retaining and demanding more glucose and protein. These nutrients feed the muscles as exercise periods get longer or more intense .This is why intense exercises have to be built gradually. The muscles grow and they hold more nutrients so the exerciser can advance to the next level.

Flexibility is as important as strength. Professional surfers can bend and contort almost as well as a yogi. I tell beginners, touching the floor with your palms not bending your knees is a minimum. The hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back all need to be loose. I like holding my toes as I lift my leg parallel to the floor. This is great for the buttocks.

Each morning I engage in a few basic exercises that support my pop ups. I do burpies, pushups, planks, deadlifts, squats, and various weight presses. I use a 35 pound barbell plate for the squats, deadlifts, and various military and chest presses. Use an appropriate weight. When gyms were open, I used heavier weights, but exercising from home, I find this weight adequate.

Stamina is also built from aerobics. There are so many options. New exercisers can start with walking ten minutes and build to a half hour and then an hour. Biking, swimming, treadmills, hiking, climbing stairs, and running all improve our cardiovascular systems. Building muscle improves our stamina. Building our cardiovascular system improves our stamina.

Design a plan that is appropriate for the level at which you are staring. Make small improvements on a weekly basis. Be patient. Be consistent.

The post Exercises to Get Fit for Surfing appeared first on Get Fit to Surf.