Many of my surf students ask How to Get Fit for Surfing. During the pandemic era, we have all been closed out of various forms of exercise. When gyms closed, many lost their three times a week opportunity to burn calories and fat. Surfing utilizes muscles specific to the sport and yet surfing is a full body workout.
Many athletes who participate in running and triathlons say after their first surf session that they need to get in better shape. Imagine how those who don’t exercise regularly feel. Beginners take one to two hour lessons and feel a lot of new muscles activated. If they could surf several times a week, they would find the dream exercise for fun, weight control, building muscle, and losing fat.
The Basics of Getting Fit for Surfing
Surfing requires upper body strength, lower body strength, flexibility, and cardio power. Paddling is like interval training. A surfer paddles out for waves and then paddles hard to catch waves. Then he paddles out again. Paddling is like swimming, but not the same.
Upper body strength can benefit from weight or cable training. Bench presses, military presses, and cable pulls can strengthen the arms, shoulders, back, and core, Push ups are great for the necessary pop up to stand up on the surfboard.
Flexibility is of major importance. Professional surfers can bend like pretzels. Some of the simplest most effective exercises for flexibility are burpies, squats, deadlifts, and just putting your palms on the floor without bending your knees.
Aerobics are a key to cardiovascular fitness. Building better circulation by increasing the stress on breathing can be accomplished in every way imaginable. Intervals are on everyone’s pedestal. Staying in peak cardio condition requires consistent engagement. A surfer notices they are out of shape after two weeks of not paddling. Top runners start losing conditioning after 36 hours.
Nutrition is crucial. Muscles have to be fed to grow. They need a well balanced diet. Athletes learn how to feed the body before and after exercise. When muscles need nutrition, they will first look to the glucose in the muscles and in the blood stream. When glucose gets depleted they will look for fat. Athletes train their body to burn fat with long slow aerobic workouts. Weight lifters train their body to burn fat with intense workouts.
Have patience and begin a program that can be followed without burn out. Set a long term goal with lots of interim markers. You can never get too fit.